"Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink!" Indeed the state of freshwater on our planet is quite precarious. Four years ago I attended a presentation at the UN in which a panelist warned that the world's wars would soon be fought over water. His words unfortunately are coming true, as many conflicts over water have already arisen, within states and between them here in the US, as well as across national borders and between countries and corporations.

In 2000 the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the year 2003 to be the Year of Freshwater. This resolution states in part: "(The General Assembly) Encourages all Member States, the United Nations system and all other actors to take advantage of the Year to increase awareness of the importance of freshwater and to promote action at the local, national, regional and international levels..."

On 12/12/02 at the UN, the Year's official launch took place. Soon I will be posting a special section on our regional website (http://www.fi-na.org) devoted to the Year of Freshwater and its related issues. It will contain links to resources, articles (including background information on the Bolivia and Bechtel Corporation issue...,) the statement "Our Sister Water is Not for Sale" and pertinent UN websites....

Some pertinent background information on the Year of Freshwater 2003 International Year for Freshwater: http://www.unesco.org/water/iyfw/
In French: http://www.unesco.org/water/iyfw/index_fr.shtml
In Spanish: http://www.unesco.org/water/iyfw/index_es.shtml

UN GA Resolution on Year of Freshwater:
http://ods-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N00/571/03/PDF/

UN Secretary General s Message for Year of Freshwater:
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2002/SGSM8554.doc.htm

UN Press Release from the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights:
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2002/HR4630.doc.htm

Earlier this month, the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development, chaired by FI's Sr. Mary Therese Plante, FMM devoted their meeting to freshwater issues. Sr. Mary Therese shares this brief update with us:

"There were two formal speakers. One was Ms. Marcia Brewster who has been working on the Freshwater issue and is the senior economic affairs officer for the sustainable development division of DESA, and who is the current coordinator of the preparations for the Freshwater Year. She spoke of the Year, the web page that will be in place, the logo, what they hoped to accomplish and the necessity of freshwater for the billion in the world without water and sanitation. The other speaker was Mr. Mansoor Ali who is the Senior Advisor for the Water, Environment and Sanitation Division of UNICEF. He spoke of health, clean water and the damage that arsenic and fluoride had in the water (He did not mean fluoridated water but rather the minerals that seep into the water system in other countries.) and the damage it does to kids. I spoke on the 'Darker Side of Water.' This dealt mainly with the privatization of water by corporations. I gave the example of Bolivia and the Bechtel Corporation. We also spoke about the UN Press Release HR/4630 from Nov 22, 2002 where the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted a General Comment that states that 'The human right to drinking water is fundamental for life and health.' This is significant in that it means that households can no longer be disconnected from water supplies. It is in violation of international human rights law. This sets an important precedent. The UN Committee goes on to define water as a social and cultural good, not solely as an economic commodity. We also presented the copy of "Our Sister Water is Not for Sale" -a statement the Canadian Franciscan Family in Quebec Province made after a year's study of water issues. I am sure it was the first NGO statement to be presented on freshwater at the UN."