Water

Over Twenty countries challenge Ministerial Declaration of World Water Forum

David Boys — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 13:04:10 -0700

Over twenty countries have officially challenged the Ministerial declaration released today at the World Water Forum, which defines water as a human need rather than a human right, through a counter-declaration. Latin American States have played a key role in gathering signatures onto a declaration that recognizes access to water and sanitation as a human right and commits to all necessary action for the progressive implementation of this right. The growing list currently includes (in alphabetical order): Bangladesh Benin Bolivia Chad Chile Cuba Ecuador Ethiopia Guatemala Honduras Morocco Namibia Niger Panama Paraguay South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Uruguay Venezuela Switzerland has declared its support although a formal signature will take months to finalize. In addition, nine countries have also signed onto a statement that calls on States to develop a global water forum within the framework of the United Nations based on the principles of democracy, full participation, equity, transparency and social inclusion. This list currently includes: Benin Bolivia Chile Cuba Ecuador Honduras Panama Paraguay Venezuela The People's Water Forum, a civil society and labour coalition representing nearly 70 countries, has called for water to be recognized as a human right and for an end to the World Water Forum. "This is a victory for all our groups who have been working for over 15 years for water to be recognized as a human right," says Maude Barlow, senior advisor to the President of the UN General Assembly. Discussions are ongoing and more countries are expected to sign on to the counter-declaration. Read more: https://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2009/22/c3162.html

World Water Day Statement from Public Services International

David Boys — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 02:36:23 -0700

22 March is World Water Day, a day to celebrate th is marvel of nature that sustains all life on earth.

However, World Water Day cannot be a celebration as long as lack of water or contaminated water kills thousands of people every day. People have a right to water in sufficient quantities to ensure their lives and to protect their dignity. Governments have responsibilities to ensure this right. Water is a fundamental human right.

Our members are committed to provide the highest quality water to all of our citizens, regardless of their ability to pay. We call on government and management of the water utilities to support this collective effort. We believe that much more can be done to help those in need. And we believe that the public sector has a special responsibility and a special role.

But, for the past 20 years, governments have tried privatising these services, in the hopes of delivering better services with less impact on the public budgets. This privatisation or public-private partnership approach has failed, especially in developing countries.

Public sector utilities provide water and sanitation services to more than 90% of the populations currently served. Public water utilities must be equipped to supply these services. Governments must provide the necessary resources to these public utilities, whether it is appropriate technology, finance or managerial and technical skills. The only credible strategy for delivering water and sanitation services to all citizens is through the public utilities. A number of strong water utilities supports weaker ones, through public-public partnerships, either in their own countries or across borders. These public-public partnerships (PUPs) operate on a not-for-profit basis, although like any public service, they are not free of cost.

On World Water Day, we, the unions, call on our governments to support the PUPs mechanism in the water and sanitation sector. There are many thousands of public utilities that will benefit from such a systematic mechanism of international solidarity. But they will need specific government support. Public water utilities are most often under local or municipal government control. These utilities are typically not allowed to engage in international activities and have no budgets to facilitate such work. The huge experience of the many thousands of public utilities is not drawn upon to solve the global problems in this sector. Therefore we demand that our governments to channel the planned aid in this sector through the PUPs system, encouraging utilities to start PUPs as well as facilitating the financing of the PUPs.

Governments must systematically involve their public utilities in the international assistance projects in this sector. The trade unions understand and practice international solidarity. Our members, the workers in these public utilities, have a wealth of knowledge and expertise that is not sufficiently drawn upon in the global campaign to provide water and sanitation services to all. We commit our support to global PUPs mechanisms, and call on public utilities and governments at all levels to join us.

Together, we can deliver the Human Right to Water. The divide remains deep, between the people who want quality water and sanitation and the bankers and corporations who control the World Water Council - the central think tank for making profit out of water and sanitation. Their vision is the same one that brought us the financial crisis - a shrinking government, unregulated markets and corporate profits.

Today, with the financial crisis in every newspaper, it is the time to use resources to accelerate building of water and sanitation infrastructure. This will not only give people around the world better access to water, but also create jobs to reduce the impact of financial crisis in terms of job losses.

Last year it was possible for governments to find money to support banks. Just one example: The support from the UK government for Northern rock has now been consolidated in a nationalisation which is estimated to cost £100billion ($200billion). This amount would be sufficient to finance more than half the entire costs of the MDGs and the urban sewerage target in every city on earth.

