best ethical practice in water use; 2004

BEST ETHICAL PRACTICE IN

WATER USE

World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology

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COMEST is the World Commissionon the Ethics of Scientific Knowledgeand Technology established byUNESCO in 1997 to advise theOrganization on its programmeconcerning the ethics of scientificknowledge and technology. TheCommission is composed of 18 mem-bers appointed by the Director-General for a four-year term, renewableonce. COMEST’s specific mandate isto act as advisory body and intellec-tual forum for the exchange of ideasand experience. COMEST shall:“detect on that basis the early signsof risk situations; perform the role ofadviser to decision-makers in thisrespect; and promote dialogue bet-ween scientific communities, deci-sion-makers and the public at large”(Statutes of COMEST, adopted by theExecutive Board of UNESCO at its154th session in May 1998).

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BEST ETHICAL PRACTICE IN

WATER USE

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The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of UNESCO.

The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout the publication do not imply the expression of any opinion what-soever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning its fron-tiers or boundaries. The frontiers and boundaries on maps published in this publication do not imply official endorsement or acceptance byUNESCO or the United Nations.

Cover photo: © UNESCO / D. Roger

Published in 2004by the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization7 place de Fontenoy75352 Paris 07 SP, France

© UNESCO 2004

This publication was written by Claudine BRELET under the direction of Lord SELBORNE.

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(SHS-2005/WS/46)


BEST ETHICAL PRACTICE

Preface by John Selborne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Chair, COMEST Sub-Commission on the Ethics of Freshwater Use

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Case Study 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

THE STORY OF LAKE BIWA: HOW JAPAN IS MASTERING THE INTERACTION

OF NATURE WITH HUMANKIND

Case Study 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

LESSONS FROM SOUTH AFRICA: A NEW LEGACY FRAMEWORK FOR LOCAL

GOVERNANCE’S GOOD PRACTICE

Case Study 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

FORESTS SUSTAIN WATER: TRADITIONAL ASSETS FOR SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES

Case Study 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

WOMEN ACTING LOCALLY IN THE ANDES

Case Study 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

TRANSNATIONAL MANAGEMENT AND BIOREGIONS FOR CONFLICT RESOLUTION


Preface

When COMEST met for the first time in Oslo inApril 1999, a decision was made on prioritysubject areas. UNESCO’s InternationalHydrology Programme (IHP) had already setup an intercultural and interdisciplinary workinggroup chaired by Professor Llamas to report onthe Ethics of the Uses of Freshwater. Thisgroup looked at a wide range of topics all ofwhich related to the ethical management ofwater: food security, health and sanitation,natural disasters, decision-making and mana-gement, ecology, the special role of women,history, the challenges of technology, conflict,intense use of groundwater and the conse-quences of dam building. Following this tho-rough preparation, COMEST decided to appoint aSub-Commission on the Ethics of Freshwater Use.

The first meeting of the Sub-Commission washeld in Aswan in October 1999. The ethicalissues relating to water mirror broader debateson social ethics and relate to a number ofethical principles. The Sub-Commission resol-ved that rather than analyse once more theethical issues of water management, it shouldpromote best ethical practice. Some funda-mental principles were identified as essentialcomponents :

• Human dignity, for there is no life without

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BEST ETHICAL PRACTICE IN WATER USE

water and those to whom it is denied aredenied life.• Participation, for all individuals, espe-cially the poor, must be involved in waterplanning and management with genderand poverty issues recognized in fosteringthis process.• Solidarity, for water continuallyconfronts humans with their upstream anddownstream interdependence, and initiati-ves for integrated water management maybe seen as a direct response to this reali-zation. • Human equality, for all persons ought tobe provided with what is needed on anequitable basis.• Common good, for by almost everyone'sdefinition water is a common good, andwithout proper water management humanpotential and dignity diminishes.• Stewardship, which respects wise use ofwater.• Transparency and universal accessto information, for if data is not accessi-ble in a form that can be understood, therewill be an opportunity for one interestedparty to disadvantage others.• Inclusiveness, for water managementpolicies must address the interests of allwho live in a water catchment area.Minority interests must be protected aswell as those of the poor and other disad-vantaged sectors. In the past few years theconcept of Integrated Water ResourceManagement (IWRM) has come to the foreas the means to ensure equitable, econo-mically sound and environmentally sustai-nable management of water resources. • Enpowerment, for the requirement tofacilitate participation in planning andmanagement means much more than to

allow an opportunity for consultation.Best ethical practice will enable stakehol-ders to influence management.

Water management is fundamentally a questionof social and environmental justice based onthree essential concepts: equity, fairness andaccess between and across generations. Itsethical dimension may be perceived in the wayanswers are found to the following questions:

• Who participates in the decision-makingprocess?• Are these participants involved in formu-lating options or are they expected only toreact to proposals that are already well-developed?• How and what type of opportunity costsare considered? • What kind of information is open to thepublic?• How do professionals interact with non-professionals?• Is there respect for cultural diversity andour heritage?• How is a balance determined betweenthe needs of human development and theneed to preserve our natural resources?

The difficulty of implementing these principlesin a large catchment area or in an urban com-munity cannot be denied. Two further practi-ces will alleviate these problems, at least inpart:

• Partnerships: Where partnerships areformed this will help different communi-ties or interest groups to understand eachothers’ requirements. For example appliedtechnology is only likely to be relevant andsuccessful where there is a clear under-standing of the user communities needs.• Focus at the local level: By concentra-


ting at the local level a focus is possiblewhich enables practical solutions to realissues. If technology and investment pro-grammes had been funded to assist theone billion people without adequateaccess to fresh water on a region basis,this massive failure to give all people thebasic necessity of life would no longer persist.

All stakeholders have a responsibility to consi-der how their practices compare to these princi-ples of best ethical practice. International agen-cies such as UNESCO, being at the most remotelevel from the water users have a duty to ensurethat their expertise is used to promote theseprinciples. National governments should ensurethat they are promoting best ethical practice inthe management of shared water resources. Waterregulators are charged with the responsibilityof ensuring that enforcement of regulations iseven-handed and consistent. If one sector isfavoured, then this is a failure to deliver an ethi-cal policy. The water supply industry shouldconsider to whom it is accountable and whetherits data is accessible and how it allows stakehol-ders to participate in its management decisions.

Governance has to be based on shared values,and governments have to ensure that there aresocially accepted moral standards on what canand cannot be done. These standards mustdetermine what consequences of water mana-gement are or are not acceptable. For example,to what extent is damage to ecosystemsacceptable? What loss to our heritage is tole-rable? What impact on downstream waterusers is permissible? Successful civilizationshave usually ensured that their water gover-nance is rigidly enforced. When there is abreakdown of water regulation, conflict andeconomic failure often follow. Governments

have a responsibility to ensure that an appro-priate infrastructure is in place to allow theseshared moral values to be debated and imple-mented.

The world’s research and development commu-nity has an obligation to ensure that theseissues are addressed even if this requires diffe-rent working relationships to ensure that infuture the appropriate technology is made avai-lable for implementation. The technologieswhich prove most relevant to the needs of themost deprived communities are likely to uselocally relevant solutions, such as local mate-rials and local building materials. A strong com-munity involvement, including women, and astrong sense of ownership and of local manage-ment of the programme ensure a successfultechnology.

COMEST has now established its own network,in partnership with the InternationalHydrological Programme/UNESCO, to promotebest ethical practice in all aspects of fresh-water use. The Research and Ethical NetworkEmbracing Water (RENEW) has establishedthree nodes. These are at the AustralianNational University, Canberra, servingAustralia and the Asian Pacific, at theUniversity of Bergen, Norway, serving theNordic-Baltic region, and in Cairo servingEgypt and the Nile Basin. RENEW’s mission is‘To promote engagement in the ethical issuesinvolved in the sustainable use and equitablesharing of fresh water resources at all levelsand in the handling of and response to water-related emergencies and disasters’.

Each region has different priorities and there-fore different approaches to achieving thismission. In each case, RENEW seeks to identi-

7

PREFACE


fy and to promote best ethical practice, whe-rever it is found. Hence COMEST and theInternational Hydrological Programme havedecided to publish examples of best practicein this booklet, and thereafter on its website.They illustrate the efforts made throughoutthe world to fill the gap between the promisecontained in the right to water and the needfor wider coverage of basic water services asclearly articulated at the 3rd World WaterForum, held in Kyoto in March 2003. They alsoreflect the goals of the UN MillenniumDeclaration and the priorities of theJohannesburg Summit held in 2002.

UNESCO is demonstrating its continuing andabiding interest in promoting best ethicalpractice throughout the world, in facilitatingcommunication between all stakeholdersconcerned by fresh water issues. The examplesdescribed in this publication do not purport tobe authoritative discussion on the basis ofethical principles involved. Rather, they aim atproviding a context for a wide-ranging dialo-gue between various disciplines from thenatural sciences to the social ones. A dialogueprocess is the most effective way to redefinerights and responsibilities, and to improvecoordination with the various players. Ratherthan fastidious debates, it seemed moreappropriate to highlight in blue the ethicalprinciples that steered the practices providedin this publication – a colour symbolizingpeace and health brought by sufficient safewater provision, and the colour of the UnitedNations system.

John SelborneChair, COMEST Sub-Commission on the Ethics of Freshwater Use


8


1. CATLEY-CARLSON, M.“Preface”, Effective Water

Governance. Learning fromthe Dialogues. Global Water

Partnership, Stockholm, 2003.

9

Introduction

The Need to promote Best Ethical Practice

The Sub-Commission on the Ethics of FreshWater Use seeks to stimulate the implemen-tation of ethical principles in the field ofFresh Water. Its aim is to help to shape asociety in which best ethical practice in theuse of fresh water is both recognized andwidely practised.

The discussion on governance and especiallyon water governance is relatively new.Generally, governance covers the manner inwhich power is balanced in the administra-tion of a country. It embraces the traditionsand institutions by which authority is exerci-sed. Effective water governance works atcountry and local levels, where reality repla-ces theory1. In good governance, dialogueavoids sterile debate on big principles, and itredefines rights and responsibilities so as toimprove coordination and capacity-buildingand sustain development.


Already in 1990, the UN DevelopmentProgramme defined Human Development as"a process of enlarging people's choices. Inprinciple, these choices can be infinite andchange over time. But at all levels of deve-lopment, the three essential ones are forpeople to lead a long and healthy life, toacquire knowledge and to have access toresources needed for a decent standard ofliving. If these essential choices are notavailable, many other opportunities remaininaccessible. But human development doesnot end there. Additional choices, highlyvalued by many people, range from political,economic and social freedom to opportuni-ties for being creative and productive, andenjoying personal self-respect and guaran-teed human rights”. In a communication tothe Preparatory Committee for the SecondUnited Nations Development Decade, UNESCOstated: "Development is meaningful only ifman who is both the instrument and benefi-ciary is also its justification and its end. Itmust be integrated and harmonized; in otherwords, it must permit the full developmentof the human being on the spiritual, moraland material level, thus ensuring the dignityof man in society, through respect for theDeclaration of Human Rights”.

The need for a wider coverage of basic waterwas clearly articulated at the 3rd World WaterForum reflecting the goals of the UNMillennium Declaration and the priorities ofthe Johannesburg Summit2 in a situationwhere industrialized countries suffer from anexcessive threat to the environment, and adeadly poverty strikes less industrializedregions. The Forum invited participants toshare their experience with proven actions andbest practices supported by sound scientific

research that have facilitated sustainablesolutions to water problems. Priority wasgiven to the promotion of dialogue and inter-action among stakeholders. A strategy basedon good policies and entailing comprehensiveactions was proposed and summarized not as“what needs to be done”, but rather “whoneeds to do what, how, and when?”

The fast pace of scientific discovery and tech-nological progress does not guarantee thathumanity will benefit from its technologicalachievements in a harmonious way unless theseare fully consistent with fundamental humanrights and freedoms. Human rights cannot beseparated from a set of ethical principles thatshape what anthropologists call a social ethos.

The United Nations Charter and the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights were designed to bethe implicit ethical vectors of a new civilizationwhere conflict is replaced by cooperation, uni-formity by diversity, and control by cooperationand democracy. Since the creation of the UN in1945, humanity has grown from 1.6 billion tomore than 6 billion people. Although scientificknowledge, automation, new materials and com-munication systems opened the way to improvewater services in industrialized countries, about2 billion people have no access to safe drinkingwater, and one billion are still suffering fromhunger and malnutrition, “largely a silent andinvisible emergency, exacting a terrible toll onchildren and their families. The result of multiplecauses, including a lack of food, common andpreventable infections, inadequate care andunsafe water, it plays a role in more than half ofthe nearly 12 million deaths each year of childrenunder five in developing countries. …Malnutrition blunts intellects and saps the pro-ductivity and potential of entire societies.

2.The Declaration of Kyoto,March 2003.

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DEFINITION OF DEVELOPMENT


11

INTRODUCTION

Poverty, one of the causes of malnutrition, is alsoa consequence, a tragic bequest by malnourishedparents to the next generation” (UNICEF, 1998).As Einstein said, “Problems cannot be solvedwithin the mindset that created them”. Greatimprovements are usually made when our modesof thought change.

The new paradigm reminds us that our actionsaffect the holistic system that is our biosphere.Ecosystems and humans alike are not functio-ning as mere isolated machines: they aredynamic, constantly evolving due to the inter-actions of their components. Scientificresearch, whether in biology, chemistry, phy-sics, geology or hydrology, once focused onone level and in closed systems. Research nowevolves towards a transdisciplinary approachthat integrates human and social sciences inan attempt to embrace the multiple levels ofreality. As a result, ethics can no longer beconfined to philosophy. The anthropologicalstudy of values and beliefs that have contri-buted to build up cultures and civilizationsshows that ethics and normative values arestill visible in a number of indigenous cultu-res. Once considered as dusty fossils, thesecultures actually reveal an astute ecologicalcleverness, both anticipatory and adaptive, inmaintaining natural resources for future gene-rations. In indigenous communities, humansare not traditionally regarded as separate fromtheir natural environment, but as another partof the same highly complex ‘metasystem’:Nature. The ancestral knowledge of indigenouscommunities comes from the holistic observa-tion of the many interdependencies whichmake up the natural world. They are empiri-cally aware that human and natural systemsare mutually responsive and interactive.Industrialized nations rediscover what most

indigenous peoples have practised and still do:they do not separate knowledge and wisdom,and they value truth and solidarity, beauty andlove. Because resources are meagre in thesecommunities, decisions are based on what isobjectively good not for the agent only, butequally for other people involved – an ethicalattitude that, in the modern world now awareof the limitations of natural resources, candefine what is good practice and what is effec-tive water governance.

Basic needs for humanity include breathing,drinking, eating, security, shelter (includingwarmth), health and waste disposal, growth,reproduction, response and resting. Socialneeds encompass communication, affection,status and esteem, belongingness, stimulation(curiosity, play, pleasure), planning (securingresources), etc. Our higher needs, whetherabstract, ethical or spiritual, are typical of thehuman species and characterized by arts,science, religion and philosophy, love, beauty,freedom, truth, justice and search for thecommon good. Water issues are clearly relatedto the three dimensions of our needs. Water’stechnological aspects must not be separatedfrom social and cultural factors, nor fromethics.

Is the water crisis a governance crisis ? In ourmodern world, water governance involves poli-tical, social, economic and administrative sys-tems responsible for developing and managingwater resources and the delivery of water ser-vices to the different members of society. Thewater crisis calls for a definition of their rolesand responsibilities to secure access to waterfor all – a fundamental right according to arecent UN declaration, to sustain vital ecosys-tems and produce human and economic deve-

« …human and natural systemsare interactive »

Ganvié, Bénin.

© UNESCO / G. Malempré


lopment. Since no living system can survive inisolation, effective governance is based on thebalance of power at different levels of autho-rity, and on the acceptance that motivationdetermines action.

Interactions and feedback loops inevitablyimply constant evolution. It is therefore notsurprising that improving governance leads toreform, as happened in Japan, when thePrefecture of Shiga decided to launch theMother Lake 21 Plan. Initially designed for theprotection of the biodiversity of Lake Biwa(one of the most ancient lakes of the world),this project (see Case Study 1) enhanced localsovereignty, local autonomy and economythrough citizens’ involvement. As a directresult of their action, not only the lake biodi-versity was protected and eventually restored,but finally a powerful industry changed itsattitude and agreed to modify the compositionof synthetic detergents in the entire country.Dialogue between water users, politicians,administrative authorities and water managerstriggered change without damaging ancientJapanese traditions, setting out local priori-ties and actions at regional level.

Some regions are now managing shared waterlakes. In the former Soviet Union, the envi-ronmental quality of Lake Peipsi-Chudskoe hasdeteriorated over the last fifty years. LakePeipsi-Chudskoe is located on the border bet-ween Estonia and Russia. Its catchment –shallow and biologically productive, with sub-stantial fish resources and wetlands of globalimportance – is shared by Estonia, Latvia andRussia, three countries in transition. About 1million people live in this bioregion. In 1997,five years after the border between Estoniaand Russia was re-established, their govern-

ments signed an Agreement on the Protectionand Sustainable Use of Transboundary WaterBodies, implemented both by a new inter-governmental commission and a network ofregional and local authorities, universities,NGOs and businesses. The experience is nothindered by different languages and norms. Itrespects cultural diversity and allows a dis-tributive governance system. The next stepfor Central and Eastern European countries isto identify governance options that will allowthem to manage their water resources, inclu-ding transboundary issues, within theEuropean Union Water Framework Directive.

In all sectors, introducing a new water legacy isnot an easy process, except when politicalchange creates a favourable atmosphere.Change in the delivery of water services is alsoa political process. The Chilean reform program-me, outlined in its Water Code of 1981, was car-ried out during the economic development putin place by this country since the 1970s. TheWater Code acknowledges that water is a factorof production in many sectors and can be trans-ferable like any other economic input. Changein water governance does not rely on technolo-gical requirements only because the quality ofwater services affects the life of all citizens inany community. Public participation throughextensive consultation of stakeholders delega-ted to participate in the content and process ofa new policy is crucial to ensure that publicneeds will be adequately met; to alleviate resis-tance to change and to promote ethical valuessuch as respect for human dignity, peopleempowerment, transparency, equity and thecommon good. South Africa recently revised itswater policy and legislation (see Case Study 2).Using a sound democratic process, the DurbanMetropolitan area revised its water manage-

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INTRODUCTION

ment and social development through aMunicipal Systems Act in a thorough and open-endedconsultation with its residents, including aninteractive website, a source of informationthat provides forums for the Civil Society.

It appears there are sometimes contradictionsbetween past norms and present laws. The dualstatus of indigenous peoples’ territories as bothancestral domains and nationally protectedareas, spawn conflicts between indigenous peo-ple and governmental bodies responsible formanaging these areas and their natural resour-ces. Conflict resolution lies in the care taken toinvite the local communities’ authorities, whoare often traditional spiritual leaders, to shareand explore the best current thinking to identifylocal water needs and balance them with natio-nal priorities. Ethical governance of a territory isa precondition for resolving local conflict raisedby water governance issues. The example of theBesao community, in the Philippines archipela-go (see Case Study 3), shows that water gover-nance is also affected by national governance insectors such as agriculture, policies on industrialinvestment – and in the Besao case, such asmining work, timber trade in forested areas andnature conservation. A compromise is thennecessary between the central government’spolicies and priorities on the one hand, and onthe other hand indigenous people’s concernsand needs, beliefs and aspirations through therecognition of the rights of indigenous com-munities, namely a right to cultural diversity.In the Philippines, as in all communities, indi-genous communities’ right to lands includes theright to water. In Peru, the dialogue also madespecial reference to the mining sector. Dialogueis always needed to shift from the technicallyoriented decisions of authorities to ethicalgovernance and good practice.

Technologies are not neutral. They reflect theimage of the society that produces them. Fairdistribution of adequate technology is basedon objective, updated and easily accessibleinformation. The private sector in industriali-zed countries promotes high technology suchas expensive solar cells and drip irrigation forthe richer part of humanity. Developing coun-tries cannot afford high-tech and often lackthe capacity for its maintenance. Small com-munity water supply technologies have to beaccessible to people living in more or less iso-lated rural areas, and in the poor outskirts ofcities in developing countries. Water access isan even more serious problem among the poorestand most deprived people, nomads and thosesuddenly obliged to adapt to harsh conditionsin a refugee-camp, who may have to under-take ‘water-harvesting’.

Entire countries in arid zones have to augmenttheir water supply. Tunisia, for instance,encourages waste water treatment and nowirrigates 7,100 ha with 156 million cubicmetres of treated waste water per year – a pro-cess being considered in Oman. Jordan facesscarce water resources, population growth andthe increase of industrial water use. If somecurrent groundwater abstractions are not hal-ted, there is a risk of the complete loss ofsome aquifers due to almost irreversible sali-nization of the groundwater stocks. TheGovernment has consequently designed along-term integrated strategy that allows for across-sectoral perspective in water allocationand management, which will raise living stan-dards. Owing to increasing urban and ruralwater tariffs, private sector participation hasbecome an attractive option for users to ensurefull recovery of operating services.

Lake Petrohue, Chile.

© UNESCO / B. Serraillier


Desalination of brackish water, and rainwaterharvesting in rural areas constitute alternati-ves that are expanding in all parts of theworld. Non-governmental organizations play avery active role in disseminating small-scalealternative technologies that prove to be cul-turally and environmentally appropriate.Consequently, they deserve a wider applicationto foster international justice and equity,particularly gender equity. The role of womenis of the utmost importance in poor communi-ties (see Case Study 4). Women are the mainproviders of health care throughout the world,but in developing countries they are usuallyalso those producing food crops both to feedtheir households and to earn a little moneyselling the produce in the markets, while menmigrate to the cities in the hope of supple-menting their incomes. The collection of watercan take up to 60% of women’s and girls’ time.This is one of the reasons why young girlsabandon school, and a major obstacle to theirparticipation in formal education programmes.The disparity between the levels of women’sand men’s education explains the lack ofwomen at the advisory and policy makinglevels. It also explains why women are regret-tably almost entirely absent from the profes-sional sector whereas their involvement asadvisers, planners, scientists and engineers,including in all government services, is cru-cial. Often assuming the stewardship of theirhouseholds, women have a direct and clearawareness of their communities’ actual andfuture needs. Their input is thus essential forensuring solidarity and equity betweengenerations. Promoting women’s access tomodern communication networks will enablethem not only to exchange their knowledge,their ideas and experiences but also to improvethe South-South cooperation, and possibly to

put an end to malnutrition too often relatedto poor access to water.3 Experience has pro-ved that when Ministries of Water Resourcesand Environment and the Ministries of Healthinvolve the Ministries of Women’s Affairs intheir projects, problems are considered fromdifferent angles relating to the real needs ofthe community.

Water is a source of life, but as such it canalso be a source of conflict. With an increasingdemand for finite freshwater resources, theneed adequately to protect and manage waterresources has never been greater. However,clearly acknowledging the situation can openthe way for cooperation among nations.

The Nile River is shared by ten countries:Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt,Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan,Tanzania and Uganda. It serves as home toglobal environmental assets, such as LakeVictoria (the second largest fresh water bodyby area in the world) and the vast wetlands ofthe Sudd.4 An estimated 160 million peoplelive within the boundaries of the Basin, whileabout twice that number – roughly 300 million– live within the ten countries that share anddepend on Nile waters. The organized discourseinvolving this vast civil society at the veryearly stage of the Nile Basin Initiative, a holis-tic intergovernmental development project, isa sound innovation in international develop-ment processes (see Case Study 5). The esta-blishment of National Civil Society Forums,aimed at defining and promoting a ‘SharedVision’ among all the communities living in theNile Basin, has the legal recognition of thegovernments concerned. It is currently coordi-nating a patient governance dialogue betweenall riparian communities and the Nile Basin

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Women carrying water, Cape Verde.

© UNESCO / D. Roger

3.The World HealthOrganization estimates that indeveloping countries approxima-tely 150 million children(26,7%) under 5 are malnourish-ed. Two-thirds of all malnouris-hed children in the world live inAsia, and one fourth live in Africa.

4. The Sudd is a swampy region(320 x 240 km), located in thesouth of Sudan and East CentralAfrica. It is fed by the Bahr al-Jebel, The Bahr al-Ghazal, andthe Bahr al-Arab, headwaters ofthe Nile. Thick aquatic vegeta-tion (sudd in Arabic) dispersesthe river water into numerouschannels. About half the water islost through evaporation andabsorption before leaving thisregion.


15

INTRODUCTION

Initiative previously launched with internatio-nal institutions to cure poverty, instability,rapid population growth and environmentaldegradation in this wide region. The recentAgreement on the Incomati and Maputo Riversin Southern Africa is another example of trans-boundary governance of watercourses. So far,the UN Convention on the Law of Non-Navigational Uses of InternationalWatercourses has been ratified by only sixteencountries. Therefore it is not fully operational,but it constitutes a step towards reasonedgovernance at the level of bioregions. Howwater is divided between States that sharerivers is a crucial question, especially whenconsidering the global change that is takingplace. Bringing more stakeholders together,making their different roles effective and get-ting action through partnerships is a key toharmonizing needs and resources. Distributedgovernance is an essential aspect of democracy.

The main features that held the attention duringthe 3rd World Water Forum included improvedregulation; clearer definition of roles and rela-tions; connected decentralization; better allo-cation to bring water distribution in line withglobal climatic change and society’s changingneeds; preparation of individuals and institutionsthrough capacity building; avoidance of excessi-ve or complex legislation and regulation – lawsbeing turned into working rules.

Communication and information were alsoidentified as major issues. Scientific institu-tions should use a more accessible and under-standable language to communicate reliableand updated information for the generalpublic. More contacts need to be made withthe media since journalists can play a crucialrole in mass education. Electronic networks

can facilitate and strengthen the circles ofParliamentarians and media. They can also sti-mulate extensive social and parliamentarydebate to reach consensus, especially aboutthe new issue of private sector participationwhen over 90% of domestic water and wastewater services worldwide are provided by thepublic sector. More networks need to be crea-ted to establish dialogue between all stake-holders, including political leaders, in order toraise political will and ensure that all politicaldecisions are transparent, particularly thoseregarding financial transactions, when busi-ness takes on responsibility for the manage-ment of water services.

There are many examples of effective watergovernance and good practice from all parts ofthe world. It is hoped that the five case stu-dies presented in this booklet will contributeto enlarge the many dialogues that took placeduring the 3rd World Water Forum. Our com-mon future rests not only with scientific dis-coveries and technological knowledge, butalso with faith in ethical values, good will andproactive imagination.


17

The story of Lake Biwa deserves to receive fullhonours because it illustrates the breakthroughmade by a Japanese community and it empha-sizes ethical principles and good practices thatgive hydrology its social dimension. Hence theshore of Lake Biwa, the ‘Mother Lake’, wasselected to host one of the major events of the3rd World Water Forum: the Ministers’ Meetingon Water, Food and Agriculture.

The Forum was concluded with a Declarationstressing in particular that governments“should ensure good governance with a strongerfocus on household and neighbourhood commu-nity-based approaches by addressing equity insharing benefits, with due regard to pro-poorand gender perspectives in water policies; fur-ther promote the participation of all stakehol-ders, and ensure transparency and accountabilityin all actions”. Aimed at encouraging all parti-cipants to translate vision into concrete actionas well as into good practices, this internatio-nal event paved the way for undertaking whatwas described as a paradigmatic shift in hydro-logy.

The Forum was held in three places: Kyoto,Osaka and Shiga whose Prefecture has enactedLake Biwa Rules. Shiga was not chosen for thenatural beauty of Lake Biwa only, although thelakeshore has been designated a quasi-nationalpark. Lake Biwa is Japan’s biggest lake. Itsvolume of 28 km3 covers an area of 670 km2.Formed four million years ago and taking itscurrent shape 400,000 years ago, it is one ofthe world’s ten most ancient lakes, with LakeBaikal in Russia and Lake Tanganyika in EastAfrica.

The Story of Lake Biwa: how Japan is masteringthe interaction of nature with humankind

Case study 1

political will, equity, integration, participation,transparency, accountability,trans-generational solidarity, common good, stewardship

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Lake Biwa is an important transportation arterythat joins the Yodo River with several others.This watershed covers an area of 8,240 km2. Informer times, it was used as a highway betweenthe settlements along the Japan Sea coast onthe west side of the main island of Honshu, andits water connected the cities of Kyoto, Osakaand Nara. Today, the lake is used for agricultu-ral irrigation, for fresh water fish harvest(about 2,800 tons in 1998, nearly 50% of fishproduction nationwide), for power generationand other industrial activities – including tou-rism and recreational sports (37 million peopleper year visit the lake). It provides waterresources to the entire Keihanshin (Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe) Industrial Belt and the “MotherLake” is a precious source of drinking water forthe Kansai region.

Through the Lake Biwa General DevelopmentProject, water can now be supplied at a rate of40 m3 per second down the Yodo River to meetgrowing demands for water. An essential resour-ce, it supports the lives of 14 million people(Shiga: 1 million; Kyoto: 1.8 million; Osaka, theoldest cosmopolitan city in Japan, founded inthe 5th century: 8.5 million, and Hyogo: 2.7million). Among the almost 1,000 species thelake nurtures, the Biwako giant catfish andBiwa trout are two of 59 species unique to thelake. About a hundred species of wild birds liveon its shores.

Area of Shiga Prefecture: 4.017, 36 km2

Catchment area of Lake Biwa: 3.174 km2

Area of the lake: 670, 29 km2

(North Basin: South Basin=11:1)Major axis: 63,49 kmWidest crossing: 22,80 kmNarrowest crossing: 1,35 km

Shore line: 235,20 kmDeepest point: 103,58 mAverage dept : Approx. 41, 20 m(North Basin: Approx.43m South Basin: Approx.4m)Volume of lake water: 27,5 billion m3

(North Basin: South Basin=273:2)Altitude of the lake surface: 85, 614 mAverage amount of precipitation per year:1.607,9 mm (1980-1999)Population of Shiga Prefecture: 1.347.292(March 2001)Population density of Shiga Prefecture:335,37 habitants/km2 (March 2001)Area of paddy and other agricultural fields:478 km2 (2000)Area of forests: 2.029 km2 (2000)Conventional sewerage system coverage ratio:58,8% (March 2000)COD of lake water: 2,6 mg/l (North Basin)3,2 mg/l (South Basin).

POLITICAL WILL

The Prefecture of Shiga decided to launch a pro-ject entitled Mother Lake 21 Plan, an agenda forsustainable development during the 21st century.This manifestation of dedication and politicalwill has avoided the extinction of many species.Should this great wealth of biodiversity have dis-appeared, it would have been an irremediabledisaster not only because of the tens of thou-sands of years it took these many species toevolve, but also because the entire ecosystem(including that of the mountains around thelake) would have collapsed together and a num-ber of cultural traditions deeply rooted in thelocal community would have been lost.

Not just a mere administrative decentraliza-tion, the Mother Lake 21 Plan aims at enhan-

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1. For a number of JapaneseBuddhists, the kami are mani-

festations of Buddha. In theMeiji Period, (1868-1912),

when the Emperor Meiji movedfrom Kyoto to Tokyo which

became the new capital, Shintobecame Japan’s State religion.

After the second World War,the religion and the State were

separated.

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THE STORY OF LAKE BIWA

cing local sovereignty, local autonomy andlocal economy through the citizens’ involve-ment. It is based on the principle that “ifevery one is involved, the lake will return towhat it was before the late 60’s, when damagedby modern lifestyle”. Such a democratic princi-ple alone would have proved insufficient tobring about such a profound change as thatimplemented by both citizens and authoritiesof Lake Biwa. But the people living on thelakeshore had over thousands of years acqui-red their most important asset, their attitudetowards nature and their quest for harmony,perhaps what René Dubos, the founding fatherof ecology would describe as reverence for life.

Nature Worship, a Japanese Tradition

Shinto and Buddhism are Japan’s two mostimportant religions. Shinto, namely the “wayof the gods”, is considered as old as Japanitself. It has no founder or sacred scriptures.Shinto gods, called kami, are sacred spiritsthat manifest important natural phenomenasuch as water, rain, wind, mountains, plants,animals and fertility. Humans may also becomekami: after they die, they are revered by theirfamilies as ancestral kami. Buddhism wasintroduced in the country during the 6th cen-tury. After a few initial conflicts, both reli-gions coexisted. They eventually complemen-ted each other to the extent that today, manyJapanese consider themselves Shinto-Buddhists.1

Japanese culture mirrors this special link peo-ple have with nature and their quest for innerand outer harmony. Traditional arts are famousthroughout the world. The ukivo-e, delicatepaintings that capture the essence of light inwater and plants, greatly influenced the

Impressionists. Known throughout the worldare the stage arts of kabuki and noh; the ike-bana or flower arrangement; the shodo or cal-ligraphy; the haiku, a form of short philoso-phical poems on ethics, and the chaji or thetea ceremony promoting both physical andspiritual health, viewed by Westerners as “theepitome of Japanese aesthetics”. Japanese artrelies on the individual’s most inner self focu-sed on the principles of harmony or Wa,respect or Kei, purity or Sei, and tranquillity orJaku. It is an expression of the belief thatevery act of daily life is a potential act thatcan lead to genuine peace and enlightenment.

Based on these traditions linking so closelyaesthetics and ethics, Japan’s relations withother countries unsurprisingly aim at helpingto resolve conflicts around the world, coope-rating with developing countries to improvetheir living standards and social conditions,and dealing with global issues, such as pro-tecting the environment and slowing downpopulation growth.

Answers to major threat on Lake Biwa’sblue, crystal clear water

Environmental pollution due to agricultural che-micals appeared in the 1960s. It resulted from alarge-scale reclamation by drainage and the useof agricultural chemicals in the area around LakeBiwa in Shiga Prefecture. The pollution beganjust after the Second World War. A number oflake-inlets disappeared, and the soil and thewater, including its population of fish and shell-fish, were contaminated by agricultural chemi-cals. During this period (1950-1960), Minamatadisease and Yokkaichi asthma became national problems.Various measures were taken such as guidance onappropriate use of agricultural chemicals, and

Omikuji, a Shinto tradition.

© UNESCO / M. Le Mignon


the creation of the Shiga Prefecture’s Directionfor Safe Use of Agricultural Chemicals. All landwithin 6 km of the lake was prohibited from useas agricultural land. The Japanese Governmentrevised the Agricultural Chemicals RegulationLaw together with other institutional matters.

The Shiga Prefecture government instituted itsPollution Control Ordinance as early as 1969.Two years later, accompanying the institutionof the Water Pollution Control Law by theJapanese Government in 1971, the Prefectureof Shiga launched a series of effluent controlswhich were almost as strict as the environ-mental quality standards for toxic substances.Yet, while standards of living were improvedby the rapid growth of Japan’s industrializa-tion and economy during the 1970s, the areaaround Lake Biwa suffered from the contami-nation of fish and shellfish by polychlorinatedbiphenyl (PCB)2, and from a dramatic pollu-tion by heavy metals such as antimony. Morestringent standards for pollution control wereenforced for the protection of the environment,particularly in the case of antimony pollution.

COMMON GOOD

In May 1977, a red tide suddenly appeared inthe blue, crystal clear water of Lake Biwa. Inaddition, the residents of Shiga Prefecturewere shocked by the intensification of theeutrophication occurring in the lake.Housewives who had initiated a movement toeliminate synthetic detergents a few years ear-lier, became even more determined that thewater in Lake Biwa should be clean enough touse as drinking water without any treatment.The “Movement to promote the use of powde-red soap” developed into a large environmen-talist movement involving an increasing num-

ber of local residents with a mission to pass ona clean Lake Biwa to the next generation.

They encouraged the Shiga Prefecture govern-ment to issue the Ordinance Relating to thePrevention of Eutrophication in Lake Biwa, inOctober 1979. Commonly known as Lake BiwaOrdinance, this by-law resulted from the popu-lation’s awareness that it was time to shiftfrom a consumer society to a more ecologicallifestyle, and resume the ethical principlesthat were embedded in their ancestral tradi-tions. Local community involvement was thefirst step to stimulate political will for thedevelopment of another relationship betweenhumans and nature in an industrialized Japan,thus shaping an “eco-society” based on theavoidance of environmental damage, on theprovision of realistic options and on goodpractices for developmental policies.

STEWARDSHIP

A crucial measure for preventing the eutrophi-cation of Lake Biwa was the regulation on theuse and sale of synthetic detergents contai-ning phosphorus by the Shiga PrefectureGovernment in March 1979. But, quoting in itsdefence the freedom of trade guaranteed inthe Constitution, the Detergent IndustryAssociation of Japan immediately launched alarge-scale campaign against the prohibition.Resident groups launched heated debates oneutrophication (not very well known at thattime) and the substances causing it, and deve-loped supporting activities throughout thewhole country in order to draw national atten-tion to the issue.

Finally, the Lake Biwa Ordinance was enactedsix months later, in October 1979. It prohibits

2. PBC belongs to “a class ofhighly stable organic compounds that are prepared bythe reaction of chlorine withbiphenyl. A commercial mixtureof such chlorinated isomers ofbiphenyl provides a colourless,viscous liquid that is relativelyinsoluble in water, does notdegrade under high temperatu-res, and is a good dielectric”.Encyclopædia Britannica.

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3. Lake Biwa Research Institute,1-10 Uchidehama, Oysu, Shiga

520-0806, Japan.

Tel: 077-526-4800, email:[email protected]

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the use, sale and exchange as gifts ofphosphorous-containing synthetic detergentswithin the Lake Biwa basin, and promotesappropriate use of fertilizers and agriculture-use water management concerning the measu-res for agricultural waste water, extendingthem to non-specific pollution sources, suchas appropriate disposal of livestock excre-ment/urine and domestic waste water dischargecontrol. This ordinance set the world’s firstregulatory standards for factory effluent relat-ed to nitrogen and phosphorus.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Last but not least, the preamble of the LakeBiwa Ordinance expressly stipulated that“Water is the foundation of human existence”and noted that it was only during the last fewdecades after its very long history that LakeBiwa water quality became toxic, and that thegeneration responsible for polluting it alsohad the responsibility for handing over cleanblue water to the next one. The ordinancegave a new sense of the value of water. Peoplehad become concerned by the quality of theirwater resource viewed as a common heritage.They were able to change their attitude andacted with courage and determination toprotect their ‘Mother Lake’ which had providedsuccour to generations.

An overall and systematic plan for conservationof lake water quality became legally binding. TheOrdinance Relating to the Prevention ofEutrophication in Lake Biwa – the Lake BiwaOrdinance – had an enormous impact on Japan’slake water quality control and the country’s envi-ronmental conservation movement. Since then,other efforts to control synthetic detergents havebeen made by most Japanese prefectures. A simi-

lar ordinance to prevent another lake’s eutrophi-cation was issued in 1981 for Lake Kasumigaura,Japan’s second largest lake after Lake Biwa.Finally, the Detergent Industry Association ofJapan altered its manufacturing methods to pro-duce phosphorus-free detergents. The old ones,as a result, have now disappeared from theJapanese stores.

Shiga Prefecture constitutes only 1% of theentire country in terms of both area and popu-lation. The action of the people living on theshores of the Mother Lake shows that thedetermination of a very small community –compared to a national population amountingto 127 million (in 2000) – to protect a com-mon good and manifest a transgenerationalsolidarity changed the attitude of a powerfulindustry which agreed to change the composi-tion of synthetic detergents throughout theentire country. Thus, a handful of peoplecontributed to a new awareness of environ-mental security at national level.

Lake Biwa Research Institute

Lake Biwa Research Institute (LBRI)3 is famousfor its interdisciplinary research on natural,social and humanistic sciences undertaken in asystemic manner. This centre of exchange onscientific and policy matters on lakes manage-ment facilitates interaction and solidarity inthe international community between resear-chers, policy makers and citizens working onLake Biwa as well as on lakes and water bodieselsewhere.

Sound management of lakes requires a goodunderstanding of natural, social and culturalissues including water resources, water quality,and lake ecology. Consequently, LBRI research


mailto:[email protected]

activities range from priority issues of aninterdisciplinary nature to specialized subjects.Its research activities are organized as follows:

1. Project-based research:A major part of the Institute’s resources isallocated to collaborative research whosemajor objective is to generate basic scientificinformation on issues of emerging importancefor the lake management over the near future.Research topics include watershed manage-ment, limnology, eutrophication control andcoastal zone ecosystem management.Research activities are carried out by interdis-ciplinary project teams which generally consistof researchers from LBRI, and others from uni-versities, governmental and non-governmentalinstitutions as well as from the private sectoras deemed necessary and appropriate. The pro-ject generally lasts from three to five years.

2. Priority-subject research:Activities provide information used, for exam-ple, to develop specific measures urgently neededfor a specific lake management policy.

3. Continuing basic research:Each of the LBRI researchers is engaged in oneor two categories of research within his/herown specific field on a sustained basis. Theaim is to enhance their research capabilitiesand to complement research output generatedby other forms of research.

4. Toward the restoration of biodiversity in theattached lakes (naikos) of Lake Biwa:This project aims at analysing the mechanismsthat maintain the biodiversity (fish, aquaticinvertebrates as well as plants) in naikos –namely the attached lakes or lagoons close toLake Biwa and connected with creeks or small

channels. It also aims at analysing the socialproblems for the recovery of the environmentsof the naikos as well as their biodiversity.

5. Exploratory and predictive studies for thefuture planning of Lake Biwa environments:Lake Biwa is suffering from rapid deteriorationof its aquatic ecosystem due to both the glo-bal climate warming and local eutrophication.An autonomous underwater vehicle, the tan-tan, is used to study and measure the mid- tolong-term ecological changes in the lake inorder to design a predictive physico-ecologicalmodel and to plan its restoration.

The dynamics of community involvementand participation

Water resource issues increasingly involvevarious actors: scientists and agencies, thepublic and media, residents, visitors, resourceextraction industries, politicians, commercialbusinesses. Decisions regarding natural resour-ces often affect competing values, for exampleemployment security versus citizens’ protec-tion and environmental security. Consensus isdifficult to obtain when some groups feel thatthey are unfairly treated or not listened to.When the time comes to decide on a manage-rial direction, the easiest way to avoid dis-agreement and resentment is to involve allstakeholders in the whole process: from theinception stage of a project to its decision-making phase.

While it is impossible for everyone always toagree, a democratic process allows everyone toexpress their concerns. It is essential thatpeople feel that they have an input in thedecision process, that there will be publicsupport for that decision, and that the deci-

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sion is likely to last in the future. Getting allstakeholders in the same room is practical; ithelps all participants to hear and understanddifferent opinions and then more easily findcommon ground. Much better than a merecompromise, examining together the dynamicsof various aspects of a project can lead peopleto realize that their diversity is a source of acreative synergy and of a more imaginativecollective creativity.

A culture of water

Discussions on local traditions and beliefs,proverbs and food production related to waterusually enhance the feeling of belonging tothe same common natural environment, andthe understanding that water resources mustbe viewed as a universal heritage.

Universal Access to Information

A way to make people more aware of theimportance of water in their own lifestyle andculture, is to stress the vital role of water inrelation to food. The Water Policy Section ofShiga Prefectural Lake Biwa EnvironmentalDepartment, together with the KansaiInternational Public Relations PromotionOffice has designed a website entitled “TheBlessings of Lake Biwa”. Local people and visi-tors are provided with a documented descrip-tion of resources about the lake and a sectionof the website is dedicated to its water in rela-tion to the local traditional food production.

Food habits are most difficult to changebecause they are deeply rooted since ourinfancy. A better understanding of the role ofwater in local food production highlights manycultural characteristics of a population; it

increases people’s self-confidence and thus,their empowerment. The examples below maystimulate an awareness of the role played bythe local culture of water in other countries,and show how close can be the relationshipbetween people and water in their daily lives,and how this is true throughout the world.

Integration

A plentiful supply of water and fertile soil isindispensable for the rice farming which playsan important role in the economy of theKansai region. Rice is produced throughoutJapan. Brewing sake is said to require five cru-cial elements : rice, technical skill, yeast, land/ weather and a great amount of water thatcomprises as much as 80% of the final pro-duct. Hence fine water and fine rice are natu-ral prerequisites for brewing highly esteemedsake. In the culture of the Kansai region, aproverb says : “Wherever you find famousbrands of sake you will find famous water”.

Japanese people believe that three factorsdetermine the flavour of tofu : the quality ofsoybeans is essential together with the tech-nique of the producer. But people agree thatthe quality of water is equally very importantbecause a large volume of “good-tastingwater” is needed during the processing, inclu-ding when nigari (manganese chloride used asa coagulant) is added to firm the tofu as wellas during its refining in the forming box or mould.

To prepare soy sauce, water must be soft, withminimal iron. Generally, the higher the ironcontent, the darker the soy sauce becomes,and the harder the water, the lower its abilityto extract flavours to make tasty soups.Japanese people say that the best tea is made


with water collected from the tea productionarea. Once again, the quality of the environmentis clearly linked to the quality of food produc-tion and health. In Japanese traditions, in thesame manner as the tea ceremony, “the epitomeof Japanese aesthetics”, aims at improving phy-sical and spiritual health, so Japanese peopleuse water in their daily lives to relax.

The way water is used in gardens mirrors thespirit of the place, the culture of people wholive in its catchment area. In Japan, gardensrepresent a miniature of nature and the presenceof water in daily life: in addition to elaborateponds and waterfalls, they include karesansui,dry landscapes made of stones and sanddesigned to represent currents and waves thatmirror the energy of the cosmos.

In all civilizations, people have noted that thesounds of water are comforting and relaxing.Japanese people have invented a variety of waysto enjoy this music of nature: suikinkutsu, forexample, are often seen in traditional gardens.Using drops of water, these clever devices pro-duce sounds that resemble those of the koto,the Japanese harp to which Lake Biwa is com-pared because of its shape. The device consistsof a bottle with a hole in the bottom buriedupside down in the ground. Water is drippedthrough the hole, and the sound of each dropechoes inside the bottle. Another device is theshishiodoshi, made of a section of bamboo sup-ported in the middle by a fulcrum. Water flowsinto one end of the bamboo tube. When it beco-mes heavier than the other end, it drops. As thewater empties, the other end becomes heavierand reverses the direction of the bamboo whichstrikes a stone beneath and produces a sound.The shishiodoshi was originally invented to pro-tect crops by driving away birds and animals.

Are Japanese people water lovers? Sprinklingwater in streets and gardens, a tradition calleduchimizu, is a well known example of the impor-tant place water has in Japanese lifestyle.People sprinkle water, especially in the summertime, on their doorsteps, in their gardens and infront of their shops to lay the dust and to easethe heat. Japanese people not only use water ina practical manner for their daily needs, butthey actually see, hear and feel water. The sen-sitivity that seeks taste and poetic sentiment inwater, has intensively developed in theseislands because its people have long lived withdeep respect for nature and its seasonal changes.

Towards sustainable development

The Lake Biwa General Development Project isone of Japan’s largest water resource develop-ment projects. Started in 1972, its objectivesare not only the conservation of the lake’snatural environment, but also the restorationof water quality as a resource to improve thewelfare of citizens.

This project is one of the best examples of apioneering effort based on the three pillars ofconservation, flood control and irrigation. Itinvolves the joint effort of 22 bodies run bythe national, prefectural and municipalgovernments as well as the local community.In 1995, 1,600 citizens conducted biologicalsurveys in 36 rivers. Since 1984, about 20,000students have spent one night each year on aprefectural boat in order to study the lake.Residents also attend environmental classeson land or on a boat originally built for moni-toring the lake. Pavilion in the

Heian Jingu garden,Kyoto, Japon.

© UNESCO / A. McKenzie

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Governance relates to the problem of who is reallyin charge of the common good. It can take anumber of various forms, depending on econo-mic, cultural, legal and political norms of a coun-try. In parliamentary democracies, some politi-cians aim at improving the well-being of theircompatriots “in the shortest possible time in orderto ensure their reelection”.1 Social change broughtthrough a democratic process based on transpa-rent, people friendly procedures is more likelyto avoid the dangers of such short-term interestsand to last much more successfully than anyinstitutional reform which does not involve allcitizens and which lacks transparency.

Transparency is a necessary condition for goodgovernance. It facilitates action instead ofcreating obstacles to development and collec-tive “cre-activity” whereas bureaucratic rigiditycharacterizing poor governance leads to insti-tutional failure, weakens the people’s capacityto cope with water security problems andincreases political and social risk. These failu-res particularly hurt the poor through botheconomic and non-economic channels, makingthem more vulnerable and unable to adapt tochanges.

Some of the negative changes that have occur-red during the last twenty years include thelack of support for agricultural producers andclimate change. Large concentrations of impo-verished rural people looking for a better life,flood into urban areas in the often vain hopeof improving their standard of living. In thiscontext, South Africa’s post-apartheid policyreform shows truly innovative efforts in termsof respect for human rights, equity, people’sempowerment, economic growth and redis-tribution, environmental protection, includingvast efforts to ensure access to water for all.

Lessons from South Africa: a new legal framework for local governance’s good practice

1. P. ROGERS & A. W. HALL:Effective Water Governance, GWP.

Case study 2

human dignity, empowerment,transparency, open information, integration, responsiveness,participation, solidarity, equity,political will, common good, stewardship,inclusiveness, accountability


DYNAMIC PROCESS IN A YOUNG DEMOCRACY

South Africa is famous for its biodiversity reflec-ted in a number of national and private gamereserves, and in its coastline. Its cultural diver-sity is derived from its African, Asian andEuropean heritages: ‘the rainbow nation’ hasmade ‘a world in one country’. Although it isassumed that the user should pay for basicwater and sanitation services, and while manyare willing to pay, the poor cannot. South Africahas shown that it is possible to provide the poorwith basic services, and to improve the deliveryof water services and sanitation. The redistribu-tion of national tax revenues and the creationof a constitutional framework for localgovernment were achieved as part of the broa-der national development process.

The first democratic elections held in SouthAfrica in 1994 allowed this country to reformtotally its water law through the enactment ofthe Water Services Act (Act 108 of 1997), theNational Water Act (Act 36 of 1998) implemen-ted by the South African Department of WaterAffairs and Forestry and, more generally, theNational Environmental Management Act (NEMA,of 1998).

Located in KwaZulu-Natal, the land of theZulu2, Durban or eThekwini in Zulu, ranks thesecond city of South Africa with 3.2 millionpeople. The municipal area covers about 2300km2, and contains over a third of the popula-tion of KwaZulu-Natal province and 60% of itseconomic activity (manufacturing, tourism,finance and transport). As the largest andbusiest port city on the African continent,eThekwini (Durban) has an extensive networkof trading routes with the rest of SouthernAfrica. The Municipality manages resources

and expenditure through the MunicipalSystems Act in consultation with the residentsand the business communities. It has set acomprehensive and flexible twenty-year Long-Term Development Framework (LTDF) dividedinto smaller five-year plans. These four smallerplans allow some flexibility but the LTDF pro-vides a coherent and comprehensive develop-ment designed to push back the frontiers ofpoverty.

Poverty mostly strikes Africans (67%), andIndians and Coloured (20%) in eThekwini(Durban). Women are three times more likely tofall into the “extremely poor” category, and halfof the children (28% of the population is underthe age of 15) are identified as being poor and ahigh-risk group. About 40% of all households areultra poor or poor.3 Historically, the city did notinvest in educating its citizens: 16% of all adultsare still illiterate and only 8% have tertiary qua-lifications. The Municipality is deeply concernedto ensure employment equity and to improve theskills of its councillors and staff in order to sti-mulate local democracy and accountability so asto support community empowerment, fosterlocal partnerships and meet basic needs in allsettlements. The Municipality’s Long TermDevelopment Framework (LTDF) is aligned withthe broad approach to sustainable developmentplanning adopted by the Provincial Governmentthrough its Growth and Development Strategy forKwaZulu-Natal in 1996. The LTDF is designed torun over twenty years in a flexible manner sothat local communities and other stakeholderscan be involved: its succeeding five-yearIntegrated Development Plans (IDPs) are thesubject of a vast consultative process throu-ghout the municipality.

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2. The Zulu belong to the largerNguni group, one of the threelarge African migrant groupsfrom West Central and NorthEast Africa who followed therivers Zambezi and Limpopowhich marks the border bet-ween South Africa andZimbabwe.

3. eThekwini MunicipalityIntegrated Development Plan 2003-2007.



“By 2020, eThekwiniMunicipality will enjoy thereputation of being Africa’s

most caring and liveable city,where all citizens live in harmo-ny. This vision will be achieved

by growing its economy andmeeting people’s needs so thatall citizens enjoy a high quality

of life with equal opportunities,in a city that they are truly

proud of.”4

4. eThekwini Municipal Area,see: www.durban.gov.za/council

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The post-apartheid reform following the 1994elections gathered momentum during its firstphase, when the Peoples Budget was approved bythe Municipality Council in June 2002. It was ahistorical moment: for the first time, the citizensof eThekwini (Durban) participated in the prepa-ration of the budget, and the municipal budgetwas allocated according to their local needs.

The National Environmental Management Act(NEMA) constitutes the legal basis of citizens’rights, a legal framework, sometimes compared toa ‘mother-law’. It was designed to spread theresponsibility of interconnecting people’s socialwell-being and the protection of the environmentacross the State’s various departments. NEMA’sprinciples aim at implementing the environmen-tal right in South Africa’s Constitution: equita-ble access to environmental resources, bene-fits and services; environmental justice; andpromotion of community welfare. Its section2 strongly emphasizes public participation:“All people must have the opportunity to developthe understanding, skills and capacity necessaryfor achieving equitable and effective participa-tion”. NEMA clearly offers a sound protection ofcitizens’ rights and the country’s ecosystems;its Integrated Environmental Management sec-tion stipulates its accountability to consider “thepotential impacts on the environment, socio-economic conditions and the cultural heritage”.

The NEMA allowed the creation of two newnational institutions: the National EnvironmentalAdvisory Forum whose responsibility lies ininforming the Minister of “the views of stake-holders regarding the application of the princi-ples in the implementation of the Act and otherenvironmental legislation”, and the Committeefor Environmental Co-ordination entrusted to“promote the integration and coordination of

environmental functions by the relevant organsof State”. The Committee is convened by theDepartment of Environmental Affairs andTourism and is required by the White Paper onLocal Government to be the “lead agent”. NEMAclearly offers a sound protection of citizens’rights and the country’s ecosystems.

The White Paper charged South Africa’s muni-cipalities with the responsibility of developinglocal governance in coordination with Stategovernment, the private sector and civil society.The President’s Co-ordinating Council issuedresolutions to articulate the key national chal-lenges identified for sustainable local gover-nance. The Municipality of eThekwini has desi-gned a detailed policy and identified priorityactions such as:• Conduct annual Quality of Life householdsurveys • Set up Customer Satisfaction surveys• Use Local Economic Development (LED) sur-veys to refine business needs and hold anannual business survey• Provide a focus on the needs of vulnerablegroups• Provide forums for ongoing communityinputs in order to create an environment for citi-zens to take action, mobilize resources and makedevelopment happen in their communities• Strengthen a cadre of community facilita-tors to use grassroots strategies to releasepotential for development within communities• Prepare a coordinated programme to gene-rate, manage and distribute information, anda clear and comprehensive CommunicationsPlan for both internal and external commu-nication.

LESSONS FROM SOUTH AFRICA


http://www.durban.gov.za/council

WATER, HUMAN RIGHTS AND ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY

Water is a scarce resource of highly variableavailability in South Africa where about 11million black Africans have no access to run-ning water, and about 20 million no adequatesanitation. The principles of the Water ServicesAct (Act 108 - of 1997) and the National WaterAct (Act 36 of 1998) state that water is anational resource, owned by the people ofSouth Africa and held in custodianship by theState (National Water Act, Section 3). Thislegal framework ensures a holistic approach ofthe entire water cycle.

The National Water Act includes an innovativepart, the Human Rights Reserve aimed atimplementing the distribution of water in ade-quate quantity and quality to all the citizensof South Africa. The Reserve relates both tobasic human needs and to the protection ofthe country’s ecosystems. It guarantees to allcitizens the right to have access to a mini-mum of 25 litres of clean water per personper day, within a distance not exceeding200 metres.

Water users associations were created to ensureinclusiveness and stakeholders’ interactionwith the water catchment agencies. Someassociations’ forums are getting formalized asadvisory committees, thus offering an oppor-tunity for the pre-apartheid water boards toevolve into more transparent and accounta-ble users groups. This system helps the muni-cipality to establish and improve participatorygovernance, to adapt its actions and budget tosocial and economic challenges, and to main-tain the ecological integrity of the city.

The Municipality has decided to support its sus-tainable development programme by movingfrom the traditional linear accounting to fullcost accounting. It created a total budget of 13billion rands by adding to its existing budgetamounting to 9.8 billion rands (about US $1.4billion) the city’s Natural Resource Base of 3.2million rands that contributes free services suchas provision of water, clean air, raw materials forfood production, shelter, fuel, waste treatmentand erosion control.

The city has carefully designed a detailedService Delivery Plan of water and sewer servi-ces, with the following key programmes:• Rehabilitation and maintenance of existinginfrastructure that has reached its end.• Prioritization of expenditure to maximizethe use of existing infrastructure capacity.• Development of cost benefit assessment cri-teria and procedures for the extension ofinfrastructure in line with Municipal objectivesand the city’s Spatial Development Framework.• Review of all current service delivery systemsat a strategic level and reconfigure them to beefficient and effective.

From 1997 to 2002, the Municipality improvedits service to meet the needs of the previous-ly disadvantaged communities, to the extentthat a survey held in 2001 showed thatapproximately 75% of all households hadaccess to adequate basic services: housing,water, electricity and solid waste collecting.Its communication strategy includes detailedbudgetary information on a regularly upda-ted website. Such information gives evidencethat the Municipality runs a clean, corrup-tion-free administration. It stimulates anddoes honour to citizen’s involvement. It alsoensures that they understand their role and

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5. The English LanguageEducational Trust (ELET) developedthe health and hygiene compo-

nent of the project which wasfunded by the European Union

through the EU/Mvula TrustNGO Programme. The

KwaZulu-Natal Sanitation TaskGroup also provided somematerials for publication.

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responsibilities in service delivery – and inshaping their own future. Faithfully listeningto its citizens, eThekwini’s municipality issuedcalls for comments on the IDP for the next fiveyears: “Have your say in Durban’s future” onits website design for 2003.

A VISION FOR DURBAN’S FUTURE GENERATIONS

The future lies in the adults’ will to educatethe younger generations. Much still needs tobe accomplished to prepare the 28% of thepopulation under the age of 15. The BusinessPartners for the Development KwaZulu-NatalPilot Project produced a series of educationalpublications aimed at developing health,hygiene and environmental projects with tea-chers.5 The booklets are designed to establishinteraction between youngsters and adults,whether at school or at home. In addition topractical recommendation and advice, the edi-torial style includes straightforward questionsthat train youngsters to think about ethicaland democratic values, and their own respon-sibilities. The very first page of one of thesebooklets reads:• Whose responsibility is it?• What do you think the minister meant whenhe said that when he was at school the lear-ners acted responsibly?• Do the learners at your school look after theschool environment? If so, how? For example:do they clean the toilets or the classrooms?Are they careful not to waste water?

Some pessimistic or unimaginative minds mightsay that such a deep and extended reform asthe one undertaken in post-apartheid SouthAfrica is too ambitious and complex. It may beso in the light of the traditional linear thinking

and in terms of top-down management withoutexternal inputs. Building civic responsibility isindeed a long process everywhere. But theresults published on eThekwini Municipality’swebsite show that participatory water gover-nance benefits all citizens’ health and quality oflife, and particularly that of the most vulnera-ble. Since health is the sinews of development,good ethical practice in water governanceopens the way to sustainable developmentwhen youngsters are involved, educated andtrained to be responsible.



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KEY PERFORMANCE AREA (KPA) KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPI) 5 YR TARGETS

OutcomeNumber of families having access 85%to basic household infrastructure.

Number of businesses having access 97%to infrastructure and services.

The number of SMMEs being supported. 60% increase

ResultNumber of people have accessed 90%basic household infrastructure.

Increase number of SMMEs contracted. 60% increase

Number of jobs accesses by locals. 40% increase

Core OutputsNumber of households served. 85%

Number of businesses served. 95%

Number of new black 50% increasebusinesses supported.

Number of new black employement 30%

opportunities created.

Unit Outputs% of stakeholders satisfied with 95%

procurement Service% on time service delivery (OTD) 99%

% of Economic empowerment achieved 40% increase

Unit Outputs Number of new houses supplied Reduce backlog

with water services. by 100%

Sanitation services Reduce backlogby 25%

Reduce the number of illegal connections.Repair faults. Reduce by 60%

Install new connections.

Unit OutputsImproved Mobility of Public > 2km PT routes

transport users. /1000 pop (urban)

> 0.5km/1000pop (rural)

Improved Transport Safety 5% reduction p/a, per injury category/mode

Maximize cost / benefit Engineeringoutputs/R1000 budget.

Reduce the number of Reduced by 50%Dwellings subjects to flooding

TABLE 1:

Measuring Performance on the Municipality ServiceDelivery Plan

An improvement of basic livingconditions of all citizens, andearning of income for all SMMEsresulting in a better quality of life.

Citizens and businesses maximizetheir opportunities and potential byaccessing all infrastructural andprocurement services.

