The APWF organized the 5th and 6th APWF webinar, in collaboration with the ADB and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), to introduce the overview of the Asian Water Development Outlook (AWDO) 2020, especially with regards to financing water security and governance, which are two main themes of AWDO 2020.
Overview: Asian Water Development Outlook (AWDO) 2020
The Asian Development Bank and Asia-Pacific Water Forum released AWDO 2020 on 18 December 2020. AWDO 2020 provides a comprehensive national analysis of water security across Asia and the Pacific based on the five key dimensions of: 1- Rural Water Security, 2 – Economic Water Security, 3 – Urban Water Security, 4 – Environmental Water Security, and 5 – Water-Related Disaster Water Security. It measures the availability of safe and affordable water supply, sanitation for all, improved livelihoods, and healthy ecosystems, with reduced water-related diseases and floods. The AWDO 2020 also digs into water governance and financing, and how the AWDO framework is being applied in developing water policies in the region.
Overview of the outcomes of the 5th APWF webinar
| Date & Time: 22nd December 2020 15:00-16:00 (Japan Time) Topic: AWDO 2020 and Financing Water Security and the SDGs in Asia and the Pacific Speakers: Dr. Tom Panella, Chief-Water Sector Group, Asian Development Bank, and Dr. Xavier Leflaive Team Leader, Resilience, Adaptation and Water, Environment Directorate, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) |
The 5th APWF webinar, which was organized on 22nd December 2020, opened with presentations by Dr. Thomas Panella, Chief, Water Sector of the ADB, and Dr. Xavier Leflaive Team Leader, Resilience, Adaptation and Water, OECD Environment Directorate. Dr. Panella, ADB, firstly provided an overview of the findings and recommendations of the AWDO 2020 report. Dr. Leflaive, OECD, presented the research outcomes about financing water security for sustainable growth in Asia and the Pacific. He introduced the outcomes of quantitative analysis regarding financing flows, financing needs, and financing capacities in Asia and the Pacific in terms of water supply and sanitation, flood protection, and irrigation infrastructure.
Dr. Leflaive presented the total annual estimated investment required over 2015-2030 to achieve universal access to safely managed water supply and sanitation services in Asia and the Pacific, which amounts to $198 billion per year. Most countries will need to allocate between 1 and 2% of GDP to invest in water supply and sanitation over the period 2015-2030 to achieve this goal.
Dr. Leflaive pointed out that Official Development Assistance (ODA) remains a comparatively small share of finance in water infrastructure and it may not be targeted towards those countries that need it most. In addition, water supply and sanitation tariffs are under-utilized.
In terms of the policy recommendations stemming from the analysis, Dr. Leflaive highlighted the fact that it is not just about injecting more money. It is also necessary to implement the following finance policy priorities towards achieving water security:
- Make the best use of available assets and financial resources and enhance the operational efficiency of service providers.
- Avoid building future liabilities by encouraging policy coherence across water and other policy domains; and manage water demand and strengthen water resources allocation.
- Improve tools to plan and decide on investments and financing mechanisms, through supporting plans with realistic financing strategies.
- Harness additional sources of finance, by leveraging development finance and public funds to crowd-in commercial finance.
- Consider new sources of finance from polluters and beneficiaries,
etc.
The panel discussion centered on the relevance of recommendations for good governance and mobilizing water financing. Dr. Leflaive pointed out that governance contributes to efficiency, effectiveness, and trust, and these three conditions will assist to secure robust and stable financial flows for water security. Enhancing trust with regards to the decision-making process on water policies and investment will also contribute to improvement of water security by multi-stakeholders.
The presentation document and the recording of the 5th APWF webinar is available from the APWF homepage.
http://apwf.org/5th-apwf-webinar-awdo-2020-and-financing-water-security-and-the-sdgs-in-asia-and-the-pacific/
The overview of the outcomes of the 6th APWF webinar
| Date and Time: 21st January 2021 17:00-18:00 (Japan Time) Topic: water governance in Asia and the Pacific: lessons learnt from AWDO 2020 Speakers: Dr. Tom Panella, Chief-Water Sector Group, Asian Development Bank, and Dr. Maria Salvetti, Water Policy Analyst, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) |
The 6th APWF webinar, which was organized on 21st January 2021, discussed the water governance in Asia and the Pacific: lessons learnt from AWDO 2020 with Dr. Thomas Panella, ADB, and Dr. Maria Salvetti, Water Policy Analyst, OECD.
