At a Glance - The World Bank plays a unique development role in the water sector: It is the largest external financier in water supply and sanitation, irrigation and drainage, river basin management, trans-boundary water programs, and other water-related sectors, and provides strong advisory and analytical support to developing countries.
- From FY 2003 to FY09, Bank annual financing increased from US$1.8 billion to US$4.9 billion, with water supply and sanitation emerging as the core business (US$3.8 billion). This remarkable increase follows a period of consistent decline in the early 2000s, resulting from the overall reduction in Bank commitments and a shift away from infrastructure lending. The 2003 Infrastructure Action Plan, followed by the Sustainable Infrastructure Action Plan (SIAP), and the recent Infrastructure Recovery and Assets (INFRA) Platform, have played a critical role in reviving the Bank’s business in infrastructure in general, and the water sector in particular.
Water in the Context of Sustainable Development Water is essential to sustain life and economic activity, and the livelihoods of the poorest are critically associated with access to water services. Water is a key driver of growth and poverty reduction and as an input to almost all production in agriculture, industry, and energy. Yet, the availability of water is highly variable in both time and space, with regions such as Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia under severe water stress and vulnerable to extreme events (floods/droughts). By 2025, an estimated 4 billion people—about half of the world’s population—are expected to be living under severe water stress. Harnessing the productive potential of water, limiting its destructive impacts, and achieving basic water security have been a constant struggle since the origins of human society. Growing and competing demands for water are putting a strain on this finite resource. Global water consumption is expected to increase by 50 percent during the next 30 years to meet development needs. Among all water-use sectors, agriculture represents the largest, with 70 percent of global water withdrawal. During the past four decades, food production has increased by 150 percent, but water use has doubled. By 2050, there will be an estimated 2.3 billion more people to feed (one-third more than today). Meeting future food needs will require a more efficient use and additional sources of supply to support the increasing demand for water for agriculture. Managing water resources in a sustainable manner is a complex development challenge. Expanding water demand has resulted in rapid extraction of groundwater beyond the rate of natural recharge. Groundwater extraction, which represents 20 percent of total use, is increasing quickly to support irrigated agriculture, urban growth, and industrial development. Concerns about the quantity of water are compounded by quality issues. In most urban areas of the developing world, water resources are grossly polluted by human and industrial waste, to the point that urban rivers are degraded with major impacts on the quality of urban life and widespread effects on health and environmental quality. The magnitude of climate change and its importance to water are likely to grow during the next several decades. In the long term, the anticipated effects of climate change will vary from place to place; a few regions will become wetter while many—particularly those already suffering from water scarcity—will become drier. Most places will experience more intense and unpredictable precipitation, often with longer dry periods in between. The effects on natural systems will be widespread: from accelerated glacier melt, altered precipitation, runoff , and groundwater recharge patterns, to extreme floods and droughts, water quality changes, saltwater intrusion in coastal aquifers, and changes in water use. Climate change adds to the complexity of managing water resources by intensifying and accelerating the dynamics of the hydrological cycle. Until now, societies have found ways to adapt to hydrological variability and manage weather-related events like floods and droughts through innovative investments and management practices, within a defined envelope, based on historical records. The impact of climate change can be tempered by appropriate adaptation measures—including infrastructure investments—but all of these responses entail costs and tradeoffs. Key Achievements of the Bank since 2003 The Bank is assisting client countries in improving water resources management and services, in order to enhance their growth and reduce poverty. With a vision to become a full service partner, the Bank proposes integrated, prioritized, and consistent actions in both water resource management and water services delivery. Highlights of key Bank achievements since the endorsement of the 2003 Water Resources Sector Strategy by the Board of Executive Directors include: - A significant increase in lending in all water sub-sectors during the 2003-09 period, including water supply and sanitation, irrigation and drainage, hydropower, and flood protection.
- Strategic repositioning of the institution in agriculture and hydropower, with the development of the World Bank Group Agriculture Action Plan FY10-12 and the Hydropower Business Plan, aimed at increasing support to respond to clients countries in these areas
- Major improvements in the quality of water lending, with the best quality performance recorded in FY08 since 1998, as assessed by the Quality Assessment Group.
- An increase in client assistance for strategic water planning, with the completion of more than 20 Country Water Resources Assistance Strategies.
- Completion of a significant number of analytic and advisory pieces of work on water.
- Engagement in critical transboundary water issues
- Piloting of programs to promote sanitation and hygiene at scale by the Water and Sanitation Program, with contributions from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Partnerships Financial support from major international donors (such as the governments of the Netherlands, Denmark, and the United Kingdom, as well as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) has contributed to leverage Bank advisory and operational assistance from client countries. The Bank is engaged in a wide variety of ongoing partnerships on water, the most important being: - The Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) is a 30-year old partnership hosted by the Bank to improve the sustainable access of poor people to water and sanitation services through capacity building, developing and testing innovative approaches, advocacy, and knowledge-sharing. In FY09, the WSP dedicated US$39.6 million in 25 countries.
- The Water Partnership Program (WPP) is a multi-donor program aiming to enhance the Bank's efforts to reduce poverty through: (a) improvement in the quality and effectiveness of water service delivery, and (b) the sponsorship and mainstreaming of pragmatic and principled approaches for water resources management and development. The WPP is a consolidation and evolution of the Bank-Netherlands Water Partnership Program in Water Resources (BNWPP) and the Bank-Netherlands Water Partnership in Water Supply and Sanitation (BWNP). By addressing the water sector as a whole and by reinforcing the actions of all participating donors, the WPP provides improved realignment and restructuring. Approximately US$20 million is available for the period 2009 to 2010.
- Under a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2008, the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Bank are in the process of identifying areas of collaboration, including on climate change and agriculture, flood early warning systems, and training to client countries.
For more information, please visit: www.worldbank.org/water. Media Contacts: Roger Morier, (202) 473-5675, rmorier@worldbank.org Robert Bisset, (202) 458-5191, rbisset@worldbank.org Karolina Ordon, (202) 458-5971, kordon@worldbank.org Updated September 2009 |
