2nd meeting of the Bridge Initiative group
Water for all in the XXIst century
Dijon, October 16th, 2006
The issue of water access illustrates the emergence of new regulation of Public Goods at global scale. It appears to day as obvious that it will only be possible to implement such regulations in a multi-stakeholder framework of dialogue and partnerships. Bridge Initiative modestly contributes to this dialogue through the organization of meetings on this topic.
Context
Figures underline an important water crisis: 1,1 billion people live today with no access to drinking water. The purification situation is dramatic: more than 2 out of 6 people have inadequate access to sanitation, in other words 2,6 billion people worldwide. 3900 children die every day from water-related diseases (WHO 2004)
There are important inequalities in water usage. In North America and in Japan, water use per person per day in residential areas is 350 liters, in Europe 200 liters per person per day, and only 10 to 20 liters in sub-Saharan Africa
Civil society organizations pinpoint the inefficiency of the international community over the last thirty years, as policies have increased water scarcity at a time when the institutions speak of a lack of global governance of water resources and point out the impact factor of demographic increase.
Civil society reacted strongly to water « privatizations » in Latin America in 2005. Civil society denounces as well the bias of financial investors in water and sanitization projects that are run by private operators. It is important for stakeholders to understand why there is such strong opposition to the private management of water services. This confrontation seems to be due not merely to ideological difference, but also to the needs of the poorest people who are not generally taken into consideration with the immediacy and care with which they should be treated.
A coalition for a World Water Contract was established by the civil society organizations in several countries, and intends extending its activity to other countries. This coalition defends the right to water as a universal right. The Water Movement has been active since the initial social fora in Porto Alegre (Brazil) in 2001 and 2002. It is currently developing concrete proposals such as : recognition of water as a human right to the tune of 40 liters / person / day, a progressive price scale, different systems of taxation that would guarantee solidarity between users
The United Nations Millennium Development Goals, in Objective 7, target 10 for 2015 state « A 50% reduction by 2015 of the percentage of the population who do not have permanent access to drinking water supplies. »
This objective is considered a setback by civil society organizations, as the objective of universal access to water in the first decades of the 21st century had been a previously stated goal.
Activities of the Bridge Initiative water group in 2005
Contrary to other exploratory mediation missions, this particular process was initiated on the request of an institutional body, the Agence Française de Développement (French Development Agency). A n initial meeting took place on November 4th. 2005 in Paris, on the theme « Water for all in the 21st century ». 20 people took part; they represented the following sectors: cooperation and finance agencies, public authorities, universities and research poles, private sector, civil society coalitions, NGOs.
According to the participants' evaluation, messages during the November 4th meeting were well received and dialogue established, with general recognition of the role and place for the various stakeholders.
The fields of consensus were broad in the discussions moderated by Bridge International, and participants thus reached agreement on the following points:
- Water is a public resource, and as such it should belong to public authorities;
- Water belongs to all people;
- The question of financing universal access to water needs to be posed;
- There are different models that can and could work;
- It is necessary to be imaginative and creative to invent solutions.
The main point of disagreement was about exoneration of payment. Analysis of the causes of lack of efficiency of the public sector in developing countries as well as the PPP model was also a cause for discussion.
Today, civil society organizations propose that water be considered a human right, a common resource, and mooted the idea of a World Water Contract.
There are sufficient themes to allow the group to take the dialogue further. The expectations of participants are about financing of water and the issue of free water. Civil society organizations would like to have an evaluation made on practices in terms of 1) French co-operation and 2) the multilateral institutions such as the World Bank
Most of the participants expressed an interest in exchanging experience on interesting practice (best practice and failures) and on the various kinds of partnerships between stakeholders. There was also a request for a greater participation of people of the South and poor neighborhoods in future meetings.
Proposal for continued dialogue in 2006
Bridge Initiative and the Agence Française de Développement propose hosting a new multi-actor meeting to be held before the Forum for a Responsible Globalization, with feedback of the conclusions of the ensuing dialogue during one of the sessions of the Forum.
The City of Lyon is organizing an international Forum « For a Responsible Globalization » 25-28th October 2006. The question of water will be considered under the thematic axis « What financial strategies for improved shared development? », and will include a half-day work-shop on access to fundamental resources. Bridge Initiative is involved in the organization of the Forum and is a member of the steering committee responsible for program design, coordination and implementation.
The debates of the Forum for a Responsible Globalization will be open to a wide cross-section of the public, with about 200 participants expected to attend each workshop, which does not correspond to the limited format proposed by BII to continue dialogue on the questions of water. Nevertheless the workshop on access to fundamental goods of this Forum could provide an opportunity for feedback of the activities of the Bridge Initiative Water Group and the meeting that will take place just beforehand.
Format, date proposed location
A closed-door meeting on October 16th, in Dijon
The meeting will take place at or near Dijon, during the whole day of 16th October, with dinner the previous evening and a conclusion/opening over breakfast on the 17th prior to departure of the participants. Feedback of the debates during the Lyon Forum will take place in the presence of 4 or 5 stakeholders who will represent all participants.
Sunday, October 15th: Dinner - the participants get to know each other
Monday, October 16th: Meeting on Water. Presentation of cases, dialogue
Contents
In order to meet the expectations of participants expressed during the meeting held on 4th November last, the objective will be to use one or two concrete case studies of towns and/or regions facing problems of access to and distribution of water as a starting point, and jointly reflect on possible solutions. We propose two countries from North and West Africa for the presentation of concrete case studies: Mali and Morocco, which have a diversity of water management models.
This second meeting of the Water Group of Bridge Initiative will also take the results of the 4th World Forum on Water in Mexico (March 2006) into account, and will provide an opportunity for greater participation for representatives of local authorities, companies and countries of the South to participate.
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