People's Water Forum Declaration – Istanbul, 2009
After Mexico City 2006, which was an important milestone of the
continuous work of the global movement for water justice, we have now
gathered in Istanbul to mobilize against the 5th World Water Forum. We
are here to delegitimize this false, corporate driven World Water
Forum and to give voice to the positive agenda of the global water
justice movements!
Given that we are in Turkey, we cannot ignore that this country
provides a powerful example of the devastating impacts of destructive
water management policies. The Turkish government has pushed for the
privatization of both water services, watersheds and has plans to dam
every river in the country. Four specific cases of destructive and
risky dams in Turkey, include the Ilisu, Yusufeli, Munzur and Yortanli
dams. For ten years, affected people have intensively opposed these
projects, in particular, the Ilisu dam which is part of a larger
irrigation and energy production project known as the South East
Anatolia Projects, or GAP. The Ilisu dam – one of the most criticized
dam projects worldwide – is particularly compex and troubling because
of its implications on international policy in the Middle East. The
dam is situated in the Kurdish-settled region where there are ongoing
human rights violations related to the unsolved Kurdish question. The
Turkish government is using GAP to negatively impact the livelihood of
the Kurdish people and to suppress their cultural and political
rights.
We, as a movement, are here to offer solutions to the water crisis,
and to demand that the UN General Assembly organize the next global
forum on water. The participation of important United Nations
officials and representatives in our meeting is evidence that
something has changed. There is a tangible and symbolic shift of
legitimacy: from the official Forum organized by private interests and
by the World Water Council to the Peoples Water Forum, organized by
global civil society including, farmers, indigenous peoples,
activists, social movements, trade unions, non-governmental
organizations and networks that struggle throughout the world in the
defense of water and territory and for the commons.
We call on the United Nations and its member states to accept its
obligation, as the legitimate global convener of multilateral forums,
and to formally commit to hosting a forum on water that is linked to
state obligations and is accountable to the global community.
We call upon all organizations and governments at this 5th World Water
Forum, to commit to making it the last corporate-controlled water
forum. The world needs the launch of a legitimate, accountable,
transparent, democratic forum on water emerging from within the UN
processes supported by its member states.
Confirming once again the illegitimacy of the World Water Forum, we
denounce the Ministerial Statement because it does not recognize water
as a universal human right nor exclude it from global trade
agreements. In addition the draft resolution ignores the failure of
privatization to guarantee the access to water for all, and does not
take into account those positive recommendations proposed by the
insufficient European Parliamentary Resolution. Finally, the statement
promotes the use of water to produce energy from hydroelectric dams
and the increased production of fuel from crops, both of which lead to
further inequity and injustice.
We reaffirm and strengthen all the principles and commitments
expressed in the 2006 Mexico City declaration: we uphold water as the
basic element of all life on the planet, as a fundamental and
inalienable human right; we insist that solidarity between present and
future generations should be guaranteed; we reject all forms of
privatization and declare that the management and control of water
must be public, social, cooperative, participatory, equitable, and not
for profit; we call for the democratic and sustainable management of
ecosystems and to preserve the integrity of the water cycle through
the protection and proper management of watersheds and environment.
We oppose the dominant economic and financial model that prescribes
the privatization, commercialization and corporatization of public
water and sanitation services. We will counter this type of
destructive and non-participatory public sector reform, having seen
the outcomes for poor people as a result of rigid cost-recovery
practices and the use of pre-paid meters.
Since 2006, in Mexico, the global water justice movement has continued
to challenge corporate control of water for profit. Some of our
achievements include: reclaiming public utilities that had been
privatized; fostering and implementing public – public partnerships;
forcing the bottled water industry into a loss of revenue; and coming
together in collective simultaneous activities during Blue October and
the Global Action Week. We celebrate our achievements highlighted by
the recognition of the human right to water in several constitutions
and laws.
At the same time, we need to address the economic and ecological
crises. We will not pay for your crisis! We will not rescue this
flawed and unsustainable model, which has transformed: unaccountable
private spending into enormous public debt, which has transformed
water and the commons into merchandise, which has transformed the
whole of Nature into a preserve of raw materials and into an open-air
dump.
