Social movements’ declaration on water at the WSF Caracas 2006

WE CONSIDER THAT

1. Water is a common good and access is a fundamental, inalienable human right. Water is a patrimony belonging to communities, peoples and humanity; it is the essential basis for life on earth. Water is not a commodity! Therefore we reject all forms of privatisation, including Public-Private Partnerships.

2. Management and control of water needs to be in a sphere that is public, social, community-based, participative and not based on profit. All local, national and international public institutions have a responsibility to ensure these conditions.

3. Solidarity must be assured for present and future generations. Therefore we reject a model of water development that is industrial and consumerist and which encourages over-exploitation of Mother Earth.

4.Sustainable management of the ecosystem and the preservation of the hydrological cycle is based on the protection of land, conservation of the natural environment and establishing hydrographic basins as basic units; which would enable more effective public participation in all aspects of planning, management and control;

WE CALL ON

the organizations, social movements, governments and parliaments to include these principles in all local, national and international legal frameworks;

WE DEMAND

a.. the exclusion of water from the market-based rules imposed by the World Trade Organization, Free Trade Agreements and other international investment and trade accords.

a.. the abolition of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), considering the experience of Cochabamba and other people struggling to recover sovereignty and public control over their communal resources.

a.. the recovery and promotion of public, social, community-based, participatory and holistic management of water;

WE REJECT

the demands of multinationals and corporations for lost profits and compensation for investments as illegitimate;

WE CALL ON

the Governments that participate in the World Water Forum in Mexico City, and in meetings of Mercusor, the European Union and the World Bank to reject any proposal that does not take these demands into account;

WE PROPOSE

a.. to share experiences of establishing solidarity funds for financing models of public, participative, community and social management as well as experiences of forming networks like the intiative of the “Water Carriers.”

a.. the creation of a social watchdog or observatory comprised of social organizations, movements and international cooperation networks to monitor the activities of transnationals related to water and other public goods and resources, that would also involve the European Parliament, local governments, and the democratic institutions of Latin América;

WE COMMIT

a.. to building committees and groups that through public education, organization and mobilization at local, national, regional and global levels can deliver these objectives.

a.. to strengthening the campaigns against privatization, such as the campaign “Water Out of the WTO.”

a.. to articulate the fight in defense of water alongside other social movements.

We plan to continue strengthening the links between social movements related to water at the following key dates in 2006:

The “Citizens’ Days” in Mexico City in March
The meeting of “Alternative Links” –European Union and Latin América in Vienna in May
The meeting of the “South American Community of Nations” in Bolivia in September
The “Citizens’ Water Assembly” in Brussels in December

ARGENTINA
Mesa Nacional de Articulación del FSM en Argentina
Nucleo Integración de guaychu
Federacion Agraria Argentina

BOLIVIA
Coordinadora nacional para la defensa del agua, los recursos naturales, los servicios básicos y la vida
Coordinadora para la defensa del agua y e la vida de cochabamba
Fundación Solón

BRASIL
ASA – Articulacion en el Semi-Árido brasileño
Foro Nacional por la reforma urbana FNRU
Foro Panamazonico
Frente Nacional de saneamiento ambiental
Red Brasileira por la integración de los pueblos REBRIP
Red Vida Brasil
Rede Brasil

COLOMBIA
Comité Organizador Colombiano del Foro Social Mundial – COC
Ecofondo
Unión Nacional de Usuarios y defensores de los servicios públicos

CUBA
Fundación Antonio Nuñez Jimenez de la Naturaleza y el Hombre

FRANCIA
Comité francés para el Contrato Mundial sobre el agua
France Libertés – Fundación Danielle Mitterrand

HOLANDA
Corporate Europe Observatory

ITALIA
A Sud
Abruzzo Social Forum
Associazione degli eletti dell’acqua
ATTAC Italia
CeVI
Comité italiano para el Contrato Mundial sobre el agua
Foro Mundial de las alternativas
Legambiente
Manitese
Región Friuli Venezia Giulia, Mesa derecho al agua
Tavolo Acqua Toscana
Forum ambientalista

MÉXICO
Coalición de organizaciones mexicanas por la defensa del agua COMDA
Equipo Pueblo
RMALC – Red Mexicana frente al Libre Commercio

PARAGUAY
Sobrevivencia – Amigos de la Tierra (Agua para la vida)
Paraguay Sustentable

URUGUAY
Casa Bertolt Brecht
CNDAV – Comisión Nacional en Defensa del Agua y de la Vida
Redes Amigos de la Tierra
Uruguay Sustentable

VENEZUELA
Mesas técnicas del agua