Former heads of government: world needs water leadership

Published on: 09/06/2011

Former heads of government have agreed to establish a new panel to help fill a "serious void in leadership related to global water issues". Saying that "international water leadership is virtually nonexistent," the retired leaders apparently have little faith in existing international organisations and forums such as UN-Water, the World Water Council (WWC) and the Global Water Partnership (GWP). The panel will work to elevate the issue's political prominence in an effort to avert a looming "water crisis."

The formation of the new water panel was announced at the 29th meeting of the InterAction Council held from 29-31 May 2011 in Québec City, Canada. Participants included former US President Bill Clinton, former Mexican President Vicente Fox and former prime ministers Yasuo Fukuda (Japan) and Gro Brundtland (Norway). Co-chairing the meeting were former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and former Austrian Chancellor Franz Vranitzky.

Former leaders Dr. Gro Brundtland, Bill Clinton, Fernando De La Rua, Vincente Fox and Chok Tong Goh at the opening of the InterAction Council meeting Quebec City, 29 May 2011. Photo: Reuters/Jacques Boissinot/Pool

In the final communiqué of the meeting, the group urged a new international water ethic and offered policy makers some 17 recommendations to move world water management forward.

Recommendations include "placing water at the forefront of the global political agenda," linking climate change research and adaptation programs to water issues, making the right to water legally enforceable, raising the price of water to reflect its economic value while making provisions for people in poverty, preferring the growth of food over biofuel crops in places where water supplies are threatened, and encouraging the UN Security Council to take up water as a security concern.

They also welcomed a high level of dialogue and cooperation on water-allocation in the Mekong River delta between China and Indochina states and the work done by the Clinton/Bush Haiti Fund, which aims to rebuild housing in Haiti with adequate sanitation to avoid public health disasters through water contamination.

See the full list of recommendations below:

1. Placing water at the forefront of the global political agenda and linking climate change research and adaptation programs to water issues.

2. Urging national governments to price water sources to appropriately reflect its economic value, while making provisions for those in poverty.

3. Urging national governments to stimulate private and public sector innovation to address the global water crisis and capitalize on the economic opportunities that arise from finding solutions to these complex challenges.

4. Asserting that where water supplies are threatened, water used to grow food should not be substituted for water to grow crops for biofuel production.

5. Encouraging increased investment in urgently needed sanitation coverage and improved access to safe water supply globally.

6. Welcoming the work done by the Clinton/Bush Haiti Fund, which aims to rebuild housing in Haiti with adequate sanitation to avoid public health disasters through water contamination.

7. Supporting ratification of the UN Watercourses Convention and the development of the draft articles on transboundary acquifers.

8. Supporting and advancing the UN international water protocols.

9. Encouraging a discussion on water security at the UN Security Council.

10. Linking of agricultural and water policy with energy policy locally, nationally, and globally.

11. Encouraging the development of materials and water treatment approaches to enable non-traditional water use in domestic, industrial, and in energy generation and refining applications and in particular research on more cost-effective desalinization integrated with renewable energy resources.

12. Renewing local, national, and international focus on monitoring hydrological processes and increased attention to mapping and monitoring of groundwater. 

13. Urging national governments and multi-national companies to improve water availability assessment, energy and water systems analysis, and decision tools

14. Urging national governments to reduce the loss of water in public networks through adequate monitoring and infrastructure development, as well as the per capita consumption in municipal use.

15. Supporting the conservation of the world’s intact freshwater ecosystems, the establishment of ecological sustainability boundaries, and investment in ecosystem restoration.

16. Encouraging high-level dialogue and cooperation on water-allocation in major transboundary rivers such as discussions between Indochina states on the Mekong River.

17.  Welcoming the role of NGOs  in the further development of water governance solutions and particularly emphasizing the role of women, given their special responsibility for water.

Source: InterAction Council, 31 May 2011