World Water Forum & the Right to Water
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 12:47 pmWorld Water Forum Paves the Way to Privatize Nature, Undermine Human Right to Water in RIO+20
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/pressreleases/
world-water-forum-paves-the-way-to-privatize-nature-undermine-human-right-to-water-in-rio20/
March 17th, 2012
Statement by Maude Barlow, Chair, Council of Canadians, and Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director, Food & Water Watch
Marseille—“The 6th World Water Forum this week, despite lagging attendance and Sarkozy reneging on his promise to attend, has still been an opportunity for multinational water corporations to solidify their plans to further privatize nature at Rio+20. Thanks to Canada’s successful effort to weaken language in the forum’s ministerial document regarding the human right to water, and as demonstrated by the banking industry’s plans to integrate water trading into futures markets and to create derivative water-based financial instruments, the privatization of water has accelerated dramatically, creating a setback for right to water as resolved by the UN.
“We have already seen the ‘casino of hunger’ created by speculation on commodity crops. The global food crisis that caused millions to starve was caused by a tidal wave of Wall Street speculation. Now the same economic interests are proposing the same type of financial mechanisms to create a ‘green economy,’ while the real agenda is creating a speculative market with the potential to create great wealth for the corporations and economic institutions promoting this strategy.
“At the opening plenary of the Alternative World Water Forum, which drew approximately 5,000 attendees, the UN special rapporteur for the right to water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque, said, ‘Be vigilant. The Marseille Ministerial Declaration is already being used at the Human Rights Council in Geneva to weaken these rights.’
“The Council of Canadians, Food and Water Watch and many other organizations have sent a letter to governments to publicly denounce the Ministerial Declaration.
“At Rio+20, where global leaders will meet to make commitments towards carbon reductions 20 years after the UN’s first Conference on Sustainable Development, multinational corporations are playing a key role in lobbying for the financialization of nature, complete with futures markets and other derivative based financial instruments to enable water speculation.
“We can’t survive a mortgage crisis for water. It’s not a truly green economy that these interests are promoting. It’s a greenwashed economy, which will do nothing to help mitigate climate change, water shortages or other pending environmental disasters.”
Since 1985, the Council of Canadians has brought people together to act for social, economic and environmental justice in Canada and around the world. With chapters and members across the country, the Council of Canadians is Canada’s largest public advocacy organization.
Food & Water Watch works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable. So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping shared resources under public control.
Contact: Darcey Rakestraw, +1 202-210-0152; drakestraw(at)fwwatch(dot)org; Kate Fried, +1 202-683-4905; kfried(at)fwwatch(dot)org.
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Food & Water Watch works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable. So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping shared resources under public control.
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Canada opposes right to water at World Water Forum
http://www.canadians.org/media/water/20 ... ar-12.html
MEDIA RELEASE For Immediate Release March 13, 2012
It is becoming clearer from multiple sources that Canada was the country that pushed to have language that explicitly affirmed the United Nations recognized right to water and sanitation removed from the Ministerial Declaration of the World Water Forum – the 'Davos of water' – now being held in Marseille, France.
The Council of Canadians was inside the World Water Forum yesterday for its opening ceremonies and has spoken with a number of people that have named Canada as the prime instigator of the removal of the explicit recognition of the right to water and sanitation in the Ministerial Declaration.
Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow commented, "Here we have an example of a country like Canada that is using the World Water Forum, a non-democratic forum run by multinational water corporations, to try and negate what has been achieved at the United Nations General Assembly."
The Council of Canadians played key role in winning the recognition of the right to water and sanitation at the United Nations, overcoming the opposition of the Harper government.
"Like it or not, Canada is legally obligated to write a right to water implementation plan," adds Barlow. "But the Canadian government is using the illegitimate space at the World Water Forum to try to negate the right to water."
Earlier media reports have noted Catarina de Albuquerque, the UN special rapporteur on the right to water and sanitation, warning that, "the right to safe drinking water and sanitation will be sidelined at the 6th World Water Forum. 'It comes as an unwelcome surprise that the draft ministerial declaration.still does not recognize the human right to water and sanitation that has been explicitly recognized at the UN.'"
