I received the following from my good friend Bob Jarrett. It deals with the premise that water is a basic human right. To me, this is a no-brainer, but not all feel this way. One argument some put forth is that if a country accepted this, then it would be liable to sanctions ($$$) if it did not provide all its citizens access to water. Sounds great to me! What do you think?
Proposal for Recognizing Water as a Basic Human Right
The declaration of the first Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol on Water and Health to the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes includes a paragraph on water as a basic human right. The meeting adopted several decisions, mostly related to the implementation and compliance procedures of the Protocol, transparency,
and involvement of local authorities into the Protocol's implementation at early stage. The European ECO-Forum proposed the development of guidelines for governments (national and local authorities) to help in the implementation of the Protocol and urged that they be adopted at the Second
Meeting of Parties that would be hosted by Romania in 2010. The first meeting was held January 17-19, 2007 at the Palais des Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland. The Protocol entered into force on August 4, 2005 and as of January 2007, has been ratified by 21 countries.
Sources:
First meeting of the Parties (Geneva, 17-19 January 2007)
www.unece.org/env/water/meetings/documents_MoPPWH.htm
Protocol on Water and Health www.unece.org/env/water/text/text_protocol.htm
European ECO-Forum Newsletter No. 16, January 2007 (Relevant text in the
Appendix) www.ecoaccord.org/english/efe/news/012007.htm
"There is enough water for human need, but not for human greed." - Gandhi
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