ECLAC
G` N14
l1vJtwr r1?1,l0lii v
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES TOWARDS
'THE 13 . SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
New York, Monday 11 April 2005
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
Presented by Joseluis Samaniego
Chief, Sustainable Development and Human Settlements Division
United Nations ECLAC
His Excellency Ambassador John Ashe, Chair of the CSD 13, other members of the CSD 13
Bureau, member states of the CSD, representatives of other UN member countries, colleagues of
the other regional commissions, representatives of other UN agencies and programs,
representatives of major groups, ladies and gentlemen :
It is with great pleasure that I take this opportunity to address myself to the CSD in order to
briefly present some ideas that we think should be considered in the decision making process of
policies towards sustainable development in the issues of water, sanitation and human
settlements .
These ideas are the outcome of two years of work since 2003, when the biannual cycle of the
work of the Commission was established in order to analyze sustainable development issues with
a review and a policy recommendation process . Many regional forums and meetings produced
these outcomes which today we present and put under your consideration :
Regarding water and sanitation issues, ccurrently in the region, only 50% of the population uses
sewage facilities and 31% of the population has wastewater facilities in situ . Figures show that
approximately 105 million people lack access to wastewater treatment . In 2001, only 13 .7% of
the region's wastewater received some form of treatment before being emptied into other bodies
of water . The infrastructure investment required to overcome this deficit is estimated in US$36
billion, representing 2% of the region's GDP according to Inter-American Development Bank
(IDB) figures for 2002 . However, these figures do not take into account the quality of services or
the state of infrastructure maintenance .
Additionally, privatized water resources services are in crisis in the region as a result of poor
regulation, unrealistic payment agreements, lack of provision for the poor, and poor control of
price transfers . In addition, water allocation systems are rigid, thus blocking efficient reallocation
of them.
We would recommend the following :
Implementing Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and efficiency
plans, through master plans (not necessarily rigid, defined in terms of national
economic, social and environmental objectives and requiring strong institutional set ups) .
Managing competing uses (which it is not easy) : Competitions among existing and new
uses must be solved through water reallocation (it could take place through market
mechanisms, or in an administrative way. Markets are usually more efficient, but require
careful regulation) ; competing uses need a substantive framework for conflict solution.
Enhancing Water Productivity: stable and reliable system of water rights enhances
productivity, creating trust to invest . Properly regulated water markets enhance
productivity, facilitating efficient reallocation .
Meeting the financing challenge : The ability to pay for services is contingent upon
macroeconomic performance . The necessary condition to pay for services is good
national economic performance . Without it, services are unaffordable, no matter what
contracts and regulations say .
Enabling conditions that should be considered in order to improve water and
sanitation services:
?
To have efficient and very professional state water administration, organized at
the national level, with regional delegations ;
?
To have a stable system of water rights, protected under property provisions of
the Constitution ; which encourages investment in water related activities ;
?
Water rates and purveyors revenues should not be tied to foreign currencies,
preventing unsustainable processes ;
?
To have a system of rate subsidies for the poor. If necessary cross subsidies must
be used
?
Water policies should be coordinated and integrated with other sectoral and
marketing policies in agriculture, mining, fisheries, etc .
Regarding human settlements, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is the most urbanized
region in the developing world, with an urbanization level rivaling that of many industrialized
countries . The region's urbanization level rose from 71% in 1990 to 75% in 2000, at which time
its urban population amounted to 380 million, as against 127 million rural inhabitants . Although
urbanization processes slowed during the past decade, serious challenges continue to exist in the
region's urban settlements :
A scarcity of public services,
Marked social inequalities in habitat conditions,
Social and spatial segregation, inequity and poverty,
Unemployment and increased economic vulnerability,
Environmental degradation,
Complexities at the governmental structures for the provision of urban environmental
service,
Pollution,
Vulnerability to technological and natural disasters .
In two opportunities (2003 and 2004), in the frame of regional political Forums (MINURVI
Forums), regional policy options and possible actions in the area of human settlements were
debated and received political support .
The XII Meeting of Ministers of Housing and Urban Development of Latin America and the
Caribbean (MINURVI) (La Paz, Bolivia, 5-7 November 2003), reaffirmed, in the framework of
the commitments and goals agreed by the Heads of State of the Millennium Summit 2000, the
commitment to prioritize poverty alleviation, expressed in different forms of social - spatial
inequity, such as : segregation, differences in urban and rural quality of life, insecurity,
vulnerability to disasters, access inequity and legal security of land ownership, housing and basic
services .
