http://pressenza.com/npermalink/world-bank-and-giant-corporations-allied-to-privatize-water-worldwide?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+pressenza%2FQrjW+%28News+from+Pressenza+IPA+in+english%29
World Bank and Giant Corporations Allied to Privatize Water Worldwide
Human Wrongs Watch
<http://pressenza.com/press_release/newsByAuthor/author_id/526>
The World Bank has launched a new partnership with global
corporations including Nestl, Coca-Cola and Veolia. Housed at the
World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC), the new
venture aspires to "transform the water sector" by inserting the
corporate sector into what has historically been a public service.
Dcb33c02adc1e65100edbd3d4725a654e3785e4a.1280x960
<http://pressenza.com/photo/showPhoto/id/4385>
Image by: Wikimedia Commons
Kim Hansen | Wikimedia Commons
Pressenza Human Wrongs Watch/Corporate Accountability
International/TRANSCEND, 11/18/11 The new partnership is part of a
broader trend of industry collusion to influence global water policy.
The venture -called the 2030 Water Resources Group Phase 2 Entity-
aligns global corporations that have major financial stakes in water
governance with the World Bank, one of the world's leading development
institutions.
Nestl Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe has been appointed to chair the
Water Resources Group, which has already received $1.5 million in IFC
funding. Nestl is the world's largest water bottling corporation.
Advocates for people's access to water point to this as the latest
example of water corporations' efforts to interfere in legitimate,
democratic water governance.
The Water Resources Group presents a conflict of interest to the World
Bank's goal of poverty alleviation. It also advances an approach to
water governance that is in incompatible with the U.N. recognized human
right to water.
*The Private Sector Campaign to Gain Funding*
'This is an unmistakably activist campaign by the private water industry
to gain funding and credibility for a radical power grab, with the help
of the World Bank,' said Corporate Accountability International's Senior
Organizer Shayda Edwards Naficy.
'According to the World Bank, 34 percent of private water contracts are
in distress or terminated before maturity.
Last April, the IFC's Compliance Advisor Ombudsman reported that an
astounding 40 percent of complaints received from all regions and
sectors were water-related.
This is evidence that water privatization has been fraught with a range
of problems, including broken promises for expanded service, wasted
public funds and threats to human rights, especially for the lowest
income families.
*Financial Stakes*
For the Bank to sanction this approach despite a track record of failure
points to compromised decision-making at the Bank due to pervasive
partnerships with and financial stakes in corporations.'
Currently, 90 percent of the world's water-users access water through
public delivery. Turning these systems over to private corporations
would result in rate hikes, cutoffs and significant layoffs of water
sector employees.
Focusing on the private sector also distracts from the need to support
governments in protecting human rights.
The Water Resources Group aims to 'develop new normative approaches to
water management,' paving the way for an expanded private sector role
into best and common practices, worldwide.
In order to be eligible for support from this new fund, all projects
must "provide for at least one partner from the private sector," not
simply as a charitable funder, but 'as part of its operations.'
*One Country at a Time*
The group's strategy is to insert the private sector into water
management one country at a time, through a combination of
industry-funded research and direct partnerships with government agencies.
Currently, the Water Resources Group is formally working with the
governments of Jordan, Mexico, and the Indian state of Karnataka, and
discussions are ongoing with the governments of South Africa, China and
several other countries slated for participation in the next phase.
'Corporate Accountability International has consistently demonstrated
the World Bank's inherent conflicts of interest, acting as an investor,
a government advisor, an arbitrator and a public relations vehicle in
support of profiteering in the water sector,' said Naficy.
*Global Water Corporations Not to Be Allowed...*
'Global water corporations must not be allowed to tap into public
'development funds' to promote their private agenda because case after
case shows that profitability and fulfillment of human rights in the
water sector are at odds.'
Corporate Accountability International (formerly Infact) is a membership
organization that has, for the last 34 years, successfully advanced
campaigns protecting health, the environment and human rights.
Through its Campaign Challenging Corporate Control of Water, Corporate
Accountability International is playing a leadership role in the global
movement to secure the human right to water, and people's access to
water; prevent corporate control of water; preserve and protect water
resources and systems for the public good; and preserve water resources
as an ecological trust.
--
Peace in the heart, light in the understanding...
With an affectionate Hug,
Sudhir Gandotra
"Working for a Violence-free World"
Phone : +91-93124-65666
E-mail: sudhir@sudhirgandotra.org
Join me at : http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=24631133774
Visit my blog : http://blog.sudhirgandotra.org/
Change your Life - Change the World - Be a ChangeMaker
www.humanistparty.org - for "Out-of-gutter Politics"
www.silo.org.in - Connect to all Humanist organizations
www.silo.net - Silo's works
"You go deep into yourself, I go deep into myself and there we meet."
