A VERY VERY POOR AND HUMBLY BRIEF HISTORY OF GLOBAL WATER ISSUES AS DISCUSSED WITHOUT FOCUS SO FAR…
MORE THAN 95% OF OUR FRESHWATER RESIDES IN THE ARCTIC AND ANTARCTIC ICE. It seasonally and daily recycles itself into the atmosphere…
Freshwater is a finite resource that is imperative for sustainable development, economic growth, political and social stability, human and ecosystem health, and poverty eradication. While water issues have long been on the international agenda, the debate on how to meet the growing global demand for freshwater has intensified in recent years.
Somewhere over 800 million people and seasonally as many as 2 Billion people, currently lack access to safe drinking water; while about 2.5 billion lack access to adequate sanitation.
World Water Forum came together as a platform to include water issues on the international agenda. This Forum is convened every three years by the World Water Council (WWC) in a different place. The WWC, an international policy think-tank established in 1996, addresses global concerns over the pressures on the Earth’s freshwater resources. The Forum is an open, all-inclusive, multi-stakeholder process that aims to: raise the importance of water on the political agenda; support deeper discussions to help solve the international water issues of the 21st century; formulate concrete proposals; and generate political commitment. The World Water Forum contributes to international, regional and national water dialogues.
The 1st World Water Forum was held in Marrakesh, 1997, and mandated the WWC to develop a long-term “Vision on Water, Life and the Environment for the 21st Century.” This Forum also cautioned against treating water as a marketable good and established priorities, namely: water and sanitation; shared water management; ecosystem conservation; gender equality; and efficient use of water.
The 2nd World Water Forum met in Hague, the Netherlands, in March 2000. They identified the key challenges for the future, as including: meeting basic water needs; securing food supply; protecting ecosystems; sharing water resources; managing risks; and valuing and governing water wisely. They agreed to regularly review progress in meeting these challenges and to provide support to the UN system for periodic reassessment of the state of freshwater resources.
At the UN Millennium Summit held at UN headquarters in New York, in September 2000, world leaders adopted the Millennium Declaration, which inspired eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with 18 targets, including the target to halve the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water by 2015.
The International Conference on Freshwater convened in Bonn, Germany, in December 2001, in preparation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). The Conference addressed: equitable access to and sustainable supply of water for the poor; strategies for sustainable and equitable management of water resources; integration of gender perspectives; and mobilization of financial resources for water infrastructure.
During the WSSD, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2002, world leaders expanded the MDG target on safe drinking water by also agreeing to halve the number of people lacking adequate sanitation by 2015. Other water-related targets in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation included the commitment to develop integrated water resource management (IWRM) and water efficiency plans by 2005. Governments, lending agencies and international organizations also launched several voluntary partnerships and initiatives in the area of water and sanitation.
During the 3rd World Water Forum, held in Kyoto, Japan, in March 2003, they adopted a Declaration underscoring the role of water as a driving force for sustainable development. They also launched the Portfolio of Water Actions, which is an inventory of more than 3,000 local actions with respect to this vital resource. The “Financing Water for All” report of a high-level panel chaired by Michel Camdessus, former Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, was presented, leading to the establishment of the intersessional Task Force on Financing Water for All. Sadly the ITFFW is a cover for a corporate water management body… Big bucks in the water debate are at play. Stay and watch the biggest high stakes poker game unfold…
At their 29th annual Summit, of the G8 leaders, held in Evian, France, in June 2003, leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) countries adopted the Action Plan on Water to help meet the MDG and WSSD goals of halving the number of people without access to clean water and sanitation by 2015. In this Action Plan, G8 leaders committed themselves to: promoting good governance; making use of all financial resources; building infrastructure by empowering local authorities and communities; strengthening monitoring, assessment and research; and reinforcing engagement of international organizations.
At its 12th and 13th sessions held in New York, in April 2004 and April 2005, respectively, the UN-CSD focused on policies and options to expedite the implementation of international commitments in the areas of water, sanitation and human settlements. The section on water in the CSD-13 outcome document calls for, inter alia: accelerating progress toward the MDGs and the WSSD 2015 water access targets by increasing resources and using a full range of policy instruments such as regulation, market-based tools, cost recovery, targeted subsidies for the poor, and economic incentives for small-scale producers; improving water demand and resource management, especially in agriculture; and accelerating the provision of technical and financial assistance to countries that need help to meet the 2005 target on IWRM.
2005-2015 INTERNATIONAL DECADE FOR ACTION “WATER FOR LIFE”: Organized by the UN, the International Decade focuses on the implementation of water-related programmes and projects and on strengthening cooperation on water issues at all levels. Priorities include: access to sanitation; disaster prevention; pollution; transboundary water issues; water, sanitation and gender; capacity building; financing; and IWRM. Africa is identified as a region for priority action for the Decade.
The 4th World Water Forum was held in Mexico City, Mexico, in March 2006. In their Declaration, ministers emphasized the need to include water and sanitation as priorities in national processes, particularly national sustainable development and poverty reduction strategies. They reaffirmed commitments to achieve the internationally agreed goals on IWRM and access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, and underscored the supporting role that parliamentarians and local authorities can play in this regard. The Declaration also recognized the importance of domestic and international capacity-building policies and cooperation to mitigate water-related disasters.
The 5th world water forum: A number of preparatory meetings took place ahead of the 5th World Water Forum, including meetings to advance the Forum’s thematic, political and regional processes.
Thematic process meetings: Several multi-stakeholder meetings were held to establish the themes, topics and sessions to guide discussions at the Forum.