The XIII Forum of Ministers of Housing and Urban Development of Latin America and the
Caribbean (MINURVI), (San Jose, Costa Rica, 25 - 28 October, 2004), identified proposals for
future actions and the guidelines for policies and programs based on the following strategies :
a. Land production and improvement of access to land with emphasis on vulnerable
populations.
b. Provision of and access to basic services and infrastructure .
c. Improvement of housing quality and building new housing .
d . Improvement of public spaces and social infrastructure .
e. Provision of spaces for the development of productive activities and generation of
employment.
The following political recommendations that should be considered emerged from these
meetings :
Improving the operation of land markets and allocating land for low-cost housing,
through the following instruments :
- Creation of land reserves .
- Use or re-use of vacant lots .
Housing the urban poor : Trying to solve the problem through the market involves
supply as well as demand problems .
As regards supply problems, the public sector's main role is to create an enabling
institutional environment in order to avoid deregulated construction and ensure
private-sector accountability .
On the demand side, Mortgage credit can help to solve the lack of effective
demand due to the low-income levels of slum dwellers. The design of a subsidy
policy becomes essential .
Upgrading urban slums.
Includes a legal framework that permits intermediate tenure,
Expand tenure regularization programs to include privately owned land,
Include secure cadastres property registries for both public and privately owned
land;
Institute subsidies for registering deeds ;
Increase oversight of tenure security processes so that they are not implemented
in environmentally insecure or particularly high-risk areas
Scaling up microfinance schemes and promoting informal savings institutions to
benefit a larger number of poor
Fostering formal financial instruments and institutions appears to be a better option for
Latin American countries, although there have been some successful experiences with the
informal sector .
Integrating land-use planning, infrastructure development and transport planning,
through the following policies and instruments :
Enhancing the role of public spaces within land-use planning,
Integrating transport technology into an urban development model,
Making the city's main streets pedestrian-friendly .
The operating procedures for these policy options are :
- The use of high-capacity transport
- The implementation of exclusive transport lanes .
Land-use planning and reducing vulnerability, through :
- Investment in prevention and mitigation of natural disasters ;
- Incorporation of urban vulnerability issues in land use planning instruments
- Incorporation of participatory risk reduction planning and risk maps in regional
(river basin) and national land use instruments, as well as risk reduction criteria in
investment decision-making .
l1vJtwr r1?1,l0lii v
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES TOWARDS
'THE 13 . SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
New York, Monday 11 April 2005
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
Presented by Joseluis Samaniego
Chief, Sustainable Development and Human Settlements Division
United Nations ECLAC
His Excellency Ambassador John Ashe, Chair of the CSD 13, other members of the CSD 13
Bureau, member states of the CSD, representatives of other UN member countries, colleagues of
the other regional commissions, representatives of other UN agencies and programs,
representatives of major groups, ladies and gentlemen :
It is with great pleasure that I take this opportunity to address myself to the CSD in order to
briefly present some ideas that we think should be considered in the decision making process of
policies towards sustainable development in the issues of water, sanitation and human
settlements .
These ideas are the outcome of two years of work since 2003, when the biannual cycle of the
work of the Commission was established in order to analyze sustainable development issues with
a review and a policy recommendation process . Many regional forums and meetings produced
these outcomes which today we present and put under your consideration :
Regarding water and sanitation issues, ccurrently in the region, only 50% of the population uses
sewage facilities and 31% of the population has wastewater facilities in situ . Figures show that
approximately 105 million people lack access to wastewater treatment . In 2001, only 13 .7% of
the region's wastewater received some form of treatment before being emptied into other bodies
of water . The infrastructure investment required to overcome this deficit is estimated in US$36
billion, representing 2% of the region's GDP according to Inter-American Development Bank
(IDB) figures for 2002 . However, these figures do not take into account the quality of services or
the state of infrastructure maintenance .
Additionally, privatized water resources services are in crisis in the region as a result of poor
regulation, unrealistic payment agreements, lack of provision for the poor, and poor control of
price transfers . In addition, water allocation systems are rigid, thus blocking efficient reallocation
of them.
We would recommend the following :
Implementing Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and efficiency
plans, through master plans (not necessarily rigid, defined in terms of national
economic, social and environmental objectives and requiring strong institutional set ups) .
Managing competing uses (which it is not easy) : Competitions among existing and new
uses must be solved through water reallocation (it could take place through market
mechanisms, or in an administrative way. Markets are usually more efficient, but require
careful regulation) ; competing uses need a substantive framework for conflict solution.
