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Guest Editorial: Water—A Global Challenge and a Priority for the OECD

Access to safe water and basic sanitation represents one of the greatest challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. Success in addressing that challenge would act as a catalyst for progress in public health, education and poverty reduction and as a source of economic dynamism. It would give a decisive impetus to the Millennium Development Goals—the targets adopted by governments as part of a global partnership for poverty reduction. Approximately 80% of all diseases in developing countries are water-related, leading to an estimated 1.7 million deaths each year. The World Health Organization estimates that every dollar invested in water supply and sanitation could yield between US$5–10 in economic benefits, and even more for low cost measures. Better water increases people’s health and their ability to find employment and revenue to escape the poverty trap, and it helps free-up time for children, especially girls, to go to school. Due to water’s simultaneous productive and destructive nature, a vicious cycle can set in when countries are unable to properly harness their water resources, due to insufficient investment in infrastructure and/or inadequate management. In these cases, water can become a limiting factor to growth, as has been demonstrated by studies linking instability in gross domestic product (GDP) growth with water availability cycles (e.g. in Ethiopia). These challenges are further exacerbated by the prospects of climate change, which is reducing mean water availability in some regions, while increasing the variance of precipitation and thus giving rise to more frequent, and often more destructive, extreme events (droughts and floods). Indeed, the recent impact report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change points to an alarming future. It is only by working together across countries and sectors, including all levels of the public administration, as well as the private sector and civil society, that we will be able to take the path leading to a virtuous circle of sustainable water use, access of adequate and affordable services for all, and sustained economic and human development. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) intends to play a role in facilitating this process.