In a February 28 media statement, Amnesty International and WASH-United expressed their deep concern that the draft Ministerial Declaration of the 6th World Water Forum fails to commit States to implement the human rights to water and sanitation. They highlight, "The draft Declaration commits signatories only to implement 'human rights obligations relating to access to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation'. This formulation was insisted upon by a small number of States, such as Canada, that have persistently opposed recognition of the rights to water and sanitation at the international level over the last decade."
The Council of Canadians/ Blue Planet Project are in Marseille to intervene in the forum and participate in the Alternative World Water Forum, organized by global civil society groups. The Council is demanding that the Canadian government recognize the human right to water and sanitation and fulfill its international obligation to deliver on this human right in Canada. – 30 –
For more information or to arrange interviews:
Dylan Penner, Media Officer, Council of Canadians, 613-795-8685, dpenner@canadians.org
Twitter: @CouncilOfCDNs
www.canadians.org/wwf
= = = = = =
Canada undermines the right to water and sanitation
http://canadians.org/blog/?p=14152
By Brent Patterson
Multiple sources at the World Water Forum in Marseille, France have confirmed that Canada led the charge to have language that explicitly affirmed the United Nations recognized right to water and sanitation removed from the forum’s Ministerial Declaration released earlier this week. At the opening plenary of the Alternative World Water Forum, the UN special rapporteur for the right to water and sanitation Catarina de Albuquerque said, “Be vigilant. The Marseille Ministerial Declaration is already being used at the Human Rights Council in Geneva to weaken these rights.”
= = = = =
European Lobby Busting Tour Debunks Government and Industry Oil Sands Advocacy Spin
http://canadians.org/media/energy/2012/15-Mar-12-a.html
MEDIA ADVISORY For Immediate Release March 15, 2012
WHAT: A Canadian delegation that includes a First Nation’s Chief and representatives of environmental and social justice organizations is heading to Europe to counter Canada’s bully and confuse lobbying campaign against the European Union Fuel Quality Directive (FQD). A series of meetings with government officials and media events are planned where the delegation will deliver a kit of information challenging Canadian lobbying misconceptions and demonstrating Canadian support for the Directive.
WHERE: On the heels of the recent EU FQD vote that places the fate of the Directive in the hands of publicly elected Ministers, the delegation will travel to France, the Netherlands, UK and Germany. These four countries abstained from a recent vote on the FQD, providing the opportunity for further dialogue in the lead up to the expected vote this June.
WHEN:
March 19: Paris, France
March 20-21: The Hague, Netherlands
March 22: London, UK
March 23-26: Berlin, Germany
WHO: The Canadian delegation includes Stuart Trew, Trade Campaigner with the Council of Canadians, Hannah McKinnon, Campaigns Director with Climate Action Network Canada and Bill Erasmus, National Dene Chief and Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief of the Northwest Territories. In Paris, Steven Guilbeault, Coordonnateur Général Adjoint, Équiterre will join the delegation.
WHY: The Canadian Government, along with industry allies and the Alberta Government, have launched a coordinated lobby attack run as the “Pan European Oil Sands Advocacy Strategy” against the EU FQD. Committed to reckless expansion in Canada’s tar sands, this attack has included over 110 meetings in 2010 alone and focuses on cleaning up the tar sands image while doing nothing about the tar sands themselves. The tour is sponsored by the Council of Canadians, Climate Action Network Canada and the Indigenous Environmental Network. –30–
For More Information:
Dylan Penner, Media Officer, Council of Canadians, (613) 795-8685, dpenner@canadians.org, Twitter: @CouncilofCDNS
Clayton Thomas-Muller, Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign Director - Indigenous Environmental Network (613) 297-7515 ienoil@igc.org Twitter: @claytonIEN
Hannah McKinnon, Campaigns Director, Climate Action Network Canada, (613) 276-7791 hmckinnon@climateactionnetwork.ca
= = = = = =
The corporate World Water Forum is dead
http://canadians.org/blog/?p=14161
By Brent Patterson
The corporate World Water Forum is dead. Long live the Alternative World Water Forum.
= = = = = = =
Barlow says we must both defend and expand the right to water
http://canadians.org/blog/?p=14150
By Brent Patterson
Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow spoke at the main plenary session on ‘the implementation of the right to water’ at the ‘Forum Alternatif Mondial de l’Eau’ this evening in Marseille, France.