In 2009, PSI is also focusing on the connection between women workers, health and water. The links between the sectors and with women are clear. It is estimated that half of the hospital beds in the world are filled with people suffering from waterborne diseases. Women and girls suffer most heavily from lack of water, due mainly to their responsibilities to maintain their families.

Underfunding water and healthcare are very bad political choices, our governments and international governmental organisations must assume their responsibilities and meet the needs of their citizens. We need to stop the approach of shrinking our governments to the smallest possible and turn all public services over to the market.

The choice is clear - do the politicians only want to support banks - or will people's lives be just as important. This is ethical question - and a political one. On World Water day 2009 our answer is clear: water and sanitation must have the highest priority during the crisis. We - the workers - are ready to offer our commitment and our knowledge to help. We have a solution - a massive effort to start Public Public Partnerships involving the workers and their trade unions.

Activists share solutions, solidarity at People’s Water Forum

David Boys — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 08:38:53 -0700

The People’s Water Forum [ https://www.peopleswaterforum.org brought together an enthusiastic crowd of nearly 700 people from all corners of the globe in Istanbul, Turkey. Water justice activists organized the event to counter to the corporate-controlled World Water Forum.

Speakers and participants shared success stories and strategies to keep water in public hands. A common theme was the demand that water be recognized as a human right. Participants were equally clear that multinational water corporations had no place in discussions about solving the world’s water crisis and providing water and sanitation for all.

Our delegation was inspired and moved by the stories of water struggles from around the world. They listened closely to the messages from progressive politicians, workers and grassroots activists working to push back against the corporate control of the World Water Council, which runs the World Water Forum.

Those attending the People’s Water Forum were shocked to hear from Turkish parliamentarian Sebahat Tuncel about the government’s plan to build eight new dams, flooding a massive area populated by the Kurdish peoples. It will completely submerge a 10,000-year-old city that is a gem of architectural and cultural heritage.

She described how water policy can double as security policy to repress and displace people by destroying their lands through the flooding. “It will be a wall of water causing poverty and migration…using water against humanity”. She called the dam plans “using the very thing that sustains life to take it away.”

Tuncel is the youngest woman to serve in Turkish parliament and the first person in the country’s history to be elected to parliament from jail, where she was held because of her activism for human rights.

It was heartening to hear from the vice president of Malaga, Spain as he described the Red Fal [ https://www.esf2008.org/registrations/red-fal-foro-de-autoridades-locales-por-la] . It is a growing network of local government officials that share a progressive social vision and believe that access to water should be protected by law and support sustainable, participatory public management of water.
The movement was founded at the first social forum in Puerto Alegre, Brazil and now has more than 1,000 members including 150 mayors and 50 governors. He told the participants we are living in a crucial moment that has pitted the market against the state, private interests against public interests and selfishness against solidarity.

Al-hassan Adam of the Africa Water Network warned of a new trend in Africa, one that highlights the danger of corporatized public water utilities in search of new business. “The goalpost is shifting from traditional privatization to European utilities ‘partnering’ with utilities in Africa to privatization. Privatization is now being promoted by public corporations,” he said.

Many speakers highlighted public-public partnerships, where utilities and workers pool resources and expertise across cities and continents, as the way forward for public water.

Participants adopted an alternative declaration that maps out a future where public water and sanitation services are human right for all [ https://pwf.foodandwaterwatch.org/Joint%20Declaration%20of%20the%20Movements%20in%20Defense%20of%20Water.doc ].

The day ended with a rousing singing of ‘Solidarity forever’ led by South African anti-privatization activist Virginia Setshedis of the Africa Water Network. “When I go home to Soweto and I turn on the tap and no water comes out, I know I am not alone,” she said – summing up the solidarity that was alive in the room.

Labour and civil society groups say World Water Forum is bankrupt

David Boys — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 02:10:58 -0700

oalition of civil society and labour groups from nearly 70 countries called for the end of the World Water Forum today. They demaned that policies about water be decided in an open, transparent and democratic forum rather than a trade show for the world's largest water corporations.

“It is becoming increasingly evident that the World Water Forum and everything it represents is a cause of the world water crisis and not the solution,” says Maude Barlow senior advisor to the President UN General Assembly. “The World Water Forum is morally bankrupt, financially bankrupt and bankrupt of ideas.”

“The forum is about top-down solutions when we need bottom-up solutions," says Sheelu Francis of the Tamilnadu Women's Collective. “Privatization of water affects small scale farmers, who are the majority of farmers in India .” Privatization in India has made water inaccessible to subsitence farmers and paved the way for large scale monoculture, which according to Francis has had devastating environmental and social impacts.

