Securing Water for China: Progress and Challenges

Securing Water for China: Progress and Challenges

November 14, 2006

-- Launch of the 2006 Human Development Report

    BEIJING, Nov. 14 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- China continues
to make progress in improving conditions of life as measured
by the human development index (HDI), according to the 2006
Human Development Report, released today in Beijing. In the
last three years alone, China's surpassed nearly 25
countries in the HDI ranking to assume the 81st position
among the 175 developing countries listed. 

    (Logo:
http://211.154.41.99:9080/xprn/sa/20061107113358-34.jpg )

    Entitled Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global
water crisis, the Report notes that global progress on
meeting the Millennium Development Goal of halving the
proportion of people without sustainable access to safe
drinking water is largely thanks to progress in China and
India. 

    Yet challenges remain in securing a sustainable supply
of clean water throughout China, where national per capita
levels of water are only a third of the global average. 

    As climate change threatens to intensify pressure on
China's water supply, it will directly affect the 538
million people living in China's already water-scarce
North. 

    Progress and continued challenges in dealing with water
sanitation and pollution 

    The 2006 Human Development Report particularly
highlights the advances made by China in meeting the needs
of its rural residents. "Now, provincial and county
governments oversee plans for meeting targets set by
government. Resources have been invested in developing and
marketing sanitary latrines designed for rural areas.
Uptake has been impressive, with rural sanitation coverage
doubling in five years," the Report says. 

    "China has made strong improvements in extending
the availability of water across the country, despite a
large imbalance in natural distribution between north and
south, said Alessandra Tisot, UNDP Senior Deputy Resident
Representative in China, in opening the launch event.
"The same goes for improved sanitation. Extending
rural access has been an important priority of the
government, and this has yielded impressive and laudable
results."

    Yet despite dramatic advances in rural water
sanitation, pollution caused by China's economic boom pose
a continued risk to the country's water-ways. More than 70%
of the water in the 3-H river system, is now too polluted
for human use, according to the State Environmental
Protection Administration as quoted in the Report.

    China's continued industrial expansion also brings
higher risks of industrial accidents like the one on the
Songhua River one year ago. The accident threatened not
only the 3 million citizens of Harbin but also the
residents of the Russian city of Khabarovsk, says the
Report, underlining the need for international cooperation
on issues of water safety.

    The growing importance of water management in China

    Northern China will face continued challenges in
providing safe water for its population. The 3-H basin of
the Hai, Huai and Huang (Yellow) rivers accounts for less
than 8% of national water resources but supplies nearly
half of China's population. 

    The Report emphasizes that the lack of access to clean
water and sanitation is above all a crisis for the poor.
This is true also for China, where about half the country's
rural poor live in the depleted 3-H river basin area.

    The urgency of sustainable water policy in Northern
China is captured by the transformation of the Yellow
River. Once named China's sorrow because its high waters
often caused flooding, the river's flow has been reduced to
a trickle in its lower streams, which now barely reach the
sea.  

    Current water shortages in China reflect that until
recently water was not priced, resulting in
overconsumption.  Pricing and demand management now plays a
growing role in water governance in China. 

    Global climate change is affecting Chinese farmers 

    Global warming raises serious concerns about the future
volume and timing of glacial flows, and may pose risks to
China's efforts to redistribute water across the country. 


    The impacts of glacial melt, caused by global warming,
may come to affect as many as 300 million farmers in
China's arid western region. Almost all glaciers in China
have already shown substantial melting. In Tibet, glacial
retreat has meant that most glaciers could disappear by the
year 2100, says UNDP's Human Development Report. 

    About this report:

    The Human Development Report continues to frame debates
on some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity. It
is an independent report commissioned by the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP). Kevin Watkins is the Lead
Author of the 2006 report, which includes special
contributions from U.K. Chancellor Gordon Brown, Nigeria's
Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, President Lula of
Brazil, Former U.S. President Carter, and UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The Report is translated into
more than a dozen languages and launched in more than 100
countries annually. Further information can be found at
http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006 . The 2006 Human Development
Report is published in English by Palgrave Macmillan.

    About UNDP: 

    UNDP is the UN's global network to help people meet
their development needs and build a better life. We are on
the ground in 166 countries, working as a trusted partner
with governments, civil society and the private sector to
help them build their own solutions to global and national
development challenges. Further information can be found at
http://www.undp.org .

    UNDP fosters human development to empower women and men
to build better lives in China. As the UN's development
network, UNDP draws on a world of experience to assist
China in developing its own solutions to the country's
development challenges. Through partnerships and
innovation, UNDP works to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals and an equitable Xiao Kang society by
reducing poverty, strengthening the rule of law, promoting
environmental sustainability, and fighting HIV/AIDS. 
http://www.undp.org.cn .

    For more information, please contact: 

     Ms. Zhang Wei
     Communications Officer, 
     UNDP China 
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]

SOURCE  United Nations Development Programme