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International Civil Society Water Statement from WSSD
- Water is life. As a result the right to water is not negotiable. Access to water and sanitation are basic human rights. Everyone should have secure access to sufficient safe water and sanitation to meet their basic human needs, including water for productive use to sustain livelihoods. Access is a key component of any effective strategy for alleviating poverty. It is also essential that governments integrate water issues with issues such as health, forestry, agriculture, local food security and sound ecosystem management. In addition the empowerment of women, youth, indigenous peoples and other marginalised communities must be a key focus.
- Water is a social and ecological necessity and as such must be held in the public domain, and adequate clean water must be ensured to maintain healthy ecosystems. The economic costs associated with delivery should not limit people's right to water and sanitation. Mechanisms such as cross-subsidisation, free lifeline services and the rising block tariff should be used to ensure access.
- We reject the commodification and privatisation, in all its forms, of water services and sanitation, and water resources. As a public good, water and sanitation must remain in the public sector and all governments must commit to public sector delivery of water services. This includes ensuring adequate financial resources are made available, and adequate local capacity is built. Governments currently dedicate only two percent of national budgets to water services. Only six percent of Official Development Assistance is directed to water. Both must increase dramatically and must prioritise services to the poor. People must mobilise to increase the pressure on their governments and to create international solidarity to advance water issues.
- Water is a public good. Properly resourced systems and institutions must be established and mandated through legislation that ensure extensive civil society and labour involvment in the design, planning, provision and monitoring of water and sanitation services. Capacity-building and education programmes must accompany all of these processes. All water services information must fall within the public domain.
- We recognise that in many countries the struggle against oppression and the struggle for access to water often go hand-in-hand. Water must not be used as a tool for oppression. Nations should have sovereignty over their own land, and over the water under that land, and they should have a right to manage it, subject to international law.
- Water catchment boundaries and political boundaries do not always coincide, necessitating regional co-operation for trans-boundary issues. Political boundaries should not hinder access to water. Sustainable water management is not compatible with occupation and apartheid.
- We respect the integrity of ecosystems as the basis for all life - both human and natural. Surface water ecosystems and groundwater resources must be re-established and maintained, and pollution must be prevented. We recognise that dams and badly managed irrigation schemes often have a negative impact on communities and ecosystems. There should be a prioritization of small scale sustainable approaches to water and energy planning and management, such as rainwater harvesting and de-salinisation, above large scale infrastructure development. Governments, bilateral donors and International Financial Institutions should implement and incorporate the World Commission of Dams recommendations into all activties.
- We reject NEPAD and the plans for water in NEPAD as not being sustainable. It is structural adjustment by Africa for Africa. In particular we reject the privatisation of water and the hydropower focus. We commit ourselves to building a mass movement for the reconstruction and sustainable development of Africa.
- We also call on other global, regional and bilateral trade negotiations to protect the Right to Water and to cease attempts to commodify and extend corporate control over water. We therefore call for water and water services to be kept out of GATS and the WTO, and for multi-lateral environmental agreements to have precedence over global and regional trade agreements.
- We believe that environmental considerations and human rights are inextricably intertwined and that by taking care of the environment we safeguard our physical, cultural and spiritual needs for our children of tomorrow and the earth that they will live on.
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