[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
dam-l Hindu stories today on World Water Forum. (fwd)
Hmmm.. ENS said they were strippers, ths artcile says they
jumped naked onto the platform and gives more background on the group.
I'm sending this along becasue there is another attached
story on holistic water management which may interest people
and concerns the World Water Forum events.
cheers!
-Dianne
Forwarded message:
From cwaterp@del3.vsnl.net.in Sat Mar 18 01:08:40 2000
Message-ID: <38D31BD4.2AA433A9@del3.vsnl.net.in>
Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2000 11:31:56 +0530
From: Himanshu Thakkar <cwaterp@del3.vsnl.net.in>
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.08 [en] (Win98; I)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Subject: Hindu stories today on World Water Forum.
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Source: Hindu, March 18, 2000
1. Hecklers disrupt world water meet
By Kalpana Sharma
THE HAGUE, MARCH 17. Streakers, a man hanging from a balcony
and hecklers disrupted the formal opening of the World Water Forum
today in the capital of the Netherlands. The opening speaker, Mr.
Mahmoud Abu-Zeid, president, World Water Council, was not allowed
to speak as a naked man and woman suddenly jumped on to the stage,
stood in front of him and shouted `stop the Itoiz Dam, stop wasting
money'.
If the organisers of the meet, which has brought together over 3,500
people from 158 countries, had hoped for orderly discussions on a
range of issues revolving around water use and management, they had
clearly underestimated the strength of sentiments on this issue in many
parts of the world.
The protesters were from the Basque region of Spain where the
controversial Itoiz Dam was constructed some years ago. The reservoir,
which adversely affects a European-protected sanctuary, continues to
be controversial because it violates European law. Protestors have been
given long prison sentences by the Spanish Government. As a result, the
anti-dam group has carried out several spectacular protests in the last
few months, including hanging from the Millennium Wheel in London.
Today, they continued in the same manner. The security guards had a
particularly hard time dealing with the man hanging from the balcony
with a red banner and another who had managed to climb on to a ledge on
the wall.
The dramatic opening ceremony, which will be remembered more for
the protests than the song and dance numbers that preceded them or the
speeches, illustrates the underlying tensions that already mark this
gathering of water experts, Government representatives, NGOs and
others on the issue of the use and management of water resources.
While the doomsdayers, who included a group that has raised an alarm
about the availability of water and the water gap, want to stress
issues like water management, the non- governmental groups are more
concerned about issues such as privatisation of water, and the systems
of water management, like large dams, which have adverse impacts on
people and the environment.
The International Rivers Network states in its critique of the document
`World Water Vision', which backgrounds the discussions, that the real
crisis is one of over-consumption, waste, pollution, watershed
degradation, rampant dam-building, poorly- conceived and operated
infrastructure projects, corruption and inequality.
The Itoiz Dam is not the only one that will feature in the discussions.
Without deliberately planning to do so, the controversy on the Narmada
Dam is just waiting to surface with the Gujarat Minister for Water, Mr.
Jai Narain Vyas, scheduled to speak on water and energy and the
Narmada Bachao Andolan leader, Ms. Medha Patkar, also speaking at
a session on water and ethics. The writer, Ms. Arundhati Roy, has also
arrived to draw attention to the situation on the dams on the Narmada.
------------------------------------
2. Holistic approach to water management stressed
By G. Venkataramani
THE HAGUE, MARCH 17. The Chairman of the World
Commission on Water for the 21st
Century, and Global Water Partnership, Dr. Ismail Seregeldin,
said, ``Water is life. Every human being, now and in the future,
should have enough clean water for drinking and sanitation, and
enough food and energy at reasonable cost. Providing adequate
water to meet these basic needs must be done in an equitable
manner that works in harmony with nature.''
``For, water is the basis for all living ecosystems and habitats and
part of an immutable hydrological cycle that must be respected if
the development of human activity and well being is to be
sustainable,'' he said in his opening remarks at the World Water
Forum in the morning.
Summarising the recommendations of the World Water
Commission Report, Dr. Seregeldin, stressed the need for a
holistic, systematic approach relying on Integrated Water
Resources Management (IWRM) which must replace the
fragmentation
that currently exists in managing water. He also underscored the
need for water pricing, viewed as a radical approach by many.
``The members of the Commission agreed that the single most
immediate and important measure that we can recommend is the
systematic adoption of full cost pricing for water services,'' he
pointed out. He also highlighted the need for targeted subsidies
for the poor.
Discussing the role of technologies in water conservation and its
use efficiency, he said that without major technological innovation,
there was little hope of bringing the water equation into balance.
``There is no doubt that many technological changes can help
improve service for millions and reduce the stress on water
systems around the world,'' he explained.
Stressing that a political will was necessary to implement the
action plan, Dr. Seregeldin said the philosophical approach
should be integrated water resources management, based on
participation, water pricing, private sector involvement and
respecting the integrity of ecosystems. The Commission has
recommended the setting up of Water Innovation Fund with
support from both public and private sectors. The Fund will help
implementing the recommendations of the Commission.
``We are not achieving these goals today, and we are also on a
path leading to crisis and to future problems for a large part of
humanity and many parts of the planet's ecosystem. Business as
usual leads us on an unsustainable and inequitable path. We need
to make drastic changes in the manner water is used for the
benefit of the generations to come,'' he said.