Saarc nations to form nat'l body

The South Asian nations, in the 4th Saarc sanitation conference that concluded in Colombo yesterday, have decided to establish a national body in each member country to tackle the sanitation challenge in the region.
Some 45 percent of South Asians still defecate in open spaces, and over 700 million people in the region remain out of sanitation coverage with a vast majority in India.
The countries also signed the Colombo Declaration at the end of the 4th South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN IV), according to official sources.
In the declaration, the Saarc states decided to "develop time-bound plans and to allocate and mobilise resources for delivering on all the previous SACOSAN commitments."
The delegates also came up with three important issues -- the need for dedicated funding, increasing available funding, and using the available funds within stipulated timeframe.
The delegations from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka participated in the conference held on April 4-7.
Over 300 professionals representing government, civil society, and private sector of Saarc countries attended it.
The objective of the SACOSAN was to tackle the sanitation and hygiene challenges in South Asian region. A five-year drive for sustainable sanitation will be its ultimate aim.
The Colombo Declaration on sanitation has set to implement government and private projects to meet the challenges. Sanitation and hygiene projects set out in the previous declarations such as Dhaka-2003, Islamabad-2006, and New Delhi-2008 will be implemented as a joint mechanism together with the Colombo Declaration 2011.
Barbara Evans Peal, spokesperson of SACOSAN Water, Sanitation, and Development, said Sri Lanka is relatively in better place than other South Asian countries.
Bangladesh and Pakistan also have had significant growth on sanitation, she said, adding that Sri Lanka has already achieved its MDG targets and has committed to overcome the sanitation problems.