A/71/302 66. An adequate institutional environment for water and sanitation services in all States is essential for development cooperation funding to reach those most in need and to be sustainable. It allows loans and grants to leverage national policies, making it easier for States to meet their obligations concerning the progressive realization of human rights. The responsibility falls upon partner countries to create such an enabling environment, in which development cooperation is a fundamental part of national policies to provide water and sanitation and the observance of human rights obligations. D. Challenges in reconciling funding with effectiveness and economic sustainability 67. The total capital cost of meeting targets 6.1 and 6.2 of the Sustainab le Development Goals is estimated at $114 billion per year, excluding the cost of financial and institutional strengthening, a key prerequisite for the sustainability of services. That corresponds to an amount three times higher than current investment levels. 55 68. In addition, regardless of the level of funding, cooperation should take into consideration the comprehensive nature of water and sanitation services to make sure that outcomes are effective and sustainable. The effectiveness of investments is impaired by inadequate policies, planning and management of water and sanitation services. For example, an ineffective programme for residential connections to a sewerage network brought on by inadequate planning may result in sanitation investments in large cities not having the expected positive impact on the environment and public health. That may be particularly relevant in dense urban areas with significant informal settlements or extensive peripheral neighbourhoods. Another restraint may arise from the application of a poor cost-recovery model based on tariffs and other revenues that effectively prevents service providers from properly operating and maintaining the utilities. 69. Funders must face those challenges head-on to create proper arrangements to ensure that funding actually reaches its destination, thereby effectively generating benefit for the poor and realizing the human rights to water and sanitation. E. Disparity between cooperation in water supply and in sanitation 70. Data on development cooperation in the water and sanitation sector reveal disparities with respect to funding for water supply and sanitation activities. For sanitation, funding in the least developed countries is concentrated in urban areas and greatly favours large systems, while access to water and sanitation in poor urban and rural areas is far worse. 71. In the period 2011-2014, for a majority of least developed countries, funding allocated for large water supply systems was four times more than that allocate d for large sanitation systems. The same proportion was observed when comparing basic water supply projects and basic sanitation systems. In many countries, the demand for sewerage has led to an increase in connections without due attention to proper __________________ 55 16-13590 See Idun Rognerud and others, IRC Trends Analysis, 2016 -2025 (The Hague, International Water and Sanitation Centre, 2016). 21/24