U.N. rights experts call for proper toilets in prisons

People held in jails and other detention centres around the world frequently have no access to clean toilets; a violation of their basic human rights, three United Nations investigators said Wednesday.

In statements marking World Toilet Day, marked on November 19 since 2001, they said states and governments had the obligation to ensure that all prisoners could enjoy safe sanitation.

“Without it, detention conditions are inhumane, and contrary to the basic human dignity that underpins all human rights,” the investigators — on torture, access to water and sanitation, and the right to the best possible health, declared jointly.

World Toilet Day is promoted by the World Toilet Organization, founded in 2001 by Singapore entrepreneur Jack Sim as a global non-profit network aiming to improve sanitation and public health policies.

“In too many places, detainees in prisons, migrant detention centres, juvenile institutions, psychiatric hospitals and other state-run institutions are forgotten,” said Manfred Nowak, special rapporteur on torture to the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Anand Grover, rapporteur on the right to the highest attainable standard of health, said unsanitary conditions “directly cause many diseases rife in places of detention.

“Access to sanitation is fundamental for a life in dignity, which all people are entitled to,” declared Catarina de Albuquerque, U.N. independent expert on human rights and access to sanitation.

“Even those convicted of heinous crimes must enjoy such basis rights,” she added.

Read the full OHCHR World Toilet Day statement.

Source: Jon Hemming, Reuters, 19 Nov 2009 [based on the UN news press release]

Czech Republic: Lack of transparency in privatisation processes

A new study published by Transparency International – Czech Republic reveals that the public sector has lost public funds as a result of intransparent privatisation processes of the profitgenerating arms of water management companies.

The study describes the process of privatising state enterprises in the years 1993-1994. It argues that the transfer of government assets to municipalities resulted in “water management industry atomisation and a lack of transparency in both ownership rights and long-term operator agreements.”

The study provides  examples that carefully describe the privatisation processes  in Prague, Ostrava, Zlín and Kroměříž and comes up with estimates of how much has been lost in public sector funds through the sale water management companies.

The project manager Eliška Císařová states: “Privatising water management in the Czech Republic would make sense if it were to mean income generated for the public sector, better services and less involvement in having to finance infrastructure investment. (…) Unfortunately, it’s clear from the examples cited in our study that what has happened instead is the privatisation of revenues and nationalisation of expenses.”

Download the study from the TIC website:

http://www.transparency.cz/pdf/TIC_vodarenstvi_en.pdf

Virtual water: food products should carry ‘water footprint’ information, says UK report

Food and drink products [in the UK] should carry a new label to give consumers more information about their “water footprint” – the hidden amount of water used in the manufacturing process – [say] two health and food lobby groups. More transparency is needed about the huge volumes of water used to produce food, which most consumers are unaware of, said the joint report by the Food Ethics Council (FEC) and the health and food group Sustain.

It is calling for the proposed new label to reflect good practice, by taking into account the extent to which some companies and manufacturers are already working to use water in ways that are fair and environmentally sustainable.

Water scarcity is now a fast-growing sustainability problem across the world, the report says, with the amount used to produce an item far greater than the water contained within it. For example, one cup of fresh coffee needs 140 litres of water to produce while the production of one kilogram of beef requires 16,000 litres of water. In order to understand how to reduce our use of water, we need to measure this “embedded” or “virtual” water, the report says.

The report’s co-author Tom MacMillan said: “Public awareness of water scarcity remains low. In the UK, citizens are rarely exposed to the direct effects of severe water shortage and cannot readily see the links between their purchases and water shortage in other countries. Water use is not reflected in the price of the final product.”

MacMillan said the labels would not involve “litres per kilo” stickers, but should reflect the practise of good water stewardship – whether companies are working hard to use water in ways that conserve it, use it efficiently and are environmentally sustainable. The information could be incorporated into a wider sustainability label that covered fair-trade and the carbon labelling scheme pioneered by the Carbon Trust, he said.