The basic interdependence between water and climate change is
recognized by the scientific community and is underlined also by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Therefore, we must not
accept responses to climate chaos in the energy sector that follow the
same logic that caused the crisis in the first place. This is a logic
that jeopardizes the quantity and quality of water and of life that is
based on dams, nuclear power plants, and agro-fuel plantations. In
December 2009, we will bring our concerns and proposals to the United
Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
Further, the dominant model of intensive industrial agriculture,
contaminates and destroys water resources, impoverishes agricultural
soils, and devastates food sovereignty. This has enormous impact on
lives and public health. From the fruitful experience of the Belem
World Social Forum, we are committed to strengthening the strategic
alliance between water movements and those for land, food and climate.
We also commit to continue building networks and new social alliances,
and to involve both local authorities and Parliamentarians who are
determined to defend water as a common good and to reaffirm the right
to fresh water for all human beings and nature. We are also
encouraging all public water utilities to get together, establishing
national associations and regional networks.
We celebrate our achievements and we look forward for our continued
collaboration across countries and continents!
Adolescentes Queretanos Unidos por el Agua (México)
Africa Water Network
Alliance for Democracy - US
Alpine Riverkeepers Australia
Amigos de la Tierra Argentina
Another Water Management is Possible Campaign
Aquattac, European Network of Attac water activists
Association pour le Contrat Mondial de l'Eau, France
Association pour le Contrat Mondial de l'Eau-Maroc, Instance Nationale de Défense des Biens Publics, Right to Water Forum in the Arab Region
Attac, Finland
Attac, Germany
BanglaPraxis, Bangladesh
Berlin Water Table, Germany
Blue Planet Project, Canada
Botnaru Petru
Canadian Union of Public Employees/ Syndicat Canadien de la Fonction Publique
Campagna per la Riforma della banca Mondiale
Centre for Civil Society Environmental Justice Project, Durban, South Africa
Centre for Environmental Justice, Sri Lanka
Centre for Law, Policy and Human Rights Studies, Chennai, India
Centre of Strategic planning for development -KE.S.S.A "Dimitra"
CeVI, Italy
Coalición de Organizaciones Mexicanas por el Derecho al Agua, COMDA, Mexico
Comité de Enlace de la Red VIDA, the Americas
Coordinadora de Defensa del Agua y de la Vida, Bolivia
Corporate Accountability International, USA
Corporate Europe Observatory
Council of Canadians
Council of Canadians, London, Canada
Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft - Vereinigte KriegsdienstgegnerInnen Wiesbaden
Ecologistas en Acción (Spain)
EcoMujer
Egyptian Cmte. for Right to Water and Right to Water Forum in the Arab Region
Enginyeria Sense Frontere- Catalunya
Federación de Funcionarios de OSE, Uruguay
Federación de Trabajadores Fabriles de Cochabamba, Bolivia
Focus on the Global South
Food & Water Watch, USA
Frances Libertes, France
Freedom from Debt Coalition, Philippines
Friends of the Earth, Canada
Friends of the Earth, Finland
Friends of the Earth, International (FoEI)
Gerhard Jüttner
Globalization Monitor, Hong Kong
Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF)
Ingeniería Sin Fronteras - Aragón
Italian Committee World Water Contract
Jubilee South - Asia/Pacific Movement on Debt and Development (JS APMDD)
National Commission in Defense of Water and Life, Uruguay
Nitya Jacob, Water Community, India
Patrick J. O'Connor, Centre for Social Concern
Philipp Terhorst, Transnational Institute
Philippine Peace and Solidarity Council
Playapart, Italy
Polaris Institute, Canada
Solidarity Workshop, International
SuKo, Germany
Swarna Hansa Foundation, Sri Lanka
Theresa Ede
Transnational Institute, Europe
Umeedenao Citizen Community Board, Pakistan
United Church of Christ, Environmental Justice Program
Vanessa Richard, CNRS, France
Wasser in Bürgerhand WIB
Water Movement, Norway
Water Movements Italian Forum
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom - US Section
Zambia Consumer Association
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