• Homepage
  • Policy Briefs
    • Policy Areas
      • Global Cooperation for SDGs Financing
      • Resilient Infrastructure and Financing
      • Inequality, Human Capital and Well-being
      • Migration
      • Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture
      • Open Trade and Sustainable Investment
      • International Finance and Economic Recovery
      • Meaningful Digital Connectivity, Cyber Security, Empowerment
  • IN THE SPOTLIGHT
  • Think Tanks
  • About
  • Contact

About
G20 Insights
  • Policy Briefs
    • Policy Areas
    • Latest Policy Briefs
  • Overarching Visions
  • Think Tanks
  • In The Spotlight
  • G20 Performance
G20 Insights
G20

Policy Area
Global Cooperation for SDGs Financing

G20 Japan

Download as PDF Download as PDF Print
Share:

Global Targets on Drinking Water

  • Taikan Oki (United Nations University)
May 8, 2019 | Last updated: December 10, 2020
Tags: SDGs and Developement Cooperation

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have passed their target year, and are followed by the Sustainable Development Goals. One of the achieved MDG targets was halving the proportion of the Population without sustainable access to safe drinking water. In the course of the MDGs, how and why was the target achieved, and what contributed to the achievement? It was revealed that the major contributors to the achievement of the target were China and India, and that the increase in the proportion of population with access to improved sources was closely associated with economic development in most nations during 1990–2015.


Challenge

The MDG Target 7C-Water, “Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation”, was achieved for the first time in the long history of global targets on drinking water, partially because the targeted water coverage was set at a less ambitious level.

It should also be noted that significant progress in China and India accounted for halving the proportion of people without access to improved water sources, while the other half of the proportion was still left behind. It should be also noted the target on “safe” drinking water was not literally achieved—the proportion of the people with access to “improved water sources” reduced from 24% in 1990 to 11%, less than half, in 2010, however, the indicator of “improved water sources” overestimated the coverage level of “safe” drinking water.

These are the reasons why SDG Target 6.1 was set as “universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all.” SDG Target 6.1 is the most challenging target in the history of global safe drinking water targets, because it aims to leave no one behind, and the monitoring indicators are more specific and demanding. Providing service to accessible (located on premises), available (whenever needed), and safe drinking water (free from faecal and priority chemical contamination) to the 2.1 billion people who currently lack such access, and achieving it by 2030, is truly ambitious.


Proposal

How and why MDGs were achieved should be reviewed.

As we enter the new era of the SDGs, it is meaningful to understand how and why MDG Targets (or its monitoring indicator) were achieved or not achieved, in order to derive experiences that could be potentially useful to promote the challenges to accomplish the new SDG drinking water target. A wide variety of factors should have contributed to the achievement of MDG Targets, such as 1.A on poverty, 7C on water, and 7D on slum dwellers; political factors, flows of funds, and internal efforts of individual countries. Better understandings of the causal relationships among these factors and the achievements of global goals should contribute for more effective and efficient policy making.

In particular, whether the synergetic relationship between drinking water access and economic development will be consistently true during the SDGs period should be further studied.

Target level of global goals should be carefully crafted.

The MDG-target setting on water “to halve the proportion of the population without access to safe drinking water” has been criticized for widening disparity between rich and poor countries and leaving behind the most vulnerable group, since member states and donors tend to invest in less vulnerable groups in order to make a progress easily, as ironically called “picking low hanging fruit”. That is the reason why most of the SDGs targets are set based on the idea “leaving no one behind”, and “achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all” was set as SDG Target 6.1. However, this is not the first time that 100 % coverage was set in global drinking water target. Actually, the targets have been continually revised over more than half a century, with the targeted water coverage swinging between easily achievable levels and 100% coverage, because WHO considered that targets that were too high or too low would fail to encourage developing countries in their efforts to invest in water service expansion. We should learn from past experiences how to set an appropriate target which stimulates the motivations of member states and other stake holders most.

Appropriate indicators should be designed.

Even though it was the first such target ever achieved in the long history of internationally agreed global targets on drinking water, the simplified monitoring indicator could have led to the mistaken conclusion that the MDG target on “safe ” drinking water had literally been achieved, because the indicator of “improved water sources” overestimated the coverage level of “safe” drinking water. A new indicator for drinking water was introduced for SDG Target 6.1, in order to measure the attributes, such as the quality, accessibility and availability of drinking water, which could not be measured by the previous indicator. As such, indicators to monitor the progress of achieving the targets should be designed appropriately based on past experiences.


References

• Fukuda, S., K. Noda, and T. Oki, 2019: How Global Targets on Drinking Water were Developed and Achieved, Nature Sustainability, 2, accepted.

• Oki, T., S. Yano, and N. Hanasaki, 2017: Economic aspects of virtual water trade, Environmental Research Letters, 12(4), 044002.

• Fukuda, S., M. Murakami, K. Noda, and T. Oki, 2016: How Achieving the Millennium Development Goals Increases Subjective Well-Being in Developing Nations, Sustainability, 8, 189.

• Oki, T. and S. Kanae, 2006: Global Hydrological Cycles and World Water Resources, Science, 313(5790), 1068-1072.


