Asian Water Development Outlook 2020: Advancing Water Security across Asia and the Pacific

By Asian Development Bank

The Asian Water Development Outlook (AWDO) 2020 assesses national water security across Asia and the Pacific, focusing on five key dimensions: rural, economic, urban, environmental, and water-related disaster. Despite considerable achievements in Asia and the Pacific since the AWDO 2013 edition, 1.5 billion people in rural areas and 0.6 billion in urban areas still lack adequate water supply and sanitation. Sound water management and access to reliable service delivery remain vital to inclusive economic growth and social well-being, especially after the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. This edition includes two new sections highlighting the importance of finance and governance to water security as well as case studies demonstrating how the AWDO has influenced policy development in four countries.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Asian Development Bank
• Release date: Dec 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9789292626174

Book preview

ASIAN WATER DEVELOPMENT OUTLOOK 2020

ADVANCING WATER SECURITY ACROSS ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

DECEMBER 2020

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO)

© 2020 Asian Development Bank

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Some rights reserved. Published in 2020.

ISBN 978-92-9262-616-7 (print); 978-92-9262-617-4 (electronic); 978-92-9262-618-1 (ebook)

Publication Stock No. SGP200412-2

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22617/SGP200412-2

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Notes:

In this publication, $ refers to United States dollars.

ADB recognizes Korea as the Republic of Korea.

All photos are by ADB.

Cover design by Kookie Trivino.

On the cover: Children play and fetch water from the community tap at the Behala slum area, Kolkata, India (photo by Amit Verma).

Contents

Tables, Figures, and Boxes

Foreword by the Asian Development Bank

I am very pleased to introduce the Asian Water Development Outlook 2020: Advancing Water Security in Asia and the Pacific (AWDO 2020), the fourth edition of the flagship AWDO series.

Water security plays a fundamental role in inclusive and sustainable economic growth, social well-being, resilience to water-related disasters, and a healthy environment. The need for water security is even more urgent due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic because access to water, sanitation, and hygiene offers the primary line of defense against the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases. However, far too many people across Asia and the Pacific continue to suffer from limited access to these vital services. At the same time, the region has been inundated by water from natural disasters that has ravaged economies and human welfare.

The new AWDO edition serves as a tangible and reliable knowledge resource for ADB’s developing members as they address the multifaceted challenges of water security. For example, using updated methodologies and in-depth analysis of water financing and governance developed in partnership with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), this edition sheds light on issues that are critical to ensuring water security and equal access for poor and vulnerable groups.

AWDO 2020 reveals how national water security has been improving across Asia and the Pacific since water security was first quantified in AWDO 2013 along the following five key dimensions: (i) rural household water security (water and sanitation); (ii) economic water security (water to sustainably satisfy economic growth); (iii) urban water security (water and sanitation and flood management); (iv) environmental water security (catchment and aquatic health and environmental governance); and (v) water-related disaster security (resilience against droughts, floods, and storms). While many of ADB’s developing members are showing substantial progress, national water security still faces challenges due to uncontrolled urbanization and lagging rural development, vulnerability to weather and climate events, and environmental pressures.

As is evident from the case studies in this edition, AWDO has become a reference for water policy reform and investment planning. ADB’s developing members are increasingly elevating water security in their development agendas and applying AWDO principles to formulate effective national and subnational water policies. The practical applications, principles, and recommendations of AWDO also align fully with the Sustainable Development Goals and ADB’s Strategy 2030.

To address the persistent challenges to achieving water security in the region, ADB continues to develop hard and soft investments that address climate change, support access to water and sanitation, develop the circular economy and efficient water use, scale up nature-based solutions, and target the underprivileged. We are also supporting governance and financial reforms that manage the trade-offs between development and the environment to strengthen water security responsibly as well as to improve the performance of existing assets and mobilize new sources of financing.

AWDO 2020 was developed with invaluable support from our partners, which include the International WaterCentre, the International Water Management Institute, the Korean Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, the OECD, and the Government of Australia. The findings in this edition offer convincing evidence that partnership from all members of society is crucial to strengthening our region’s water security, through their much-needed resources and perspectives on capacity building, governance, finance, and infrastructure development.

We are all stakeholders in water security, and I look forward to working together for a more water-secure and resilient Asia and Pacific region.

Masatsugu Asakawa

President

Asian Development Bank

Foreword by the Asia-Pacific Water Forum

The Asian Water Development Outlook (AWDO) 2020, the fourth in the series, is an intellectual product born from the expanded collaboration between the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and its developing members. Spearheaded by ADB and the Asia-Pacific Water Forum, AWDO 2020 produces updated signposts for decision-makers to understand progress made, identify remaining gaps, and, more importantly, guide future investment and finance decisions to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals of water security in Asia.

Supported generously by the Government of Australia, AWDO 2020 comes at a critical time when a global pandemic has paused the economy and challenged the resilience of the already vulnerable infrastructure, exacerbating weak governance, constrained financial capital, and inadequate capability of many ADB member countries in securing water sustainability. The intensifying climate change impacts further compromise our capacity to respond effectively to the crises.

AWDO is a data-driven and evidence-based report. The 2020 edition shows an improvement of data sets, the evolution of the indices, and depth of knowledge and insights, as conveyed by the sophistication of the assessments through the interplays of the five key dimensions (KDs). Two important crosscutting features—governance and finance—are enhanced by active engagement with reputable partners from the academic world and international organizations. Needless to say, AWDO 2020 displays rigorous analysis and high-standard collaboration.

In the