A. Water

Access to basic water services
(a) Support institutional and regulatory reforms, capacity building, technology transfer and resource mobilization to increase access to safe drinking water in urban and rural areas, with a focus on the following actions:

(i) Strengthening capacities of local authorities and empowering them in terms of management and financial decision making;
(ii) Implementing sustainable water tariffs, while ensuring affordable service for all;
(iii) Targeting subsidies to poor people, including for connection costs;
(iv) Transferring and adapting appropriate water supply technologies, including through North-South partnerships and South-South cooperation.

(b) Provide technical assistance to water utilities, community-based organizations and small-scale water service providers to strengthen their technical and managerial capacities and accountability, through the following actions:

(i) Training managers and technicians;
(ii) Tapping local knowledge in project development and implementation;
(iii) Strengthening entrepreneurial capacities of local suppliers;
(iv) Establishing public-private and public-public partnerships.

(c) Assist countries in the formulation of water investment plans and support their financing through a range of mechanisms, including the following:

(i) Increasing allocations from national budgets;
(ii) Developing and supporting local financial institutions and markets, including revolving funds and micro-credit facilities;
(iii) Using approaches such as payment for ecosystem services, debt for nature swaps, and debt relief;
(iv) Increasing ODA for the water sector;
(v) Providing resources for the African Water Facility, the Water for African Cities programme and the Water for Asian Cities programme.

(d) Shift emphasis from a needs-based to a rights-based approach by making the rights-based approach a part of national water legislation and policy.

Integrated water resources management (IWRM)
(e) Advance the implementation of IWRM progressively using a learning-by-doing approach, focusing on country-specific priority issues, in parallel with technical and institutional capacity building efforts.

(f) Accelerate the provision of technical and financial assistance to developing countries in preparing IWRM and water-efficiency plans tailored to country-specific needs, and their subsequent implementation, taking into account an ecosystem approach, with a focus on capacity building, notably directed towards the following:

(i) Improving water governance through institutional reforms;
(ii) Forging public-public and public-private partnerships;
(iii) Facilitating information exchange and knowledge sharing;
(iv) Risk mitigation and disaster reduction;
(v) Protection and rehabilitation of catchment areas and critical ecosystems;
(vi) Effective management of shared water resources;
(vii) Involving women in water management.

(g) Improve land and water resources management in rural areas, especially in the agricultural sector, by:

(i) Strengthening capacities of water user associations through training programs;
(ii) Using efficient irrigation and rain water harvesting technologies;
(iii) Implementing small scale irrigation projects with focus on the poor;
(iv) Training farmers in efficient water use.

(h) Strengthen capacities of developing countries for monitoring the quantity, quality and use of surface and groundwater resources and for measuring progress towards internationally agreed goals and targets, as well as assessing the impact of climate change on water resources, through the following actions:

(i) Establishing and managing water information systems;
(ii) Strengthening networks for monitoring water resources and quality;
(iii) Standardizing methodologies and developing monitoring indicators;
(iv) Transferring monitoring technologies adaptable to local conditions;
(v) Disseminating information to all stakeholders.

(i) Provide technical and management support to local authorities and community-based organizations to improve water resources management within national policy frameworks, ensuring effective coordination among water-related decision-making bodies at all levels.

(j) Call on all donors to coordinate their country-level responses to water management challenges, for example by using a lead-donor approach, to increase the effectiveness of government and donor investment.

(k) Use existing multilateral environment agreements and conventions to advance the implementation of IWRM.

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