WaterAid at the G8 blog Friday PM

Friday PM

Everyone's packing up now. Helicopters are whirring overhead delivering the G8 leaders to their next appointment. Obama just left - surrounded by screaming journalists/fans - in a huge jeep on his way to meet the Pope at the Vatican.Before I sign out, I wanted to quickly reflect on the G8 Summit in L'Aquila Italy and the outcome for water and sanitation:

The good:

Great coffee - Berlusconi can be proud of the coffee served at this year's G8. Really the espressos, the macchiatos, the capuccinos, the ristrettos... were all fantastic. Well done.

Accountability - let's see what happens but any mechanism that seeks to track G8 progress on meetings for the promises is a good thing. As one G8 official said 'no more free lunches for the G8 - everyone is going to have focus on delivery'.

Food security - although we don't know how much of the money is new nor where it will come from and G8 movement on this important issue is a step forward.

US engagement on global challenges - let's just say things are very different with the new President...

The bad: Across the board, whether it's health, education or water, this G8 is characterised by poor performance on past commitments. The water and sanitation section of the G8 communique - nothing concrete in the way of action.

The Progress Report on Evian Water Plan - despite the G8 reporting a 'tripling' of G8 aid for water since 2003 and claiming that the Evian Action Plan was a key 'milestone' in this trend, the G8 brushed over the fact that the majority of this increase was due to reconstruction efforts in Iraq. In fact, Africa's share of G8 aid has declined from 24 %to 18 % since 2003.

The G8/Africa Joint Statement on Water and Sanitation - not sure why the G8 thought it was worth releasing this and the water section of the development communique separately. Same words and no commitments.

The ugly:

Squandered political opportunity to build momentum on water - despite resolving to deliver a 'strategic enhancement plan' in 2009. This opportunity was betrayed by a woeful lack of ambition.

Hosting the G8 in a town still recovering from an earthquake where many of the inhabitants are still living in tents and where reconstruction efforts have been delayed by G8 preparations - the best activist slogan I've seen here has been from a group of locals: 'YES WE CAMP'.

So, what's the final verdict?

The G8 leaders and the Italian chair could have used this G8 to build momentum on water and sanitation - capitalising on the progress made in the International Year of Sanitation and adding to the movement behind the Global Framework for Action - but instead squandered this.

However, in delivering a lacklustre communique devoid of concrete actions they did at least not damage other positive efforts. In fact there is much in the communique that makes the case for the Global Framework for Action. So, no real progress by the G8 but hopefully no damage.

Where now?

The Global Framework for Action is now supported by a number of governments, UN agencies, the World Bank and civil society organisations and the first High Level Meeting will be hosted will take place in the spring of 2010.

WaterAid supporters have brought real pressure to bear on the UK government to champion the Global Framework for Action - making it clear the UK must actively champion this initiative at the international level. Together we must all focus on generating anticipation and expectation around the first high level meeting and continue to put pressure on the UK and other governments to lift the bar of ambition for the Global Framework for Action.

Ciao!