sustainable development 20 years on from the ... - José Eli da Veiga

33
2. Access to basic services
Basic services of water, sanitation, housing, public transport (addressed in the section on urban
<strong>development</strong>) and energy are crucial in determining people’s quality of life and the sustainability of their
environment. Considerable progress has been made in the past few decades in expanding the coverage of
these services. The challenge now is to extend them to the poorest and most isolated areas, and to make
sure that the services delivered are reliable and of good quality.
(a)
Drinking water and sanitation
In <strong>20</strong>10, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 64/292 on the human right to
water and sanitation, which recognizes access to safe and clean drinking water as a human rights that is
essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights. Even before this resolution was adopted, the
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights viewed the right to water as forming part of the
broader right to a decent standard of living. The right to water is also recognized as a component of other
entitlements such as the right to health and proper nourishment. The Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights defines the human right to water as the right of everyone “to sufficient, safe, acceptable,
physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic uses” (CESCR, <strong>20</strong>03). The right to
water is also enshrined in the Millennium Development Goals.
Although the picture remains fairly mixed in the region, significant progress has been made in
expanding drinking water and sanitation services. The proportion of population using an improved source
of drinking water has risen slightly (from 95% in 1990 to 97% in <strong>20</strong>08) in urban areas and considerably
(from 63% to 80%) in rural areas (see figure I.9A). However, 22% of the Latin American and Caribbean
population does not have water piped into the household but relies on public taps or other forms of water
capture. With regard to sanitation, the proportion of the population using improved sanitation facilities
has risen systematically since the early 1990s in both rural and urban areas. Yet in <strong>20</strong>08 (the most recent
year for which data are available), 45% of the rural population and 14% of the urban population —that is,
115 million people altogether— still lacked improved sanitation facilities (see figure I.9B)
(WHO/UNICEF, <strong>20</strong>10).
Behind the overall figures lie significant variations in access within countries, and a broad range
of definitions for “improved” drinking water and sanitation facilities. Improved drinking water sources
include water piped into a dwelling, plot or yard, for example. For many, the water supply is irregular and
not actually drinkable. Much remains to be done in terms of properly disinfecting drinking water and
reducing problems of leakage and intermittent service, as well as in treating urban sewage and ensuring
the sustainability of services amid growing competition for water, destruction of catchment basins,
contamination and climate change (United Nations, <strong>20</strong>10a) (see chapter II).
Most Latin American and Caribbean countries have introduced charges for drinking water supply
and sanitation services, as with other public services. But few suppliers are able to fully cover the cost of
investment, overheads and maintenance (Fernández and others, <strong>20</strong>09), which makes it difficult to
guarantee <strong>sustainable</strong> access to good quality services (with stable financing), particularly for the poor.
Only in cases where drinking water and sanitation systems were already relatively mature, such as in
Chile, has it been possible to achieve satisfactory, <strong>sustainable</strong> and large-scale service delivery by the
private sector. Public investment continues to play a very important role in water and sanitation in Latin
America and the Caribbean, especially in the poorest regions, because private sector involvement has
proved to be intermittent or un<strong>sustainable</strong> (Ducci, <strong>20</strong>07; Jouravlev, <strong>20</strong>10). These services cannot be made
universal unless they are subsidized for the poor.