While governments and the private sector from all over the world convened at the Third World Water Forum in Japan from 16 to 23 March, 2003, a number of civil society organizations, including CIEL, participated in parallel events in order to propose alternatives and recommendations to the trends to liberalize and privatize water services. The largest of these meetings, the PeoplesWorld Water Forum, was organized by the Europe Social Forum in partnership with a number of international organizations in Florence, Italy, on March 21st and 22nd.

For information about the Third World Water Forum please see: http://www.world.water-forum3.com/

More information on the Peoples World Water Forum can be found at: http://www.cipsi.it/contrattoacqua/forum-acqua/en/index.htm

For information about an alternative World Water Vision ("WATER IS LIFE - A Civil Society World Water Vision for Action"), to which CIEL has signed on, please see:http://www.blueplanetproject.net/

An article by BBC News entitled Alternative Water Future Outlined discusses the proposal of water as a common good under an international legal framework.

At the event, CIEL submitted the brief Water Traded (a draft version in PDF format), regarding the privatization of water services. This brief analyses interactions between the international financial institutions, international trade agreements, and the provision of water services. In particular, it considers the ways in which these international bodies and agreements can affect the capacity of national governments to provide water services, especially to those most in need.

CIEL staff presented GATS and Water, a discussion paper at a workshop on Trade and Water on 3 March 2003 in Geneva.

Elisabeth Tuerk spoke at the event, The Right to Water: Going with the Flow?, on 4 April 2003.

For more information, please contact Elisabeth Tuerk.


This page last updated on 3 April 2003