Guido Signorino, Department of Economics, Statistics, and Geopolitical Analysis of Territory - University of Messina, Messina, Italy, Elisa Gatto, Department of Economics, Statistics and Geopolitical Analysis, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
WATER POVERTY AND HUMAN WELL-BEING - SOME ANALYTICAL PROPOSALS (assigned to theme
Historically water has always been considered to be a critically important resource, because without it ecosystems cannot survive. Similarly, human evolution simply would not be possible without water. The extended literature on poverty only partially analyses the relationship between natural resources availability and conditions of economic impairment. Water access and the different water distribution schemes may play a substantial role in the determination of poverty conditions. In the context of water provision the dimension of domestic water use assumes a special meaning being linked to the direct satisfaction of potable human water needs and the supply of basic sanitation requirements; it seems then important to define precise criteria that drive the resource allocation mechanism to different uses. The starting point of our analysis is the measurement of social water need, defined as the amount of resource that is needed to guarantee at least a predetermined minimum standard of water provision for domestic uses. The aim of the paper is to set out useful indications about the measurement of human well-being through those variables that directly relate to water access and its availability. This is made possible through a modification of the Human Development Index (HDI) which adds, to the original structure of the index, a fourth dimension represented by an index of the average population water access. Finally we define a water poverty index (WPI) which captures both the incidence of a water poverty condition and its intensity; this will enable to envisage a situation of water poverty that originates either from an unequal distribution of the resource or from cases in which deprivation is defined in terms of inadequate satisfaction of basic needs. Applying the WPI to available data relative to water supply and water access by countries enables to obtain a ranking criterion providing comparative and indicative estimations of the kind and amount of needed investment in water infrastructure.
submitted 2005-06-14 17:13:31.580
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