Water as a human right? Or a private good?

1
Water as a human right? Or a private good?

• By Jooyoun Lee

2
Contents
3
Contending viewpoints

• "Water should not be privatized, commodified,
  traded or exported in bulk for commercial
  purposes." Maude Barlow, International Forum on
  Globalization
• "Food and water are basic rights. But we pay for
  food. Why should we not pay for water?" Ismail
  Serageldin at the Second World Water Forum, The
  Hague

4
Questions

• How is the 21st century different in terms of the
  perspectives of water? What is the cause of the
  conflict if any?
• To what extent do you think Wolfs claim is valid
  or not? What is your reasoning about it?
• How can private water markets address the needs
  of people with different social, environmental
  and political concerns?

5
Current Situations

• 1.1 billion people do not have access to clean
  water
• 2.4 billion people lack access to basic
  sanitation.
• 8 million people, mainly children in African and
  Asia, die every year from preventable,
  water-related disease.

6
Future Prospects

• According to the UN estimates, in 50 years, an
  even higher number of people will be suffering
  from water shortage.
• According to the World Bank, two-thirds of the
  worlds population will run short of fresh
  drinking water.
• Fortune magazine dubbed water the oil of the
  21st century.

7
Public vs. Private goods

• Defining characteristics of private and public
  goods
• Rivalry in consumption Rivalry means that what
  one person consumes cannot be consumed by anyone
  else.
• Excludability in ownership and use
  Excludability means that some particular person
  has exclusive control over the good.
• Private good Rivalry Excludability
• Public good Non-rivalry Non-excludability

8
Water as a public good

• Widespread availability of clean and affordable
  water means that water is a public good.
• Access to clean water is fundamental to survival
  and critical for reducing the prevalence of many
  water-related diseases.
• Thus, ensuring that the public receives an
  adequate supply of public goods requires some
  level of government responsibilities and action,
  since purely private markets often do not find it
  profitable to provide public goods.
• Water has often been provided at subsidized
  prices or for free in many situations. Thus it
  makes water available to even the poorest
  segments of society.

9
Water as a human right

• The right to water is an implicit part of the
  right to food, health, human well-being and life.
  
• Everyone has the right to a standard of
  living adequate for the health and well-being of
  himself and of his family, including food,
  clothing, housing
• - Article 25 of the Universal
  Declaration of human rights (UDHR) -
• ? Access to water can be inferred as a derivative
  right necessary to meet the explicit rights to
  health and an adequate standard of life.

10
Water as a human right (cont.)

• Explicit support for the human right to water in
  international statements
• Article 24 of the 1989 Convention of the Rights
  of the Child (CRC) states that a child has the
  right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of
  health and among the measures States are to take
  to secure this right are measures to combat
  disease and malnutrition through, inter alia,
  the provision of adequate nutritious foods and
  clean drinking water.
• A human right to water apply to basic needs for
  drinking, cooking and fundamental domestic uses.
• The imperatives to meet basic human water needs
  are rooted in international law and agreement,
  which calls for government responsibility.

11
Water as a private good

• According to the International Conference on
  Water and Environment held in Dublin, Ireland in
  January 1992, it was recognized that Water has
  an economic value in all its competing uses and
  should be recognized as an economic good.
• According to this view, water will be allocated
  across competing uses in a way that maximize the
  net benefit from that amount of water. Allocation
  of water can take place through markets, through
  other means or through combinations of market and
  non-market processes.

12
Water as a public and private good

• Following the Dublin meeting, the United Nations
  Conference on Environment and Development (held
  in Rio in 1992) recognized that economics must
  play a part in efficient water management
• Integrated water resources management is
  based on the perception of water as an integral
  part of the ecosystem, a natural resource, and a
  social and economic good (UN Agenda 21, Chapter
  18.8).
• In the years following Dublin, the new concept of
  water has been used to challenge traditional
  approaches to government provision of basic water
  services.

13
Rationale for Privatization of Water

• Societal The private sector can deliver basic
  goods and services more efficiently and at lower
  costs than the public sector. Thus privatization
  actually benefits consumers particularly the
  poor by improving access and lowering costs.
• Commercial more business is better.
• Financial Private sector can mobilize capital
  faster and cheaper than the public sector.
  Adequate water services cannot be provided
  without enormous increases in investment.
• Ideological Smaller government is better
  (Europe).
• Pragmatic Competent, efficient water-system
  operations require private participation.

