Tiempo Climate Newswatch

Anders Berntell, head of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) underlined the importance of water quality in the run-up to World Water Week. "We haven't given enough emphasis to the quality of the resource," he said. "So that has been the sort of the orphan child of international water discussions. And I think that it's really time that we put the spotlight on the water quality challenge." He highlighted three priority areas: water-borne diseases; widespread use of chemicals; and the shift of polluting industries from the western world to developing countries.

According to the United Nations, more than 800 million people have no access to safe drinking water and 2.5 billion people don't have access to decent sanitation. Asha-Rose Migiro, United Nations deputy secretary-general, has warned that the world is likely to miss the Millennium Development Goals sanitation target by a billion people. "Access to clean water and adequate sanitation are a pre-requisite for lifting people out of poverty," she said. Alongside climate change, the issue of water consumption in food production will also be discussed during World Water Week, which is organized by SIWI.

Growing support for a "Green Fund" to support developing nation respond to climate change was evident at a meeting of environment ministers in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss climate finance. "We are hoping that we can make a very formal decision [at the Cancún climate summit in December] regarding the establishment of the fund and at the same time decide on how to make this fund be able to channel resources immediately, because there is this sense of urgency," said Patricia Espinosa, Mexican foreign minister. The fund would dispense up to US$100 billion annually by the year 2020.

United States negotiator Todd Stern warned that agreement on other developing country issues - notably, curbs on greenhouse gas emissions and monitoring of national pledges - would be a prerequisite. "This has to be part of a package," he said. "That doesn't mean that you can't negotiate quite far down the road on this... [but] all of those key elements have to move, not just one or two." According to a Reuters overview, it is unclear how much of the US$29.8 billion pledged as climate support for the period 2010-12 to date is "new and additional" money, as specified by the Copenhagen Accord. For example, much of the substantial Japanese commitment of $US15 billion represents funding already committed under the Cool Earth Partnership.

An independent review has called for an overhaul of the management of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), including the creation of an executive committee that would include members outside of the IPCC. "The IPCC needs to strengthen its procedures to handle ever-larger and increasingly complex climate assessments as well as the more intense public scrutiny coming from a world grappling with how best to respond to climate change," said Robbert Dijkgraaf, co-chair of the InterAcademy Council, convenor of the review, and president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science.

The review was commissioned following criticism of the IPCC when errors were found in its latest assessment reports. It advises the IPCC to avoid policy advocacy and to only make predictions when there is firm evidence. It also recommends adoption of a "rigorous" conflict of interest policy. The head of the United Nations Environment Programme, Achim Steiner, noted that the report reaffirms the integrity, importance and validity of the IPCC’s work, while recognizing areas for improvement. "These recommendations underscore that the IPCC remains the premier body for undertaking the risk assessment needed in such a complex field where knowledge – especially in respect to likely regional impacts – remains imperfect and where new knowledge is constantly being generated," he said.