“The divide remains deep, between the people who want quality water and sanitation and the bankers and corporations who control the World Water Council. Their vision is the same one that brought us the financial crisis – a shrinking government, unregulated markets and corporate profits, says David Boys, utilities officer for the 20 million-strong union federation Public Services International. "Our vision is governments that deliver quality public services, financed by fair taxation, with decisions made under conditions of transparency, accountability and participation. The divide has not been bridged here in Istanbul.”

Anthony Chimpheho, trade unionist from Malawi, tells that Malawi has been under pressure since 1990s from the World Bank to privatise.

"We say that water i live. Private sector involvement is like selling our own life. Water is a human right. Why can't donor countries remove these conditions forcing privatisation? In stead of privatisation we want to use public public partnerships. In Malawi it's not that we don't have the capasity in forms of human resources. It's the financial recources that lack.We beat back privatisation in 2003 - workers led the fight with civil society, we campaigned and won.

Omar Fernandez, a senator from Bolivia , spoke of the the strengths of community control of water and the importance of indigenous management of water resources based on traditional methods.

Earlier in the week a counter-forum, dubbed the “People's Forum” showcased success stories of of public and community-led water governance structures, the application of local indigenous water conservation techniques and other alternatives to the models of large-scale water privatization and high technology solutions promoted by the World Water Forum.

PSI delegation meet with members of European Parliament at WWF5

David Boys — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 00:43:08 -0700

Members of the PSI delegation at World Water Forum 5 met with members of the European Parliament on Friday March 20 to give the MEPs a briefing on PSI's view on water and sanitation problems from all the regions represented in the PSI delgation.

MEPs came from Socialist party, the Green and the Left.

Water makes money

David Boys — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 07:06:03 -0700

International Appeal for Support of the Film Project Water makes money.

Water, as an essential basic foodstuff, has always been a publicly administered commodity. And throughout the world today more than 80% of all water supplies are still administered by public authorities. For good reasons: drinking water and waste water are always a local monopoly. Nowhere in the world does water from various competing suppliers flow through the public network of pipelines. A market is unimaginable. He who privatises this essential service all the same, replaces a public monopoly with a private one.

This is exactly what is taking place throughout the world in the name of competition and the market, when water companies such as Veolia and Suez knock on the doors of financially hard-pressed communities.

In France, where Veolia and Suez supply 8 out of 10 citizens with water, many municipalities want to get rid of these concerns a soon as possible. Lack of transparency, poor water quality, continual cost ncreases and monopoly abuse are the accusations. The municipalities have great difficulty monitoring whether the amounts in the billings correspond to the services performed. Were the billions paid in fees really used for restoring the pipes? Has the money French municipalities paid for water been used to finance the global expansion of Veolia and Suez?

Right in the heart of the water giants' power, in Paris, there is an open wound. The capital city and more than one hundred other French municipalities have decided to retake control over these essential services. At the end of this year Veolia and Suez must pack their bags in Paris. After that the water supply will be administered by Parisian municipalities.

The film Water makes money will cast light on these explosive new developments. It will show what Paris and other French communities have learned from the rule of Veolia & Co., and how they have managed to retake control of the water. Examples from Europe and America expand the film into a teaching example for the entire world! "Water makes money" will provide encouragement: Water in the hands of the people is possible!

"Water makes money" has been developed as a "film from below" - financed by those who want to see it, those who want to show it, those who need it as a medium of education. What a film of this kind can accomplish in the way of education and mobilization can be seen from another project by the same film maker, Railway on the Auction Block.

That's why we are issuing this appeal: Help us to make "Water makes Money". PSI affiliate Ver.di already supports the film.

People's Water Forum Declaration 2009

David Boys — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 02:59:42 -0700

Yesterday, March 19, most of the PSI delegation attended the alternative forum in Istanbul. With more than 600 activists present, this forum adopted the declaration quoted below. This shows the strength in trade unions and civil society cooperation. You will find more information on https://peopleswaterforum.org/

People's Water Forum Declaration 2009

After Mexico City 2006, which was an important milestone of the continuous work of the global movement for water justice, we have now gathered in Istanbul to mobilize against the 5th World Water Forum. We are here to delegitimize this false, corporate driven World Water Forum and to give voice to the positive agenda of the global water justice movements!

