Republic of Kiribati pilot project: a whole of Government approach to water policy and planning : final report

The European Union has established a Programme for Water Governance (PfWG), for three regions, Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. A successful Pacific region submission in 2002 by the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) proposed three pilot studies in Fiji Islands, Kiribati, and the Solomon Islands for water governance at different scales: national, major utility and local village, island or catchment based. Increasing demographic trends, hydrogeology, climatic variation and change, urbanisation and the impacts of human activities all combine to impose significant risks to water resources in small island nations. The challenges faced in the water and sanitation sector in small island states are amongst the most difficult in the world. They require a strategic, coordinated whole-of-government approach, in partnership with island communities, that incorporates the existing expertise and experience throughout the government and community sectors and which represents the hopes and needs of communities for adequate water and sanitation.