Copenhagen Consensus identifies water and sanitation as effective development interventions

A panel of eight of the world's most distinguished economists was convened in a project organized by Denmark 's Environmental Assessment Institute with the cooperation of The Economist . The panel was invited to consider the question “What would be the best ways of advancing global welfare, and particularly the welfare of developing countries, supposing that an additional $50 billion of resources were at governments' disposal?” The panel was to set priorities among a series of proposals for projects which would confront ten great global challenges (civil conflicts, climate change, communicable diseases, education, financial stability, governance, hunger and malnutrition, migration, trade reform, and water and sanitation).

The panel members ranked the projects in terms of economic costs and benefits. Projects in the sanitation and water sector scored highly, being categorized as “good” in terms of desirability and impact with respect to costs. Community-managed water and sanitation occupied the seventh position in the ranking (out of thirty projects considered).