SSa2 Sustainable Financing to Ensure Affordable Access to Water and Sanitation: Lessons from the OECD (Part 2)

Organised by: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

Coordinator: Kevin Parris, Policies and Environment Division, Trade and Agriculture Directorate, OECD, 2 Rue Andre-Pascal, 75775 Paris CEDEX 16, France, Email: Kevin.Parris@oecd.org

Chairman: Cecilia Tortajada

XIII^th  WORLD WATER CONGRESS

1-4 September 2008, Montpellier, France

AGENDA - Special Session: Room Pasteur

14.00 – 17.30  1^st September

Sustainable financing to ensure affordable access to
water and sanitation: lessons from the OECD

Chair for Parts 1 and 2: Cecilia Tortajada
President of the International Water Resources Association

Part 1: 14.00 – 15.30

·  Overview of the OECD Programme on “Sustainable financing to ensure affordable access to water and sanitation”
Monica Scatasta, OECD Secretariat, Paris

·  The challenges of designing and implementing water pricing strategies
Monica Scatasta, OECD Secretariat, Paris

Sustainable management of water in agriculture across OECD countries
Kevin Parris, OECD Secretariat, Paris

·  Discussant of the OECD presentations
Jonathan Woolley, Coordinator CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food, Colombo, Sri Lanka

·  Open discussion among the Session participants

Break: 15.30 – 16.00

Part 2: 16.00 – 17.30

·  Sustainable financing of water and sanitation: The role of strategic financial planning
Peter Börkey, OECD Secretariat, Paris

Optimising private sector participation in water infrastructure
Celine Kaufmann, OECD Secretariat, Paris

·  Discussant of the OECD presentations
James E. Nickum, Asian Water and Resources Institute,
Tokyo, Japan

Open discussion among the Session participants

Presentation Abstracts and
CV’s for the Chair, Discussants and Presenters

Chair: Cecilia Tortajada

CV: Dr. Cecilia Tortajada is the President, International Water Resources Association; Scientific Director, International Centre for Water, Zaragoza, Spain; Visiting Professor, Lee Kuan Yew School for Public Policy, Singapore; and Vice President, Third World Centre for Water Management. She has been an advisor to major international institutions like FAO, UNDP, CDG, InWEnt, and the Governments of Cameroon, India, Turkey, and Republic of Congo on various aspects of water resources and environmental management. She is currently working on development of national and international policies for water governance and sustainable water resources management; development of new and innovative approaches for poverty alleviation through integrated regional development; monitoring and evaluation of major water development projects; analysis of global environment and water-related issues; and public participation, education and capacity building. She is the Editor of the International Journal of Water Resources Development, and past-member of the Editorial Board of Water International.

Discussant: Jonathan Woolley

CV: Dr Jonathan Woolley is Coordinator of the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food an inter-institutional joint venture with more than 200 active institutional partners. He has over 30 years’ professional experience and residence in developing countries, working first as a researcher and trainer in national, regional and international agricultural institutions, with a strong interest in farmers’ cropping systems. He then focussed on the preparation and review of development projects that addressed participatory natural resources management, through a wide range of consultancies for multilateral and bilateral agencies, private firms and international organisations. Change management – in people and institutions – and practical impact have been the main interests of his recent leadership of programs directed at institutional reform and increasing research relevance. Jonathan has significant practical experience in some 50 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Discussant: James E. Nickum

CV: Dr. James E. Nickum, an institutional economist, is Chair of the Publications Committee of the International Water Resources Association, Editor-in-Chief of Water International, a founding partner of the Asian Water and Resources Institute, and Professor at Tokyo Jogakkan College. A former Senior Fellow at the East-West Center, he has done extensive consulting with UN organizations, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and other international and regionally based bodies. Now a permanent resident of Japan, he has worked on China’s water management issues for the past forty years. He has also been involved in projects of a regional or global scale, including urban-rural water use conflicts, environmental governance, international waters in South Asia, and worldwide lake basin management, gave a plenary speech at the Stockholm Water Week in 2005, and occasionally takes up a Japan-specific topic as well.

Overview of the OECD Programme on “Sustainable financing to ensure affordable access to water and sanitation”
 Monica Scatasta

Abstract: There are increasing calls within the international community for (1) strengthened efforts to ensure adequate provision of affordable water and sanitation services, both to ensure basic human rights and as a prerequisite for economic development, and (2) improving management of water resources and associated watersheds in a way that is both economically and environmentally sustainable, to respond to mounting competition for water use, continued deterioration of the resources and the uncertainties posed by climate change. The OECD Horizontal Water Programme addresses the economic basis for sustainable water service provision and sound water management.

The challenges of designing and implementing water pricing strategies
 Monica Scatasta

Abstract: Pricing instruments can be useful in addressing both sets of water-related challenges. Their design and implementation has proved difficult, however, as they are often called upon to achieve a mix of economic, financial, social and environmental objectives, and policy-makers have had difficulties identifying and resolving the trade-offs between these sometimes conflicting goals. Providing water services and managing resources is ultimately a local issue, with no one-size-fits-all solution. But the critical challenges that all countries face with regards to water-related issues emphasize a pressing need to take stock of recent experience, identify good practices and develop tools and other practical approaches to assist different levels of governments and other stakeholders. In the context of its Horizontal Programme, OECD has been looking at recent advancement in the theory of water pricing and actual reforms in various OECD and non-OECD countries. The objective is to understand whether specific constraints exist to the application of first-best solutions and highlight good practices that appear to have struck a balance between different and possibly competing policy objectives.