[...] The FEC/Sustain report acknowledges the government’s concern about the issue, and notes that: “Defra is concerned by the high level of UK water dependency both for future UK food security and because of the pressure caused by UK imports on the water resources of other countries.”

Source: Rebecca Smithers, Guardian, 20 Jul 2009

Arjen Hoekstra, a professor of water management at University of Twente in the Netherlands, coined the Water Footprint concept in 2002. He was one of initiators of the Water Footprint Network, a coalition of scientists, companies and development agencies, launched in December 2008. The Wall Street Journal published an article in February 2009, about the growing interest of businesses in calculating water footprints, especially those that are vulnerable to future water shortages.

At the World World Forum in Istanbul, March 2009, the launch of the Alliance for Water Stewardship was announced. One of the aims is to launch a new product logo: a label which says the water used to make a product came from a sustainable source. The Alliance aims to “establish water stewardship standards, oversee certification, and administer a branding and marketing system that recognizes and rewards successful water stewards around the world”. Founding partners are: The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, Pacific Institute, Water Stewardship Initiative, Water Witness, and the Water Environment Federation.

Climate change: water levels dropping in some major rivers

Rivers in some of the world’s most populous regions are losing water, according to a new comprehensive study of global stream flow. The study, led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), suggests that in many cases the reduced flows are associated with climate change. The process could potentially threaten future supplies of food and water. The results [were] published on May 15 in the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Climate. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, NCAR’s sponsor.

The scientists, who examined stream flow from 1948 to 2004, found significant changes in about one-third of the world’s largest rivers. Of those, rivers with decreased flow outnumbered those with increased flow by a ratio of about 2.5 to 1.

Several of the rivers channeling less water serve large populations, including the Yellow River in northern China, the Ganges in India, the Niger in West Africa, and the Colorado in the southwestern United States. In contrast, the scientists reported greater stream flow over sparsely populated areas near the Arctic Ocean, where snow and ice are rapidly melting.

“Reduced runoff is increasing the pressure on freshwater resources in much of the world, especially with more demand for water as population increases,” says NCAR scientist Aiguo Dai, the lead author. “Freshwater being a vital resource, the downward trends are a great concern.”

Many factors can affect river discharge, including dams and the diversion of water for agriculture and industry. The researchers found, however, that the reduced flows in many cases appear to be related to global climate change, which is altering precipitation patterns and increasing the rate of evaporation. The results are consistent with previous research by Dai and others showing widespread drying and increased drought over many land areas.

The study raises wider ecological and climate concerns. Discharge from the world’s great rivers results in deposits of dissolved nutrients and minerals into the oceans. The freshwater flow also affects global ocean circulation patterns, which are driven by changes in salinity and temperature and which play a vital role in regulating the world’s climate. Although the recent changes in the freshwater discharge are relatively small and may only have impacts around major river mouths, Dai said the freshwater balance in the global oceans needs to be monitored for any long-term changes.

[...]

Some rivers, such as the Brahmaputra in South Asia and the Yangtze in China, have shown stable or increasing flows. But they could lose volume in future decades with the gradual disappearance of the Himalayan glaciers feeding them, the authors warned.

Source: UCAR, 21 Apr 2009

PepsiCo Agrees to Policy Respecting Human Right to Water

PepsiCo is the first publicly traded, multinational corporation to create a policy in support of the human right to water.

In 2003, PepsiCo’s water-use license was revoked in Pudussery, India, because of claims that its bottling plants there were over-consuming and depleting community groundwater, which is a direct violation of the Human Right to Water. When NorthStar Asset Management, a Boston-based investment management firm found itself with shares of PepsiCo in its portfolio, it submitted a shareowner proposal directing PepsiCo to create a policy articulating its commitment to the Human Right to Water.

The shareowner resolution, crafted with the help of water justice experts at the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), an international human rights organization [and later on supported by Boston Common Asset Management] was [successfully] submitted for the 2008 proxy season.

