Water solution remains pipe dream

Providing safe water to the poor is one of the key summit issues

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- The problem of providing safe water and sanitation for many of the world's poor has occupied delegates on the third day of the Earth Summit.

The World Summit on Sustainable Development, being held in Johannesburg amid tight security to prevent disruptions from protesters, is tackling how to alleviate poverty while still protecting the environment.

On the key issue of water, poor countries have accused rich countries of failing to live up to past promises.

Nearly one in five people or 1.1 billion men, women and children have no access to fresh water, according to the United Nations, while a 2.4 billion lack adequate sanitation.

"To service the human community of India with sanitation and water is a Herculean task...The world community should come forward to help us through the U.N. organisations," Indian Environment Minister T.R. Baalu told Reuters.

IN-DEPTH Global balance: Johannesburg Summit 2002  Time.com: How to preserve the planet and make this a Green Century    FACTS • During 1990s, 2.4% of world's forest destroyed   • World's population to reach 8 billion by 2025   • By 2025, 50% of world's population to face water shortages   • In 1981, fossil fuels generated 86% of energy; today it's 81%     CNN NewsPass VIDEO Delegates from developing countries called for increased global efforts to bring new technologies to poor farmers. CNN's Charlayne Hunter-Gault reports (August 28) Play video   GALLERY Images from the United Nations Earth Summit    RESOURCES Official site: Johannesburg Summit 2002     QUICKVOTE Will the Johannesburg Summit achieve more than the Rio Earth Summit 10 years ago? Yes No View Results

India saw the worst start to the monsoon season in 15 years in July, bringing drought to many areas. Water tables in countries as far apart as the U.S. and China are steadily declining because of over-consumption.

At a Millennium U.N. summit two years ago, world leaders agreed to "halve the proportion of people who are unable to reach, or to afford, safe drinking water" by 2015.

Spending by states on fresh water investments would have to double to $180 billion to meet those goals, the U.N. has estimated.

Some delegates want to add a target for sanitation, a move resisted by the U.S. but supported by the European Union.

"It's important not only that people should be able to get drinking water but to be able to get rid of waste water," Danish Environment Minister Hans Christian Schmidt told The Associated Press.

In other developments at the 10-day summit, progress was made between rich and poor states on demands by Third World countries for more aid finance and fairer trade.

"We have agreed on 99 percent of the text on finance," John Ashe, a Caribbean delegate who has been brokering a compromise, told a news conference.

Officials also agreed to reaffirm pledges on opening markets to Third World exporters but remained divided over wording on the issue of "globalisation," he said.

About 20,000 delegates from more than 200 countries had gathered for the summit.

An agreement at the weekend to try and protect diminishing stocks of fish in the world's oceans had buoyed spirits. (Full story)

South Africa has deployed at least 10,000 extra police and troops to prevent a repeat of the violent confrontations that marred previous international gatherings in Seattle and Genoa.

About 200 Johannesburg street hawkers marched to the tightly-guarded convention centre on Wednesday, demanding that police allow them back on the streets near the summit venue.

"We want the summit to help us talk to this government of ours who stops us from working," said hawker Sonia Baloi.

In a joint editorial in the International Herald Tribune, the leaders of South Africa, Brazil and Sweden urged their counterparts to put words into action next week.

"To watch passively as poverty increases, the wealth and information gaps widen and environmental degradation continues is not only a human and moral failure. It is also an enormous waste or resources – especially human resources, the most important fact for sustainable development," said Thabo Mbeki, Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Goran Persson.

To encourage the protection of the environment coupled with social and economic development, they urged a global partnership with "clear targets and timetables."