The original aim of this study was to serve as an input for the Regional Preparatory Conference of Latin America and the Caribbean for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 23 and 24 October 2001. The substance of the present document, in which an overview of the sustainable development situation in the region since the Rio Summit is offered for consideration by governments, is largely drawn from national processes and subregional meetings. These meetings, unprecedented in processes of this type, have intensified the countries' participation and enabled them to identify the main stumbling blocks and the prospects for a future platform of action. One major contributor to the process has been civil society, through its participation in national sustainable development councils and in meetings held at subregional events, which have provided an opportunity for the region's main groupings to air their views.

As elsewhere on our planet, water is the key natural resource throughout Africa. An adequate supply of clean water is the most important precondition for sustaining human life, for maintaining ecological systems that support all life and for achieving sustainable development.