Obama Pressed To Increase Global Water Aid
Obama Pressed To Increase Global Water Aid
It has no teeth however, if water is not declared a human right and a public trust first. And that language has once again been stripped by the American delegation at this World Water Forum in Istanbul. There is no denying on this World Water Day 2009 that governments and citizens worldwide need to be much more cognizant of the water crisis facing many parts of this world and work to give water freedom to those who need it. That does not mean in my view collaborating with the very companies like Coca Cola and Nestle that steal water from those who need it and pollute their waterways with sewerage. It means taking these large government agencies in league with corporations that wish to privitize water supplies for their own profit out of the picture and allowing communities to deal with sanitation and water access.
This in many ways can be compared to the "food crisis" in that it is not always an issue of scarcity, but lack of access, waste, and non accountability on the part of these agencies in how funds are handled for education and the tools to be given to these water stressed areas in regard tosustainable irrigation practices, conservation, sanitation, and ownership of the water source. We don't need another US government agency to dictate the lives of people in the developing world to keep them subervient. We need bold action that brings them the tools to have opportunity and a dependable and clean water source they can control.
On this World Water Day I would hope water and the equitable distribution of it as well as fighting pollution and corporate ownership of this public trust to alleviate global poverty would at least be thought about today. It is good that this government at least sees the problem. However, how it is handled and by whom will be the deciding factor in whether we see progress or more corporate profit at the expense of the developing world.
0 comments:
Post a Comment