How much water does it take to turn on a light? It took 10,000 litres to make your jeans. Another three big bathtubs of water was needed for your two-eggs-toast-coffee breakfast this morning.

Piped water has made life easier for this Laotian boy, who no longer has to help his parents fetch water from afar. Up to 1.7 billion people face scarcity. Credit: Vannaphone Sitthirath/IPS

We are surrounded by an unseen world of water: furniture, houses, cars, roads, buildings – practically everything we use and make needs water.

“There is no way to generate energy without water,” said Zafar Adeel, co-chair of the UN-Water Task Force on Water Security and director of the Institute for Water, Environment and Health in Canada.

Even solar panels need regular washing to perform well. Wind energy might be an exception, Adeel told IPS from a water conference in Beijing being held during World Water Week.

There is growing recognition that peak oil is nowhere near as important as peak water because there is no substitute for water. The growing shortage of water — 1.2 to 1.7 billion people face scarcity — has alarmed many. Water has been identified as an “urgent security issue”, by a group that last year included both former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the InterAction Council, an association of 37 former heads of state and government.

It’s important that “water security” be recognised by the U.N. Security Council as either as a trigger, a potential target, or a contributing factor to insecurity and potential conflict in many parts of the world, said Adeel.

Defining exactly what the term “water security” means has been challenging, but UN-Water, the United Nations’ inter-agency coordination mechanism for all water-related issues, now has a working definition.

They have defined water security as: “The capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of and acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socio-economic development, for ensuring protection against water-borne pollution and water-related disasters, and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability.”

The definition was released Friday on World Water Day along with an analytical brief “Water Security and the Global Water Agenda“.

“Water fits within this broader definition of security — embracing political, health, economic, personal, food, energy, environmental and other concerns — and acts as a central link between them,”says Michel Jarraud, Chair of UN-Water and secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

It is important to note that conflicts over water are rare. “Historically there hasn’t been a war between nations over water,” said Harriet Bigas, a co-author of the brief and colleague of Adeel at the Institute for Water, Environment and Health.

Water issues do create friction between nations and have led to local internal conflicts, she said in an interview.

Driven largely by water and food shortages linked to drought in the Horn of Africa, almost 185,000 Somalis fled to neighbouring countries in 2011. In Sudan, violence broke out in March 2012 in the Jamam refugee camp where large numbers of people faced serious water scarcity. And in South Sudan, entire communities were forced to leave due to scarce water resources as a result of conflict in 2012.

Water insecurity can lead to cascading political, social, economic and environmental consequences, she said.

However, the norm is for nations and regional partners to work out water-sharing agreements, offering important opportunities for dialogue amongst traditional enemies.

“Water is a greater pathway to peace than conflict,” writes noted international water expert Aaron Wolf of Oregon State University.

Even when nations are at war, they negotiate water-sharing agreements, Wolf says. Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos continued the successful Mekong Committee to manage the Mekong River even during the Vietnam war.

In 2010 Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina signed an agreement to share the management of the Guaraní Aquifer, which extends over more than one million sq km. A population of 15 million today relies on the aquifer because surface water, though abundant, is often polluted, the UN-Water brief noted.

There’s also rising international support for adopting “universal water security” as one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — a set of mid-term global objectives to succeed the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals, agreed by world leaders in 2000 for achievement by 2015.

“Water encompasses all aspects of development. We’re hopeful water security will be one of the main SDGs,” said Adeel.

Water, food and energy are sides of the same triangle – shrink one side and it affects the other two, he said.

An SDG for water security should include targets and indicators that reflect this. It needs to specific to various countries’ needs and indicate what resources will be needed to achieve water security. “It’s important to explicit state how each country can get there.”

The draft SDGs will be presented at the opening of the U.N. General Assembly this September.

The biggest challenge in achieving universal water security is not money or technology but human institutions, said Bigas. Simply getting government departments in the same country to coordinate on water issues is “an enormous challenge”.

Residents of Clara Town, a low-income neighbourhood of Monrovia, Liberia, face sanitation challenges with the onset of the rainy season. Credit: Travis Lupick/IPS

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 19 2013 (IPS)

When the General Assembly unanimously adopted the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) back in 2000, water and sanitation were reduced to a subtext – never a stand-alone goal compared with poverty and hunger alleviation.

Now, as the United Nations begins the process of formulating a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for its post-2015 agenda, there is a campaign to underscore the importance of water and sanitation, so that the world body will get it right the second time around.