Enhancing Water Productivity: stable and reliable system of water rights enhances
productivity, creating trust to invest . Properly regulated water markets enhance
productivity, facilitating efficient reallocation .
Meeting the financing challenge : The ability to pay for services is contingent upon
macroeconomic performance . The necessary condition to pay for services is good
national economic performance . Without it, services are unaffordable, no matter what
contracts and regulations say .
Enabling conditions that should be considered in order to improve water and
sanitation services:
?
To have efficient and very professional state water administration, organized at
the national level, with regional delegations ;
?
To have a stable system of water rights, protected under property provisions of
the Constitution ; which encourages investment in water related activities ;
?
Water rates and purveyors revenues should not be tied to foreign currencies,
preventing unsustainable processes ;
?
To have a system of rate subsidies for the poor. If necessary cross subsidies must
be used
?
Water policies should be coordinated and integrated with other sectoral and
marketing policies in agriculture, mining, fisheries, etc .
Regarding human settlements, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is the most urbanized
region in the developing world, with an urbanization level rivaling that of many industrialized
countries . The region's urbanization level rose from 71% in 1990 to 75% in 2000, at which time
its urban population amounted to 380 million, as against 127 million rural inhabitants . Although
urbanization processes slowed during the past decade, serious challenges continue to exist in the
region's urban settlements :
A scarcity of public services,
Marked social inequalities in habitat conditions,
Social and spatial segregation, inequity and poverty,
Unemployment and increased economic vulnerability,
Environmental degradation,
Complexities at the governmental structures for the provision of urban environmental
service,
Pollution,
Vulnerability to technological and natural disasters .
In two opportunities (2003 and 2004), in the frame of regional political Forums (MINURVI
Forums), regional policy options and possible actions in the area of human settlements were
debated and received political support .
The XII Meeting of Ministers of Housing and Urban Development of Latin America and the
Caribbean (MINURVI) (La Paz, Bolivia, 5-7 November 2003), reaffirmed, in the framework of
the commitments and goals agreed by the Heads of State of the Millennium Summit 2000, the
commitment to prioritize poverty alleviation, expressed in different forms of social - spatial
inequity, such as : segregation, differences in urban and rural quality of life, insecurity,
vulnerability to disasters, access inequity and legal security of land ownership, housing and basic
services .
The XIII Forum of Ministers of Housing and Urban Development of Latin America and the
Caribbean (MINURVI), (San Jose, Costa Rica, 25 - 28 October, 2004), identified proposals for
future actions and the guidelines for policies and programs based on the following strategies :
a. Land production and improvement of access to land with emphasis on vulnerable
populations.
b. Provision of and access to basic services and infrastructure .
c. Improvement of housing quality and building new housing .
d . Improvement of public spaces and social infrastructure .
e. Provision of spaces for the development of productive activities and generation of
employment.
The following political recommendations that should be considered emerged from these
meetings :
Improving the operation of land markets and allocating land for low-cost housing,
through the following instruments :
- Creation of land reserves .
- Use or re-use of vacant lots .
Housing the urban poor : Trying to solve the problem through the market involves
supply as well as demand problems .
As regards supply problems, the public sector's main role is to create an enabling
institutional environment in order to avoid deregulated construction and ensure
private-sector accountability .
On the demand side, Mortgage credit can help to solve the lack of effective
demand due to the low-income levels of slum dwellers. The design of a subsidy
policy becomes essential .
Upgrading urban slums.
Includes a legal framework that permits intermediate tenure,
Expand tenure regularization programs to include privately owned land,
Include secure cadastres property registries for both public and privately owned
land;
Institute subsidies for registering deeds ;
Increase oversight of tenure security processes so that they are not implemented
in environmentally insecure or particularly high-risk areas
Scaling up microfinance schemes and promoting informal savings institutions to
benefit a larger number of poor
Fostering formal financial instruments and institutions appears to be a better option for
Latin American countries, although there have been some successful experiences with the
informal sector .
Integrating land-use planning, infrastructure development and transport planning,
through the following policies and instruments :
Enhancing the role of public spaces within land-use planning,
Integrating transport technology into an urban development model,
Making the city's main streets pedestrian-friendly .
The operating procedures for these policy options are :
- The use of high-capacity transport
- The implementation of exclusive transport lanes .
Land-use planning and reducing vulnerability, through :
- Investment in prevention and mitigation of natural disasters ;
- Incorporation of urban vulnerability issues in land use planning instruments
- Incorporation of participatory risk reduction planning and risk maps in regional
(river basin) and national land use instruments, as well as risk reduction criteria in
investment decision-making .