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/pressreleases/
world-water-forum-paves-the-way-to-privatize-nature-undermine-human-right-to-water-in-rio20/
March 17th, 2012
Statement by Maude Barlow, Chair, Council of Canadians, and Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director, Food & Water Watch
Marseille—“The 6th World Water Forum this week, despite lagging attendance and Sarkozy reneging on his promise to attend, has still been an opportunity for multinational water corporations to solidify their plans to further privatize nature at Rio+20. Thanks to Canada’s successful effort to weaken language in the forum’s ministerial document regarding the human right to water, and as demonstrated by the banking industry’s plans to integrate water trading into futures markets and to create derivative water-based financial instruments, the privatization of water has accelerated dramatically, creating a setback for right to water as resolved by the UN.
“We have already seen the ‘casino of hunger’ created by speculation on commodity crops. The global food crisis that caused millions to starve was caused by a tidal wave of Wall Street speculation. Now the same economic interests are proposing the same type of financial mechanisms to create a ‘green economy,’ while the real agenda is creating a speculative market with the potential to create great wealth for the corporations and economic institutions promoting this strategy.
“At the opening plenary of the Alternative World Water Forum, which drew approximately 5,000 attendees, the UN special rapporteur for the right to water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque, said, ‘Be vigilant. The Marseille Ministerial Declaration is already being used at the Human Rights Council in Geneva to weaken these rights.’
“The Council of Canadians, Food and Water Watch and many other organizations have sent a letter to governments to publicly denounce the Ministerial Declaration.
“At Rio+20, where global leaders will meet to make commitments towards carbon reductions 20 years after the UN’s first Conference on Sustainable Development, multinational corporations are playing a key role in lobbying for the financialization of nature, complete with futures markets and other derivative based financial instruments to enable water speculation.
“We can’t survive a mortgage crisis for water. It’s not a truly green economy that these interests are promoting. It’s a greenwashed economy, which will do nothing to help mitigate climate change, water shortages or other pending environmental disasters.”
Since 1985, the Council of Canadians has brought people together to act for social, economic and environmental justice in Canada and around the world. With chapters and members across the country, the Council of Canadians is Canada’s largest public advocacy organization.
Food & Water Watch works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable. So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping shared resources under public control.
Contact: Darcey Rakestraw, +1 202-210-0152; drakestraw(at)fwwatch(dot)org; Kate Fried, +1 202-683-4905; kfried(at)fwwatch(dot)org.
- - - - -
Food & Water Watch works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable. So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping shared resources under public control.
###
Canada opposes right to water at World Water Forum
http://www.canadians.org/media/water/20 ... ar-12.html
MEDIA RELEASE For Immediate Release March 13, 2012
It is becoming clearer from multiple sources that Canada was the country that pushed to have language that explicitly affirmed the United Nations recognized right to water and sanitation removed from the Ministerial Declaration of the World Water Forum – the 'Davos of water' – now being held in Marseille, France.
The Council of Canadians was inside the World Water Forum yesterday for its opening ceremonies and has spoken with a number of people that have named Canada as the prime instigator of the removal of the explicit recognition of the right to water and sanitation in the Ministerial Declaration.
Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow commented, "Here we have an example of a country like Canada that is using the World Water Forum, a non-democratic forum run by multinational water corporations, to try and negate what has been achieved at the United Nations General Assembly."
The Council of Canadians played key role in winning the recognition of the right to water and sanitation at the United Nations, overcoming the opposition of the Harper government.
"Like it or not, Canada is legally obligated to write a right to water implementation plan," adds Barlow. "But the Canadian government is using the illegitimate space at the World Water Forum to try to negate the right to water."
Earlier media reports have noted Catarina de Albuquerque, the UN special rapporteur on the right to water and sanitation, warning that, "the right to safe drinking water and sanitation will be sidelined at the 6th World Water Forum. 'It comes as an unwelcome surprise that the draft ministerial declaration.still does not recognize the human right to water and sanitation that has been explicitly recognized at the UN.'"