Ambassador Csaba Korosi of Hungary, whose government will host an international water summit in the capital of Budapest in October, says, “Sustainable development goals for water should be designed in order to avoid the looming global water crisis.”

Speaking to reporters last week, Hungary’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations said water resources have remained virtually unchanged for nearly 1,000 years.

“But the number of users have since increased by about 8,000 times,” he said.

With global food production projected to increase 80 percent by 2030 – and with 70 percent of water consumption flowing into the agricultural sector – Korosi said 2.5 billion people will very soon live in areas of water scarcity.

Addressing the Special Thematic Session of the General Assembly on Water and Disasters last week, Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson was blunt: “We must address the global disgrace of thousands of people who die every day in silent emergencies caused by dirty water and poor sanitation.”

The theme of the Budapest water summit, scheduled for early October, will be “The Role of Water and Sanitation in the Global Sustainable Development Agenda.”

The summit will be preceded by a High-Level International Conference on Water Cooperation in Tajikistan in August and World Water Week sponsored by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) in Sweden in September, plus several regional summits and conferences in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The meetings take place at a time when the General Assembly has declared 2013 the International Year of Water Cooperation – and even as the United Nations commemorates World Water Day next Friday.

Torgny Holmgren, SIWI’s executive director, told IPS that in a survey of U.N. member states on priority areas for post-2015 goals, food, water and energy were “a distinct top trio”.

For a second year in a row, he said, the water supply crisis was also among the top three global risks in the yearly survey by World Economic Forum in Switzerland.

“We are also seeing how water issues are being prioritised by actors outside of the traditional water community, most significantly from the food and energy sectors,” said Holmgren, a former ambassador and head of the Department of Development Policy at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Amidst all this, he said, there is significant talking and thinking going on to develop new ambitions that will support the movement towards a sustainable and desirable world for all the so-called post-2015 development agenda.

“I am optimistic that the newfound awareness about the importance of water will be converted into far-reaching goals and targets on water as a resource, as a right and as a service,” said Holmgren.

John Sauer, head of external relations at Water for People, told IPS the United Nations took an important step to make water and sanitation a human right through a General Assembly resolution (64/292) in 2010.

Despite this effort, he said, its work to ensure lasting and affordable water and sanitation service delivery must evolve and innovate to meet the immensity of this challenge.

“As the U.N. shifts attention to the post MDG goal of universal coverage, monitoring should shift to ongoing service delivery,” he said.

This is critical to prevent the large number of projects that presently fail, Sauer noted.

“This means looking beyond projects funded, and beneficiaries reached, and instead looking at systematic capacity building within government, civil society and the private sector institutions. This also means creating stronger partnerships,” he said.

“If the U.N. could better demonstrate their impact, for example, by using indicators to show capacity built, this would be progress in the right direction.”

Together with non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the U.N. must rise to the occasion and increase transparency to reveal the true impact of their operations, he added.

Asked about the role of international organisations in resolving the impending global water crisis, Richard Greenly, president of Water4, had a different take.

He told IPS that organisations like the U.N. will always have little to no effect on the growing crisis in water and sanitation.

“But it is not for lack of very good intentions or much effort,” he added. “The fact is, we as a civilisation cannot give or grant another country into prosperity and health.”

It has never worked in the history of the world and it will not ever work in the water and sanitation crisis, he added. Every developed country paid for their own water development by developing water businesses, he argued.

“Commerce is the way out of poverty and although the U.N. is well-meaning, sustainable water development must be put in the hands of local citizens to solve their own water issues.”

What these people desperately need from the U.N. is the opportunity to develop their own water resources, he added.

Rather than a 10,000 dollar “donated” borehole or even 10,000 donated boreholes, they need the opportunity to develop their own way out like non-profit organisation Water4 (www.water4.org), which gives people the opportunity to hand drill water wells as a business for one-tenth the cost of a mechanised rig.

“This will allow rapid sustainable gains in the world water crisis,” Greenly argued.

SIWI’s Holmgren told IPS, “I am also seeing clear indications of both the need for and the openness to new collaborations and ideas.”

He said the post-2015 goals are being discussed as inclusively as our electronic means of communication permits. “We do see more cooperation emerging between governments, the private sector, academia and civil society.”

He said there are even cases where common ground for collaboration for a more water-wise world is found between competitors.

