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Activists offer noise but not solutions to world’s water woes

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 17, 2009 at 4:24 pm

From Water World:

LONDON, UK, March 16, 2009 — As the Fifth World Water Forum begins in Istanbul today, activists have already begun to create trouble, with violent protests that have diverted attention from the real issue — the one billion people who do not have clean drinking water.

Kendra Okonski, IPN Research Fellow and editor of The Water Revolution, said of the protestors: Whether it’s Tokyo, Mexico City or Istanbul, a few global activists show up like clockwork at the World Water Forum to protest and make noise. Unlike the bona fide participants in the forum, they offer few — if any — concrete solutions to real water problems. In fact, these activists harm the world’s one billion people who lack clean water and the 2.6 billion without sewerage.

Caroline Boin, IPN Research Fellow, explained that the status quo with water is harmful and unsustainable: The activists attack the World Bank, multinationals and the very notion of profit. But less than five percent of global water management today is private. The real culprits are governments who mismanage and misallocate water to farmers and other special interests, as well as the politically connected, in poor countries. Not only does this harm the poor, it also harms the environment by encouraging waste.

Read more from Water World by clicking here.

March 17, 2009 · Filed Under International Water Issues

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