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Water For All
The Water Policy of ADB

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Overview and Objectives

On 16 January 2001, ADB's Board of Directors approved a comprehensive water policy that recognizes the Asia and Pacific region's need to formulate and implement integrated, cross-sectoral approaches to water management and development. In general, the policy seeks to:

• Promote water as a socially vital economic good that needs increasingly careful management to sustain equitable economic growth and reduce poverty
• Advocate a participatory approach in meeting the challenges of water conservation and protection in the region

Elements of the Policy

The principal elements of the water policy are as follows:

• Promote a national focus on water sector reform
• Foster the integrated management of water resources
• Improve and expand the delivery of water services
• Foster the conservation of water and increase system efficiencies
• Promote regional cooperation and increase the mutually beneficial use of shared water resources within and between countries
• Facilitate the exchange of water sector information and experience
• Improve governance and capacity building

Find out more information on the water policy.

RELATED DOCUMENTS

Proposed Revision of the Water Policy of the Asian Development Bank [ PDF: 238KB | 12 pages ] Towards Effective Water Policy in the Asian and Pacific Region Volume One: Overview of Issues and Recommendations Towards Effective Water policy in the Asian and Pacific Region Volume Two: Country Papers Towards Effective Water policy in the Asian and Pacific Region Volume Three: Theme Papers and Comments Water in the 21st Century

View the document [ PDF: 1,135 kb | 55 pages ] To read, you need Acrobat.

Contents

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1. The Context

   1. Water, Poverty, and the Environment
   2. Regional Issues and Impacts
   3. Future Resource Stress

2. The Need For a Comprehensive Water Policy

   1. The Stakeholders’ Perspective
   2. ADB’s Perspective

3. The Policy

   1. An Overview
   2. National Policies and Reforms
   3. Water Resource Management
   4. Improving Water Services
   5. Conserving Water
   6. Promoting Regional Cooperation
   7. Fostering Participation
   8. Improving Governance

4. The Policy and ADB's Poverty Reduction Strategy

5. Getting the Policy to Work

Appendixes [ PDF: 774kb | 10 pages ]