In a February 28 media statement, Amnesty International and WASH-United expressed their deep concern that the draft Ministerial Declaration of the 6th World Water Forum fails to commit States to implement the human rights to water and sanitation. They highlight, "The draft Declaration commits signatories only to implement 'human rights obligations relating to access to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation'. This formulation was insisted upon by a small number of States, such as Canada, that have persistently opposed recognition of the rights to water and sanitation at the international level over the last decade."
The Council of Canadians/ Blue Planet Project are in Marseille to intervene in the forum and participate in the Alternative World Water Forum, organized by global civil society groups. The Council is demanding that the Canadian government recognize the human right to water and sanitation and fulfill its international obligation to deliver on this human right in Canada. – 30 –
For more information or to arrange interviews:
Dylan Penner, Media Officer, Council of Canadians, 613-795-8685, dpenner@canadians.org
Twitter: @CouncilOfCDNs
www.canadians.org/wwf
= = = = = =
Canada undermines the right to water and sanitation
http://canadians.org/blog/?p=14152
By Brent Patterson
Multiple sources at the World Water Forum in Marseille, France have confirmed that Canada led the charge to have language that explicitly affirmed the United Nations recognized right to water and sanitation removed from the forum’s Ministerial Declaration released earlier this week. At the opening plenary of the Alternative World Water Forum, the UN special rapporteur for the right to water and sanitation Catarina de Albuquerque said, “Be vigilant. The Marseille Ministerial Declaration is already being used at the Human Rights Council in Geneva to weaken these rights.”
= = = = =
European Lobby Busting Tour Debunks Government and Industry Oil Sands Advocacy Spin
http://canadians.org/media/energy/2012/15-Mar-12-a.html
MEDIA ADVISORY For Immediate Release March 15, 2012
WHAT: A Canadian delegation that includes a First Nation’s Chief and representatives of environmental and social justice organizations is heading to Europe to counter Canada’s bully and confuse lobbying campaign against the European Union Fuel Quality Directive (FQD). A series of meetings with government officials and media events are planned where the delegation will deliver a kit of information challenging Canadian lobbying misconceptions and demonstrating Canadian support for the Directive.
WHERE: On the heels of the recent EU FQD vote that places the fate of the Directive in the hands of publicly elected Ministers, the delegation will travel to France, the Netherlands, UK and Germany. These four countries abstained from a recent vote on the FQD, providing the opportunity for further dialogue in the lead up to the expected vote this June.
WHEN:
March 19: Paris, France
March 20-21: The Hague, Netherlands
March 22: London, UK
March 23-26: Berlin, Germany
WHO: The Canadian delegation includes Stuart Trew, Trade Campaigner with the Council of Canadians, Hannah McKinnon, Campaigns Director with Climate Action Network Canada and Bill Erasmus, National Dene Chief and Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief of the Northwest Territories. In Paris, Steven Guilbeault, Coordonnateur Général Adjoint, Équiterre will join the delegation.
WHY: The Canadian Government, along with industry allies and the Alberta Government, have launched a coordinated lobby attack run as the “Pan European Oil Sands Advocacy Strategy” against the EU FQD. Committed to reckless expansion in Canada’s tar sands, this attack has included over 110 meetings in 2010 alone and focuses on cleaning up the tar sands image while doing nothing about the tar sands themselves. The tour is sponsored by the Council of Canadians, Climate Action Network Canada and the Indigenous Environmental Network. –30–
For More Information:
Dylan Penner, Media Officer, Council of Canadians, (613) 795-8685, dpenner@canadians.org, Twitter: @CouncilofCDNS
Clayton Thomas-Muller, Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign Director - Indigenous Environmental Network (613) 297-7515 ienoil@igc.org Twitter: @claytonIEN
Hannah McKinnon, Campaigns Director, Climate Action Network Canada, (613) 276-7791 hmckinnon@climateactionnetwork.ca
= = = = = =
The corporate World Water Forum is dead
http://canadians.org/blog/?p=14161
By Brent Patterson
The corporate World Water Forum is dead. Long live the Alternative World Water Forum.
= = = = = = =
Barlow says we must both defend and expand the right to water
http://canadians.org/blog/?p=14150
By Brent Patterson
Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow spoke at the main plenary session on ‘the implementation of the right to water’ at the ‘Forum Alternatif Mondial de l’Eau’ this evening in Marseille, France.