It is a great honour to share this wonderful day with such distinguished panellists and to be present at the founding of Mother Earth Day, now officially recognized by the UN General Assembly.

I want to take these few moments to speak about the urgency of the global water crisis and the need for more concerted action on the part of the global community. Recently, the findings of the 3rd United Nations World Water Development Report alarmed the world. This report and others tell us the frightening story that, in spite of the excellent work being done by many UN agencies and the progress made in some parts of the world in reaching the MDGs with respect to water, the fact is that the crisis is galloping ahead of the solution and our collective attempts to solve it.  

Simply put, the global water crisis now threatens billions around the world and the ecology of the earth itself. It is my strong contention that there is only one body in the world capable of rising to this challenge and it the General Assembly of the United Nations.  It is time for the General Assembly to adopt an agreement to tackle this urgent issue and work toward a sustainable plan for action. I would argue that it is important to be guided by a set of principles as we set out on this journey and I would argue they be the following:

Water as a Commons
 
One of the fiercest disputes in the world is who gets to make allocation decisions over the world’s dwindling water supply. Is water a commodity to be put on the open market for sale like running shoes or Coca Cola or is it part of the heritage of all humans and other species to be protected as a commons for the future? Who will determine who has access, a locally elected council or the CEO of a transnational corporation in another country? Will we allow the creation of “water banks” where water is traded on the open market to those who can pay? Who will protect the needs of those who cannot?  

I strongly believe that water is a commons and a public trust that must be declared to belong to the citizens of every community and to the ecosystem and the future. While both the public and private sectors can access water, no one owns it; rather it belongs to all. This does not mean that water access should be a free-for-all, We need to have highly managed water systems that protect water at every stage of use based on a set of priorities. Nor does it mean that there is no commercial dimension to water. Clearly water is used in the production of everything from food to cars. However, the private sector should not be able to determine the allocation of water; that is the role of government and local communities. If water is seen as a market commodity, those who can pay will have preferential access and nature will be further plundered for its declining water supplies.

Water belongs to all living beings and is part of our global heritage. Surely this must form a core message on Mother Earth Day.   

Equitable Access to Water
 
The second practical principle is that everyone has the right to clean safe water regardless of ability to pay. The answer to the current inequitable access to water is water justice, not charity. Millions of people live in countries that cannot provide clean water to their citizens as they are burdened by their debt to the global North. At least 62 countries need deep debt relief if the daily deaths of thousands of children are to end. As a result, poor countries are forced to exploit both their people and their resources, like water, to pay their debt. As well, foreign aid in many northern countries falls far below the recommended .7 percent of GDP.  

To deal with the water crisis in the South, we must cancel or deeply cut the debt, substantively increase foreign aid, fund public services, and invest in water reclamation programs to protect source water. UNDP estimates that it would cost less that $14 billion to meet the Millennium Development Goals on water and sanitation, a pittance compared to the recent bank and industry bailouts that have been announced in many wealthy countries. We should also promote a tax on financial speculation; even a modest tax could pay for every public hospital, school and water utility in the global South.  And we must challenge the devotion of so many leaders to unlimited growth, which has left countless millions in its wake. We need to create a whole new set of rules for global trade based on sustainability, cooperation, environmental stewardship and fair labour standards.
The equitable access to water should also be enshrined once and for all in a United Nations covenant and in nation-state constitutions. A United Nations right to water covenant would set the framework for water as a social and cultural asset and would establish the indispensable legal groundwork for a just system of distribution. It would serve as a common, coherent body of rules for all nations and clarify the right to clean, affordable water for all, regardless of income. A UN right to water covenant would establish once and for all that no one anywhere should be allowed to die or forced to watch a beloved child die from dirty water simply because they are poor.

Watershed Restoration
 
Finally, watersheds must be protected from plunder and we must revitalize wounded water systems with widespread watershed restoration programs. Simply put, we must leave enough water in aquifers, rivers and lakes for their ecological health. This must be the priority: the precautionary principle of ecosystem protection must take precedence over commercial demands on these waters. This means that we will have to abandon the “hard path” of large-scale technology  - dams, diversion and desalination  - in favour of the “soft path” of conservation, rainwater and storm water harvesting, recycling, alternative energy use, municipal infrastructure investment and local, sustainable food production. Living in and with nature instead of over nature is our path to a water sustainable future.  
As a crucial next step, nature must be seen as having inherent rights beyond its use to us. Most Western law has viewed natural resources as the property of humans. We need new laws to regulate human behaviour in order to protect the integrity of the Earth and all species on it, from our wanton exploitation. Rivers have rights to flow to the sea.


We, none of us, can live on a dry planet. Let us celebrate moving waters on this first United Nations International Mother Earth Day.

Maude Barlow serves as the Senior Advisor on Water to the President of the UN General Assembly.