In December 2008, PepsiCo contacted NorthStar and asked for an example of the kind of policy the investment firm would like to see it adopt. In March [2009], NorthStar announced that PepsiCo had agreed to adopt an official policy in support of the human right to water. PepsiCo is the first publicly traded, multinational corporation to create such a policy.

Read the PepsiCo Guidelines in Support of the Human Right to Water

Source: Robert Kropp, SRI, 28 Apr 2009 – see also: PepsiCo Marks World Water Day and Reaffirms Commitment to Responsible Water Stewardship, PepsiCo, 20 Mar 2009

DEVELOPMENT: Corruption Drains Water… (IPS)

DEVELOPMENT: Corruption Drains Water…
By Hilmi Toros
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46196

ISTANBUL, Mar 19 (IPS) – Several civil society organisations are planning anti-corruption drives to combat the wheeling-dealing considered a major factor in the world water crisis.

The initiative comes through a series of anti-corruption measures outlined at the World Water Forum (WWF) by Water Integrity Network (WIN) and Transparency International (TI), two Europe-based international NGOs. The fifth World Water Forum is being held in Istanbul Mar. 16-22.

The two groups have said in a joint report earlier that “the water crisis is a governance crisis with corruption at its core.”

Following the report, the Water Integrity Network announced at the Forum that “the objective is to build a broad-based coalition partners to form a strong voice against corruption.

“Partnership and coalition building at global, regional as well as country levels are needed to scale up action and achieve impact in terms of reducing corruption through entrenched integrity, transparency and accountability,” the WIN plan states.

“People in the developing world have little voice in water issues affecting them,” Dr. Hakan Tropp of the Stockholm International Water Institute and keynote speaker at a panel of international experts held at the Forum told IPS. “The drive to empower them is recent, and it will take time to be effective.”

One hurdle that has to be overcome, Tropp said, is fear, because people are afraid to blow the whistle on corruption for fear of retribution from entrenched and powerful officials.

“It’s not easy,” Jasper Tumuhımbıse, an anti-corruption crusader from Uganda told IPS. “If you act alone, you will be targeted. Form groups first. We finally managed to establish public accounting forums. Users get together with providers and managers.” He appealed for creation of an international tribunal to try the corrupt, calling water corruption “genocide”.

Tropp says there are a dozen international conventions and many guidelines against corruption, besides anti-corruption law in many countries, but that implementation is slack.

Despite the difficulties, Tropp said, good practices are beginning to emerge, with citizens groups getting involved in monitoring water issues in some places. He mentioned fresh moves against corruption in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, Bolivia, Colombia and Lesotho.

Although anti-corruption measures are few and far between, the Forum was presented some concrete examples of action against corruption. In Colombia, water regulator deliberations are now open to the public. In Bolivia, the municipal water and sewer service provider SEMAPA has ‘citizen directors’ on its board. And WIN is lauding the Lesotho government for prosecuting a senior official for corruption.

Another encouraging sign is a move by the corporate sector to adopt codes of conduct against bribery, Dr. Donal O’Leary of Transparency International told IPS. This would be in their own interest. “Preventing water corruption may be difficult, but cleaning up after the mess is more difficult and more expensive.”

Forum participants took note of the 400-page Global Corruption Report by WIN and TI, the first dealing exclusively with corruption in the water sector.

“Corruption in the water sector is widespread and makes water undrinkable, inaccessible and unaffordable,” the report says. “It is evident in the drilling of rural wells in sub-Saharan Africa, in the construction of water treatment facilities in Asia’s urban areas, the building of hydroelectric dams in Latin America and the daily abuse and misuse of water resources around the world.”

The report does not spare wealthy nations. It speaks of their vulnerability to “grand” corruption in awarding of contracts for building and operating municipal water infrastructure, nepotism on boards of directors, embezzlement, and political considerations outweighing technical ones.

But it is the developing word suffering the most, chiefly through “petty” corruption, with the poor at the losing end. Corruption is blamed at least partly for the fact that 1.2 billon people have no guaranteed access to water, and more than 2.6 billion are without adequate sanitation.

