In recognition of dwindling water supplies on a global scale, back in 2010 the United Nations Generally assembly announced that 2013 would be the “International Year of Water Cooperation” (IYWC). The hope is that “given the intrinsic nature of water as a transversal and universal element,” the United Nation’s IYWC could incorporate all aspects of UNESCO’s water policy, including a “multidisciplinary approach which blends the natural and social sciences, education, culture, and communication.”
The goal of IYWC is to raise awareness and promote cooperation in order to meet “the challenges facing water management in light of the increase in demand for water access, allocation, and services.” The UN plans to use 2013 to “highlight the history of successful water cooperation initiatives, as well as identify burning issues on water education, water diplomacy, transboundary water management, financing cooperation, national/international legal frameworks, and the linkages with the Millennium Development Goals.”
But some worry the UN’s message is being co-opted and hijacked by commercial and private interests. Maude Barlow, chairperson for the Council of Canadians and former senior adviser to the president of the UN General Council, tells Inter Press Services News Agency (IPS News), “We don’t need the United Nations to promote private sector participation under the guise of greater ‘cooperation’ when these same companies force their way into communities and make huge profits from the basic right to water and sanitation.”
Instead, Barlow believes that what is really called for is for “the United Nations to ensure that governments are fulfilling their obligations to provide basic services rather than relinquishing to transnational corporations.”
As an example of what this corporate influence looks like, Barlow points out that Aguas de Barcelona, a water company that is currently fighting with Spain over control to drinking water rights, is currently participating in IYWC, as is Nestle—a company that, as Barlow points out, advocates setting aside 1.5% of the world’s water for the poor, leaving the remaining 98.5% on the open market. Nestle’s plans could create a future where, Barlow warns, “here will one day be a water cartel similar to big oil, making life and death decisions about who gets water and under what circumstances every day.”