The Government regularly engages with the EU and UN on access to basic services on the African continent, including clean drinking water. During the development of the new European Consensus on Development, a shared vision and framework for action for development cooperation among the EU and all the Member States, the Government advocated for a priority focus on basic services including safe drinking water and sanitation. The new European Consensus is a fundamental part of the EU's contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals. Ireland, together with Kenya, led the process in the United Nations which led to agreement of the SDGs. One of those goals is access to water and sanitation. At the UN high level event held in September 2017 on the Implementation of the International Decade of Action on Water for Sustainable Development, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade highlighted Ireland’s concern at water scarcity in Africa – which is increasingly aggravated by climate change.
Through Ireland's development cooperation programme, Ireland is taking a number of concrete measures to address water scarcity in Africa. Access to water is built into Ireland's bilateral aid programme. In addition to the provision of access to water, the bilateral aid programme also works to increase communities' resilience to climate change. Our humanitarian response includes a strong focus on ensuring access to basic services including clean drinking water. Ireland funds NGO-led Water, Sanitation and Hygiene programmes, known as WASH, in a number of African countries including Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania and Sierra Leone, while Ireland's humanitarian assistance channelled through the UN also funds water and sanitation needs. This support to the UN helps ensure that those living in places suffering the effects of conflict, such as Syria, or those recovering from natural disaster can get access to clean water.
I saw this myself at Nduta refugee camp in Tanzania last October: there Irish support enables water to be pumped to meet the needs of over 120,000 refugees from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. My visit there demonstrated to me both the importance of this work but also the precarious nature of access to water on which so many depended.
In partnership with University College Cork (UCC), Ireland supports the UN Global Environment Monitoring System (GEMS), which has responsibility for monitoring global ambient water quality. This €3 million programme is aimed at building the capacity of developing countries to accurately monitor and report on water quality. UCC provides capacity training.
Ireland will continue to engage in policy discussions at the EU, UN and other relevant international fora on the importance of access to clean drinking water.
