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DEVELOPING Asian countries including the Philippines
must change their strategies in managing water resources
to avert a crisis, according to a new Asian Development
Bank (ADB) report.
In a
statement, the ADB said the Asian Water Development
Outlook (AWDO) indicated that if Asian countries suffer
a water crisis, the main cause would be inappropriate
water management.
“We can
confidently predict that Asian developing
member-countries [DMCs] should not experience, or
expect, a crisis in the future because of physical
scarcity of water; there is now enough knowledge,
technology and expertise available in Asia to solve all
its existing and future water problems. If some Asian
DMCs face a water crisis in the future, it will not be
because of physical scarcity of water, but because of
inadequate or inappropriate water governance,” said AWDO
lead author Prof. Asit Biswas.
The bank
said the AWDO identified key management areas as
education for professionals in the water industry, the
water needs of the environment, the impact an aging
population will have on water consumption, and the
impacts of food production and energy generation and
development.
A major
challenge will be properly integrating all the policies
in the areas of water, energy, food and the environment,
he also said in his statement.
“Such integration has been very difficult to accomplish
in the past and is likely to be even more complex and
difficult in the future.”
As a
response, the ADB said that for the period 2006 to 2010,
it intends to significantly increase its investments in
the water sector through the Water Financing Program
that directs funds, reforms and capacity-development
programs to evolved capacities of rural communities,
cities and river basins.
The bank
stated these investments will be over $2 billion
annually, or approximately 25 percent of its total
lending over a three-year moving average period,
comparatively a doubling of ADB’s investments in water
compared with 1999.
“The
AWDO is a recipe for action. The report is cautiously
optimistic on Asia’s water future. It points out that
with existing knowledge, experience and technology, the
water problems of Asian developing countries are
solvable,” said bank regional and sustainable
development department acting director general Xianbin
Yao.
In
January 2001, the bank approved a comprehensive water
policy called Water for All that recognizes the
Asia-Pacific region’s need to formulate and implement
integrated, cross-sectoral approaches to water
management and development.
The
policy seeks to promote water as a socially vital
economic good that needs increasingly careful management
to sustain equitable economic growth and reduce poverty.
The
policy advocates a participatory approach in meeting the
challenges of water conservation and protection in the
region.
Later
this year, in
Japan,
regional heads of state as well as private- and
public-sector water experts will convene for the first
of what the ADB expects to become a recurring
Asia-Pacific water summit. |
