tagged w/ World Water Forum
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What a disappointment this World Water Forum turned out to be. In the final language of the closing statement water was declared a "need" and not a right. This is clearly language intended to benefit the corporate sponsors of the World Water Forum that now see a great opportunity ahead of them in making profit from the water scarcity facing many areas of the world due to agricultural waste, population growth, and now climate change which is causing more severe and sustained droughts.
There is absolutely no credibility to this event as long as it chooses to refrain from declaring water a human right. Any resources needed by a species to sustain it's life is a right. To deny that right is to deny the very life and existence of that species. It is beyond comprehension how any countries would even stand in the way of declaring water a human right, but at this conference three nations did and one of them was the U.S. It is not hard to understand why with Nestle, Coca Cola, Pepsi, and other companies now looking to make more profit off this crisis. I suspect Dow as well was hoping for this ending as they wait to be able to build monstrous desalination plants around the world that will only exacerbate climate change. Conservation, declaring water a human right, and really doing what is morally right for the developing world and all of us do not seem to be what this forum is about.
By 2030 it is estimated that 2/3 of this world may well be without access to freshwater, and that does not necessarily mean in all cases due to it not being there... remember, toxification of our freshwater resources by these very companies as well as others is also decreasing the amount of potable water that can be used. If you were to fill a one gallon bucket with water, only a tablespoon is what would represent the amount of freshwater available to the world at this point.
Just where are we going then with privitization looking to be the way we all get our water in a world with rising population and decreasing resources? To some the thought of war over water seems incomprehensible. I can only hope they are right, but looking at the landscape of the world and the forces working to control the very resource that sustains all life on Earth I would say the chance of war over water is very real. Especially if we continue to have forums like this one that are simply as Maude Barlow phrased it, "trade shows" for the water companies that sponsor them.
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/World_water_forum_pledges_action_but_rift_over_statement_999.html
original article.What a disappointment this World Water Forum turned out to be. In the final language... more
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1.4 billion people worldwide do not have access to potable water. That is outrageous especially when UN estimates predict that number to go over three billion by 2030. Water is the essence of all life on Earth. It is our sustenance that quenches our thirst, grows our food, and cleanses our bodies and souls. We are linked to this alive and lifegiving resource by a bond that goes beyond the physical. We are 70% water as the Earth is, though about only 1% of it is freshwater for human consumption and use. And we are neglecting and abusing it. This does not bode well for preserving that bond.
So many around the world still take this resource and human right for granted. So many think they can simply turn on their taps and it will always be there. However, many are finding out that is not the case if we waste it, pollute it, dam it, mismanage it, or continue the behaviors that lend to drought and global warming which evaporates it and changes its rainfall patterns. At one time this thought was not even entertained, but we are actually affecting the hydrologic cycle and based on reports of glacier melt worldwide particularly in the Himalayas, billions of people are at risk (with population statistics predicting 9 billion people by 2030) of not having enough water to grow their crops and sustain their lives.
So much of what we do everyday involves the use of water and it never asks for anything in return but for us to respect it.
Tomorrow is World Water Day. A day to honor those worldwide who have worked hard to bring potable water to those who need it most and a day to reflect on how important and precious water is to our lives and the effects of our actions.
Knowledge is power, awareness brings action. The world is at a crossroads and what we do to sustain and conserve water today saves it for tomorrow. The consequences of ignoring the global water crisis are too dire to think about. So let's not get to the point where we will have to. We can work to clean our waterways, conserve our water, adapt to climactic changes, decrease fossil fuel emissions, and most importantly demand that water be declared a human right and a public trust to bring water equity to our world and to help developing nations climb out of poverty. We have that power.
Let's use it starting now. The answer is so easy to find. It lies in us.1.4 billion people worldwide do not have access to potable water. That is outrageous... more
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Holdovers from the Bush administration have taken language to declare water a human right out of the declaration at the World Water Forum in Istanbul. It is a travesty and a nod to corporate profits to do so. Please, if you cherish water and the right of all humans to it take a moment to participate in this action to protect our water as a human right and public trust. We may not be able to be in Istanbul to let our voices be heard, but we can do it from our modems. Tell Congress that the corporate agenda regarding water must give way to a day when water is declared a human right to protect it from corporate greed, pollution, and privitization.
This Sunday March 22nd is World Water Day. Please take this chance to do something to protect it for all.
Thanks.Holdovers from the Bush administration have taken language to declare water a human... more
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The World Water Forum, a seven-day arena aimed at addressing the planet's deepening crisis of fresh water, was launched here Monday amid a violent protest broken up by riot police using tear gas.
The forum, held only every three years, will address growing water scarcity, the risk of conflict as countries squabble over rivers, lakes and aquifers, and how to provide clean water and sanitation to billions.
