Ciudad de México, marzo 19, 2006.

JOINT DECLARATION BY MOVEMENTS IN DEFENSE OF WATER*

From 14-19 March, we, human beings with an integrated vision of life, activists from social movements, nongovernmental organizations, networks that fight all over the world to defend water and land and public goods, have shared ideas, struggles, concerns and proposals. At the same time we have realized how the experiences of struggle have changed reality all over the world, stopping the privatization of water. We are no longer on the defensive, but rather we are capable of promoting concrete proposals that now reach every corner of the planet.

Starting with the spirit of Caracas, which gathered together many organizations from across the world in defense of water, we now have in our history and our hearts the struggles of La Parota, La Laguna, Xoxocotla, Acuitlapilco and many others from Mexico and other parts of the world. The humanity and the commitment of those who organized this Forum is a success in the construction of our movement.

In accordance with the meetings held in past years during World Social Forums, social movements all over the world fight for the right to water with an ecological and integrated vision and against commercialization in all environments (domestic, agricultural and industrial). We agree on a platform for common action against the problems of each place as part of a global strategy.

Given that:

1. Water in all its forms is a public good and access to it is a fundamental and inalienable human right. Water is the patrimony of communities, peoples and humanity, an essential component of life on our planet. Water is not a commodity. That is why we reject all forms of privatization, including public-private partnerships, which have demonstrated their total failure all over the world.
2. Management and control must remain public, social, communal and participatory, equal and nonprofit. It is an obligation of all local, national and international public institutions to guarantee these conditions, from the planning to the final control of the process.
3. Solidarity between present and future generations must be guaranteed, which is why we reject this neoliberal, materialistic development model that promotes the overexploitation of Mother Nature.
4. The sustainable management of ecosystems and the preservation of the water cycle are necessary, through the organization of territory and the conservation of natural environments. Water basins are basic, integral pieces of public management, part of community identity and unity, in which citizens’ and communities’ participation is made effective. The defense of water means recovering the health of ecosystems from the collection sources to the treatment of wastewater.
5. Acting on the above, we make known our strong opposition to all World Water Forums, dominated by large transnational companies, by IFIs (World Bank, IDB, EIB, etc.) and the world’s governmental powers, for being exclusionary and antidemocratic. Thus we do not legitimize those bodies that ignore the real requests and demands of the people and that, on the contrary, continue looking for new ways to commercialize water, ignoring the very high human, social and environmental costs of this neoliberal model.

WE CALL ON

Organizations, social movements, governments and parliaments to include these principles in the local, national and international legal frameworks.

All citizens of the world to develop joint actions to unite and organize ourselves and to make more specific our proposals for change linked to a world water movement

WE DEMAND

The exclusion of water from the WTO and other international free trade and investments agreements, both bilateral and multilateral.

The abolition of the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), considering the experiences of Cochabamba and other cities that want to place the sovereignty of their public goods back in public hands.

The recovery and promotion of the public, social, communal, participatory and integral management of water.

We demand that every human being have access and the right to good quality water, in quantities sufficient for hygiene and drinking, and in the places where there is potable water service, that it be provided free, independent of cultural, religious, social, geographic or economic situations or gender. We reject any kind of double standard. No company, government or international institution can interrupt water service meant for domestic consumption because of lack of payment.

Industries and corporations responsible for polluting water must repair the environmental, human and economic damages they have caused.

WE REJECT

For being illegitimate all the demands for profits and indemnities from corporations and transnationals.

Any financing conditioned on the liberalization and privatization of water services by international financial institutions (IFIs).

National and regional legislation that opens the doors to the process of privatization and commercialization of water.

The predatory and unsustainable model of water using large-scale projects, dams, port construction, mining exploitation, and the bottling of water.

WE PROPOSE

The promotion of high quality public management bodies with democratic foundations, through the exchange of experiences, technical knowledge, training, plans and funding proposals for the consolidation of a public, social, communal and participatory model.

The promotion of community education and organization on the responsible and sustainable use and consumption of water.

Disseminating experiences on the creation of solidarity funds to finance models of public, participatory, communal and social management of water.

The creation of both international and regional observatories that can be the meeting point of social organizations, movements and international cooperation networks, to exercise social control over the activities of transnationals and international financial institutions (IFIs), involving parliaments, local governments and democratic institutions.

Moving forward with demands that governments and companies repair the damage they have caused to populations because of pollution and lack of access to water.

Strengthening the existing international tribunals and promoting their creation in various regions of the world.

WE ARE COMMITTED

To promoting a Plan for World Action that continues this process of building networks and mobilization for water.

To promoting, from the local struggles to a worldwide platform, solidarity that unites and strengthens us.

To valuing the contribution of women, native populations, indigenous people, young and all people, incorporating the defense of their rights in the construction of models that demonstrate that another form of water management is possible.

We commit ourselves to continuing this process, enriching it with all possible contributions from our movements’ next meetings, including the Linking Alternatives European Union-Latin America Meeting in May in Vienna, the Meeting of the South American Community of Nations in Bolivia in September, and the Assembly of Citizens for Water in Brussels in December.

Within this framework the world water movement is committed to undertaking three actions together:

Global, common and simultaneous activity between September and October 2006.
Assuming a common slogan in all activities: “The right to water is possible: participatory public management.”

This declaration will be released at press conferences in all locations upon their return home by order of the World Water Movement.