Ecobreves – LATIN AMERICA: Water Trials

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

MEXICO CITY, May 16 2005 (IPS) - The Latin American Water Tribunal will present in March 2006, during the 4th World Water Forum to be held in Mexico, resolutions on 11 or 12 cases related to damage or threats to the region's water resources. Tribunal director Javier Bogantes told Tierramérica as much when he was in Mexico last week to attend hearings in which eight cases were presented on water contamination from petroleum, mining and human displacement resulting from construction of hydroelectric dams, among others.

The Water Tribunal, created in 1998 and whose rulings are non-binding, has been receiving reports since April to turn them into cases. The Tribunal evaluates the charges, and if it accepts the case notifies the parties, hears the arguments and issues a verdict with proposals for resolving the disputes.