Europe: one million signatures for Water as a Human Right

The first up and running European Citizens Initiative (ECI) ‘Water is a Human
Right’ made history as also being the first ECI in the history of the European Union to have collected over 1 million signatures.  The water initiative aims to get the European Commission  to propose legislation on the human right to water covering the following three issues:

• guaranteed access to water and sanitation services for all EU citizens, including the 2 million currently without access and those threatened with disconnection because they can’t afford to pay their bills
• no liberalisation of water and sanitation services
• more European action to ensure that everyone in the world can enjoy the human right to water and sanitation

While the one million signatures are enough to get the proposals on the European political agenda, a further requirement is to reach a minimum number of signatures in at least seven EU countries. Up to 12 March, five countries have  met this requirement: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Slovakia and Slovenia.  The organisers have collected 1.35 million signatures so far, and aim to get 2 million signatures by September 2013

The organisations behind the water is a human right campaign include the following trade unions and NGOs:

• Aqua Publica Europea
• European Anti Poverty Network (EAPN)
• European Environmental Bureau (EEB)
• European Public Health Alliance (EPHA)
• European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU)
• European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC)
• Public Services International (PSI)
• Social Platform and 
• Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF).

The ECI is the first transnational instrument of participatory democracy in world history. It is considered to be one of the major innovations of the Treaty of Lisbon.

Watch the campaign video.

Related websites:

• Water is a human right campaign - www.right2water.eu
• Initiative for the European Citizens’ Initiative - www.citizens-initiative.eu

Source: EPSU, 11 Feb 2013 ; EurActiv, 12 Feb 2013 ; right2water, 07 Mar 2013

The need for better global estimates for safe water and sanitation

Researchers from the University of North Carolina (UNC) estimate that the number of people without safe water and sanitation is much higher than previously thought. If you add actual service levels and the unreliability of some of the data to the equation the picture may be even bleaker.

Dr. Jamie Bartram

Jamie Bartram’s team from UNC’s Water Institute calculated that 1.8 billion people (28% of the global population) used unsafe water in 2010 [1] and that 4.1 billion (60% of the global population ) lacked access to improved sanitation [2]. The corresponding official United Nations (UN) estimates are 783 million and 1.2 billion respectively.

The UN estimates are taken from the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) [3]. The JMP definition of safe water is linked to the use of improved drinking-water sources. In their definition of safe water, Bartram’s team also looks at the water quality and sanitary risk of the improved sources. For their calculations, they modelled and extrapolated data from a WHO/UNICEF study on the Rapid Assessment of Drinking-Water Quality (RADWQ) in 5 countries.

SEI and SuSanA to lead new sanitation learning & sharing platform for Gates Foundation

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has chosen the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) to lead a new sanitation learning and sharing platform.

The Gates Foundation’s Sanitation Science and Technology Programme has over 80 projects. SEI and SuSanA have been tasked to share the results from these projects in an open public forum engaging a broad range of experts and the general public.

Over the next 15 months SEI will work with the Programme Grantees of the Foundation in order to broaden understanding and discussion about their work. The grantees will be encouraged to work through SuSanA that has about 200 institutional members and some 2000 discussants on its Discussion Forum (www.forum.susana.org).

In August 2012, the Foundation gave a grant to the Water and Sanitation for   Africa (WSA) to set up the Africa Sanitation Think Tank (ASTT).

Related web sites:

• Gates Foundation - Water, Sanitation & Hygiene
• SEI – Managing Environmental Systems
• SuSanA
• IRC - Sanitation

Source: SEI, 09 Nov 2012

WASH by numbers: the latest on cost benchmarks, economic returns and handwashing

One of the most quoted WASH statistics was recently “downgraded”. For every $1 invested in water and sanitation, not $8 but “only” $4 is returned in economic returns through increased productivity. This recalculation [1], says the World Health Organization, is mainly a result of higher investment cost estimates and the more complete inclusion of operation and maintenance (O&M) costs.

Providing a better insight into O&M costs has been one of the achievements of the WASHCost project of the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. WASHCost has published minimum benchmarks for costing sustainable basic WASH services in developing countries [2]. The project collected data from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Andhra Pradesh (India) and Mozambique.