It is necessary to incorporate water governance into the design and the implementation of public policies by coordinating all level of governments, public and private sectors, and other stakeholders to improve water security in Asia and the Pacific. The OECD therefore surveyed the water governance gap of the 48 ADB members in Asia and the Pacific using the OECD 12 Principle on Water Governance. The webinar introduced the key findings and delivered the policy recommendations and priority actions for governance improvement in each subregion of Asia and the Pacific.
Figure 1：OECD（2015） The OECD 12 Principles on Water Governance
www.oecd.org/governance/oecd-principles-on-water-governance.htm
The panel discussion centered on the link between the water security score of AWDO 2020 and water governance, the issues of capacity development from bottom-up and the improvement of water and sanitation access in terms of human rights and water governance.
Dr. Salvetti, OECD, pointed out that water governance can contribute to water security but, obviously, it is not sufficient. Hence, the OECD conducted the survey on what each country was doing, what approach they were adopting, and how they were performing on the 5 key dimensions of water security from AWDO 2020, and what practices and efforts the countries with high scores on water security were doing.
To deal with the capacity development gap, she emphasized that it was necessary to proceed with capacity development by conducting stakeholder mapping and clarifying the role and responsibility of each relevant stakeholder through water policy dialogues involving all stakeholders from national government, the relevant municipalities, and the other stakeholders. She highlighted that in order to address the issues, it was also important to clearly identify who does what, who pays for what, why and how, in order to improve water and sanitation access in terms of human rights.
Dr. Salvetti explained the following 6 recommendations to improve water governance in Asia and the Pacific based on the survey outcomes.
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Strengthening the implementation and monitoring of water-related policies
Effort should be made to promote dedicated institutions for monitoring and evaluation with sufficient capacity to assess to what extent water policy fulfills the intended outcomes. -
Adopting water policy instruments to manage trade-offs and update information regularly.
Development agenda should promote evidence-based public debate on the risks and costs associated with too much, too little, or too polluted water or the lack of access to clean water and sanitation to help raise awareness, build consensus on who pays for what, and contribute to guide appropriate decision making about better affordability and sustainability now and in the future. -
Adopting water economic instruments to manage water resources and generate sustainable finding to help reduce water security risk.
– Groundwater abstraction charge which has been implemented by the countries displaying the highest urban water security.
– User-pays and polluters-pay principles to reduce abstraction/pollution or generate revenues to alleviate abstraction/pollution and compensate for social cost. -
Addressing capacity and data gaps
– Capacity development refers not only to the technical knowledge and expertise to collect, analyse and interpret water data to resolve lack of information and post-evaluation about water and sanitation service, water resources management as well as water-related disaster but also in terms of planning, rule-making, project management, finance, budgeting, and securing resources
– Training up the experts in all government level and water-related institutions and secure the resources -
Developing further stakeholder engagement in water decision-making
– Carry out stakeholders mapping to understand who does what in water resources and services management to guide and build multi-stakeholders engagement processes
– set-up peer-to-peer dialogue platforms across river basin organisations or network of river basin organisations, etc. -
Mainstreaming integrity and transparency practices across water policies, institutions and governance frameworks
– Promote legal and institutional frameworks that hold decision-makers and stakeholders accountable, such as the right to information and investigation of water-related issues and law enforcement by independent authorities.
– Improve awareness by making use of the practices and tools to promote integrity and transparency of the organizations.
The presentation document and the recording of the 6th APWF webinar is available from the APWF homepage.
http://apwf.org/6th-apwf-webinar-water-governance-in-asia-pacific-lessons-learnt-from-the-awdo-2020/
(Reported by Yumiko Asayama, Manager)
