Civil Society's Response

to the World Water Forum

News Release March
21, 2003

Civil Society Delegations Break

from World Water Council Consensus

NGOs, Unions Reject Corporate Agenda,

Criticize Camdessus Report, and Offer Alternatives

Kyoto, JAPAN - An impromptu walkout during the launch of the Camdessus
report in the World Panel on Financing Water Infrastructure session today
sparked controversy as civil society sharply criticized the World Water
Council's positions ranging from infrastructure and dam development to the
privatization and pricing policies being pushed at the World Water Forum.

The defiant act demonstrated critical opposition to the corporate influence
of the forum as the finale approaches. The ongoing protests reached a
climax this morning as representatives from hundreds of NGOs and unions
around the world demanded that the World Water Council pursue a different
direction.

"Instead of pumping more money through corporate channels and bailing out
the water multinationals, we should be investing in public water systems,"
said David Boys of Public Services International. "That's the best way to
meet people's right to water and ensure community control of innovative and
sustainable water systems."

In session after session, civil society representatives voiced a viewpoint
that has been largely ignored by the World Water Council. Their primary
argument centers on the belief that water is a human right, not a corporate
right, and should therefore not be subject to the marketplace. The
increasing presence of civil society at the World Water Forum is evidence of
a growing movement that is determined to stand up to the corporate agenda
currently driving the mindset of the World Water Council.

"The World Water Council's solutions are driven by personal, institutional,
corporate and political interests. They have used this forum to push public
subsidies for more big dams, and other destructive water projects," said
Joan Carling of the Cordillera People's Alliance in the Philippines. "These
'solutions' will not help the majority of the world's people without access
to water - they will only worsen the problems and prevent the adoption of
real solutions such as rainwater harvesting and renewable energies. We call
for a rejection of the Camdessus report - no public financing should be
given for large water infrastructure projects unless they meet World
Commission on Dams guidelines."

Indigenous people from across the globe also came to the forum to share
their perspective on protecting and preserving the world's water supply. In
countering the forum's agenda, Maya Marilyn Harris from the Black Mesa Trust
in the United States said, "Our relationship with our lands and water is the
fundamental physical cultural and spiritual basis for our existence. We
stand united to follow and implement our knowledge and traditional laws and
exercise our right of self-determination to preserver water and to preserve
life."

Central to the critique of the World Water Council was a rejection of the
Camdessus report, which outlines financing proposals that have been
customized to complement the Ministerial Declaration. Camdessus is calling
for drastic changes in the financing of water delivery systems and billions
of public dollars for large dams and other destructive water infrastructure
projects. The proposals are geared more towards using public money to
protect investors against risks than providing access to safe and affordable
water for all peoples.

"This model targets poor populations who cannot afford increased water
rates," said Karl Flecker from the Polaris Institute in Canada.
"Essentially, the Camdessus report proposes a franchising model for global
water corporations in order to bolster private enterprise. Citizens groups
across the globe are condemning the report as a blueprint for global water
corporations to profit from water systems through a market model that will
do nothing to improve access to quality water in developing countries."

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For more info, please contact:

Aviva Imhof, International Rivers Network, cell 080 3208 4995

Robert Fox, Public Services International, 090 5400 6576

Erica Hartman, Public Citizen, cell 090 3944 7674

Guy Caron, Council of Canadians, cell 080 3240 7401

***

Water Is Life Coalition

A civil society delegation challenging the World Water Forum's agenda

PRESS RELEASE March 20,
2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Kyoto Gathering Launches Alternate Declaration

on How to Resolve Global Water Crisis

KYOTO, JAPAN -Emboldened by the growing global water crisis, and determined
not to let corporate control dominate the World Water Forum, an
international coalition of public interest organizations today released a
declaration of what they envision to be a new constitution for global water
policy.

The vision statement has officially been presented at the 3rd World Water
Forum in Kyoto to oppose the official ministerial declaration. More than 225
groups have signed on in support of the alternate declaration.

Since the first World Water Forum in Morocco in 1996, there has been a
growing divide between the private companies and governments who want to
treat water as an economic commodity and the people in civil society who see
water as a precious resource and a public trust. Despite repeated attempts
to engage officials in an equitable exchange of ideas and solutions,
non-governmental organizations and the people they represent have been
ignored.

A massive network of people has now coalesced to challenge the consensus of
a corporate model which relies heavily on private funding, private control
of water systems, and a disregard for the human suffering that quickly
follows such an agenda.

The creation of an international conference dedicated to water began under
the auspices of the World Bank at the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de
Janeiro in 1992. Subsequently, the World Water Council (WWC), an independent
water policy think tank, was born in 1995. Comprised of World Bank
representatives, corporate executives, and government officials, the WWC
lacks the critical perspective offered by the world's poor, who are the most
likely to suffer from water policies inflicted under privatization.

Chief among the groups' concerns is the need to characterize water as a
human right, and not a commodity to be profited from on the global market.
The two-page document demands a re-evaluation of water policies from the
perspective of social justice and environmental sustainability.

To read the vision statement, please visit http://www.blueplanetproject.net/ [2]
.

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For more information, please contact:

Erica Hartman, Press Officer, Public Citizen - 090.3944.7674 (in Japan)

Guy Caron, Media Relations Officer, Council of Canadians - 080.3240.7401 (in
Japan)

***

Water Is Life Coalition

A civil society delegation challenging the World Water Forum's agenda

PRESS RELEASE March 19,
2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP DEBATE ENDS IN STANDOFF

Civil Society, Corporate Water at odds over global water future

OSAKA, JAPAN - After two days of intense dialogue and counter presentations,
the most contentious debate at the Third World Water Forum has ended with
Corporate Water and Civil Society presenting decidedly different
perspectives on public-private partnerships (PPP). After two days, it is
clear that no consensus, no agreement, and few areas of common purpose have
been found. In an unprecedented move, both sides delivered separate
statements to the Secretariat of the Third World Water Forum

In fact, through the course of the debate, civil society and the private
sector probably moved further apart on PPPs than they were before the World
Water Forum. The vast majority of comments in the plenary sessions were
critical of the corporate positions outlined by the World Water Council.

"The commodification of water is ethically, environmentally and socially
wrong," says Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians
and the PPP thematic session co-convenor along with Bill Cosgrove of the
World Water Council. "It ensures that decisions regarding the allocation of
water centre on commercial considerations, leaving aside fundamental
environmental, social and human rights' considerations.

"We worked with our allies to try harder than ever to make the private
sector understand this during the past two days in Osaka, but to no avail.
It became very apparent that the primary role of business is not to provide
accessible and quality water: it is to make a profit for its shareholders.
Their objectives, and the needs of people and nature, are fundamentally at
odds," concludes Ms. Barlow.

The rising power of water transnational corporations has threatened the
power of citizens and local communities to control their own water.
Corporate lobby groups exert undue influence on governments and
international trade/financial institutions; where they seek financial, trade
and environmental concessions that lower international standards.

The shift by governments to support PPPs was seen by civil society
participants as a dangerous step toward the commodification and
cartelization of the world's water. Many expressed concerns that we should
not be placing our future in the hands of a small elite who will determine
the future in its own interest.

The civil society's delegation at the World Water Forum demands that
governments act to ensure that citizens can exercise their right to water
and that there be universal exemptions for water from all trade agreements.
Until then we will be continuing to challenge and fight privatization and
commodization of water, everywhere on the world.

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For more information, please contact:

Guy Caron, Media Relations Officer, 080.3240.7401 (mobile phone in Japan)