G8 seeks to improve aid delivery, water access
Date: 04-Jun-03
Country: FRANCE
In its action plan for famine, issued during a summit in the French spa town of Evian, the G8 said it would tackle immediate food shortages, which in Africa had been estimated by the U.N. World Food Programme at around 1.2 million tonnes.
"We will improve the efficiency, timeliness and responsiveness of our own contributions of food aid, cash and items other than food...to meet emergency needs," it said.
It said more than 40 million people risked starvation in Africa alone.
The G8 also called for more efforts to secure more safe drinking water but promised no fresh funds and ran into criticism for encouraging private sector participation.
The G8's "Water Action Plan" offered to support countries that prioritised safe drinking water. The G8 added they would promote public-private partnerships (PPPs), where appropriate.
"We are committed to assisting...countries that make a political commitment to prioritise safe drinking water and basic sanitation...," the G8 said in a three-page communique.
But environmental lobby Friends of the Earth criticised the lack of financial commitments, saying the plan merely advocated a central role for multinational corporations.
"The G8's good intentions are hard to believe when they can't put a figure in it," Helen Ballande of FoE France said.
"Access to water and sanitation...should not be regulated by the invisible hands of the free market and the interests of water multinationals," she added, noting the summit's location in Evian, home to the bottled water brand owned by Danone (DANO.PA).
