And now:LISN <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Subject: Global Water Crisis: 1999 Report
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 1999 22:55:18 -0400
From: Bob Olsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
..... the future of one of the eath's most vital
resources is being determined by those who profit
from its overuse and abuse.
Blue Gold: The Global Water Crisis and the
Commodification of the World's Water Supply
INTRODUCTION:
"The wars of the next century will be about water."
Ismail Serageldin, vice-president of the World Bank
We'd like to believe there's an infinite supply of water on
the planet. But the assumption is tragically false. Available
fresh water amounts to less than one-half of one percent of
all the water on Earth. The rest is sea water, or is frozen
in the polar ice. Fresh water is renewable only by rainfall,
at the rate of 40-50,000 cubic kilometers per year.
Global consumption of water is doubling every 20 years, more
than twice the rate of human population growth. According to
the United Nations, more than one billion people on earth
already lack access to fresh water. If current trends
persist, by 2025 the demand for fresh water is expected to
by 56 percent more than is currently available.
The push to commodify water comes at a time when the social,
political and economic impacts of water scarcity are rapidly
becoming a destabilizing force, with water-related conflicts
springing up around the globe. For example, Maylasia, which
supplies about half of Singapore's water, threatened to cut
off that supply in 1997 after Singapore criticized its
government policies. In Africa, relations between Botswana
and Namibia have been severly strained by Namibian plans to
construct a pipeline to divert water from the shared
Okavango River to eastern Namibia. Much has been written
about the potential water wars in the Middle East, where
water resources are severly limited. The late King Hussein
of Jordan once said the only thing he would go to war with
Israel over was water because Israel controls Jordan's water
supply.
Meanwhile, the future of one of the eath's most vital
resources is being determined by those who profit from its
overuse and abuse. At the 1998 annual World Economic
Development Congress, which follows the annual International
Monetary Fund/World Bank meeting, corporations and financial
institutions met with government representatives from more
than 84 countries to attend panels on such subjects as
"Overcoming Obstacles to Water Investment" and " Navigating
Transparency and Banking Regulation in Emerging Capital
Markets." The agenda was clear: water should be traded
like any other tradable good, with its use determined by
market principles.
At the same time, governments are signing away their control
over domestic water supplies by participating in trade
treaties such as North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
and institutions such as the World Trade Organization (WTO).
These agreements effectively give transnational
corporations the unprecedented right to the water of
signatory countries.
Already, corporations have started to sue governments in
order to gain access to domestic water sources. For example,
Sun Belt, a California company, is suing the government of
Canada under NAFTA because British Columbia (B.C.) banned
water exports several years ago. The company claims that
B.C.'s law violates several NAFTA-based investor rights and
therefore is claiming $220 million in compensation for lost
profits.
With the protection of these international trade agreements,
companies are setting their sights on the mass transport of
bulk water by diversion and by super-tanker. Several
companies are developing technology wherby large quantities
of fresh water would be loaded into huge sealed bags and
towed across the ocean for sale.
The U.S. Global Water Corporation, a Canadian company, is
one of those seeking to be a major player in the water
trade. It has signed an agreement with Sitka, Alaska, to
export 18 billion gallons per year of glacier water to
China where it will be bottled in one of that country's
"free trade" zones to take advantage of cheap labour. The
The company brochure entices investors "to harvest the
accelerating opportunity... as traditional sources of water
around the world become progressively depleted and
degraded."
Selling water to the highest bidder will only exacerbate
the worst impacts of the world water crisis.
Social Inequity:
* In India, some households spend a staggering 25 percent
of their incomes on water.
* Poor residents in Lima, Peru, pay private vendors as much
as $3 per cubic meter for buckets of often-contaminated
water while the more affluent pay 30 cents per cubic
meter for treated municipal tap water.
* In the maquiladora zones of Mexico, water is so scarce
that babies and children drink Coca-Cola and Pepsi
instead.
Disease:
* More than five million people, most of them children,
die every year from illnesses caused by drinking poor
quality water.
Food Security:
* China is facing the likelihood of severe grain shortages
because of water depletion and the current shift of
limited water resources from agriculture to industry and
cities. The resulting demand for grain in China could
exceed the world's available exportable supply.
* During a drought crisis in northern Mexico in 1995, the
government cut water supplies to local farmers while
ensuring emergency supplies to the mostly foreign-
controlled industries in the region.
Environmental Destruction:
* Around the world, the answer to the increase in water
demand has been to build more environmentally destructive
dams and divert more rivers. The number of large dams
worldwide has climbed from just over 5,000 in 1950 to
38,000 today.
