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Fixing our water crisis can’t be done by the corporations that are exacerbating it

Posted by: Maven on April 3, 2009 at 6:28 am

From AlterNet:

As the Fifth World Water Forum ended recently in Istanbul, a number of stories came out, each of which might have emerged as the main water story of the week. But in fact, to see the most important story of the Forum you have to look beyond the Forum itself. Here’s what happened.

Father Miguel d’Escoto, President of the UN General Assembly, and an outspoken critic of water privatization, had requested a public audience at the Forum — which presents the appearance of a UN event — but was denied; in response, Maude Barlow, his Senior Advisor on Water, delivered a statement from him to the alternative, People’s Water Forum, where 600 global water rights activists had gathered in an unsanctioned popular event. In this statement, Father Miguel provides a serious critique of the World Water Council and calls upon member states of the UN to implement a process leading to a legitimate global water forum under the auspices of the United Nations.

But a story about the UN General Assembly President being excluded from speaking at the World Water Forum, and his advisor speaking instead to the grassroots forum to ask that the UN step in to replace the World Water Council, this is not the main story. After all, everyone knows that nobody listens to the UN.

Read more from AlterNet by clicking here.

April 3, 2009 · Filed Under International Water Issues

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