Financing Water for All

Welcome to the website on Financing Water for All, a joint operation by the World Water Council and the Global Water Partnership.

With this site, our aim is to:
1. Inform those interested in the findings and recommendations of the "World Panel on Financing Water Infrastructure" about follow-up activities;
2. Provide all types of stakeholders with information on a wide range of financial instruments and mechanisms, along with related case studies.

 

Serving as an information platform, this site is intended for organisations that initiate or implement actions in the domain of financing water in order to promote their activities and derive inspiration from other good practices.

 

Please note that the Financing Water for All website is a work in progress and will be continually supplemented and updated.

 

Background

 

At the Rio Conference in 1992 on Environment and Development, it was recognized that more financial resources would be needed for sustainable development and poverty reduction. Freshwater was identified as a major issue where considerable additional financial resources were needed.

 

At the 2nd World Water Forum in The Hague in March 2000, the World Water Commission reported to the Ministerial Conference that an estimated investment of US$100 billion a year is needed in the water sector, in addition to the current expenditure of US$80 billion, in order to meet the needs in water and sanitation infrastructure for the growing worldwide population over the next 25 years.

 

In response to these calls, the World Water Council, the 3rd World Water Forum and the Global Water Partnership came together to form a Panel to consider solutions to the future global financial needs of the water sector. The Panel, which was chaired by Mr. Michel Camdessus, former General Manager of the International Monetary Fund presented its report titled "Financing Water for All" at the 3rd World Water Forum in Kyoto in March 2003.

 

As a follow-up, the Task Force on Financing Water for All has been created in 2005, under the chairmanship of Angel Gurria, former Minister of Finance of Mexico and member of the Camdessus Panel. The objective of the Task Force is mainly to ensure that the financing issues related to water receive the continuous attention they deserve.

 

The Task Force will focus on three main components: Assessment of the follow-up to the recommendations that had been made by the Panel on Financing Water Infrastructure (or the Camdessus Panel), financing of water and local governments and financing water for agriculture, for each of which a working group is being formed.

 

The Task Force will present its findings for debate during the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico.