YWAT has organized activities all around the world. One of them is to create local forums to listen to the young people’s point of view about relevant aspects in the water administration. The Mexican young people were invited to be part of the People’s Assemblee for Water.
The Young Water Action Team was represented in this event by Juan Carlos Alva Nieto and Nerisha Pillay. 'The people are there and well-motivated, we can communicate the establishment of a YWAT chapter in Mexico,' said YWAT member Juan Carlos Alva Nieto. Nerisha Pillay, the treasurer of YWAT, was present the whole event long. The governor of the Hidalgo's state, Lic. Manuel Angel Nunez Soto, was present on Jan 14th,and he recognized the great vision of the Young Water Action Team and congratulated the young participants for their efforts. Next to inviting Mexican young people, YWAT also did a regional workshop in Hohai University, Nanjing, China (January 2-6, 2003). There were similar regional workshops in South Africa and in Cairo, Egypt (cooperation with CEDARE institute) in February 2003.
During the preparatory process to the Third World Water Forum (Kyoto, Japon , March 16-23, 2003) four themes have been established to be analyzed by the different sectors around the world, these topics were analyzed in the People’s Assamblee for the Water.
Fresh water as a human right, drinking and sanitation.
Analysis public/ private sector.
The cooperation between governments to share the resources.
The sustainability parameters analysis.
The participants of the People’s Assemblee for Water were young people (18-30 years old). They were committed to promote the water awareness for its right use and its conservation.
The People’s Assamblee for the Water objectives were:
Increase water awareness among young people.
Promote the water-related activities.
Create a forum to share experiences and promote a future cooperation with YWAT.
Analyze the four topics to be handed in during the Third World Water Forum (Young declaration - 18 March, 2003) and to prepare the Young Contribution for the World Assemblee of Water Wisdom (March 19th, 2003).
Drinking freshwater as a human right
1. We, the young Mexican people, recognize the human right of each individual to access fresh water satisfying his basic needs, including feeding and sanitation.
2. We are aware that only to recognize the water access as a human right is not enough to warrant its availability in quality and quantity. Then it is our responsibility to preserve and clean it and also to increase awareness about its rational use.
3. We support the efforts of the institutions (governmental and non-governmental) to keep the ecosystems balance, as an action to prevent the scarcity of the resource.
4. We condemn the population’s needs manipulation to access the water, using this needs to get personal interests.
Cooperation between governments
1. We recognize the governments can only donate the water after they have satisfied their population’s basic needs.
2. We support the need to learn how to share the resource. Sharing is the optimum solution to most of the social conflicts that the water produce globally.
3. We support the formation of Basin Water Management Units, which should be institutions that coordinate the water management between governments, avoiding conflicts between users. These institutions should have the control of the water no matter political divisions and should aim to satisfy the population’s needs before any other interest.
4. We support the creation of an international convention to compromise the countries and their people to share and preserve the vital liquid.
Sustainability parameters' analysis
1. We support to apply fares according to the economical capacity and the water volume used by each user. The one who pollutes the more, should pay more.
2. We recommend to include water awareness from the elementary education and to reinforce the awareness in the adult population. We consider that this will reduce the water waste in a long term.
3. We support the application of high level technology to optimize the resource.
The public/private water management
1. We support the creation of private/public fellowship, that include the private participation only when the government responsibly provides water to every individual.
2. We aim for the application of the resources from the private sector as the only alternative to finance and reach a technical efficiency in the water management sector.
3. We condemn the complete privatization of the water administration , because it will be a high risk for the poorest sectors of the population.
For more information, contact Juan Carlos Alva Nieto: jnieto@ywat.org
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