“It is of course most fitting that all these efforts are emerging during the International Year of Water Cooperation, and we at SIWI look forward to contributing even further towards improved cooperation and more concrete outcomes through the World Water Week on the same theme in September in Stockholm,” he added.

Irina Bokova, Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 13 2013 (IPS)

What has education, science and culture to do with one of the world’s most scarce and finite resources?

Plenty, says the United Nations, which has designated the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as the lead agency to promote the 2013International Year of Water Cooperation (IYWC).

Asked if water is more an area for potential conflicts or an area for mutual cooperation, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova told IPS, “Water acts as a unifier.”

She said the historical record shows that water disputes do get resolved, even among bitter enemies, and even as conflicts drag out over other issues.

“Some of the most vociferous enemies around the world have negotiated water agreements or are in the process of doing so,” said Bokova, a former foreign minister of Bulgaria, who studied at the University of Maryland and at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

In an interview with IPS, she said “it is often said that water can be a source of conflict.

“But at UNESCO, we are guided by the opposite idea – we want to see water as a tremendous resource for cooperation, for exchange and joint work between States and societies,” said Bokova, the first woman to head UNESCO, and who is expected to run for a second four-year term, come October.

According to the United Nations, the IYWC will highlight “the history of successful water cooperation initiatives, as well as identify burning issues on water education, water diplomacy, trans-boundary water management, financing cooperation, national/international legal frameworks, and the linkages with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).”

Bokova said, “We need a new vision that marries social equity, environmental protection and sustainable economic development as part of a single agenda for a more sustainable world.”

She said UNESCO strongly believes that water must lie at the heart of this vision, and water diplomacy is an essential tool of ‘soft power’ for a more peaceful world.

Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: What are the specific areas of cooperation between, and among, countries now?

A: The Mekong Committee has functioned since 1957, exchanging data throughout the Vietnam War. Secret “picnic table” talks have been held between Israel and Jordan since the unsuccessful Johnston negotiations of 1953 to 1955, even as these riparians until only recently were in a legal state of war.

The Indus River Commission survived through two wars between India and Pakistan. And all ten Nile riparians are currently involved in negotiations over cooperative development of the basin.

There are numerous examples where trans-boundary waters have proved to be a source of cooperation rather than conflict. Nearly 450 agreements on international waters were signed between 1820 and 2007. And over 90 international water agreements were drawn up to help manage shared water basins on the African continent.

Q: Are the U.N.’s efforts at “water cooperation” feasible against the backdrop of water-sharing conflicts between India-Pakistan? Israel-Jordan? Palestine-Israel?

A: The role of the United Nations is to offer a platform for dialogue and communication through the tools that are available to the system. Each agency facilitates cooperation from a specific angle of intervention.

UNESCO, for example, uses education and science as a means to intervene in a situation where cooperation needs to be established or enhanced. Two unique programmes provide the organisation’s member states with the scientific backbone needed for any water management issue at any level – from the local to the national, regional and international levels.

Firstly, the International Hydrological Programme (IHP) is the only intergovernmental scientific cooperative programme that aims at helping member states manage their water resources and address the needs of their peoples through science and education.

And, secondly, he World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) which provides invaluable data and regular assessments of the planet’s water resources, without which decision makers cannot move forward with their decisions making processes.

Q: Any concrete examples?

A: Example 1: UNESCO’s Potential Conflict to Cooperation Potential (PCCP) programme, which is an associated programme of both IHP and WWAP, facilitates multi-level and interdisciplinary dialogue to foster peace, cooperation and development by building capacity to manage trans-boundary water resources.

For example, research on Lake Titicaca involved stakeholders from both Bolivia and Peru. A joint document was prepared outlining the status of conflict and cooperation in this trans-boundary water body.

In 1992, Bolivia and Peru created the Bi-national Autonomous Authority of Lake Titicaca recognising the importance of the joint management of the lake.

The PCCP programme worked to build on this cooperative will and to facilitate a joint vision common to all stakeholders through a joint case study providing a forum for cooperative action, and a joint management strategy while at the same time increasing knowledge of the shared water body.

Example 2: Arab countries are cooperating on the management of shared water resources through various intergovernmental fora.

These include the Arab Ministerial Water Council, which adopted the Arab Strategy for Water Security in the Arab Region to meet the challenges and the future needs of sustainable development (2010-2030).

The strategy highlights the importance of regional cooperation among Arab states for the management of shared water resources, the protection of Arab water rights, and the improvement of access to water supply and sanitation services.