The main message is that spending less than the minimum benchmarks will result in a higher risk of reduced service levels or long-term failure. NGOs claiming that “US$20 can provide clean water for one person for 20 years” have clearly forgotten to include annual recurrent costs for operation and maintenance, capital maintenance and direct support.

The real cost for 20 years of basic water supply from a borehole and handpump would be, per person, between US$ 20 and US$ 61 for construction plus US$ 3-6 every year to keep it working. In total for the 20 years this would amount to US$ 80 to US$ 181 per person.

Similarly, for the most basic sanitation service, a traditional pit latrine, the combined costs would be US$ 37 – 106 per person over 20 years.

US philanthropist aims to build 1 million toilets

John Kluge. Photo: EastWest Institute

The number of US philanthropists with a passion for sanitation has now doubled. Following in the footsteps of Bill Gates who launched Reinventing the Toilet, “Chief Toilet Hacker” John Kluge aims to provide 1 million toilets in the developing world. To kick-start this endeavour, Eirene, a company that Kluge co-founded with fellow toilet hacker, Michael TS Lindenmayer, is launching a global Sanitation Hackathon in December 2012.

For the Sanitation Hackathon, Eirene is teaming up with the World Bank’s Water Practice and ICT unit and the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP), which hosted the successful Water Hackathon in October 2011. Other partners supporting this initiative include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gensler, IDEO.org and Columbia University.

At least 1,000 toilet hackers from across 9 countries are expected to join in.

We have dug into the problem at the most local level and have asked some of the greatest global minds to also tackle the issue as well. These toilet hackers come from all kinds of backgrounds. Engineers, material scientists all the way to street artists, micro-entrepreneurs and inventors of all stripes are all becoming toilet hackers

Forbes has identified John Kluge (29) as one of “philanthropy’s up-and-coming faces”. He is the adopted son of John Kluge Sr., “once the richest man in America, and is is committed to ensuring 95% of his late father’s assets go towards philanthropy”. His company Eirene focuses on tackling problems like sanitation that affect at least 1 billion people. Kluge is also a resident fellow at the EastWest Institute and a memnber of UNICEF USA’s Next Generation Steering Committee.

Follow John Kluge on Twitter @klugesan and the Sanitation Hackathon with the Twitter hashtags #toilethacker and #sanhack

Source: John Kluge, Hacking Toilets the World Over, Huffington Post, 25 Sep 2012 ; Forbes 400 Richest Americans – Ones to Watch – John Kluge

NGO says international tourism compromises water rights of poor communities

London-based NGO Tourism Concern has launched a campaign to “Demand an end to Water Injustice in Goa”, India

Visitors to Bali, the Gambia and Goa use 16 times as much water as local residents. Such disproportionate use of fresh water by tourists in developing world destinations is causing local conflict, exacerbating poverty and helping to spread disease, says NGO Tourism Concern in a new report [1].

The report examined five coastal destinations popular with international tourists – the Gambia, Bali in Indonesia, the islands of Zanzibar off the coast of Tanzania, and Goa and Kerala in India.

“While hotels may have the money and resources to ensure their guests enjoy several showers a day, swimming pools, a round of golf, and lush landscaped gardens, neighbouring households, small businesses and agricultural producers can regularly endure severe water scarcity,” says the report.

Some hotels in Zanzibar hotels employ security guards to prevent sabotage of water pipes by angry locals who claim they are facing extreme water shortages. A deadly cholera outbreak in 2010 was partly blamed on groundwater contaminated by sewage from hotels.

Tourism Concern is calling on the international tourism industry, destination governments and tourists to urgently address this problem of “massive inequality”. Their report offers nine Principles of Water Equity in Tourism for governments, the tourism sector and civil society, as well as detailed recommendations for each set of stakeholders.

