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Today is World Water Day
Today, we celebrate water as the source of human well-being and development. As such, its limited availability calls for more than careful management; it calls for governance which mandates, enables and regulates its usage in a manner that is fair, transparent and efficient. At the heart of this governance is integrity, in intent and practice.
2015 marks the end of one phase of universal commitment to development -in the form of the Millennium Development Goals- and the beginning of another, the Sustainable Development Goals. The former set a goal which was a milestone on the road to universal access to safe water and sanitation. It is now of crucial importance that the Sustainable Development Goals delve deeper and place the universal commitment to integrity as the principle that ensures water governance is based on the three pillars of transparency, accountability and participation.
Ravi Narayanan
Chair of the Water Integrity Network
March 22, 2015
Agua más escasa y controlada por pocos en Chile
Por Jacopo Gamba, Coordinador Regional para América Latina, Coordinador de alianzas, monitoreo, evaluación y aprendizajes, Water Integrity Network
Este año, en el marco del Premio Latinoamericano para el periodismo de investigación COLPIN 2014, una mención particular se llevó el artículo y el trabajo desarrollado por CIPER, y su periodista Alberto Arellano, sobre el negocio del agua en Chile.
Lejos de ser un tema desconocido a los chilenos y a los expertos de agua de toda la región, la escasez de este recurso fundamental está siendo objeto de un mercado cuyas dinámicas benefician a los más ricos. Mirado en sus detalles, el mercado del agua en tierra chilena no es, en teoría, desregulado: existen leyes vigentes y aplicadas.
El problema es que este marco normativo no tiene en cuenta comportamientos que, bien si estando dentro de la legalidad, entran en conflicto con los derechos humanos, como el derecho a acceder a agua. Siempre es complicado establecer y mantener un libre mercado cuando están en juego intereses colectivos, y obtener ganancias no puede priorizarse sobre el goce de los derechos básicos de las comunidades y de los individuos.
Water Integrity: A Job for the Brave
A Stockholm Water Front article. By Sanna Gustafsson, SIWI
Lack of integrity in water management has a huge cost for society, in lost lives and stalled development. Still, where corruption is entrenched, promoting fair practices can be met with strong resistance. Stockholm Water Front met two people with first-hand experience during the first African Water Integrity Summit in Lusaka. They shared their experiences of what it takes to address institutionally entrenched corruption.
Read the full article – download the latest Stockholm Water Front publication.
Water Integrity Network website issues
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Should you be in need of specific information or documents, please contact us at cgrandadam[at]win-s[dot]org. We would be happy to help.
Water, Transparency and Extractive Industries: The Case of Togo
An overview of recent initiatives for water integrity, in Togo, by Helene Ramos dos Santos (Human Rights and Development Consultant, Geneva/Lomé)*
In Togo, water extracted for drinking water is accounted for under the EITI
On October 19, 2010, Togo was recognized as a candidate country for the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). The EITI is “a global coalition of governments, companies and civil society working together to improve openness and accountable management of revenues from natural resources” by encouraging:
- disclosure of taxes paid by companies operating in the mining sector, on the one hand,
- disclosure by governments of revenues received from those companies, on the other hand.
The objective is to ensure good natural resources management in order to stop the “resource curse” observed in many countries, which, despite their natural wealth, remain among the poorest in the world. The EITI, initiated in 2003, has so far shed light on major losses in the extraction of precious mineral and gas products in 35 countries.
Togo has been the first, and is still the only, EITI country counting water among its natural resources to be monitored through the EITI. Accordingly, companies that extract groundwater for the production of mineral waters must disclose royalties they pay.
Using the Integrity Management toolbox to support SMEs in the Zambian water sector
By Marta Rychlewski, Research Officer, Water Integrity Network
”The Integrity Management Toolbox workshop has opened my mind to the mistakes related to low integrity we commit in our company”, said one of the participants of a workshop on integrity management in the water sector for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), organized in Lusaka, Zambia in early July.
The workshop, facilitated by WIN, CEWAS (International Centre for Water Management Services) and the Water and Sanitation Association of Zambia (WASAZA), aimed to make SME managers more aware of how they can make their business benefit from implementing integrity measures.
Video: Enhancing integrity in Water Stewardship Initiatives
Water stewardship Initiatives (WSI) involving the public, private sector and civil society are increasingly being started to address shared challenges in managing water resources.
We believe integrity is a crucial building block to enable equitable and sustainable outcomes from these Water Stewardship Initiatives.
To further develop integrity and transparency in WSIs, we therefore partnered with the UN Global Compact CEO Water Mandate and with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Water Witness International, Pegasys Institute, and Partnerships in Practice, Ltd, to carry out an applied research project aimed at developing an integrity management framework and practical supporting guidance for WSIs.
Maha Oya, Sri Lanka, Illegal Sandmining
Maha Oya, Sri Lanka, Illegal Sandmining, a set on Flickr.
Here are some photos from the Maha Oya river basin in Sri Lanka by Nikolai Polivach. This river basin has been suffering from an onslaught of illegal sand mining, but a campaign has helped in curbing illegal mining in many areas. For more read the publication on Curbing Illegal Sand Mining (www.waterintegritynetwork.net/es/literature/174-water-int…)
Mucha agua, pocos derechos. Colombia una paradoja
David Sierra Sorockinas es abogado, Profesor de cátedra de la Universidad de Antioquia (Colombia) en el área de derecho público y abogado en las Empresas Públicas de Medellín. Miembro de WIN desde el 2013, ha frecuentado el curso en línea de WIN y la Escuela Virtual del PNUD. Se interesa de cuestiones de servicios públicos, derecho al agua y la lucha contra la corrupción.
Según una acepción, más o menos usada por la mayoría, una paradoja es una expresión que envuelve una contradicción. Eso es justamente lo que quiero exponer, la contradicción que existe en Colombia cuando se habla del agua. Según datos, ciertamente confiables, Colombia tiene una ‘oferta’ hídrica aceptable, más allá de todos los riesgos que se puedan hallar (Ideam, 2010). Así las cosas, llegando una conclusión -acaso- rápida, el problema de este país no pasa por la escasez del recurso, sino por la falta de acceso del mismo. La escasez de cualquier bien, lleva consigo la falta de acceso, pero, una proposición diferente no nos ubica en el sentido contrario, es decir, la abundancia de un recurso (no) conlleva el acceso del mismo. La diferencia por la cual las personas acceden a los recursos no depende solo de la abundancia o no de ello, depende de otros factores, los cuales, por el espacio, solo me limitaré a describir.
Water Integrity Network blog 