Appendix

This policy brief does not intend to criticize the MDG drinking water target, as some other studies have, for leaving the most vulnerable behind. The significant efforts made by developing countries and donors towards the MDG drinking water coverage target were rewarded with an official announcement of its achievement, and that should help them to maintain motivations for pursuing the SDG water coverage target. It should be also reminded that having a challenging target for global water coverage, such as SDG Target 6.1, could be relevant in that such a target stimulates each country’s motivation and investments.



Download as PDF Download as PDF Print
Share:

Edit

Authors

Taikan Oki

Existing Initiatives & Analysis

Implementation Overview
Existing Agreements
Existing Policies and Monitoring
Analysis and Data

    Suggest more existing initiatives and analyses!

    Your suggestions will be sent to the authors.





    *We will only use your contact informations to contact you concerning your request. For further informations on handling your private data you can check our Privacy Policy.

    *necessary fields

    • Working Paper Series

       

       

    • Global Solutions Papers

      To the Economics E-Journal

    The authors are solely responsible for the content and their views do not necessarily
    represent the views or recommendations of their related institutions.

    Report this Page

    Latest Policy Briefs

    • Governing Climate Target, Energy Transition and Environmental Protection
      Embedding The Circular Economy In Global Value Chains: Strategies And Frameworks For A Just And Effective Transition

      The circular economy transition along global value chains provides levers that can curb raw material use, preserve biodiversity, and reduce pollution, including the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs). While the transition to circularity is building momentum, several systemic barriers continue to exist. This policy brief presents eight proposals which facilitate the transition to circular value chains in G20 countries and the Global South. In detail, we recommend: (1) advancing the circular design of products, (2) making international trade and investment policies supportive of circular value chains, (3) enhancing funding for circular economy investments and establishing dedicated financing mechanisms for that purpose, (4) developing environmental, social and governance (ESG) and circularity metrics which drive investment decisions towards sustainability, (5) facilitating a localised transition by harnessing regional resources to shorten value chains (6) ensuring that the transition process is just and inclusive for the Global South by supporting reverse logistics and globally applied extended producer responsibility (EPR) standards, (7) using the public awareness momentum created by the plastics crisis to draw attention to the circular economy imperative, and (8) creating a platform for sharing of best practices in circular policy design, implementation and monitoring.

      • Kirana Agustina (World Resources Institute (WRI) Indonesia)
      • Venkatachalam Anbumozhi (Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA))
      • Romadhani ARDI (Universitas Indonesia)
      • Nicolas Buchoud (Grand Paris Alliance for Metropolitan Development Paris)
      • Milindo Chakrabarti (Research and Information Systems for Developing Countries, New Delhi (India))
      • Alexander Charalambous (Living Prospects)
      • Alex Godoy-Faúndez (Universidad del Desarrollo)
      • Yasuhiko Hotta (Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES))
      • Martin Kochhan (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH)
      • Konstantinos KARAMPOURNIOTIS (Living Prospects)
      • Rainer LANZ (World Trade Organization (WTO))
      • Vesna LAVTIZAR (Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES))
      • Hemant Mallya (Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW))
      • Nam Hoang NGUYEN (Institute of Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment (ISPONRE))
      • Shuva Raha (Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW))
      • Victor STOLZENBURG (World Trade Organization (WTO))
      • Cecilia Wandiga (Centre for Science and Technology Innovations (CSTI))
    • Meaningful Digital Connectivity, Cyber Security, Empowerment
      Digital Pathways to Resilient Communities: Enabling Universal Internet Access and Utilising Citizen-Generated Data

      Smartization of sustainable development that requires equitable digital channels alters the organisation structures of governments, civil societies, and corporations, resulting in a data revolution. The discourse around data revolution brings multiple challenges. This policy brief argues for two-way communication emphasising universal internet access and citizen-generated data as a solution. The policy brief further argues that while universal internet access requires addressing the problem of affordability, infrastructure, and digital governance as an enabler of the development, the utilisation of citizen-generated data is conditional on the citizens’ incentive, smartphone use, web-based applications, social media platforms, big data transparency, and data governance.

      • Noran Abdou (AECOM)
      • Subhasis Bera (International School of Business and Media)
      • Khaled El-Sayed (Synerjies Center for International and Strategic Studies)
      • Yassmine Lotfi (Synerjies Center for International and Strategic Studies)
      • Reham Morsy (Synerjies Center for International and Strategic Studies)
      • Dil B. Rahut (Asian Development Bank Institute)

    In The Spotlight

    Mainstreaming sustainability and global cooperation will need reforms on the global financial system

    Mainstreaming Sustainability and Global Cooperation will Need Reforms on the Global Financial System JAKARTA, 21 FEBRUARY 2022. G20 has always been a forum that recognizes the importance of collective action and inclusive collaboration among major developed and emerging economies worldwide. Inclusive collaboration […]


    A Project By
    Be part of G20 Insights!

    Contribute your expertise by sharing your Policy Brief.

    contact@g20-insights.org
    • Policy Briefs
      • Policy Areas
      • Latest Policy Briefs
      • Overarching Visions
    • Think Tanks
    • About
      • In the spotlight
      • About G20 Insights
      • Contact
      • Support
    Share:
    © Global Solutions Initiative Foundation gemeinnützige GmbH  |   Legal Notice | Privacy