Political process meetings: Four Preparatory Committee meetings were held to negotiate the draft Ministerial Declaration and the Istanbul Water Strategy Guide. The Guide is a non-binding document to create an agenda for action that national governments and their partners can use to address the areas of water resources management, governance and finance. Parliamentarians met to prepare their agenda for the Forum at the Parliaments for Water meeting in Strasbourg, France, in November 2008. Government World Council meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, in November 2008, were convened to draft the Istanbul Water Consensus.
Regional process meetings: The Forum’s four regions (Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe) and smaller regions in the Mediterranean, and the Middle East and North Africa and Arab countries, held meetings to prepare for the Forum and identify contributions for the draft Ministerial Declaration.
2008. Organized by the UN, the goal of the International Year of Sanitation was to raise awareness and accelerate progress towards the MDG target on sanitation. The Action Plan for the Year included activities to raise awareness, release and update publications, monitor access and commitments, advance implementation, strengthen capacities, and evaluate costs and benefits.
16th session of the CSD: Held in New York in June 2008, CSD-16 included a review of the implementation of CSD-13 decisions on water and sanitation. Delegates observed that: according to current trends, Africa will realize its MDG targets on water and sanitation no sooner than 2076; the implementation of the CSD-13 decision on IWRM has been slow; and indicators to monitor changes, especially among the poor, are lacking. Delegates urged: investment for upgrading and maintaining infrastructure, building capacity, and promoting good governance; consideration of transboundary water management; and consideration of the vital importance of financial assistance, particularly for Africa.
34TH G8 SUMMIT: At their annual Summit held in Toyako, Japan, in July 2008, leaders of the G8 countries agreed to reinvigorate their efforts to implement the Evian Water Action Plan, which they will review prior to the 2009 G8 Summit. They further agreed to promote IWRM and “Good Water Governance,” with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa and Asia-Pacific, including by: strengthening transboundary basin organizations; sharing water-related expertise and technology with developing countries; and supporting capacity building for water-related initiatives, data collection and use, and adaptation to climate change.
Finally the “PEACE WITH WATER” forum was held in the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, in February 2009, and led by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, the World Political Forum, the European Parliamentary Groups and the European Research Institute on Water Policy, this meeting called for the inclusion of water issues in a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. Participants proposed a Memorandum for a World Water Protocol, focusing on conflict prevention, the promotion of the right to water for all, and safeguarding the global water heritage for future generations.
Does this sound eerily reminiscent of the Environmental meetings of the UN and the G* or G8 or the G13 or the G78 or Gspot debates of world leaders who failed us miserably?
Why would anyone be deluded enough, to believe the UN 2009 December Copenhagen meetings will produce anything useful to the environment and the people living on this planet, is beyond my understanding.
Mind you am not a pessimist but cannot see or fathom the intentions of the ministers meeting in Copenhagen to reach any positive environmental outcome, let alone address the planetary needs. The whole belief of people in this failed leadership of top down structures, is well beyond me.
All this process, meetings, air travel CO2 footprint from trips to and from and the waisted manpower and man-hours of highly intelligent people to make up and sign meaningless paper agreements that failed before they were even printed is highly wasteful.
The water meetings failed to address the Arctic ocean ice sheet and the fresh water supply to the world from it’s root regulator. You cannot separate water from the environment anymore than you can separate the blood from the human body in treating a patient. The friendly smiling ministers failed to understand, or perhaps failed to tell us, that water wars have already started. Just look at Africa and see the map lines. Better yet just go there and have water meetings where there is no clean water to drink. Then You and they might understand the reality of the situation. Let’s send the G8 to Darfur to taste the local water… not to Evian in France’s poshest water spring resort. then they migh wisen up and tell the truth.
The water wars have started and are the presage to the environmental wars to follow if we don’t heed the signs to address further the root water issues and the environment that is causing those. Water refugees are all over the world and it is not a simple human migration pattern. It is not even seasonal. Droughts have intensified as we meet and travel from posh hotel to posher hotel to talk about the basic life force on this planet. Water is the only means to environmental peace. So look North… way north and west of the magnetic pole and see the ice passage through the arctic opening up for sea traffic for the first time this year and see the diminishing ice sheet being melted into the sea…
Great and beautiful landscape to look at it. But study it is more important. Studying the Arctic ocean will give us the wisdom to act. The ice expedition from Surrey and the UK with Catlin’s support, will give us back the measurements of the thin ice we are all skating upon. Insurance companies such as Catlin and risk analysis actuaries are really worried about the state of the Arctic. Worried because they see the looming disaster and they want to be prepared. Worried because they have to make disaster payouts…
Do you or your people have water provision insurance?
It’s coming.
We’ll see.
Increased population pressures, diminished agriculture and less and less available fresh water shall be the first misfortune of the ice melt. The certain legacy of governments taking control of the debate and meeting ad infinitum to arrive at zero is the second. And the third misfortune is our unwillingness as citizens of this planet to engage in the discussion and force change from the ground up.
Grassroots environmentalism and people’s water rights is the only way to achieve transparency and resolution for our local and global water issues. Do not ever expect that the UN might solve anything for their interests lie elsewhere. Governments and Corporations are taking control of the water table and there is no chair left for the people.
But there is hope. Maybe go now and look south. As far south as Latin America. Look at the villagers and Evo Morales and the indigenous people of Bolivia taking control of their water resources in a dramatic destiny changing action.
Who says the water wars haven’t started yet?
Good Day and Good Luck to us all
PS: And don’t forget to drink your water…now.
PS2: Having learned the mistakes of the endless UN meetings; We modeled the Environmental Parliament to be a parliament of the people and to be representative of the planet’s interests with a seat in the table reserved for all those not spoken for by the high and mighty G whatever.