CV: Monica Scatasta has been working on environment and development issues for 15 years, with over 10 years of experience in the water sector. She joined OECD in 2007 to coordinate the OECD Horizontal Water Programme, within which she also leads the work on water pricing issues. Monica is seconded to OECD from the European Investment Bank, where she is a Senior Economist in the Water and Environmental Protection Division, in charge of a diverse array of water and sanitation projects in Europe, Sub- Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East. Prior to joining the EIB, Monica spent 9 years in Washington, D.C., where she worked for the World Bank and the International Food Policy Research Institute. She also worked in Brazil as the economist on the expert team supporting the Ministry of the Environment, National Water Agency and Paraíba do Sul River Basin Committee for the creation of the Basin’s water resources management system. Monica holds an MA in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Bologna, an MA in International Economics and Environmental Policy from The Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, and an M.Sc. (ABD) in Systems Analysis from The Johns Hopkins University's Dept. of Geography and Environmental Engineering (jointly with the Dept. of Economics).

Sustainable management of water in agriculture across OECD countries
Kevin Parris

Abstract: With global concerns over rising food and energy prices increasing competition for water resources against the backdrop of climate change, policy makers are having to address how to balance and make trade-offs between four vital and interlinked areas of national policy, namely: agriculture, water, energy and the environment. Recent experience indicates that in many countries policies across these four areas have been formulated without explicitly considering their interrelationship in any comprehensive manner. A major challenge, therefore, is to ensure that water resources used by agriculture are best allocated among competing demands so as to: sustain the agricultural industry; produce food, fibre and energy efficiently; minimise pollution and support ecosystems; and meet social aspirations under different property right arrangements and institutional systems and structures. This presentation examines these issues, in the context of an OECD study on the sustainable management of water in agriculture, with particular emphasis on water resource use by agriculture.

CV: Economist in the OECD Trade and Agriculture Directorate, Paris, since 1984, working on policy analysis, with particular focus on agri- environmental issues, especially monitoring environmental performance and policy issues related to management of water in agriculture. Graduated from University of Reading, United Kingdom (1974), and obtained a PhD in agricultural economics from Reading (1980). Previously held academic posts at the Universities of Wales (1977), Oxford (1982) and Reading (1980-81). Previous research positions were held at the UK Foreign Affairs Ministry, London (1978-79); UNCTAD, Geneva (1982); FAO, Rome (1982-83); and was on secondment from OECD (1992/93) with the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics Canberra.

Sustainable financing of water and sanitation:
The role of strategic financial planning
Peter Börkey

Abstract: Adequate supplies of clean water are vital for human health and development. But an important obstacle to achieving water supply and sanitation goals in many countries has been the failure to adequately address financial issues: the costs of achieving goals; how those costs could be minimised; and the challenge of matching costs with available resources. As a consequence, water supply and sanitation systems are frequently not sustainable from the financial point of view, which is leading to their slow deterioration over time and an inability of water utilities to expand services to meet new demand, such as that of the poor. OECD has been addressing this issue by looking into best practice approaches in strategic financial planning around the world and developed the FEASIBLE tool  that can support such approaches.

CV: Peter Börkey has been working on international and local environmental issues for more than 10 years. For the past 9 years he has worked for the OECD, primarily on environmental issues in Central and Eastern Europe. Within the EAP Task Force – an inter-governmental body that promotes environmental cooperation in the region – he has led work on business and environment issues and on the water supply and sanitation sector. More recently he has been leading work in the framework of the OECD Horizontal Water Programme focusing on the financing of water supply and sanitation in developing countries. Before joining the OECD, Mr Börkey worked as a consultant, specialized in environmental economics. Mr Börkey holds degrees in Economics and Engineering from the Technical University of Berlin and University of Grenoble in France.

Optimising Private Sector Participation in Water Infrastructure
Celine Kaufmann

Abstract: Vital for wealth and social development, the water sector faces considerable investment challenges both in terms of the funds required and of the policy and regulatory issues raised. Just halving the proportion of people without access to drinking water and sanitation by 2015 would require investments of some US$30 billion per year, double of the current level. And if public investment has been traditionally strong in the water infrastructure sector, it has fallen short of the tremendous needs. Consequently, many countries have sought the involvement of the private sector to meet these needs and/or to improve the fundamentals of the sectors so that more financing may materialise. Optimising such partnerships for the benefit of all constituencies is a major challenge.

CV: Céline Kauffmann joined the OECD in 2000. She is currently with the OECD Investment Division, leading the work on private sector participation in infrastructure as part of the OECD Programme on Sustainable Financing for Water and Sanitation. She was previously with the OECD Development Centre, coordinating the Development Centre work on the annual African Development Bank / OECD African Economic Outlook  Report. She has special expertise in the socio-economic conditions of African countries and in infrastructure development. She previously participated in the 2000 Transition Report on “Labour Markets, Unemployment and Poverty During the Transition” at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (London) and before that worked at the London School of Economics. Ms. Kauffmann holds a PhD in Economics from the Université Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne.

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For further information on the OECD work on water please visit the website at: www.oecd.org/water

You can also contact Monica Scatasta, Environment Directorate, OECD, email: Monica.Scatasta@oecd.org 

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