Rich states must help tackle water crisis - UNDP

CAPE TOWN, Nov 9 (Reuters) The world's richest states must spearhead efforts to tackle a water and sanitation crisis that is killing and spreading disease among millions and holding back economies, especially in Africa, a UN report said today.

The United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) 2006 Human Development Report recommended that all governments guarantee every person at least 20 litres of clean water a day and spend at least one per cent of GDP on water and sanitation.

The report, which is regarded as a snapshot on the world's progress on key development issues, also urged the most industrialised countries to raise international aid to poorer nations by 3.4 billion dollar to 4 billion dollar annually.

Without concerted action by the G8, a grouping that includes the United States and Britain, millions in the developing world will continue to be plagued by avoidable poverty, poor health and diminished economic opportunities, the report warned.

''National governments need to draw up credible plans and strategies for tackling the crisis in water and sanitation,'' said Kevin Watkins, lead author of the report, which was released in Cape Town.

''But we also need a global action plan -- with active buy-in from the G8 countries -- to focus fragmented international efforts to mobilise resources and galvanise political action by putting water and sanitation front and centre on the development agenda,'' he said.

The call to action came amid worrying signs large tracts of the developing world will not meet eight U.N. Millennium development goals agreed by world leaders -- ranging from reducing extreme poverty to halting the spread of AIDS by 2015.

If current trends hold, sub-Saharan Africa would only reach the UN Millennium clean water target in 2040. The Arab nations are 27 years off the mark.

LIVES OF MILLIONS AT STAKE At stake are the lives of millions of children as well as the health and economic well-being of more than two billion others living in developing nations, where drinking contaminated water from drains or streams is often the norm.

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