How can the United States formulate its foreign policy to meet global water challenges?

Current U.S. foreign policy on water has gained momentum since the beginning of the George W. Bush administration, but it remains notably ad hoc and lacks clear strategic vision and strong congressional support. Since the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, addressing international water issues has been formally elevated as a strategic foreign policy priority of the United States. Still, the elevation of U.S. commitment falls short of true engagement with the worsening situation. To meet the challenges of the next two decades of increasing water stress and growing lack of access, the United States must make good on recent pledges to establish a national strategy on the challenge. The United States must also greatly increase its aid toward water issues and lead others around the world—developed and developing countries alike—to join in the newfound determination to face the problem proactively.

Did you know?
In 2000–2001, only 12 percent of official development assistance from OECD countries went to countries in which less than 60 percent of the population had access to clean water. The Bush administration has committed $970 million over three years through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to address problems associated with water issues through the high-visibility Water for the Poor Initiative (WFPI). In the first two years of the WFPI, the United States has already exceeded the projected three-year budget and has spent $1.2 billion on over 100 activities related to water issues around the globe. According to preliminary estimates for FY2004, USAID dedicated over $764 million to a variety of water-related activities. Nearly one-third of this amount—$247 million—was earmarked for water activities in Iraq alone. Yet, even without taking into account the funding for Iraq, the remaining $517 million represents a substantial increase over the $462 million made available in FY2003.

But these aid figures are miniscule compared with the money that must be mobilized to meet global water challenges. Of the total bilateral overseas development assistance (ODA) given by OECD members in 2003, the U.S. contribution of $14.6 billion made up 29.3 percent of the total. However, of the U.S. bilateral ODA given in 2003, a mere 0.5 percent went toward water and sanitation. On a percentage basis, this is the second-lowest sector aid total in the OECD, behind only Portugal, which gave just 0.1 percent of its bilateral ODA. The highest percentage contributors were Germany and Japan at 6.8 percent each.

Next