Water and sanitation observation and monitoring mechanisms – Speech by Serge Lepeltier, Minister for Ecology and Sustainable Development.

New York, April 20, 2005

The real challenge facing us is to achieve the Millennium Objectives and respect the Johannesburg commitments in the field of water and sanitation.

Clearly, substantial efforts have already been made. But let us not fool ourselves, there is still much to do. We need greater mobilization from all, both politically and financially. On this point, I will remind you of President Chirac’s commitment to double French public aid for water, increasing it to €360 million per year. But releasing substantial sums of money is not the be-all and end-all: we really must have a better understanding of the actual situation concerning water and sanitation, through the collection and dissemination of more reliable data and by developing our capacity to assess that information.

I will not go into the details of this proposal which has been the subject of a presentation made elsewhere during these sessions.

I would simply wish to emphasize a number of points.

This proposal for an observation and monitoring mechanism is not about setting up whole new mechanisms, but rather about structuring existing resources and adding to them where necessary. The resulting system must have two central characteristics:

First characteristic: be both technically- and politically-oriented. On the subject of political monitoring, i.e. that provided by governments, I would remind you that the European Union considers the Sustainable Development Commission to be the most suitable framework for a mission such as this, with a number of practical arrangements still to be defined;

Second characteristic: adopt a global approach, which means that technical observation mechanisms must include existing world and national bodies as well as a regional one. This is the target of the African pilot project which was launched very recently with the support of the African Development Bank.

In this context, France is committed to financially supporting the actual functioning of the global observation mechanism:

- by allocating €200,000 to the “Joint Monitoring Programme” as part of the capacity-building effort;

- by making an expert available to help the UN-Water Secretariat (UN-DESA);

- by supporting the African pilot project by contributing €12 million over a period of four years.

I am counting on all of you also to support this initiative./.