Given that we are in Turkey, we cannot ignore that this country provides a powerful example of the devastating impacts of destructive water management policies. The Turkish government has pushed for the privatization of both water services, watersheds and has plans to dam every river in the country. Four specific cases of destructive and risky dams in Turkey, include the Ilisu, Yusufeli, Munzur and Yortanli dams. For ten years, affected people have intensively opposed these projects, in particular, the Ilisu dam which is part of a larger irrigation and energy production project known as the South East Anatolia Projects, or GAP. The Ilisu dam ? one of the most criticized dam projects worldwide ? is particularly compex and troubling because of its implications on international policy in the Middle East. The dam is situated in the Kurdish-settled region where there are ongoing human rights violations related to the unsolved Kurdish question. The Turkish government is using GAP to negatively impact the livelihood of the Kurdish people and to suppress their cultural and political
rights.

We, as a movement, are here to offer solutions to the water crisis, and to demand that the UN General Assembly organize the next global forum on water. The participation of important United Nations officials and representatives in our meeting is evidence that something has changed. There is a tangible and symbolic shift of legitimacy: from the official Forum organized by private interests and
by the World Water Council to the Peoples Water Forum, organized by global civil society including, farmers, indigenous peoples, activists, social movements, trade unions, non-governmental organizations and networks that struggle throughout the world in the defense of water and territory and for the commons.

We call on the United Nations and its member states to accept its obligation, as the legitimate global convener of multilateral forums, and to formally commit to hosting a forum on water that is linked to
state obligations and is accountable to the global community.

We call upon all organizations and governments at this 5th World Water Forum, to commit to making it the last corporate-controlled water forum. The world needs the launch of a legitimate, accountable,
transparent, democratic forum on water emerging from within the UN processes supported by its member states.

Confirming once again the illegitimacy of the World Water Forum, we denounce the Ministerial Statement because it does not recognize water as a universal human right nor exclude it from global trade agreements. In addition the draft resolution ignores the failure of privatization to guarantee the access to water for all, and does not take into account those positive recommendations proposed by the insufficient European Parliamentary Resolution. Finally, the statement promotes the use of water to produce energy from hydroelectric dams and the increased production of fuel from crops, both of which lead to further inequity and injustice.

We reaffirm and strengthen all the principles and commitments expressed in the 2006 Mexico City declaration: we uphold water as the basic element of all life on the planet, as a fundamental and
inalienable human right; we insist that solidarity between present and future generations should be guaranteed; we reject all forms of privatization and declare that the management and control of water
must be public, social, cooperative, participatory, equitable, and not for profit; we call for the democratic and sustainable management of ecosystems and to preserve the integrity of the water cycle through the protection and proper management of watersheds and environment.

We oppose the dominant economic and financial model that prescribes the privatization, ommercialization and corporatization of public water and sanitation services. We will counter this type of destructive and non-participatory public sector reform, having seen the outcomes for poor people as a result of rigid cost-recovery practices and the use of pre-paid meters.

Since 2006, in Mexico, the global water justice movement has continued to challenge corporate control of water for profit. Some of our achievements include: reclaiming public utilities that had been
privatized; fostering and implementing public ? public partnerships; forcing the bottled water industry into a loss of revenue; and coming together in collective simultaneous activities during Blue October and the Global Action Week. We celebrate our achievements highlighted by the recognition of the human right to water in several constitutions and laws.

At the same time we need to address the economic and ecological crises. We will not pay for your crisis! We will not rescue this flawed and unsustainable model, which has transformed: unaccountable
private spending into enormous public debt, which has transformed water and the commons into merchandise, which has transformed the whole of Nature into a preserve of raw materials and into an open-air dump.

The basic interdependence between water and climate change is recognized by the scientific community and is underlined also by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Therefore, we must not accept responses to climate chaos in the energy sector that follow the same logic that caused the crisis in the first place. This is a logic that jeopardizes the quantity and quality of water and of life that is based on dams, nuclear power plants, and agro-fuel plantations. In December 2009, we will bring our concerns and proposals to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
Further, the dominant model of intensive industrial agriculture, contaminates and destroys water resources, impoverishes agricultural soils, and devastates food sovereignty. This has enormous impact on lives and public health. From the fruitful experience of the Belem World Social Forum, we are committed to strengthening the strategic alliance between water movements and those for land, food and climate.

We also commit to continue building networks and new social alliances, and to involve both local authorities and Parliamentarians who are determined to defend water as a common good and to reaffirm the right to fresh water for all human beings and nature. We are also encouraging all public water utilities to get together, establishing national associations and regional networks.

We celebrate our achievements and we look forward for our continued collaboration across countries and continents!