The anti-corruption moves come after some notorious cases of corruption. These include a multi-million dollar bribe in Lesotho over an 8 billon dollar dam, a survey showing that 66 percent of Kenyan households have reported water-related corruption, and instances of extortion in repair services in Zimbabwe.

The victims are mainly the poor, particularly women, who cannot afford bribes. They also see services reduced or cut, and their water diverted to richer areas.

Dr. Tropp says studies show that corruption inflates the cost of connecting a household to the water network by as much as 30 percent. Because of corruption-related expenses, an additional 48 billon dollars is needed to achieve the target for water in the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. One of these goals is provision of access to safe drinking water.

“Funding aimed at helping people meet their basic water needs is being diverted for personal gain,” the report says. “At the current rate of progress, sub-Saharan Africa will miss the MDG targets of halving by 2015 the proportion of people without access to safe water and sanitation by an entire generation for water and more than two generations for sanitation.”

Water and corruption are in a “destructive partnership” because water is seen as a high-risk sector, the report says. Since it is a basic need, spending is huge. The market for building and operating municipal water is worth an estimated 210 billon dollars annually in Western Europe, North America and Japan. Water-related activities also involve a host of other sectors, including construction. (END/2009)

IPS News

“Let clean waters flow”, Barack Obama inauguration speech

“To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds”.

Barack Obama, Inauguration Speech, 20 January 2008

Source: ABC News, 20 Jan 2008

Meltdown in the Mountains

Record Glacier Thinning Means No Time to Waste on Agreeing New International Climate Regime

Zurich/Nairobi, 16 March 2008 – The world’s glaciers are continuing to melt away with the latest official figures showing record losses, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) announced today.

Data from close to 30 reference glaciers in nine mountain ranges indicate that between the years 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 the average rate of melting and thinning more than doubled.

The findings come from the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS), a centre based at the University of Zurich in Switzerland and that is supported by UNEP. The latest WGMS figures can be accessed here.

[...]

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said:

“Millions if not billions of people depend directly or indirectly on these natural water storage facilities for drinking water, agriculture, industry and power generation during key parts of the year”.

The fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published in 2007, drew attention to the potential impacts of climate change on glaciers.

Examples:

• Himalayan glaciers are receding in a similar way as glaciers in other mountain ranges at low latitudes. Many glaciers in these areas could, at current rates of global warming, disappear within the coming decades.
• In Latin America, the IPCC warns of a melting of most tropical glaciers in the near future (2020-2030).

Read more: UNEP, 16 Mar 2008

World Water Day: Overcrowding in prisons poses global water and sanitation challenges

The rising number of detainees and prisoners in many conflict-affected countries is putting a major strain on the coping capacity of detention centres to meet inmates’ water, sanitation and overall public health needs. In many societies, prisons are forgotten or neglected, causing them to become breeding grounds for disease due to a lack of clean water, limited access to latrines, inadequate waste management, poor hygiene and overcrowded living quarters.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) annually visits more than 2,500 places of detention, which hold about half a million people, in around 70 countries worldwide. Its assessment of water, health and sanitation needs is based on these visits, which aim to improve conditions and treatment of detainees where needed.

Read more: ICRC, 17 Mar 2008

Global debate: “Resolved: Water should be considered national property”

In March 2008, the topic of the People Speak Global Debates considers whether water is a national property (including both government control of water and privatization) or whether water is part of the global commons with no ownership at the nation-state or corporate level.

The People Speak.org (TPS) is an initiative of the United Nations Foundation to engage young people on the global issues that will shape their future. Global Debates are organised for U.S. and international high schools (grades 9-12). Students research and prepare arguments for a public debate held in their school and all students who attend the debate vote for the side they felt was most compelling. The final results from all participating schools are published on the TPS site.

The Global debate “Resolved: Water should be considered national property” runs from 1-24 March 2008.

Debatepedia has set up a wiki for the 2008 Global Debate topic.