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Region mobilises technical and financial support for water sector plan at World forum
The Caribbean is mobilising technical and financial support for its Regional Strategic Plan for the water sector at the 8th World Water Forum currently underway in Brasilia, Brazil.
Dr. James Fletcher during his presentation on the Caribbean Strategic Action Plan
Dr. James Fletcher, Managing Director, SOLORICON and Consultant presented the Process of the Americas with a synopsis of the plan, some of the critical water issues in the region and solutions.
The Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association, (CWWA) which started consultation on the plan at its 26th Annual Conference in Guyana in 2017, will present it at its 27th Annual Conference in Jamaica this year.
Among the high priority issues are water governance, the need for data and the impact of climate change on the resource, “in almost every single one of our countries, not only do we have existing problems, but we have problems exacerbated by climate change,” Dr. Fletcher said in an interview, “but there are also things we can and should do to mitigate those problems,” he suggested.
One of these is the lack of formulation or implementation of national land use plans. Dr. Fletcher identified the absence of national land use plans as a major deficiency in addressing water issues, “the agriculture sector in most of our countries is rain fed, the tourism sector which is a major economic driver also is a significant user of water,” he pointed out, “so we really need pay more attention to integrated water resources management,” he added.
Development is hinged on water, Dr. Fletcher pointed out, “we go about development in all of the major economic sectors, but we don’t understand that without assuring ourselves of a supply of quality fresh water, every one of these economic sectors is in peril,” he said.
Aging infrastructure in the water sector is already affecting development in the region. Such infrastructure has been affected by effects of climate change and, in many countries, population growth has placed it under pressure.
Lennox O’Reilly Lewis, Chief of the Economic Infrastructure Division at the Caribbean Development Bank said infrastructure has not been updated to “keep up with the pace of development like population growth, growth of industry and tourism growth”.
The CDB has identified climate change as a major threat to the region’s water infrastructure, and had been focusing on improving its resilience.
The Bank has spent more than US$300million over the years supporting the replacement of water infrastructure in the region, but more money is needed says Lewis. “Throughout our 19 borrowing member countries, the estimate rises to the billions, in terms of the works that are needed,” he pointed out. “We are talking about infrastructure that is vulnerable, water sources vulnerable to drought, to less rainfall. We have pipes and treatment plans in locations vulnerable to floods,” he said.
There is a challenge to financing infrastructure and this surrounds countries coming up with “bankable projects” Lewis says. “Between us, the developing partners, the money is there,” he said, “projects have to be well designed and that takes into account all of the engineering, environmental issues, social issues, properly designed to benefit all sectors of society,” Lewis pointed out.
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