Activities of Dominique BILDE related to 2021/2187(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on access to water as a human right – the external dimension
Amendments (13)
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Underlines that, according to the World Health Organization, 'by 2025, half of the world’s population will be living in water-stressed areas; 1 a _________________ 1a https://www.afro.who.int/health- topics/water 'By 2025, half of the world’s population will be living in water-stressed areas.'
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the European Union to promote a rights- and technical assistance- based approach to access to water and sanitation in its external action in accordance with the UN-declared Water Action Decade 2018-2028, and in keeping with Sustainable Development Goal 6;
Amendment 48 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Is concerned that easy access to drinking water is severely restricted in developing countries (only one person in two enjoys such access) and extremely limited in sub-Saharan Africa (only one person in eight in rural areas), and further notes that sub-Saharan Africa's rapid urbanisation necessitates specific solutions both for access to water and sanitation services for urban populations and in order to avoid the proliferation of any resulting pathologies (waterborne pathogens);
Amendment 52 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Stresses that 62% of sub-Saharan Africa’s urban population lives in informal settlements with limited access to water and sanitation services, that the number of people living in such conditions could triple by 2050 and that there is thus an urgent need to develop water resource management and water saving solutions for urban populations, which must go hand in hand with control of urbanisation and the birth rate, in particular by drawing inspiration from successes stories in this area, for example in Egypt, where 'investment in water saving devices is expected to reduce household water use by 10-15%' (UNEP, 2015);1 b _________________ 1b AUC/OECD (2018), Africa’s Development Dynamics 2018: Growth, Jobs and Inequalities, AUC, Addis Ababa/OECD Publishing, Paris. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264302501-en 'Egypt’s current investment in water saving devices is expected to reduce household water use by 10-15% (UNEP, 2015).' '62% of sub-Saharan Africa’s urban population lived in informal settlements. In several countries, unplanned urbanisation could lead to tripling the population living in informal settlements by 2050.'
Amendment 53 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Is also alarmed at the excessive extraction of groundwater, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, and stresses that it is crucial to promote wastewater treatment, since '80% of the wastewater produced in developing countries in the region is untreated'; 1 c _________________ 1cUN Water, The United Nations World Water Development Report 2021, Valuing water, Published in 2021 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Amendment 65 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls urgently, following the COVID-19 pandemic and given both the prevalence of certain waterborne diseases in certain developing countries in a context of rapid urbanisation and the increasing number of climate change- related natural disasters, for access to water and sanitation to be made a priority in developing countries, in particular in the least developed countries and small island developing states;
Amendment 66 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls urgently, following the COVID-19 pandemic and given the increasing number of climate change- related natural disasters, such as the ongoing famine in southern Madagascar, which may be partly linked to climate change, for access to water and sanitation to be made a priority in developing countries, in particular in the least developed countries and small island developing states;
Amendment 70 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Calls on developing countries, within the limits of their budgetary investment capacities, to draw inspiration from success stories in supplying water, particularly desalination techniques, which have become less expensive in recent years, and techniques involving solar energy, or wastewater treatment;
Amendment 75 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Notes the utility of desalination technologies implemented in certain countries such as Morocco, a lower middle-income country, with the site planned in particular in Agadir for a maximum capacity of 450 000 cubic metres per day, and stresses that desalination and wastewater treatment technologies have great potential in improving access to water in certain regions;1 d _________________ 1dUN Water, United Nations world water development report 2021: valuing water. 'The construction of Africa’s largest desalination plant is underway in Agadir, Morocco. The plant will initially produce an average of 275,000 cubic metres of desalinated water per day, with a maximum capacity of 450,000 cubic metres per day. '
Amendment 76 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Amendment 84 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Draws attention to the major geostrategic dimension of water, which can give rise to sudden conflicts between states, as is already the case with the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan, as well as internal conflicts and forced displacement; calls on the Commission to promote regional cooperation on the shared management of water resources around the 286 transboundary river basins;
Amendment 100 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls for coordinated and coherent water management in developing countries with regard to its various uses (agriculture, energy production, industry, etc.), and calls on the European Union to provide better support to developing countries for sustainable water management, in particular by means of technical assistance in developing new technologies at an affordable cost or adapting agricultural practices and crops to drought;
Amendment 114 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Stresses the need to support small projects, including those in rural areas, and to pay particular attention to women and the most vulnerable communities as regards access to water and sanitation, also with a view to supporting the local agricultural sector, to foster generational renewal in this sector and the food self- sufficiency of communities, and thereby to stem the rural exodus, which is a cause of uncontrolled urbanisation, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.