Ask the UN to convene the next Global Water Forum

This petition asks the UN to do two things: to convene the next Global Water Forum, and to refrain from joining the World Water Council’s Board of Governors.

Why? Water is a shared global commons. Crucial decisions about its management and governance should be made by a legitimate representation of global civil society. The current World Water Forum organizer, the World Water Council, is a body created by and beholden to the global private water industry. The World Water Council is not a credible convener of an objective discussion on world water policy. The UN should not legitimate the World Water Council by joining its Board of Governors. Instead, it should convene the next Global Water Forum.

This petition also rejects the privatization and commodification of water and reaffirms that water is a commons; all human beings and the entire natural world should be able enjoy rights to this life-giving resource.

Mr. Ban Ki-Moon Secretary General United Nations Headquarters First Avenue at 46th Street New York, New York 10017 USA Dr. Ali Abdussalam Treki President United Nations General Assembly United Nations Headquarters First Avenue at 46th Street New York, New York 10017 USA Dear Excellencies, As part of Blue October’s global actions to ensure public water for all, we, the undersigned, are writing to ask the UN to convene a global water forum before the 6th World Water Forum scheduled for 2012 in Marseille, France. The UN is the appropriate venue to discuss and decide global water policy. The present organizers of the forum, the World Water Council, have proven themselves too beholden to private interests to serve the broad common good. We call upon the President of the United Nations General Assembly, the Secretary General of the United Nations, and all member states to direct UN agencies and all multilateral institutions who report to the UN to refrain from legitimizing the World Water Council by joining its Board of Governors. Instead we ask the UN to lead this critical work. Despite the World Water Council’s claim of being a multi-stakeholder platform, the Council is a body created and controlled by the global private water industry. According to the Council’s 2004-2005 Biennial Report, 41% of the Council’s membership is made up of the business industry, a significant proportion compared to professional and academic institutions (27%), governments (17%), civil society (10%) and intergovernmental organizations (5%). Mr. Löic Fauchon, president of the Council, is also the president of Groupe des Eaux de Marseille, a company owned equally between Veolia and a subsidiary of Suez. Mr. Charles-Louis de Maud'huy, the alternate president, has been working at Compagnie Générale des Eaux, a subsidiary of Veolia, since 1978. We strongly believe that the large representation of the business industry in the Council and the Council's links to Suez and Veolia – the world’s two largest multinational water corporations - compromise the legitimacy of the Council. The World Water Council was one of the key organizers of the 5th World Water Forum held in Istanbul, Turkey in March of this year. We are concerned because the 5th Forum continued to deny both humans and nature’s right to water, promoted water privatization over improved public services, was not based in simple conservation solutions to replenish groundwater stocks, and condoned the commodification of our shared common resource. Although thousands participated in the 5th Forum, representatives of global civil society including, farmers, indigenous peoples, social movements, trade unions, non-governmental organizations and networks faced systematic exclusion and therefore organized an alternative People’s Water Forum. At that forum, Maude Barlow, former UN president Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann’s Senior Advisor on Water, asked member states to recognize the right to water and to move global water discussions to the UN. The People’s Water Forum worked closely with government officials: 24 countries signed an alternative declaration recognizing the right to water and 16 signed a request to move the forum to the UN. A statement addressing the 5th World Water Forum, from Father Miguel himself, also clearly pointed to concerns with the constitution of the World Water Council and the legitimacy of the World Water Forum, and asked that future global water forums “ should adopt international norms and conduct their deliberations under the auspices of the United Nations.” We, the undersigned, reaffirm the principles and commitments expressed in the Declaration of Caucayacu (Red Vida) and the Alternative Water Forum Declarations from Istanbul (2009), Mexico City (2006) and Kyoto (2003): we uphold water as the basic element of all life on the planet, and as a commons, public good and fundamental and inalienable human right; we insist that today’s water planning anticipate future generations’ needs; we reject all forms of privatization and declare that the management and control of water must be public, participatory, and not for profit; we call for the democratic and sustainable management of ecosystems and to preserve the integrity of the water cycle through the protection and proper management of watersheds and environment. As a civil society movement, we stand ready to work hand-in-hand with the UN to find practical solutions to the global water crisis. The structure and culture of the current World Water Forum does not take advantage of civil society’s grassroots expertise and goodwill to implement working strategies to ensure water for all. We reiterate our request that the UN refrain from legitimizing the World Water Council by allowing UN agencies to join the WWC Board of Governors. We call on the United Nations and its member states to accept its obligation, as the legitimate global convener of multilateral forums, and to formally commit to hosting a forum on water that is linked to state obligations and is accountable to the global community. We very much look forward to working closely together with the UN to ensure that water remain an inalienable common good, accessible by all. Signed:

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0-25 of 733 signatures

Number	Date	Name	Organization
733	May 23, 2010	Aimee Hartel
732	May 12, 2010	Ruth Kelly
731	May 11, 2010	Odino Gavieres
730	May 10, 2010	marise santos
729	May 10, 2010	Nicole Jones
728	May 10, 2010	arsenio pogi gonzales
727	May 10, 2010	Maria Jesuitas
726	May 07, 2010	Jennifer Androus
725	May 06, 2010	Susan Hamilton
724	May 06, 2010	peter smith
723	May 06, 2010	Norma Smith
722	May 06, 2010	Thomas Smith
721	May 06, 2010	Anonymous
720	May 06, 2010	Thomas Smith
719	May 06, 2010	John Smith
718	May 06, 2010	Asia Smith
717	April 30, 2010	Reza Muhammad	KRuHA -Water Coalition
716	March 06, 2010	Primoz Grebenjak
715	March 02, 2010	Kai Mikkel Forlie
714	February 20, 2010	Kimberly Kerr
713	February 09, 2010	pauline o'connor
712	January 12, 2010	Rita Alessandra Aquilino	Ingegneria Senza Frontiere
711	January 06, 2010	David Collins
710	December 30, 2009	Bill Walker
709	December 14, 2009	Anonymous

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