Water Issues: Petition: Stop the World Water Forum and World Water Council

We Must Keep Our Water Services Public

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Stopthe5thworldwaterforum

We are aiming for 20, 000 signatures to match the 20, 000 people expected at the 5th Forum. The petition deadline is March 20, 2009. Please sign and spread the word!

Governments everywhere face significant barriers to providing water including aging infrastructure and lack of financial resources. Corporations like Suez and Veolia use seemingly democratic international events such as the World Water Forum to persuade governments to transfer water services to them. Yet past cases have shown that privatization and Public-Private Partnerships are not the solution.
It is important that we are vocal about the harmful policies of the World Water Council and the 5th World Water Forum. Emails, phone calls and petitions can have significant impacts. The 4th Forum was originally going to be held in Montreal but protests against the proposal rerouted the forum to Mexico. Protests against PPPs and privatization in many cases have ensured that water remains in public hands. If enough people express opposition to the World Water Council and Forum, we can make sure that water is protected as a human right, part of the global commons and a public service. We need to call upon our governments, the UN and other participants of the forum to launch a truly open, transparent and legitimate Global Forum on Water. (An Open Call to the Global Water Justice Movement

What You Can Do:
Please sign the petition to be delivered to the 5th Forum. The goal is 20, 000 signatures to match the number of participants expected at the 5th Forum. There is little time the petition deadline is March 20 - but with your help this goal is 100% attainable!
Send emails to your government, the media and the UN. (See template below)
Please circulate this widely to friends, family and co-workers. Not many people know about the Council despite their power to change government and UN policies.
Join the Facebook group Oppose the 5th World Water Forum.
Visit the Peoples Water Forum (March 12-22, 2009) website for events opposing the 5th Forum.
Protect water as part of the global commons by following these 10 Steps.

Thanks for you help!

Template Letter:
To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to express my concern over the World Water Council and the 5th World Water Forum which is being held in Istanbul, Turkey on March 16-22, 2009. The 5th World Water Forums website states that the forum is "an open, all-inclusive, multi-stakeholder process" where governments, NGOs, businesses and others "create links, debate and attempts to find solutions to achieve water security." The World Water Council, the forums main organizer, was created in 1996 as an international multi-stakeholder platform to promote awareness, build political commitment and trigger action on critical water issues.
While these are commendable goals, my concern stems from the powerful roles that the two largest corporations, Suez and Veolia, have in the Council. Lo?c Fauchon, president of the Council, is also the president of Groupe des Eaux de Marseille, a company owned equally between Veolia and a subsidiary of Suez. The alternate president, Charles-Louis de Maudhuy, has been working at Compagnie G?n?rale des Eaux, a subsidiary of Veolia, since 1978. I believe that the Council's links to Suez and Veolia as well as the large representation of the business industry in the Council comprises the neutrality and legitimacy of the Council and 5th Forum.
In the past, the Council and forums promoted policies, such as Public-Private Partnerships, that privatize segments of water services. PPPs in Bolivia, the US, and other countries around the world resulted in price hikes, pollution and water cut-offs, which prevented people from accessing clean water. Despite these and other harmful impacts, the Istanbul Water Consensus, a key document of the 5th Forum, attempts to secure the commitment of local authorities to various water policies including private sector involvement.
Based on these reasons, I believe that the 5th World Water Forum and World Water Council threaten people's ability to access to water. Therefore, in solidarity with the Global Water Justice Movement, I call upon the United Nations, Canadian and other governments, and other organizations attending the 5th World Water Forum to:
? oppose water commodification and support water as a human right, part of the global commons and a public service
? support the dismantling of the World Water Council
? make the 5th forum the last and create a truly open, transparent and legitimate Global Forum on Water.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Sincerely,
(YOUR NAME)

I submitted the last comment about the Facebook group but forgot to include the link (sorry!) http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=81274753384&ref=ts

Thank you!

I totally agree!!! Lets stop the privatization of water. Stop buying bottled water everyone!!!

You don't need a username or password to sign the petition, however you can get one and join in the conversation and start your own discussions about water privatization! Get an account and start your own discussions!, as always thanks for your comment!

-- Admin