14086: (Chamberlain) New water index highlights haves and have nots (mention of Haiti) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Jeremy Lovell

     LONDON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - A new Water Poverty Index developed to
highlight the differences between water-rich and water-poor nations will be
the cornerstone of the Third Water Forum in the Japanese city of Kyoto next
March.
     The Index, developed by a team of researchers at Britain's Center for
Ecology and Hydrology and experts from the World Water Council, was
unveiled on Wednesday ahead of the International Year of Freshwater.
     Out of a total of 147 countries, it ranks Finland top followed by
Canada, Iceland, Norway, Guyana, Suriname, Austria, Ireland, Sweden and
Switzerland.
     At the bottom end of the scale, Haiti lies at 147th, preceded by
Niger, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Malawi, Djibouti, Chad Benin, Rwanda and Burundi.
     Not surprisingly, almost all the most water-rich nations are in the
northern hemisphere and almost all those with the least water are in
Africa.
     But, in a departure from usual practice, the researchers did not only
use access to good quality water as their benchmark.
     They took five different criteria to construct their index --
resource, access, use, capacity and environment.
     Research team leader Caroline Sullivan said this explained why rich
nations like the United States ranked a relatively lowly 33rd while
developing nations such as Guyana and Suriname came in at fifth and sixth
respectively.
     "The International Water Poverty Index demonstrates that it is not the
amount of water resources available that determine poverty levels in a
country, but the effectiveness of how you use those resources," she said.
     "The links between poverty, social deprivation, environmental
integrity, water availability and health becomes clearer in the WPI,
enabling policy makers...to identify where problems exist and the
appropriate measures to deal with their causes," she added.
     Experts calculate that 20 percent of the world's population in a total
of 30 countries faced water shortages in 2000, a figure expected to climb
to 30 percent or 2.3 billion people in a total of 50 countries by 2025.
     The Earth Summit in Johannesburg in September set the world a target
of halving the number of people without access to clean water and
sanitation by 2015.
     It is a commitment due to be turned into concrete plans on March 22 at
the Kyoto meeting which is already being flagged as likely to be the most
important water conference ever held.
     The World Health Organisation estimates that water-related infections
hit more than three billion people every year, killing more than five
million of them -- mostly from diarrhoeal diseases.
     "In economic terms this represents a great loss both in terms of a
reduction in the labour force and in terms of the loss of productivity
associated with this," Sullivan said, adding that diarrhoea alone costs $6
billion a year.