[1]] Noble, R., Smith, P. and Pattullo, P. (eds), 2012. Water equity in tourism : a human right, a global responsibility. London, UK, Tourism Concern. 31 p. Available at: <www.tourismconcern.org.uk/uploads/Campaigns/WET%20Report.pdf>

Related web site: Tourism Concern – Water Equity in Tourism

Source:

• Leo Hickman, Charity condemns tourists’ use of fresh water in developing countries, Guardian, 08 Jul 2012
•  New report reveals massive water inequity between tourism and locals, Tourism Concern, 09 Jul 2012

Is the UK’s recognition of right to sanitation half-hearted?

In a statement issued on 27 June 2012, the UK Government officially recognises sanitation as a human right under international law. However, in their interpretation of this right, the government excludes “the collection and transport of human waste”. It also does not accept, in their entirety, specific U.N. documents on the right to water and sanitation.

The UK had originally abstained from voting on the resolution on the right to water and sanitation at the UN General Assembly in 2010. It stated then that it did not believe that there was a sufficient legal basis under international law to declare sanitation as a human right.

Facing growing international pressure by NGOs and UN Special Rapporteur Catarina de Albuquerque, the UK announced on 15 June 2012 that it would support the inclusion of commitments to the right both to safe drinking water and to sanitation as a human right in the Rio+20 outcome document.

What the implications are of the UK’s interpretation of the right to sanitation is unclear. Maybe the government should send their legal advisers to a slum during the rainy season to see what happens when there is no adequate collection and transport of human waste.

Related news:

• Rio+20: Canada finally recognises human right to water and sanitation, E-Source, 13 Jun 2012
• Right to water and sanitation: finally declared legally binding in international law, E-Source, 19 Oct 2010

Related web sites:

• FAN – Realizing the rights to water and sanitation
• OHCHR –Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation

Source:

• UK recognises right to sanitation, UK FCO, 27 Jun 2012
• Isabella Montgomery, UK Government supports right to sanitation inclusion at Rio+20, FAN, Jun 2012

Rio+20: Canada finally recognises human right to water and sanitation

In the run-up to Rio+20, Canada became one of the last Western nations to drop its opposition to a reference to water and sanitation as a human right in the zero draft outcome document The Future We Want [1]. This was achieved by an international lobby led by the likes of Maude Barlow’s Council of Canadians and UN Special Rapporteur Catarina de Albuquerque.

Maude Barlow. Photo: Council of Canadians

Until a month ago, Canada was the only country to publicly claim there was no legal basis for the right to water and call for deletion of paragraph 67, which referred to this right, from the Rio+20 document, said Anil Naidoo of the Council of Canadians’ Blue Planet Project.

The U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution in July 2010 recognising water and sanitation as a basic human right [2] and on 30 September 2010, the UN Human Rights Council recognised the right as legally binding in international law [3].

At the initial Rio+20 negotiations last year, several human rights and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) warned that the human right to water and sanitation was under threat. This started when the UK, working inside the European Union (EU), first proposed to delete paragraph 67 from the zero draft.

Catarina de Albuquerque. Photo: OHCHR

After pressure from several international NGOs and an appeal [4] by Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation Catarina de Albuquerque, the EU backed down and other governments pushed back against the UK, notably Spain, said Naidoo.

But still, Canada, later joined by the United States and Israel, continued to call for deletion of paragraph 67. Intense lobbying, supported by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay, who called for human rights to be protected in the Rio negotiations [5], finally convinced Canada to drop its opposition to the recognition of water and sanitation as a human right.

[1] Rio+20 - The Future We Want – Zero draft of the outcome document

[2] Right to water and sanitation: UN General Assembly passes landmark resolution, E-Source, 08 Sep 2010

[3] Right to water and sanitation: finally declared legally binding in international law, E-Source, 19 Oct 2010

[4] Rio+20: “Do not betray your commitments on the human right to water and sanitation”, OHCHR, 22 Mar 2012

[5] Navanethem Pillay, Open Letter, OHCHR, 30 Mar 2012

Related web sites:

• Council of Canadians – Right to Water – Blue Planet Project
• OHCHR – Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation

Source: Thalif Deen, Canada, Last Holdout, Drops Opposition to Water as Human Right, IPS, 31 May 2012

Help shape the future of global water monitoring

Water sector stakeholders are invited to express their views on how to shape the future of global water monitoring after 2015.