* In the U.S., only 2 percent of the country's rivers and
streams remain free-flowing and undeveloped; the
continental U.S. has lost more half of its wetlands.
* Eighty percent of China's major rivers are so degraded
they no longer support fish.
* In the U.S., the epicenter of freshwater diversity in the
world, 37 percent of freshwater fish are at risk of
extinction, 50 percent of crayfish and 40 percent of
amphibians are imperiled, and 67 percent of freshwater
mussels are extinct or vulnerable to extinction.
* In the Great Lakes system, the Nature Conservancy has
identified 100 species and 31 ecological communities
at risk.
A number of key research and environmental organizations
such as Worldwatch Institute, World Resources Institute
and the United Nations Environment Program have been
sounding the alarm for well over a decade: If water usage
continues to increase at current rates, the results will
be devastating for the earth and its inhabitants. Groups
such as the International Rivers Network, Greenpeace,
Clean Waters Network, Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth
International, along with thousands of community groups
around the world, are fighting the construction of new
dams, reclaiming rivers and wetlands, confronting industry
over contamination of water systems, and protecting whales
and other aquatic species from hunting and overfishing.
In a number of countries, experts have come up with some
exciting and creative solutions to these problems.
This work is crucial, yet such efforts need to be
coordinated and understood in the broader context of
economic globalization and its role in promoting
privatization and commodification.
Who owns water? Should anyone? Should it be privatized?
What rights do transnational corporations have to buy
water systems? Should it be traded as a commodity in the
open market? What laws do we need to protect water?
What is the role of government? How do those in water-
rich countries share with those in water-poor countries?
Who is the custodian for nature's lifeblood? How do
ordinary citizens become involved in the process?
The analysis and the recommendations in this report are
based on the princilpe that water is part of the earth's
heritage and must be preserved in the public domain for
all time and protected by strong local, national and
international laws. At stake is the whole notion of the
"commons," the idea that through our public institutions
we recognize a shared human and natural heritage to be
preserved for future generations. Local communities
must be the watchdogs of our waterways and must establish
principles that oversee the use of this precious resource.
As Georg Wurmitzer, mayor of the small town of Simitz, in
the Austrian Alps, states: "It is a sacred duty to help
someone who is suffering from thirst. However, it is a
sin to transfer water just so that people can flush
their toilets and wash their cars in dry areas... It makes
no sense and is ecological and economic madness."
Instead of allowing this vital resource to become a
commodity sold to the highest bidder, we belive that access
to clean water for basic needs is a fundamental human
right. Each generation must ensure that the abundance and
quality of water is not diminished as a result of its
activities. Greater effort must be made to restore the
health of aquatic ecosystems that have already been degraded
as well as to protect others from harm. We believe that the
following ten principles will help to protect water:
1. Water belongs to the earth and all its species.
2. Water should be left where it is wherever possible.
3. Water must be conserved for all time.
4. Polluted water must be reclaimed.
5. Water is best protected in natural watersheds.
6. Water is a public trust to be guarded at all levels
of government.
7. An adequate supply of clean water is a basic human right.
8. The best advocates for water are local communities and
citizens.
9. The public must participate as an equal partner with
government to protect water.
10. Economic globalization policies are not water sustainable.
Blue Gold: The Global Water Crisis and the
Commodification of the World's Water Supply
A Special Report issued by the
International Forum on Globalization (IFG)
Author: Maude Barlow, Chair of Council of Canadians
June 1999, 46 pages
CONTENTS:
Introduction
The Crisis:
A Finite Resource
Scarce Water, Scarce Food
Endangering Species
The Impact of Globalization:
Everything for Sale
Unequal Access
Prohibiting Preservation
The Water Privateers:
Water for Sale
High-Tech Water Guzzlers
The Global Trade In Water:
Pipe Schemes
Canada and Alaska: OPEC of Water?
Bottled Water Becomes Big Business
The Failure of Governments:
Too Little Too Late
Trading and Buying Water Rights
Closed Door Deals
The Threat of International Trade and
Investment Agreements:
NAFTA's Other Sucking Sound
Water and the WTO
The MAI Threat
The Need for Common Principles:
A Citizens' Guide to Action:
A Proud Legacy
The Canadian Model
A Citizens' Agenda
..............................................
I expect that this important book is availble from the
Canadian Environmental Law Association in Toronto
416-960-2284 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Or from the Council of Canadians [EMAIL PROTECTED]
.............................................
Bob Olsen, Toronto [EMAIL PROTECTED]
.............................................