14
Water privatization
Populations Served by Vivendi
Populations Served by Suez
Area (2000) Population (millions)
France 25.0
Western Europe 18.5
Central Eastern Europe 6.3
Middle East and Africa 8.5
North America 16.8
Latin America 7.8
Asia 14.6
Area (2000) Population (millions)
Europe and Mediterranean 43
North America 14
South America 25
Asia Pacific 23
Africa 5
15
Case study Water War in Bolivia - Background

• Bolivia is one among many poor and highly
  indebted countries.
• Bolivia borrowed money (600 million) from the
  World Bank and IMF. The World Bank and IMF have
  pushed the Bolivian government to sell its public
  enterprises to international investors.

16
Water War in Bolivia (Cont.)

• Officials in World Bank and IMF suggested that
  Bolivias continued poverty and underdevelopment
  is the result of delays in privatization schemes.
  
• In 1999, the Bolivian government privatized the
  water system of Cochabamba which is Bolivias
  third-largest city. The government granted a
  40-year contract to Aguas de Tunari (a consortium
  of London-based International Water Limited and
  San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp.) to run
  Cochabambas water system.
• The newly privatized water company immediately
  modified the rate structure and it increased
  water rates as much as 200 percent, which the
  company claimed was necessary to cover the costs
  of planned extensions and upgrades to existing
  infrastructure.

17
Water War in Bolivia - Protests

• Unable to survive under the burden of the new
  water prices, the public staged huge protests in
  Cochabamba in Feb. 2000.
• Strikes, roadblocks and other forms of civil
  disobedience were used.
• The protests spread from Cochabamba throughout
  Bolivia.
• Tens of thousands of people gathered in streets
  to demand the cancellation of Aguas de Tunaris
  contract and a reform of the laws that allowed
  it.

18
Water War in Bolivia - Violence

• President Banzer declared a 90-day state of
  emergency and dispatched military with tear gas
  into the streets of Cochabamba when thousands of
  protestors marched peacefully.
• About 175 marchers were injured and two were
  blinded by the gas.
• More than 50 people were detained and six people
  were killed.

19
Water War in Bolivia - Results

• Under pressure from civil society the governor of
  Cochabamba tried to persuade the central
  government to cancel the contract with Aguas del
  Tunari.
• Finally, on April 10, President Banzer announced
  the termination of the water contract between
  Bolivia and Aguas del Tunari.
• A revised drinking water law was issued.
• However, many structural problems remain as some
  40 percent of the citys population is not served
  by the municipal water system.

20
Implications of Bolivian case

• Differing logic of industries and indigenous
  people. (Natural resources vs. national
  resources)
• Protestors demanded broader forms of
  participation and the democratization of
  decision-making processes.
• Protestors demanded more secure livelihoods and
  resource rights.
• They called for an alternative model of economic
  development.

21
The 4th World Water Forum (March 2006)

• Ministerial Declaration
• The critical importance of water for sustainable
  development
• The need to include water and sanitation as
  priorities in national sustainable development
  and poverty reduction strategies.
• The importance of domestic and international
  capacity-building policies and cooperation to
  mitigate water-related disasters, the role of
  parliamentarians and local authorities in
  increasing sustainable access to water and
  sanitation services.

22
Suggested readings and information

• Gleick, Peter H. 1998. The Human Right to
  Water. Water Policy 1 487-503.
• Gleick, Peter H., Gary Wolff, Elizabeth L.
  Chalecki, Rachel Reyes. 2002. The New Economy of
  Water The Risks and Benefits of Globalization
  and Privatization of Fresh Water. Pacific
  Institute. Available at http//www.pacinst.org/rep
  orts/new_economy_of_water/new_economy_of_water.pdf
  
• Perreault, Thomas. 2006. From the Guerra Del
  Agua to the Guerra Del Gas Resource Governance,
  Neoliberalism and Popular Protest in Bolivia.
  Antipode 38 (1) 150-172.
• 4th World Water Forum. March 2006.
  http//www.worldwaterforum4.org.mx/home/home.asp
• The homepage of film Thirst. http//www.thirstth
  emovie.org/

23
Thank You !