CONSEJO INTERNACIONAL DE TRATADOS INDIOS

Right-to-water:  International Fresh water Conference, Bonn, 3-7 December 2001

Right to Water (right-to-water@iatp.org)    Posted: 12/20/2001  By
svarghese@iatp.org
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The International Freshwater conference was held in Bonn from 3rd to 7th
December 2001. The five-day international freshwater conference concluded
after approving 26 recommendations for action to be adopted by the World
Social Summit on Development (WSSD) next September in Johannesburg, South
Africa.

One of the pressing concerns about the limited fresh water resources and
its management is the move toward the privatization of what should be in
the public domain. A major achievement at the conference was the inclusion
of a statement in the recommendations that "private sector participation in
water supply should not be imposed on developing countries as a
conditionality for funding".

Other key recommendations included calls to: secure equitable access to
water for all people; ensure that water infrastructure and services deliver
to poor people; share the benefits of water cooperatively within regions;
and increase development assistance to water.

Non Government Organizations took part in the conference either as
delegates to the multi-stakeholder dialogue (MSD) sessions or as observers
in general sessions. The other stakeholders who took part in these sessions
included representatives of farmers, local governments, business, and trade
unions amongst others.

Apart from the MSD delegates, the conference was attended by ministerial
delegations from 118 countries and delegates from international financial
institutions (WB, ADB etc.), UN organizations, and international water
organizations (IWMI, WSSC etc.) and environmental groups (IUCN, WWF) as
well as observers from all these groups.

The conference, one in a series of major water meetings (World Water Forums
1, 2, and 3; the last scheduled to be held in Kyoto, in 2003), was part of
an attempt to influence the water Agenda of WSSD in August 2002 by
international water experts, policy makers and lobbyists. Since 1997, World
Water Council (an NGO registered in France) and Global Water Partnership (a
net work of people and organizations working on water issues) have been
playing key roles in these water events, trying to influence the ways in
which water management is organized and water crisis is addressed.

The expected outcome of the conference were two documents outlining the
practical ways of addressing the water crisis (setting targets for reducing
the number of people without access to drinking water and sanitation
services). The drafts of these two documents - Declaration by the
ministerial delegation and a statement by the delegates of the conference
addressed to the WSSD and 3rd WWF in Kyoto - were circulated in advance to
the potential participants.

Many civil society representatives and some members of the ministerial
delegations felt that these drafts appeared to have been clearly influenced
by the pro- privatization lobby in the water services sector.

Through the MSD sessions and by responding to the drafts in plenary
sessions delegates  representing NGOs and Trade Unions tried  to address
their concerns, especially around privatization, emphasizing that water is
a common good with social, ecological and economic values. They urged the
ministerial delegation to recognize water as a human right and the
provision of free lifeline supply (50 liters per person per day) of water
as a public responsibility.

In a statement issued later civil society representatives at the Bonn
International Freshwater Conference re-iterated that access to adequate
safe water is a fundamental human right, and that governments have an
obligation to ensure access to a lifeline supply. They further went on to
state their opposition to the increasingly narrow focus on the economic
value of water at the expense of the social, cultural, spiritual and
ecological values. They appreciated that their recommendation that "private
sector participation in water supply should not be imposed on developing
countries as a conditionality for funding" was included in the final list
of recommendations. This recommendation had been echoed by governments from
the developing world such as Yemen and Mozambique, who argued that
sovereign states do not but should have the decision making power regarding
the involvement of the private sector in water sector.

In general, more civil society representation on future occasions like the
Bonn conference is needed to help ensure that civil society concerns are
taken into consideration by water policy experts and decision makers, and
that the agenda is not determined by corporate water sector interests.

To read, the Ministerial Declaration from Bonn go to:
http://www.waterobservatory.org/library/uploadedfiles/Ministerial_Declar
ation_by_delegates_to_Bonn_F.htm For more on water-related issues, go to:
www.waterobservatory.org



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