World Bank and Giant Corporations Allied to Privatize Water Worldwide
Human Wrongs Watch
<http://pressenza.com/press_release/newsByAuthor/author_id/526>
The World Bank has launched a new partnership with global
corporations including Nestl, Coca-Cola and Veolia. Housed at the
World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC), the new
venture aspires to "transform the water sector" by inserting the
corporate sector into what has historically been a public service.
Dcb33c02adc1e65100edbd3d4725a654e3785e4a.1280x960
<http://pressenza.com/photo/showPhoto/id/4385>
Image by: Wikimedia Commons
Kim Hansen | Wikimedia Commons
Pressenza Human Wrongs Watch/Corporate Accountability
International/TRANSCEND, 11/18/11 The new partnership is part of a
broader trend of industry collusion to influence global water policy.
The venture -called the 2030 Water Resources Group Phase 2 Entity-
aligns global corporations that have major financial stakes in water
governance with the World Bank, one of the world's leading development
institutions.
Nestl Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe has been appointed to chair the
Water Resources Group, which has already received $1.5 million in IFC
funding. Nestl is the world's largest water bottling corporation.
Advocates for people's access to water point to this as the latest
example of water corporations' efforts to interfere in legitimate,
democratic water governance.
The Water Resources Group presents a conflict of interest to the World
Bank's goal of poverty alleviation. It also advances an approach to
water governance that is in incompatible with the U.N. recognized human
right to water.
*The Private Sector Campaign to Gain Funding*
'This is an unmistakably activist campaign by the private water industry
to gain funding and credibility for a radical power grab, with the help
of the World Bank,' said Corporate Accountability International's Senior
Organizer Shayda Edwards Naficy.
'According to the World Bank, 34 percent of private water contracts are
in distress or terminated before maturity.
Last April, the IFC's Compliance Advisor Ombudsman reported that an
astounding 40 percent of complaints received from all regions and
sectors were water-related.
This is evidence that water privatization has been fraught with a range
of problems, including broken promises for expanded service, wasted
public funds and threats to human rights, especially for the lowest
income families.
*Financial Stakes*
For the Bank to sanction this approach despite a track record of failure
points to compromised decision-making at the Bank due to pervasive
partnerships with and financial stakes in corporations.'
Currently, 90 percent of the world's water-users access water through
public delivery. Turning these systems over to private corporations
would result in rate hikes, cutoffs and significant layoffs of water
sector employees.
Focusing on the private sector also distracts from the need to support
governments in protecting human rights.
The Water Resources Group aims to 'develop new normative approaches to
water management,' paving the way for an expanded private sector role
into best and common practices, worldwide.
In order to be eligible for support from this new fund, all projects
must "provide for at least one partner from the private sector," not
simply as a charitable funder, but 'as part of its operations.'
*One Country at a Time*
The group's strategy is to insert the private sector into water
management one country at a time, through a combination of
industry-funded research and direct partnerships with government agencies.
Currently, the Water Resources Group is formally working with the
governments of Jordan, Mexico, and the Indian state of Karnataka, and
discussions are ongoing with the governments of South Africa, China and
several other countries slated for participation in the next phase.
'Corporate Accountability International has consistently demonstrated
the World Bank's inherent conflicts of interest, acting as an investor,
a government advisor, an arbitrator and a public relations vehicle in
support of profiteering in the water sector,' said Naficy.
*Global Water Corporations Not to Be Allowed...*
'Global water corporations must not be allowed to tap into public
'development funds' to promote their private agenda because case after
case shows that profitability and fulfillment of human rights in the
water sector are at odds.'
Corporate Accountability International (formerly Infact) is a membership
organization that has, for the last 34 years, successfully advanced
campaigns protecting health, the environment and human rights.
Through its Campaign Challenging Corporate Control of Water, Corporate
Accountability International is playing a leadership role in the global
movement to secure the human right to water, and people's access to
water; prevent corporate control of water; preserve and protect water
resources and systems for the public good; and preserve water resources
as an ecological trust.
--
Peace in the heart, light in the understanding...
With an affectionate Hug,
Sudhir Gandotra
"Working for a Violence-free World"
Phone : +91-93124-65666
E-mail: sudhir@sudhirgandotra.org
Join me at : http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=24631133774
Visit my blog : http://blog.sudhirgandotra.org/
Change your Life - Change the World - Be a ChangeMaker
www.humanistparty.org - for "Out-of-gutter Politics"
www.silo.org.in - Connect to all Humanist organizations
www.silo.net - Silo's works
"You go deep into yourself, I go deep into myself and there we meet."
No comments:
Post a Comment