28 July 1983

Water resources development: progress and prospects in the implementation of the Mar del Plata Action Plan, including the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade

The Economic and Social Council,

Recalling paragraph 4 of section VI of its resolution 1981/80 of 24 July l98l, and other relevant resolutions of the Council and the General Assembly concerning the adoption, implementation and monitoring of the Mar del Plata Action Plan, including the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade,

Recognizing that water resources development is an interdisciplinary and multisectoral process which cuts across many sectors of economic and social development, such as food production, environment and health, energy, human settlements, desertification, industrialization, transport, economic and technical co-operation among developing countries and disaster relief,

1. Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on the progress achieved and prospects in the implementation by Governments of the Mar del Plata Action Plan, including the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade, in the context of the review and appraisal of the International Development Strategy for the Third United Nations Development Decade, prepared in consultation with the Inter-Secretariat Group for Water Resources of the Administrative Committee on Co-ordination, in pursuance of paragraph 4 of section VI of Council resolution 198l180;

2. Reaffirms the importance of the implementation, within the context of the International Development Strategy for the Third United Nations Development Decade, of the Mar del Plata Action Plan and the objectives of the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade, and notes the progress being made in that context by Governments with the support of multilateral and bilateral co-operation;

3. Expresses its concern that, notwithstanding this progress, implementation of the Mar del Plata Action Plan has thus far been well below the level required to meet the needs of developing countries, in large part owing to the gap between the need for and the availability of financial resources;

4. Urges Governments of developing countries to assign high priority in their national development planning to the development of their water resources and to take active steps to formulate proposals for financial and technical assistance;

5. Urges bilateral and multilateral donors and financing institutions to respond positively to requests from developing countries and to increase, under favourable terms and conditions, the flow of financial assistance to developing countries for the promotion of the development of water resources;

6. Stresses the needs of the least developed countries in this context;

7. Requests the Secretary-General, in consultation with the organizations concerned, to compile information on the activities of bilateral aid programmes and international organizations, including present capacities and the terms and conditions under which they provide finances for water resources development, with a view to examining possible measures to increase the flow of resources and to improve the terms and conditions, as well as disseminating relevant information to countries and international organizations, and to report thereon to the Committee on Natural Resources at its tenth session;

8. Reaffirms the benefits of establishing national mechanisms to co-ordinate all water policies and programmes;

9. Calls upon the regional commissions, in co-operation with the organizations of the United Nations system concerned, to examine measures to promote the accelerated development of water resources in their respective regions;

10. Recommends to the General Assembly that the Committee on the Review and Appraisal of the International Development Strategy for the Third United Nations Development Decade should, at its session in l984, give due consideration to the role played by water resources development in the various elements of the International Development Strategy;

11. Recommends that Governments should re-evaluate the current status of their respective resources in surface and ground water, with a view to formulating specific programmes for reaching the targets recommended in the Mar del Plata Action Plan and, on the basis of national evaluation of problems, needs and constraints, indicate requirements in respect of technical assistance and advisory services, equipment, expertise and fellowships;

12. Urges Governments of developing countries to adopt national targets for drinking water supply and sanitation services, at the highest possible rate commensurate with resource availability, absorptive capacity and ability, and to formulate action plans and programmes for reaching the targets set, taking also into consideration resolution WHA36.l3 of l3 May l983 of the World Health Assembly;

13. Recommends that Governments of developing countries should:

(a) Estimate present and future needs for trained manpower for the development and management of water in agriculture, and take concrete steps to formulate plans and programmes to expand training capabilities;

(b) Evolve plans and programmes for improving the efficiency of agricultural water management, including appropriate measures to motivate farmers for this purpose;

(c) Promote the development of medium-scale and small-scale village irrigation schemes so as to build the pool of experience and expertise necessary for the planning and implementation of large schemes;

14. Recommends that Governments should intensify efforts to implement the recommendations on industrial water use made at Mar del Plata and, in particular:

(a) Initiate studies on the present and potential use of water by specific industries;

(b) Integrate industrial water use in overall policies and projects for the development of water resources;

(c) Conduct research on the use, treatment and recycling of water;

(d) Evolve appropriate economic and regulatory mechanisms for more efficient water use in industry and waste-water treatment;

15. Urges Governments to consider action to integrate plans for the development of hydropower in overall plans for the development of water resources and electric power systems, and provide for improved co-ordination at the national level between the water-related and energy-related institutional frameworks;

16. Calls upon Governments to formulate programmes and projects for the improvement of transport on rivers and lakes, and to promote inter-country co-operation in this field;

17. Recommends that with regard to the mitigation of effects from floods and droughts, countries should give high priority to early-warning and forecasting systems, as well as to structural and other non-structural measures, and integrate projects for the management of flood and drought losses in overall plans for the development of water resources;

18. Urges Governments to take the steps necessary to intensify efforts to develop and utilize appropriate techniques for the assessment and monitoring of the environmental impact of water projects, and to ensure that environmental and human health considerations will be systematically incorporated in the planning, implementation and operation of water schemes;

l9. Recommends that Governments should direct their efforts towards developing appropriate hydraulic techniques and systems for the rational utilization and conservation of water resources in rural areas, for example, by means of small-scale dams and ponds, particularly in arid and semi-arid areas;

20. Calls upon Governments to co-operate fully in promoting education, training and research in the field of water resources, and to give priority to the teaching of science and technology at secondary and university levels, in particular subjects related to this field;

21. Calls upon the United Nations Development Programme and other organizations of the United Nations system concerned to intensify their catalytic roles in the promotion of technical co-operation among developing countries in the field of water resources;

22. Urges Governments of developing countries to take appropriate steps to co-operate among themselves and with the United Nations system in compiling, in a systematic manner, information on technical co-operation among developing countries and arranging for its dissemination at periodic intervals, in order to provide further stimulus to the promotion of technical co-operation in water development;

23. Welcomes the conclusions of the colloquium held at the Centre for Waters at Zagreb on support for the establishment within that Centre of a small international technical unit dealing with technical co-operation among developing countries in the water resources sector, and requests the Secretary-General, in co-operation with the United Nations Development Programme and other competent agencies, to study the matter further, especially with regard to a review of possible financial sources for non-local cost components, and to report thereon to the Economic and Social Council at its second regular session of 1984.