approximately 1.9 billion are in Asia and approximately 0.3 billion are in Africa.

Reflecting such situations, the challenge of water and sanitation has recently been taken up as an important theme at international conferences for development. For example, in the "Johannesburg Plan of Implementation" adopted at the WSSD in September 2002, goals such as "halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of people who do not have access to basic sanitation" were newly added in the sanitation sector, in addition to "safe drinking water" that is one of the MDGs. In addition, the 12th Session of the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) was held in New York in April 2004 under the themes of water, sanitation and human settlements after going through adoption of the Ministerial Declaration and publication of the "Portfolio of Water Actions (PWA)" that summarizes voluntary action plans of individual countries and international organizations at the 3rd World Water Forum in March 2003, as well as formulation of the "Water-A G8 Action Plan" at the Evian G8 Summit in June 2003. Moreover, the first session of the U.N. "Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation" chaired by former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto was held in July 2004.

Japan has been providing cooperation in the water and sanitation sector with a focus on the drinking water and sanitation sector for which goals have been set in MDGs and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, and its aid volume is at a high level from a global perspective. According to the OECD/DAC statistics, Japan is the world's largest donor, donating approximately 1 billion dollars annually, which is

(E/N basis; Unit: ¥100million)

Purpose	Loan Aid	Grant Aid	Total
Drinking water/sanitation	800.9	112.3	913.2
Hydropower	751.0	13.1	764.1
Afforestation	213.2	8.9	222.1
Irrigation	111.2	25.4	136.5
Multi-purpose	80.3	5.0	85.3
Disaster reduction	-	16.9	16.9
Others	-	6.1	6.1
Total	1,956.5	187.7	2,144.2

Note: As the figures in the table are rounded off, they do not necessarily add up to the totals.

one-third of the annual average ODA disbursement (approximately 3 billion dollars) in the drinking water and sanitation sector across the world (donors and international organizations) from 1999 to 2001.

On the basis of such situation and achievement, Japan presented the "Initiative for Japan's ODA on Water" as a comprehensive contribution at the ministerial-level international conference at the 3rd World Water Forum held in Kyoto in March 2003, and aimed at steady implementation thereof in fiscal year 2003. The outline of activities under this initiative is introduced below.

As indicated in this initiative, Japan has been providing comprehensive cooperation in the water and sanitation sector, not only for drinking water and sanitation but also for irrigation, energy, measures against flood and afforestation, under the recognition that issues over water are multifaceted. In terms of disbursement in fiscal year 2003, Japan provided cooperation of 214.4 billion yen, which is composed of Grant Aid and Loan Aid (Yen loans).

By purpose, contribution to the drinking water and sanitation sector accounted for the most at 43%, followed by hydropower at 36%, and afforestation at 10%. By region, for Grant Aid, Asia accounted for the most at 48%, followed by Africa at 18% and Latin America at 16%. For Loan Aid (Yen loans), Asia accounted for 75%, followed by Latin America at 11%. By form of fund, 59% of Grant Aid was allocated to the drinking water and sanitation sector, and irrigation, disaster prevention and hydroelectric power generation, etc. were conducted by the remaining. For Loan Aid (Yen loans), the