South Africa´s results in water, sanitation and human settlements are broadly recognised as a success story
Historical archive
Published under: Bondevik's 2nd Government
Publisher: Ministry of the Environment
Press release | Date: 20/11/2003 | Last updated: 23/10/2006
Norwegian Minister of Environment, Mr Børge Brende visited the National Housing Summit 2003 in Johannesburg as guest of honor, in his capacity as Chairman of UN Commission on Sustainable Development, CSD. (20.11.03)
Press release
Date: 20.11.03
Chairman of UN Commission on Sustainable Development, Minister Børge Brende:
- South Africa´s results in water, sanitation and human settlements are broadly recognised as a success story
Norwegian Minister of Environment, Mr Børge Brende visited the National Housing Summit 2003 in Johannesburg as guest of honor, in his capacity as Chairman of UN Commission on Sustainable Development, CSD. The minister said in his speech that South Africa should take on a world leadership in reaching the Millennium Development Goals. – I urge South Africa to use your expertise, lessons learned and your best practices to lead the way and guide other countries in their pursuit of achieving the global goals from the Johannesburg Summit in 2002, said Minister Brende.
- South Africa´s results in the areas of water, sanitation and human settlements are broadly recognised as a success story. During the last 12 years, more than 1.5 million homes have been made available for South Africans. This summer you celebrated the 9th million new receiver of free access to safe drinking water in South Africa, said Brende.
Minister Brende is on a three-day visit to South Africa and will have meetings with Minister Brigitte Mabandla, Minister Ronnie Kasrils and Minister Valli Moosa to get more in-depth knowledge of the issues of free basic water policy, the revision of the water law and the integrated water resources management, the decentralization of the total water services, and the success story of the human settlements policy.
Minister Brende announced today that he will invite representatives from three projects, initiated by local authorities or non-governmental-organisations, to participate at the CSD 12 session in New York, in April 2004. The projects are aimed at improving poor urban settlements. A press scholarship will also be made available for 2 South African journalists to cover the CSD 12 session.
Minister Brende was elected new chairman of the CSD in May this year. The CSD has a leading role within the United Nations in monitoring and ensuring implementation of the commitments from last year´s World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.
The specific focus of the upcoming session of the CSD is on water, sanitation and human settlements, and what is needed to reach the targets established in the Millennium Development Goals and in the Johannesburg Declaration:
- By 2015, halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water
- By 2015, halve the number of people without access to basic sanitation
- By 2020, have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers
- By 2005, stop the non-sustainable use and exploitation of water resources and develop national integrated water resource and management plans, with support to developing countries
- I know that I can count on South Africa and the organizations represented here today to work with us to ensure that we deliver on our promises and commitments. We can achieve improved quality of life for all citizens by developing sound strategies and focusing on good governance, and by giving political priority to the upgrading of existing slums, said Brende.
Contact: Press officer Ingun Larsen 92 60 77 42