Thanks to our supporters at the first stage of voting stage (for sector experts/ members of UN Team Works), we managed to be in the top 10 recommendations for Water in the Rio+20 Dialogues. The recommendation was to “Expand and strengthen global mechanisms for the monitoring of water, sanitation and hygiene”. This recommendation comes out of the consultative process that has been initiated by the WHO / UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme to propose future goals, targets and indicators for the sector, as well as a global monitoring framework to compile, analyse and disseminate key sector information. Monitoring is the basis of rational planning, investment and impact assessment, and ensuring the human right to safe drinking-water and sanitation. Hence it underlies all the other recommendations.

A few days ago a second round of voting has started, this time also involving the general public.

Now, without registering and in a really user friendly list, you have 7 days to vote which ones are most needed.

Go to: vote.riodialogues.org/?l=en

Click on the Water theme, and please support our recommendation “Expand and strengthen global mechanisms for the monitoring of water, sanitation and hygiene”.

In June, the selected recommendations will be discussed in the Sustainable Development Dialogues and the top 30 will be conveyed directly to world leaders and decision makers at the Rio+20 Conference.

Your contribution is highly valued,

Guy Hutton

Coordinator of JMP post-2015 process

Dear Fanny,

Thanks for your posting. Your posting actually prompted me (in my role as administrator) to open up a new category in the forum called "global political processes" and I have moved some of the postings which were scattered around the forum to here now. I encourage people with an interest in this category to post here in the future.

You mention monitoring and the post-2015 MDG debate. In the same category as your posting you can now also see previous postings where it was discussed what a new "sanitation MDG" could look like. Perhaps this is helpful for your deliberations (see here on the forum: forum.susana.org/forum/categories/80-glo...anitation-monitoring)?

On a related topic, Guy Hutton has recently sent the following request to people in the sector, which I copy here for a wider audience:

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From: Guy Hutton
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2012 11:32 PM
Subject: Provide your support to an improved global WASH monitoring system in advance of Rio+20

Dear Colleagues,

If you want a higher profile for water, sanitation and hygiene in the global discussions and future development framework, I urge you to read on, and support the initiative described below.

Water is one of 10 thematic “Dialogues” being held at the Commission on Sustainable Development 20, in Rio de Janeiro on 18 June.

A consultation by Internet has been opened to feed into this Dialogue. As coordinator of the JMP Post-2015 Monitoring Process, I have posted a recommendation which seeks your support, to "Expand and strengthen global monitoring of water, sanitation and hygiene".

You can access the recommendations at the Rio Dialogues website:
www.riodialogues.org/

You simply have to Request an Invite (centre right box), and when you receive an email, click the link. A box “Welcome to Rio+20” opens - you have to enter the password you want to use and click on “Create account“.

You can join the Water group by clicking the Water Icon on the left-side, and then on the next screen agreeing to join.

The Recommendation I have submitted can be reached directly on:
- www.riodialogues.org/node/244154

If you want to support it, just click "Support". (you can only do this if you follow the procedure above)

Please give this some urgency, as the first stage apparently closes on June 3. Please send it to your colleagues.

If this recommendation is among the top 10 in the areas of Water, it will go forward for voting by the general public after June 3.

Thank you for your support!

Guy
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Regards,
Elisabeth

Hello,

I am an intern at GIZ working in the SV Sustainable Sanitation.
Personally I am also an Austrian delegate within the Climates project (www.climates.fr). Some of the Climates delegates will join the RIO+20 events and will have the opportunity to raise their voice on sub-organized side events. This opportunity will be used to give recommendations which are communicated to the negotiators. There are different topics, Water and Sanitation will be one topic, always focused on sustainable development.

So I want to ask you either as an expert, as an human, as a father/mother, coming from developing countries or developed countries: What do you think should be decided on RIO+20 regarding water and sanitation? What is the direction you think the world should move to? I would be very glad, if I could get further ideas from you, since you are a big community with much more knowledge and experience than just my person. Actually I dont' have so many ideas, what to recommend, I think that it's important to phrase an own post-MDG goal just for water and sanitation.

Let's take this as a chance that the ideas of the Susana members can be heard (at least indirectly) by those negotiators at RIO+20.

For an first impression, I wrote this introduction (focused on sanitation):

It's not just about water. It's also about access to sanitation. Sustainable, improved sanitation, to be best combined with the ecosan concept. A lack of access to sanitation also affects negatively a clean water access. But both topics never got their own Millenium development goal (MDG), are only mentioned within goal 7 - why? Are they not the most basic topics for every person!? Maybe it is, because the topic sanitation is seen as something "dirty". Well, I would say open defecation in slums - this is dirty and unwanted. We have to face and communicate those problems globally. I want, that an own goal for water and sanitation is created (call it goal number 8 ).

Although the UN claimed this year that they would have reached their millenium goals within the water issue, there is still a lack of sanitation - worldwide 2.6 Billion people don't have access to basic sanitation. Especially in African regions the situation became rather worse than better within the last few years (one big reason for this might be the fast growing population).

Lack of sanitation and the missing hand washing hygiene is followed by diseases like diarrhae and cholera. The KfW stated out that every day about 5000 people die because of the results of insufficient sanitation (most of them are younger than 5). Those are nearly as much as deaths caused by AIDS. But still – it’s not a main topic on the agenda.
And it is stated out, that lack of sanitation access has tremendous effects on the national economics because of many million days missing at work and school worldwide per year.

My question: If we assume the realistic approximately value of 30 Euro to build up an improved sanitation access for one person, then we would need about 75 Billion Euro. Why wasn't it possible to mobilize these comparatively small funds within all the last years since the MDG have claimed? To compare: the current rescue action of the Spain bank BANKIA is predicted to cost 23 Billion Euro (and nobody even discuss about it, whether it is necessary or not) - and this will surely have less impact on improving the life standards in developing countries.

Regards,
Fanny