 

It is a great honour to share this wonderful day with such distinguished panellists and to be present at the founding of Mother Earth Day, now officially recognized by the UN General Assembly.

I want to take these few moments to speak about the urgency of the global water crisis and the need for more concerted action on the part of the global community. Recently, the findings of the 3rd United Nations World Water Development Report alarmed the world. This report and others tell us the frightening story that, in spite of the excellent work being done by many UN agencies and the progress made in some parts of the world in reaching the MDGs with respect to water, the fact is that the crisis is galloping ahead of the solution and our collective attempts to solve it.  

Simply put, the global water crisis now threatens billions around the world and the ecology of the earth itself. It is my strong contention that there is only one body in the world capable of rising to this challenge and it the General Assembly of the United Nations.  It is time for the General Assembly to adopt an agreement to tackle this urgent issue and work toward a sustainable plan for action. I would argue that it is important to be guided by a set of principles as we set out on this journey and I would argue they be the following:

Water as a Commons
 
One of the fiercest disputes in the world is who gets to make allocation decisions over the world’s dwindling water supply. Is water a commodity to be put on the open market for sale like running shoes or Coca Cola or is it part of the heritage of all humans and other species to be protected as a commons for the future? Who will determine who has access, a locally elected council or the CEO of a transnational corporation in another country? Will we allow the creation of “water banks” where water is traded on the open market to those who can pay? Who will protect the needs of those who cannot?  

I strongly believe that water is a commons and a public trust that must be declared to belong to the citizens of every community and to the ecosystem and the future. While both the public and private sectors can access water, no one owns it; rather it belongs to all. This does not mean that water access should be a free-for-all, We need to have highly managed water systems that protect water at every stage of use based on a set of priorities. Nor does it mean that there is no commercial dimension to water. Clearly water is used in the production of everything from food to cars. However, the private sector should not be able to determine the allocation of water; that is the role of government and local communities. If water is seen as a market commodity, those who can pay will have preferential access and nature will be further plundered for its declining water supplies.

Water belongs to all living beings and is part of our global heritage. Surely this must form a core message on Mother Earth Day.   

Equitable Access to Water
 
The second practical principle is that everyone has the right to clean safe water regardless of ability to pay. The answer to the current inequitable access to water is water justice, not charity. Millions of people live in countries that cannot provide clean water to their citizens as they are burdened by their debt to the global North. At least 62 countries need deep debt relief if the daily deaths of thousands of children are to end. As a result, poor countries are forced to exploit both their people and their resources, like water, to pay their debt. As well, foreign aid in many northern countries falls far below the recommended .7 percent of GDP.  

To deal with the water crisis in the South, we must cancel or deeply cut the debt, substantively increase foreign aid, fund public services, and invest in water reclamation programs to protect source water. UNDP estimates that it would cost less that $14 billion to meet the Millennium Development Goals on water and sanitation, a pittance compared to the recent bank and industry bailouts that have been announced in many wealthy countries. We should also promote a tax on financial speculation; even a modest tax could pay for every public hospital, school and water utility in the global South.  And we must challenge the devotion of so many leaders to unlimited growth, which has left countless millions in its wake. We need to create a whole new set of rules for global trade based on sustainability, cooperation, environmental stewardship and fair labour standards.
The equitable access to water should also be enshrined once and for all in a United Nations covenant and in nation-state constitutions. A United Nations right to water covenant would set the framework for water as a social and cultural asset and would establish the indispensable legal groundwork for a just system of distribution. It would serve as a common, coherent body of rules for all nations and clarify the right to clean, affordable water for all, regardless of income. A UN right to water covenant would establish once and for all that no one anywhere should be allowed to die or forced to watch a beloved child die from dirty water simply because they are poor.

Watershed Restoration
 
Finally, watersheds must be protected from plunder and we must revitalize wounded water systems with widespread watershed restoration programs. Simply put, we must leave enough water in aquifers, rivers and lakes for their ecological health. This must be the priority: the precautionary principle of ecosystem protection must take precedence over commercial demands on these waters. This means that we will have to abandon the “hard path” of large-scale technology  - dams, diversion and desalination  - in favour of the “soft path” of conservation, rainwater and storm water harvesting, recycling, alternative energy use, municipal infrastructure investment and local, sustainable food production. Living in and with nature instead of over nature is our path to a water sustainable future.  
As a crucial next step, nature must be seen as having inherent rights beyond its use to us. Most Western law has viewed natural resources as the property of humans. We need new laws to regulate human behaviour in order to protect the integrity of the Earth and all species on it, from our wanton exploitation. Rivers have rights to flow to the sea.


We, none of us, can live on a dry planet. Let us celebrate moving waters on this first United Nations International Mother Earth Day.

Maude Barlow serves as the Senior Advisor on Water to the President of the UN General Assembly.