African Ministers Seek Billions To Develop Water Infrastructure – UN Agency
New York, Dec 17 2008 3:10PM
Delegates attending a pan-African ministerial conference have welcomed a proposal attempting to secure billion-dollar
commitments for building critical hydropower and agricultural irrigation systems across the continent, the United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced today.
Speaking at the Water for Energy and Agriculture in Africa meeting in Sirte, Libya, FAO suggested convening a world
summit of heads of State and government next year aimed at finding $30 billion a year for investment in the continent’s
water and rural infrastructure, needed to provide food and energy for its expanding population.
Sub-Saharan Africa – already suffering from the world’s highest rate of malnourishment – needs to triple its food
production by 2050 to feed a population predicted to balloon to 2 billion people, while also expected to be the
hardest-hit by climate change.
In a final declaration, delegates noted that water is a key resource to economic and social development as well as to
hunger and poverty eradication.
The three-day conference, which brought together ministers from 53 African countries, wrapped up today with a pledge to
work together in promoting water development throughout the continent and to fully exploit Africa’s agricultural and
hydropower potential.
Implementation of integrated water, agriculture and energy programmes to enhance sustainable development in Africa
should be considered a priority, the declaration said, while noting that food and energy security are prerequisites for
the development of Africa’s “human capital.”
While calling on donors, development partners and countries bordering on Lake Chad – once the world’s sixth largest lake
but has now shrunk to a tenth of its size – to help save the lake and its basin from a “looming human and environmental
disaster,” the Conference agreed to foster climate change research as well as promote the development of renewable
energy and agriculture in Africa.
The conference was organized by FAO in collaboration with Libya, the African Union, the African Ministers’ Council on
Water (AMCOW), the African Development Bank and the Economic Commission for Africa, among others.
ENDS