Bangkok, 23 April 2012
- The unique freshwater challenge facing
many small islands in the Pacific is spotlighted
in a new report released by the UN Environment
Programme today.
The report, "Freshwater
under Threat - Pacific Islands", found
that the almost total reliance on rain-fed
agriculture across all islands puts economies
and livelihoods at risk. Nearly 10% of deaths
of children under five in the region is
attributable to water related causes; 90%
of these deaths, according to the report,
can be traced to poor sanitation treatment
systems.
Further Resources
Freshwater Under Threat - Pacific Islands
ReportThe delivery of water supplies and
sanitation services in many Pacific countries
currently falls well short of Millennium
Development Goal (MDG) targets. According
to the report, access to improved drinking
water sources in Fiji and Papua New Guinea
(at 40% and 47%, respectively) is about
half the global average and it is anticipated
that both countries will fall significantly
short of the Millennium Development Goal
(MDG) for improved drinking water access.
Ecologically, smaller
islands are under greatest stress, with
85% to 90% of vegetation cleared on Majuro
Atoll, Nauru, Fongafale and Upolu, the report
says. These islands also have the smallest
capacity to absorb wastewater generated
from urban areas, polluting critical groundwater
lenses.
"The challenges
facing the region in terms of freshwater
resources are immense. Many of these islands
have limited water resources, not to mention
human, financial and management resources.
It is imperative that we improve water use
efficiency to meet the basic human needs
and to support sustainable development,"
said Dr. Park Young-Woo, Regional Director
of UNEP Regional Office for Asia and the
Pacific.
The report cited water
management as one of the greatest challenges
to water resource vulnerability, particularly
the limited technical and governance capacity
partly due to the high emigration of its
skilled and educated workers. All Pacific
Islands are struggling with Integrated Water
Resources Management capacity, according
to the report, with only Samoa and Nauru
having IWRM policies.
"This brain drain
hinders development in this region with
many countries struggling to fill technical
positions," said David Duncan, the
report's author and Regional Environmental
Engineer at the Secretariat of the Pacific
Communities' (SPC) Water and Sanitation
Programme, "Water resource management
is a critical issue in this region where
many islands are isolated and have limited
local resources."
These challenges-which
are likely to be aggravated by climate change
- will require innovative approaches and
tailoring solutions that take into account
the complex geographical and socioeconomic
constraints of each island .There is no
one solution and would need a mix of policy
intervention and preferred management measures.
The report also recommends:
Long-term strategies
to address sustainable management capacity
in the region. Further, this must be supported
by high-level engagement to ensure political
commitment to developing and implementing
sustainable policies and legislation.
Delivery of Integrated
Water Resources Management (IWRM) within
a model adapted to the Pacific is critical
to enable countries to maximize development
opportunities associated with water resources
and better meet basic human rights. This
will require varying degrees of institutional
and utility reform to optimize governance
and management arrangements.
Investment in infrastructure
with a combination of household level and
centralized infrastructure on larger islands.
Integration of Disaster
risk management into national planning and
integration of water resource management
needs to be integrated into disaster risk
management to provide PICs with resilience
that reduces the costs, which are as high
as 46% of GDP.
Ensure that communities
are an integral component in planning and
delivery of disaster management plans
National and regional
feedback on progress towards addressing
major water resource issues and develop
indicator frameworks are required at national
and regional levels to provide critical
feedback to decision-makers on the success
(or otherwise) of policy decisions and implementation.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
The 14 Pacific Island Countries (PICs) are
home to over 9 million people, the majority
of whom live in rural areas. These countries
have about 1,000 islands covering a land
area of just over 500 thousand square kilometres,
spread across 180 million square kilometres
of ocean, more than one third of the earth
surface.
Throughout the Pacific
water resources are typically managed on
an island-by-island basis as inter-island
transfers across hundreds of kilometres
of ocean are generally impractical and cost-prohibitive.
The greatest vulnerability
is reflected in the lack of water resources
in low-lying islands. Six island countries
- Nauru, Niue, Kiribati, Tonga, Tuvalu and
the Republic of the Marshall Islands - have
no significant surface water resources and
of these, only Tonga and Niue have significant
groundwater resources. At the other extreme,
the intense rainfall and runoff experienced
in several large volcanic islands causes
flooding on the coastal plains. The annual
rainfall variability of many islands (as
high as 54% in Nauru) means that rain cannot
be relied upon to meet water demands. For
populations on islands with no surface water
or significant groundwater resources, this
variability of the sole natural source represents
a significant threat to island sustainability.
The development challenges
within the larger volcanic islands of Viti
Levu and New Guinea are largely related
to meeting basic human rights for access
to improved water supply. The predominantly
rural populations across these large rugged
islands are clearly stretching the capacity
to deliver safe drinking water supplies,
with access to improved drinking water sources
in Fiji and Papua New Guinea at 40% and
47%, respectively (about half the global
average of 87%) and almost no change since
11000. Significant investment in these areas
has seen a considerable increase in the
number of people with access to drinking
water; however, population growth has matched
this over the same period.
Small atoll and raised
coral islands typically make maximum use
of the limited resources available. The
extreme stress on water resources means
that resources outside the traditional surface
water and groundwater resources have been
developed, including a high dependence on
rainwater harvesting and desalination. The
small populations and targeted investment
strategies have enabled these islands to
achieve relatively high levels of access
to drinking water supply, with most of these
countries on track to meet the relevant
MDG targets.
