Poorer countries in Africa dangerously underfunded on climate-resilient water

Countries in Africa are dangerously overlooked when it comes to boosting climate-resilient access to basic water, sanitation and hygiene in homes and communities, new analysis by WaterAid found.

The continent has huge potential as large areas sit on groundwater reserves, but it also has an urgent need to fill the investment gap. As well as climate finance from governments and institutions, there is a huge potential for the private sector to ramp up investment in water-projects at scale to reach the most vulnerable communities and realise Africa’s green economic future, the organisation said. At present this opportunity is being missed.

Combined, countries in Africa were allocated an average of just under US $50 million dollar per year between 2016-2020 in climate finance for the most basic water systems, roughly the same amount spent on annual global arms deals in just 50 minutes[1]. That is nowhere near enough to support the lives of people living the climate crisis, WaterAid said.

“We see people already living through climate change in the countries where we work in Asia and Africa, even though they have done the least to cause global warming. Just look at the recent devastating flooding in Pakistan, the drought in the Horn. As access to safe, clean water comes under stress from flooding, drought and pollution we need a global push of aid, public and private funding to support people on the frontline of the crisis”, said Tim Wainwright, CE of WaterAid in the UK, present at COP27. “They are at the far end of the queue, while they should be at the very front.”

Earlier research showed that in low- and middle-income countries in Latin America and Asia, only 9% of water funding comes from the private sector, versus 87% in telecoms and 45% in power.

To boost investment in water projects at scale, WaterAid is working through the Resilient Water Accelerator (RWA), a coalition part of the Sustainable Markets Initiative and backed by partners such as the Bank of America, African Development Bank and the UK and Dutch Governments, to design resilient water projects that will draw in public and private investment to secure water for all.

The RWA aims to reach in its initial stage 50 million people in water-stressed areas with clean, safe water in the next decade.

The RWA was set up under The Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) founded by HM The King Charles III in his former role as HRH The Prince of Wales. Its co-chair, Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America, said:

“Through the SMI, business leaders are working to drive private-sector-led solutions that will secure a sustainable future. The Accelerator mobilises private sector capital that is needed to develop new approaches, technologies and opportunities to provide clean and safe water for millions – and ensure they can thrive.”

WaterAid analysed data from the OECD, the Climate Policy Initiative and others, and released its findings on climate-resilient access to basic water at COP27, which started this week in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt.

Globally, climate finance averaged $575 billion per year between 2016-2020, including large scale energy and infrastructural projects. Only 0.008 percent of those billions[2] was committed as development finance focused on climate change adaptation through basic water, sanitation and hygiene for those in need, WaterAid said.

Of all countries in Sub Saharan Africa, Ghana was allocated the largest amount - just over US $7 million, while 3.5 million people don’t have access to basic water services and around 23.5 million people don’t have access to at least basic sanitation. Burkina Faso, Kenya and Ethiopia all received just over USD $4 million.

ENDS

[1] Numbers of 2020. See: https://www.sipri.org/media/press-release/2021/business-usual-arms-sales-sipri-top-100-arms-companies-continue-grow-amid-pandemic  USD $531 bln / 365 / 24 = USD $60,6 million in arms deals per hour, or just under 50 million per 50 minutes.
[2] Data 2020

Methodology:
WaterAid commissioned an analysis of different datasets to estimate:

the total climate finance; the climate finance for adaptation and for water; the climate-related development finance for adaptation, in water, in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and for water in LDCs; the climate-related development finance for basic water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) systems and illustrative breakdown for Africa, India and Bangladesh.

The analysis is an update of the earlier report Just Add Water (2020), and was carried out by Nathaniel Mason, Manatee Insight.

For the full briefing, see here

For more information, please contact
In London: Rik Goverde, [email protected] / +44 (0) 782 531 6749
During out of office hours: [email protected] / +44 (0)7887 521 552  

WaterAid
WaterAid is working to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere within a generation. The international not-for-profit organisation works in 28 countries to change the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 28 million people with clean water and nearly 29 million people with decent toilets.

For more information, visit our website wateraid.org/uk, follow us on Twitter @WaterAidPress, @WaterAidUK, @WaterAid, or find us on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram.

771 million people in the world – one in ten – do not have clean water close to home[1].

Almost 1.7 billion people in the world – more than one in five – do not have a decent toilet of their own[2].

Over 300,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by poor water and sanitation. That's more than 800 children a day, or one child every two minutes[3].

Investing in safely managed water, sanitation and hygiene services provides up to 21 times more value than it costs[4].
 

[1] WHO/UNICEF (2021) Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2020. Joint Monitoring Programme. Geneva: World Health Organisation.

[2] WHO/UNICEF (2021) Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2020. Joint Monitoring Programme. Geneva: World Health Organisation.

[3] WaterAid calculations based on: Prüss-Ustün A, et al. (2019). Burden of Disease from Inadequate Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Selected Adverse Health Outcomes: An Updated Analysis with a Focus on Low- and Middle-Income Countries. International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health. vol 222, no 5, pp 765-777. AND The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (2020) Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. Seattle, WA: University of Washington.

[4] WaterAid. (2021) Mission-critical: Invest in water, sanitation and hygiene for a healthy and green economic recovery.