§ Lord Hunt of Chestertonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What are the policies on the issues of resources, sanitation and flooding that they will be advocating in 2003 at the World Water Forum and during the World Waiter Year. [HL42]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Amos)The Department for International Development supports an integrated approach to water supply, sanitation and hygiene designed to improve health and combat poverty. The department is working with developing countries, other development agencies and financial institutions to ensure that support is provided to develop integrated water resources management and water efficiency plans by 2005 and to try to ensure that the millennium development goal targets to improve access to water and sanitation are achieved.
We aim to assist disaster-prone countries better to manage natural and environmental risks such as flooding through encouraging countries to include risk reduction, disaster management and mitigation in their development planning processes and supporting community initiatives to reduce their vulnerability to major risks.
Our efforts at the Third World Water Forum in Kyoto will be directed towards ensuring that the international community delivers on its promises made at the World Summit on Sustainable Development by moving to an intensive period of implementation.
§ Lord Hunt of Chestertonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether during 2003, the World Water Year, they will be ensuring that all the relevant government departments and agencies providing the United Kingdom's representatives will be advocating consistent policies at the United Nations agencies and international bodies concerned with water issues; and whether the United Kingdom will be increasing its funding to those organisations for these policies. [HL43]
§ Baroness AmosGovernment departments, including DFID, FCO and Defra, are working together with the UK Mission to the UN to ensure that consistent policies and responses on water issues are being advocated and that there is a co-ordinated response to the International Year of Freshwater.
The Government's core funding to UN agencies is determined by our assessment of their effectiveness in using such funds to help reduce poverty and achieve 30WA the millennium development goals. Support to specific initiatives arising from the World Summit on Sustainable Development will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.