Regional cooperation at the basin level is also being pursued to improve the management of shared surface and groundwater resources by adopting a common vision and the establishment of an inventory of shared surface and groundwater resources in the Western Asia subregion, which is being prepared by the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN-ESCWA).

Excerpt:

Amidst growing new threats of potential conflicts over fast-dwindling water resources in the world’s arid regions, the United Nations will commemorate 2013 as the International Year of Water Cooperation (IYWC).

Courtesy of the United Nations

But Maude Barlow, chairperson, Council of Canadians and a former senior advisor on water to the president of the U.N. General Assembly in 2008-2009, warns the U.N.’s water agenda is in danger of being hijacked by big business and water conglomerates.

“We don’t need the United Nations to promote private sector participation under the guise of greater ‘cooperation’ when these same companies force their way into communities and make huge profits from the basic right to water and sanitation,” Barlow told IPS.

At this time of scarcity and financial crisis, she said, “We need the United Nations to ensure that governments are fulfilling their obligations to provide basic services rather than relinquishing to transnational corporations.”

The Paris-based U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), which has been designated the lead U.N. agency, formally launched IYWC at a ceremony in the French capital Monday.

In New York, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned of the new pressures on water, including growing populations and climate change. One-third of the world’s 7.1 billion people already live in countries with moderate to high water stress, he said.

“Competition is growing between farmers and herders; industry and agriculture; town and country,” Ban said. Upstream and downstream, and across borders, “We need to cooperate for the benefit of all now and in the future… Let us harness the best technologies and share the best practices to get more crop per drop.”

Back in December 2010, the 193-member General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring 2013 as the IYWC, following a proposal by Tajikistan.

The 2013 World Water Day, which will take place on Mar. 22, will be dedicated to water cooperation.

Barlow told IPS big water corporations have gained influence in almost every agency working at the United Nations.

The CEO Water Mandate, a public-private sector initiative launched by the United Nations in July 2007 and designed to assist companies in the development, implementation and disclosure of water sustainability policies and practices, puts corporations such as Nestle, Coca Cola, Suez and Veolia directly into a position of influence over global water policy and presents a clear conflict of interest, she said.

“For-profit private companies cannot uphold the public interest if it conflicts with their bottom line,” said Barlow, who is also founder of the Blue Planet Project.

Even the World Water Development Report is now advised by an industry group on “business, trade, finance and involvement of the private sector,” she added.

Tom Slaymaker, senior policy analyst on governance at the London-based WaterAid, told IPS the United Nations recognised the “human right to water and sanitation” back in 2010.

“But today over 780 million lack improved water supplies and 2.5 billion lack basic sanitation facilities,” he added.

The 2013 International Year of Water Cooperation will be a critical year for the United Nations to reflect on why universal access has not yet been achieved, he said.

Slaymaker said it’s also time to reflect on the kind of political leadership and new forms of partnership that are required to accelerate progress towards universal access as part of the emerging post-2015 development framework of the United Nations.

According to the United Nations, the primary objective of IYWC is to raise awareness, both on the potential for increased cooperation, and on the challenges facing water management in light of the increase in demand for water access, allocation and services.

Since the General Assembly recognised the human right to water and sanitation, a number of countries, including Mexico, Kenya, Bolivia, The Dominican Republic, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Ecuador, El Salvador, The Netherlands, Belgium, the UK and France, have either adopted laws recognising the right to water or amended their constitutions to do so.

The Vatican recently recognised the human right to water and added that “water is not a commercial product but rather a common good that belongs to everyone.”

And last June, all 193 member states signed the Rio+20 Declaration which includes the recognition of the human right to water and sanitation as a universal right.

Specifically zeroing on the role of the private sector, Barlow told IPS that corporations are among those pledging their support for IYWC.

Aguas de Barcelona, the water company at the heart of a fierce debate in Spain over control of drinking water, is participating, she pointed out.

So are “corporations who fought us on the right to water are now scrambling to claim it in their own image”.

She quoted Nestle as saying that 1.5 percent of the world’s water should be put aside for the poor and rest should be put on the open market.

If Nestle gets its way, she argued, there will one day be a water cartel similar to big oil, making life and death decisions about who gets water and under what circumstances every day.

“But at least we have this recognised and acknowledged right that no one should be allowed to appropriate water for personal gain while others die from an inability to pay for water,” she said.

With time, “we will build consensus around the right to water and the understanding that water is a common heritage and a public trust.”