Catalog

	Table of Contents
p. 4 of 13 BACK | NEXT I. The Context II. The Need For a Comprehensive Water Policy III. The Policy A. An Overview B. National Policies and Reforms C. Water Resource Management D. Improving Water Services E. Conserving Water F. Promoting Regional Cooperation G. Fostering Participation H. Improving Governance IV. The Policy and ADB's Poverty Reduction Strategy V. Getting the Policy to Work

Water For All: The Water Policy of the Asian Development Bank : III. The Policy

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A. An Overview

21. ADB’s water policy is premised on the Asian and Pacific Region’s urgent need to formulate and implement integrated, cross-sectoral approaches to water management and development. It seeks to promote the concept of water as a socially vital economic good that needs increasingly careful management to sustain equitable economic growth and to reduce poverty. The conservation and protection of water resources in the region through a participatory approach are at the heart of the policy.

22. ADB’s water policy has the following principal elements:

1. Promote a national focus on water sector reform. DMCs will be supported to adopt effective national water policies, water laws, and sector coordination arrangements; improve institutional capacities and information management; and develop a national action agenda for the water sector. Throughout, the needs of the poor will be specifically factored into legal, institutional, and administrative frameworks.

2. Foster the integrated management of water resources. Integrated management will be based on conducting comprehensive water resource assessments, and concentrating interlinked water investments in river basins.

3. Improve and expand the delivery of water services. Focusing on water supply and sanitation (both rural and urban), irrigation and drainage, and other subsectors, support will be provided for autonomous and accountable service providers, private sector participation, and public-private partnerships, emphasizing equity in access to water for the poor and underserved.

4. Foster the conservation of water and increase system efficiencies. Packages that combine water use and resource management charges to recover costs, improved regulation and increased public awareness, and provisions to ensure that the poor are not excluded will be supported.

5. Promote regional cooperation and increase the mutually beneficial use of shared water resources within and between countries. The primary focus will be on the exchange of information and experiences in water sector reform. Support will be provided to enhance awareness of the benefits of shared water resources, create sound hydrologic and socioenvironmental databases relevant to the management of transboundary water resources, and implement joint projects between riparian countries.

6. Facilitate the exchange of water sector information and experience. Socially inclusive development principles will be supported to promote stakeholder consultation and participation at all levels, increase access to basic water services by poor consumers, and enhance water investments in the DMCs through public-private-community-NGO partnerships.

7. Improve governance. This will be accomplished by promoting decentralization, building capacity, and strengthening monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning at all levels, particularly in public sector institutions.

23. The policy takes note of the recently approved ADB strategy for poverty reduction⁹ and specifically provides for the involvement of the poor in water conservation and management. It recognizes that the specific needs and vulnerabilities of the poor are central in formulating sound and equitable water strategies. The poor must be enabled to influence decisions that affect their access to water for both consumptive and productive uses. The policy also reflects the considerable potential that exists for mobilizing community effort to directly contribute to pro-poor water development. It also requires that knowledge bases of the water needs of the poor be developed. Section IV (paras. 59-66) describes how this policy complements ADB’s poverty reduction strategy.

24. The policy also reflects ADB’s strategy for private sector development.¹⁰ Well-managed and cost-effective private sector participation will be promoted throughout the water sector to maximize efficiency.

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