The JMP Post 2015 Water Monitoring Working Group has launched an e-survey to let all stakeholders express their thoughts on:

1. the Group’s draft goal, targets and indicators and,
2. the best way to monitor the data.

The survey closes on the 18th June 2012.

The Water Working Group is one of four expert groups established in January 2012 by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) to develop alternative goal, target(s) and indicator options for post-2015 monitoring. The other three groups are on sanitation, hygiene and equity and non-discrimination. The outputs of all these groups will inform the various ongoing political processes led by the UN Secretary General and are expected to culminate in a post-MDG summit at the UN General Assembly in September 2013.

The Post 2015 Water Monitoring Working Group is comprised of a core group and resource group of experts, led jointly by WaterAid and the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre.

For more information go to the Water Working Group website where you will find a description of the proposed draft goal, target and indicators and a link to the e-survey.

Related news:

• Stef Smits, Is the glass half full or half empty?, E-Source, 31 Mar 2012
• Monitoring: new tools meet demand for more transparency in the water sector, E-Source, 05 Dec 2011
• First consultation on developing post-2015 monitoring indicators, Berlin: Refocusing the monitoring approach, E-Source, 26 Oct 2011

World Water Forums: seeking sustainable water management solutions

In March 2012, two global but contrasting forums in search of sustainable solutions to the water crisis took place in Marseilles, France.

The realisation of the human right to water and sanitation was prominent in the declarations of the both the 6^th World Water Forum (WWF) [1] and the Alternative World Water Forum (FAME 2012) [2].  In addition, the WWF6 declaration officially recognised disaster mitigation and emergency response as a priority. Where the WWF6 declaration fell short though, according to the Butterfly Effect, a group of 90 civil society organisations, was that it did not explicitly mention the commitment of states to implement the right to water and sanitation. [3]

Watch the video of the Public-Private debate at WWF6.

While the WWF was home to the water and development industry, FAME 2012 gave a voice to the uncompromising group of anti-privatisation water activists. Loïc Fauchon, head of WWF organiser, the World Water Council, dismissed the alternative forum as “insignificant at best and harmful at worst”. A commentator added that “the pro- and anti-privatisation debate grew stale a long time ago” [4]. As if the anti-privatisation activists anticipated claims that they present infinite criticisms but few alternatives, two new studies [5,6] promoting public management of services have been released.

Watch a video Prof. David McDonald of the Municipal Services Project (MSP) Canada talking about his new publication “Alternatives to Privatization“.

The WWF and FAME 2012 are taking their declarations to Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in June. The next World Water Forum will take place in Daegu Gwangyeoksi, South Korea, in 2015.

For more commentaries on the two forums see:

• Babatope Babalobi, How Marseilles hosted two World Water Forums in one week, eWASH, 10 Apr 2012
• Daniel Moss, The right water debates in the wrong place, Huffington Post, 02 April 2012

[1] 6^th World Water Forum – Ministerial Declaration, 13 Mar 2012

[2] Alternative World Water Forum – Declaration, 13 Apr 2012

[3] Butterfly Effect reaction to the 6th World Water Forum ministerial declaration, Freshwater Action Network (FAN), 15 Mar 2012

[4] Claire Provost, No single course for providing water, Guardian Poverty Matters blog, 22 Mar 2012

[5] Pigeon, M. et al. (eds), 2012. Remunicipalisation : putting water back into public hands. Amsterdam: Transnational Institute. Available at: <http://www.tni.org/tnibook/remunicipalisation> [Accessed 14 May 2012]

[6] McDonald, D.A. and Ruiters, G., 2012. Alternatives to privatization : public options for essential services in the global south. Cape Town: HSRC Press. Available at: <http://www.hsrcpress.ac.za/product.php?productid=2287> [Accessed 14 May 2012]

Related news: World Water Forum: water unites but forums divided, E-Source, 03 Apr 2009

Related web sites:

• 6^th World Water Forum – official website | Solutions for Water
• Alternative World Water Forum
• International Secretariat for Water – The Butterfly Effect
•  IRC at the World Water Forum 2012