MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION
10.3.2006
pursuant to Rule 108(5) of the Rules of Procedure
by Francis Wurtz, Roberto Musacchio, Dimitrios Papadimoulis, Willy Meyer Pleite, Miguel Portas, Vittorio Agnoletto, Luisa Morgantini and Marco Rizzo
on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group
on the 4th World Water Forum (Mexico City, 16-22 March 2006)
B6‑0163/2006
European Parliament resolution on the 4th World Water Forum (Mexico City, 16-22 March 2006)
The European Parliament,
– having regard to the 4th World Water Forum, which will take place in Mexico City from 16 to 22 March 2006,
– having regard to the final declarations of the first three World Water Forums held in Marrakesh (1997), The Hague (2000) and Kyoto (2003),
– having regard to the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the 2005 final report of the UN Millennium Project Task Force on Water and Sanitation, entitled 'Health, Dignity and Development: What it will take',
– having regard to the second edition of the UN World Water Development Report, 'Water, a Shared Responsibility', launched on 9 March 2006,
– having regard to the G8 Water Action Plan adopted at the Evian Summit in 2003 and confirmed in the G8 Gleneagles declaration of 7 July 2005,
– having regard to the EU Water Initiative (EUWI) launched at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg (WSSD) in 2002,
– having regard to the ACP-EU Water Facility, launched in 2004,
– having regard to its 2003 resolution on water management in development countries,
– having regard to Rule 108(5) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas half of the world population suffers from lack of sanitation or lack of access to drinking water, and there is clear evidence of a looming global water crisis threatening not only sustainable development but also peace and security; whereas millions of women and children suffer disproportionately from insufficient access to drinking water and sanitation,
B. whereas one of the main targets of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) is to 'cut in half, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation',
C. whereas water distribution is extremely unequal, despite the fact that it should be a universal public service, and the local level is best suited to determining and managing this distribution; stressing that water management, which is vital to development, determines living conditions, especially where water shortages cause food insecurity,
D. whereas the European Union and its Member States provide some € 1.4 billion per year to water and sanitation in developing countries, making the EU the largest aid provider in the world in this sector,
E. recalling its resolution of 11 March 2004 on the Internal Market Strategy (priorities 2003-2006), which states that 'since water is a shared resource of mankind, the management of water resources should not be subject to the rules of the internal market',
1. Declares that water is a shared resource of mankind and that, as such, access to water constitutes a fundamental human right; calls for all the necessary efforts to be made to guarantee access to water for the poorest populations;
2. Welcomes and encourages the cultural and political mobilisation efforts of European and international civil society organisations, NGOs and the 'World Water Contract' in seeking solutions to problems relating to access to water for the poorest populations;
3. Regrets the low level of incorporation of World Water Forum actions in the work of the United Nations; recalls that 21 international agencies deal in various ways with the water issue and, in this connection, calls for the establishment of a United Nations 'Water Coordination Agency';
4. Stresses that any water management policy should also include the protection of public health and the environment; stresses that the World Water Forum, as a private international organisation, should not be given responsibility for developing strategies encouraging a form of economic and agricultural development compatible with the maintenance or restoration of a high water quality level; responsibility for such an integrated policy covering all water should be conferred on a United Nations 'coordinated agency';
5. Calls for the resources of the 'European Water Fund' for ACP countries to be increased under the 10th EDF and for innovative and more clearly targeted types of funding and partnerships to be developed, in particular funding based on solidarity;
6. Calls on the Commission to refrain from calling for any privatisation of water distribution in third countries under WTO-GATS multilateral agreements and bilateral agreements, and in particular the EPAs currently being negotiated with ACP countries; calls on the Member States to refrain from applying any pressure to this end indirectly through the international financial institutions of which they are members;
7. Calls for local authorities in the European Union to be encouraged to allocate a proportion of the charges paid by users for the supply of water and sanitation services to decentralised cooperation measures, and for the Union to set aside the necessary resources to enable it to support and back up such measures, in particular with regard to coordinating data, and exploiting and disseminating results;
8. Calls on the Commission to promote and strengthen regional cooperation in cross-border river basins, with a view to improving integrated management of water resources and ensuring sustainable and fair management of cross-border water resources, in order to avoid conflicts, by promoting new forms of public-public partnership;
9. Emphasises that the management of water resources must be based on a participative and integrated approach involving users and decision-makers in defining water policies locally and democratically and, in this connection, emphasises the essential role of women in water supply, management and maintenance;
10. Calls for educational and awareness-raising measures for children to be encouraged, as they have a vital role to play in changing attitudes; calls therefore on the Commission to draw up a proposal for an 'Education for Water' initiative with Africa, Latin America and Asia aimed at promoting a large-scale awareness-raising campaign involving millions of children and young people around the world over the same period;
11. Calls on the Commission and the Council to recognise the fundamental role of local authorities in water protection and management and regrets that the skills, experience and resources of local authorities are insufficiently requested, used and exploited by European funding programmes since, given their technical competences, know-how and experience, EU local authorities are particularly suited to helping local authorities in developing countries;
12. Calls for the Commission to represent the European Union at the Mexico Forum with a mandate to consider access to drinking water as a vital and fundamental human right, and not merely as a trading commodity subject to the rules of the market; calls on the Commission also to uphold the orientations set out in this resolution;
13. Expresses the wish that negotiations will be opened within the UN aimed at adopting an international treaty recognising this right; to this end, proposes as a first step that this right be enshrined in the constitutions of the EU Member States;
14) Welcomes the allocation of € 500 million from the 9th EDF, added to earlier funding of € 475 million from the 9th EDF for water supply and sanitation, for the launching of the ACP-EU Water Facility; calls for water supply and sanitation to be adequately funded in the 10th EDF;
15) Underlines and supports the findings of the UN Millennium Project Task Force on Water and Sanitation, according to which the MDG 'target 10' will be missed unless a number of preconditions are met, including
- *increased development assistance and increased targeting on Least Developed Countries,
- *a reallocation of resources of low- and middle-income developing countries towards the poorest,
- *increased involvement of all relevant actors to create real ownership of water supply and sanitation initiatives and to focus on community mobilisation;
16) Calls for all programmes on water supply and sanitation to include specific efforts directed at addressing gender inequalities – so as to ensure equal distribution of benefits and opportunities resulting from them – and at supporting women's role in the supply, management and maintenance of water resources;
17) Underlines that action to improve water supply and sanitation must not be taken in isolation, but should rather be part of a coherent and cross-cutting development strategy, including other policy areas such as health and education, infrastructure, capacity-building and good governance as well as sustainable development strategies;
18) Underlines the importance of early prevention of latent regional water-related conflicts, especially in regions where countries share a common basin; calls, in this context, on further EU and international efforts to improve regional water policy coordination and to promote the setting up of regional water management bodies;
19) Supports the further development of Public-Public Partnerships (PUPs) where public utilities (on a non-profit basis) share their particular knowledge and expertise and spread of best practices in public water management; calls on the Commission to recognise the importance of Public-Public Partnerships and to use the Fourth World Water Forum as an opportunity to announce concrete policy measures to promote PUPs;
20) Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the ACP-EU Council, the UN Secretary-General and the secretariat of the 'World Water Contract'.