Norway: making profit on water is illegal

David Boys — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 01:26:22 -0700

Ingvild Bø Moberg (picture), from the Norwegian Municipal and General employees told the Alternative Forum that in Norway, water is managed by the municipalities. But international companies - like the french Veolia - is very active, trying to convince the politicians to privatise the water. But i all these experiments have failed.

By law it's forbidden to make profits on water supply, and the private companies have not been able to make money on the contracts.

The Norwegian government – wich is an alliance of labor, the the left socialist party and a green party – was elected in 2005 with the support of the union movement. Last year, we sat down together with some of our friendly members of parliament Together we wrote a suggestion for a bill to outlaw private ownership of water infrastructure. The bill was passed in the parliament, and we are very pleased to have made the first step in chasing the private water companies out of Norway. -friendly parties.

We are inspired to see so many that are fighting the same fight as we are in securing water as a common human right under democratic management.

They never ever give up

David Boys — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:59:41 -0700

(This is taken from the blog of An-Christin Sjölander, journalist in Swedish Trade Union Magazine Kommunalarbetaren)

So here they are again. At the World Water Forum.

It is incredible that they have got the energy. David Hall and David Boys never ever give up: The public sector is the solution to bring water to people.

I have known David Hall since 1984 when he was working for the trade union Nupe in London. He gave me a hint to write about the striking cleaners at Barking hospital in London, a strike not very well known compared with the miners’ strike that year. The cleaners refused to accept the reduced wages that a private company offered them. I will never forget how they threw stones at a bus with the windows covered by wooden boards. The scabs were in the bus.

Photo: David Boys and David Hall

Now I suddenly discover David Hall, looking into the press room at the water forum. He has a rucksack, an orange grey jacket, red shirt and black hair. He even seems to wear the same glasses.
Nowadays he is the head of PSIRU, a research unit at Greenwich University. It is financed by PSI.
He is delivering an abundance of reports about the failures of the private sector. The solution is instead Public Public Partnership. Good managed public utilities give support to public utilities that need to improve their service.

David Boys is the born agitator, travelling all over the world with the same agenda as David Hall. Sometimes Emanuele Lobina, also making research at PSIRU, join them, smartly dressed in suit and tie. Whenever there is a discussion about the private sector solving the water problems they turn up. So of course they were present when Philippe Marin from the World Bank took part in one of the seminars at the Forum.

Photo: Emanuele Lobina
I myself would enjoy listening to Philippe Marin, to hear that he admits that the private sector was not the sole and only solution. There were problems, he admits. Contracts had to be cancelled and also the private sector did not invest their own capital as much as they hade promised. Public funding of private operations has been key.

Instead Boys, Hall and Lobina are upset. Why? Because Philippe Marin says that the private sector still has a role to play. The World Bank is still as ideological obsessed supporting the private sector as it has been during the past decades. That is their conviction. How are these private companies going to get loans when there is a financial crisis?

This is an ideal time to develop public options, like Public – Public partnership. That is also their conviction.

But to get this message through is not that easy during the World Water Forum.
No journalists would walk to an old building ten minutes away when they get invitations to press conferences just next door where they are sitting.

PSI becomes marginalised when they are offered a little room at that building.
Yet, the struggle has given result. David Boys is a representative in the United Nations Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation. Among the other representatives in the board is prince Willem Alexander of Orange. He passed me when I was leaving the forum. When will the monarchy of Sweden ever devote itself to water and sanitation?

In the evening I have a meal in a cosy little restaurant. Next to me two women are sitting. They have their heads covered by black scarves, smoking several cigarettes, and they give me a friendly smile.

My next topic will be women and water.

UN president critizise privatisation

David Boys — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:44:35 -0700

In a speech delievered by his senior advisor on water Maude Barlow, president of UN General Assembly, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann (picture), said: Those who are committed to the privatisation of water, making it a commodity like oil, are denying people a human right as basic as the air we breathe.

The UN president also questioned the legitimacy of the forum itself. His speech stated: The forum's orientation is profoundly influenced by private water companies. This is evident by the fact that both the president of the World Water Council and the alternate president are deeply involved with provison of privat, for-profit, wate services.

Photo: UN Photo

He added that future forums should, conduct their deliberations under the auspices of the United Nations. D'Escoto Brockmann also criticised the World Water Forum's draft Ministerial Declaration, which sees water as a human need rather than a human right. He said, as it stands, this important statement undermines the efforts of those who ar struggling for access to clean water and sanitation.

Read the full text: https://www.un.org/ga/president/63/statements/water190309.shtml