5. What would you want governments to do?

Water needs to move up governments’ priority lists. They should strengthen leadership, identify actionable goals and set priorities at different levels – nationally, in individual watersheds/river basins, and locally. And instead of a multiplicity of different agencies acting in silos, governments should aim to build comprehensive water resource management strategies that also take into account the water-food-energy nexus.

Furthermore, governments should aim to bring together stakeholders in watersheds, both at a community and national level to discuss goals and their implementation. Experience with the MDGs shows that political mobilisation for development goals at a global level is not enough.

Discussion on the post-2015 global development goals will have to look at the roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders. One of these stakeholders, namely the private sector, is at the centre of some of the initial ideas when responding to the question:

4. What role and responsibility should the private sector play in delivering these goals?

Part of the role of business in delivering these goals may be commercial, particularly in view of the enormous amount of finance necessary for the maintenance and expansion of the water infrastructure required to achieve the goals formulated.

This post is about question 3:

Which of the original MDG targets should be kept, dropped or added? On the assumption that you would like the post-2015 goals to still include a target on water, how would you frame it? What would be the key measures of progress and success?

First a few words to put the proposals below in context. Water and its different uses (inter alia to grow food, to generate prosperity, for daily life and the survival of individuals) are key to all human societies across the globe; it is a central component of Earth’s ecosystem, and water for survival is a human right. It therefore deserves special attention within the discussion of the post-2015 MDG development goals.

My overall proposal is not to create new targets related to water, but instead we should strengthen and clarify the existing ones.

Firstly, make the target of access to safe water more ambitious than in the MDGs.

The second question:

2. What still remains to be done before 2015 to complete the job started in 2000?

The declared goals for access to safe water were achieved a year ago. But there is widespread agreement that this should by no means be a reason to stop ongoing and future efforts. My proposal, based on discussion with others, is to set a new goal for the remaining years , for at least 120 million people annually getting access to safe water, i.e., the numbers achieved 1975-91.

In my last blog post I promised to further stimulate the discussion with some initial ideas on how to respond to the five questions; based on my own thoughts, feedback received through the blog and direct contact with business and stakeholder colleagues. Here is the first question:

1. Were the original MDG targets helpful in focusing the minds of government, business and civil society on the water crisis and its importance within overall social and economic development?