Anti-riot police dispersed some 300 demonstrators against the forum as they headed to the venue buildings, detaining at least 15. The protesters, whose rally had been called by unions, environmentalists, and leftist organisations, responded to tear gas by hurling rocks and beating officers with sticks.
They chanted slogans such as "water is people, it's life, it's not for sale," and "we want to crush this forum which wants to take our water". Heading an appeal for the globe to husband its water resources, Loic Fauchon, president of the World Water Council staging the conference, said humanity was squarely to blame for wasting the precious stuff of life.
"We are responsible," he said. "Responsible for the aggressions perpetrated against water, responsible for the current climate changes which come on top of the global changes, responsible for the tensions which reduce the availability of freshwater masses so indispensable to the survival of humanity."
He added: "At this very time in the history of water, we are faced with a major challenge to use more water resources but at the same time to protect, enhance the value of and even reuse these waters."
The world's population, currently more than 6.5 billion, is expected to rise to nine billion by mid-century, placing further massive demands on water supplies that are already under strain.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) predicts a rise in the number of people living under severe water stress to 3.9 billion by 2030, amounting to nearly half the world's population. Most of these will live in China and South Asia.
That tally does not include the impacts of climate change. Global warming may already be affecting weather patterns, changing the time and place where rain and snow fall, say some experts. Around 2.5 billion people today do not have access to decent sanitation, defying one of the targets of the UN's Millennium Development Goals.
Hydrologists say the crisis is rooted in excessive irrigation, leakage of urban water supplies, pollution of river water and unbridled extraction of water from nearly every type of source.
The need for better management of water "is becoming more urgent," the head of the OECD, Angel Gurria, warned in a report to be issued on Tuesday.
"We witness increasing pressure, competition and, in some regions, even conflict over the use of water resources. Poor governance and inadequate investment are resulting in billions of people not having access to water and sanitation services." Tens of billions of dollars are needed annually to fix the world's water systems, but policies to address the global financial crisis could help meet the target, the report says.
Gurria admitted in an interview that the world's economic crisis cast a shadow over the ability to muster such huge sums, including in development aid. But, he said, hope lies in the plans set by the United States, China, European countries and others to spend massively in infrastructure to steer their economies out of the path of recession.
end of excerpt.The World Water Forum, a seven-day arena aimed at addressing the planet's... more
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The world's supplies of clean, fresh water cannot sustain today's "profligate" use and inadequate management, which have brought shrinking food supplies and rising food costs to most countries, WWF Director General James Leape told the opening session of World Water Week in Stockholm today.
"Behind the world food crisis is a global freshwater crisis, expected to rapidly worsen as climate change impacts intensify," Leape said. "Irrigation-fed agriculture provides 45 percent of the world's food supplies, and without it, we could not feed our planet's population of six billion people."
Leape warns that many of the world's irrigation areas are highly stressed and drawing more water than rivers and groundwater reserves can sustain, especially in view of climate change. At the same time, he said, freshwater food reserves are declining in the face of the quickening pace of dam construction and unsustainable water extractions from rivers.
At a time when billions of people live without access to safe drinking water or suffer ill health due to poor sanitation, when food producers battle biofuel producers for land and water resources, and when global climate change is altering the overall water balance, 2,500 water experts are gathered this week at the Stockholm International Fairs and Congress Center to craft solutions to these problems.
World Water Week is an annual event co-ordinated by the Stockholm International Water Institute. This year's conference has the overall theme of Progress and Prospects on Water: For A Clean and Healthy World with Special Focus on Sanitation" in keeping with the UN declaration of 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation.
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According to an announcement here the amount of people without potable water is going down. This is good news, and is in part due to organizations such as Water Partners International, Water Aid, and other organizations coming together in the water justice movement to bring potable water to more areas of the world that need it most.
It is an encouraging sign, but the work is far from over. Glaciers worldwide continue to melt threatening the water supplies for millions of people as freshwater lakes and rivers continue to decline due to a combination of climate change/global warming, overusage and pollution. The measures outlined by the forum need to be seriously instituted instead of just being talk to carry over for the next year.
As population rises freshwater resources will become even scarcer due to climate changes, pollution, and corporatization, so conservation and more efficient irrigation practices worldwide must be instituted. It is then ironic to see the water fountains going outside the sign to this forum. I wonder if they realized that.
Anyway, I know this issue is not "sexy" and some think it redundant. Well, sorry, but it is the most important environmental issue and crisis we are facing in our world, and the only way people will know about it is for those with the passion to get the message out to persevere in doing so.The world's supplies of clean, fresh water cannot sustain today's... more
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