Following the green light from its developing country partners, the European Union has officially launched its 1 billion Euro water fund. The Commission believes that the landmark instrument will help improve access to clean water and sanitation, as well as reduce water-related disasters and diseases.
The European Union unveiled its plan to establish a 1 billion Euro water fund to ministers from the Unions 78 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) partner countries. The ambitious scheme was welcomed by the recent ACP-EU Joint Ministerial Conference in Botswana .
On the occasion of World Water Day in March, EU Member States agreed to set aside 1 billion Euro from the 13.5 billion Euro European Development Fund (2000-2005) for the Water Fund which was first touted by the Commission last year. It is part of the broader Water Initiative the EU launched at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg, South Africa .
World leaders at the summit reaffirmed their resolve to meet the Millennium Development Goals of halving, by 2015, the number of people across the world without access to safe drinking water. A recent report estimates that meeting the Johannesburg water targets would cost 10 billion Euro a year, rising to 27 billion if sanitation is added.
Kilde: Europakommissionen