The provision of an integrated andwell maintained infrastructure andprocurement service that is affordable and appropriate.

Effective Procurement Service toCluster & Units.

Extend water and sanitation infrastructure to unserved families.

Provide and maintain affordable,quality, equitable and efficientengineering infrastructure.


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TABLE 2:

Capital Budget 2003-2005/6Summary of Allocations

(1 South African rand = US $0.15)

2002-2003 2003-2004 2204-2005 2005-2006COMPARATIVE TOTAL TOTAL TOTAL

TOTAL RANDS ALLOCATION RANDS ALLOCATION RANDS ALLOCATION RANDS

New Housing (PHB) 320,000,000 233,500,000 350,000,000 385,000,000

Housing – Letting Flats 18,600,000 16,296,690 13,500,000 11,000,000

New Housing 100,500,000 120,000,000 160,000,000 160,000,000Infrastructure

Slums Clearance 60,000,000 140,100,000 50,000,000 55,000,000

EU Funded Projects 10,000,000 0 0 0

Water Reticulation 32,000,000 28,600,000 32,000,000 32,000,000for Housing

Electricity Reticulation 64,000,000 64,000,000 64,000,000 64,000,000for Housing

Electricity Reticulation 21,000,000 22,680,000 24,267,600- Community


33

Traditional societies’ struggle for life is oftenintense and challenging. Their communitiesrefer to a set of normative values and customarylaws that discourage many acts that may harmboth people and their environment. They forbidthe violation of norms, namely sets of ethicalprinciples including “respect for other peopleand nature, justice, morality, harmony, sharingresources and helping one another”.1

Not so long ago, development experts, planners,engineers and extension workers tended toneglect and sometimes even scorn ancestral tra-ditions of small-scale rural communities. Localtraditions were referred to in negative terms,considered as mere superstitions coming from aso-called “primitive past”, and viewed as anobstacle to development. Today, small-scalecommunities are better understood, on the onehand because explanations of Cartesian reduc-tionism have reached their limits due to the dis-coveries of the new physics that lead to a broa-der understanding of life, and on the other handbecause the perturbation of local traditionsrelated to the environment clearly resulted in itsdegradation.

When development experts ignored the ecologi-cal value of the forest, deforestation and sur-rounding grasslands often ended up as deserts.Consequently, drastic loss in biodiversity resul-ted in human suffering because when forests,shrubs and other water retaining plants disap-peared, the most precious natural resource tomaintain life became increasingly scarce.Vegetation also maintains the soil. Whereforests could not replenish the soil, they weredoomed. Hence local populations were compel-led to migrate, often to urban areas where theysought other means of survival and fell intoanother disaster, endless poverty.

Case study 3

1. Besao Ancestral DomainManagement Plan, 2000 - Paperby E. Dictan-Bang-oa, III World

Water Forum, Water andCultural Diversity session.

Forests sustain water: traditional assets for sustainable developmentin the Philippines

Human dignity, transparency, integration, participation,trans-generational solidarity, stewardship,conflict resolution,equity, good governance


BREAKING A VICIOUS CIRCLE

Today, local people living in rural villages areunderstood to be small self-organized societiesmanaging natural resources on a long-termbasis, including watershed conservation.Understanding local people’s knowledge of theirnatural resources is a global concern. UNESCO’sUniversal Declaration on Cultural Diversity is oneof the most important international referencesabout traditional cultures. It emphasizes thatsafeguarding indigenous cultures, and culturaldiversity in general, is an absolute imperativein the context of globalization. This new aware-ness makes it necessary for culture to take itsplace once again at the heart of developmentpolicies. This was also one of the key messagesthat emerged from the Johannesburg WorldSummit on Sustainable Development, inSeptember 2002 and from the 3rd World WaterForum held in Kyoto a few months later, in2003.

The fragility of indigenous cultures is one ofUNESCO’s major preoccupations together withthat of biodiversity. The approval by govern-mental experts of the international conventionfor safeguarding the cultural heritage is a majorstep towards adopting a new legal universalinstrument. Launched in 2002 during theGeneral Conference, the UNESCO Declaration onCultural Diversity sums up the somewhat moreresilient attitude of a new generation of expertsthat has taken place since the ConventionConcerning the Protection of the World Culturaland Natural Heritage was issued in 1972, theyear of the First International Conference onthe Environment organized by the UnitedNations in Stockholm.

The UNESCO Declaration on Cultural Diversityimplements the promise of the human rightsand fundamental freedoms proclaimed in theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948,and other universally recognized legal instru-ments, such as the two International Covenantsof 1966 relating respectively to civil and politi-cal rights and to economic, social and culturalrights. It directly refers to the exercise of cul-tural rights in the international instrumentsenacted by UNESCO. According to the definitiongiven in its Constitution, culture should beregarded as the set of distinctive spiritual,material, intellectual and emotional features ofsociety or a social group; it encompasses, inaddition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways ofliving together, value systems, traditions andbeliefs.

Explicit in the Declaration is the concept thatcultural diversity is as important a factor fordevelopment as biological diversity. Although anumber of traditional institutions have not yeta legal status compared to modern law, theyconvey ethical values that confer benefit forthe conservation of natural resources, includingwater, and should be promoted for sustainableuse. Traditions are an effective means ofconveying to future generations a comprehensivelocal knowledge, although sometimes financial-ly less effective on a short-term basis. Indeed,this knowledge cannot be totally perfect in allits aspects, but it deserves to be analysed in itsown dynamic social, cultural, ecological andeconomic context.

Today, the needs of local traditional communi-ties are a challenge since they include the need

34



to adapt to globalization without losing cultu-ral identity and environmental security. In thefield of education, mother-tongue educationand encouragement for multilingualism helpprovide indigenous communities with qualityeducation. In the field of culture, programmeson endangered languages, inter-religious dialogue– expanded to forms of spirituality, revitalizationof cultural resources, and a culture-specificapproach to combating AIDS – are examples ofpractical actions of major interest to thesepeoples. In the field of water and sanitation,good practices include a combination of themodern utilitarian logic of engineering andquantitative knowledge gathered by watersciences with ethical concern for local spiritualvalues and traditions. So far, traditions can pro-vide industrialized populations with inspiringethical examples, thus opening the way to thenew ideology conveyed by the UN system sinceits inception after the Second World War.Cultural diversity presupposes the existence ofa process of exchanges, open to renewal andinnovation but also committed to tradition,and does not aim at the preservation of a sta-tic set of behaviours, values and expressions –an attitude that too often in the past lead tototalitarianism.

THE PEACEFUL BESAO PEOPLE

The traditional community of the Besao peoplelive on the western side of Mountain Province,in the Cordillera Highland of the Philippinesarchipelago. South-East Asia which accountsfor 25% of the world’s geographic area will behome to 58% of the world population in thenext decade. Demographic growth and the glo-bal changing economies are adding pressureon natural resources in terms of both products

and services. Should poverty be halved by2015, as is claimed by the JohannesburgSummit, income per capita needs to be raisedby 4 to 6% per annum. The challenge is enormous.

Only a small percentage of the iBesao – mea-ning the people of Besao – are gainfullyemployed, mostly by the Government. Theirlivelihood relies highly on the availability oftheir natural resources. Most households maketheir living from wet rice farming, a rotationalcrop. Livestock and other food products (riceand sweet potato) are mainly produced forlocal and domestic consumption – except forsome households that grow cash crops such asbeans, cabbage, carrots, citrus, bell pepperand potatoes which they sell within the muni-cipality or to neighbouring markets, some-times as far as Baguio or La Trinidad (inBenguet). Other activities include manuallabour infrastructure projects paid by theGovernment, retail stores, house constructionand furniture making – getting their supply ofwood from individual pine lot owners. Theyalso depend on remittance from iBesao work-ing in other places.

The Philippines suffer from a rapid loss offorest resources. The projections made by theMaster Plan for Forestry Development forforest products, jointly designed by the AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB) and theDevelopment Academy of the Philippines(Tangaytay City), show an increased need for 7million cubic metres of domestic firewood. Itis now currently admitted that deforestation isnot a sustainable solution: it would end indramatic water scarcity. If deforestationincreases at its current rate more erosion willcause the hydrological deterioration of water-sheds. Water is therefore receiving more atten-

35

FORESTS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT


tion as a valued resource for domestic use andfor food production through irrigation.2

The iBesao’s traditional rules regarding waterare basically analogous to those met in a num-ber of traditional societies throughout theworld, and probably since the dawn of huma-nity when humans directly and very carefullyobserved natural phenomena to survive intheir struggle for life. Water resources owner-ship is communal. Therefore water is valuedas a shared resource.

The rights to access and use of water for irri-gation come with the land ownership, butthey give priority to the use of water that can-not be diverted or stopped. Depletion of waterduring summer is counteracted by a dumapat,a water-council where each family is represen-ted by one of its members. The water-councilis responsible for supervising the equitabledistribution of water to the fields through thebanbanes, a system based on taking turns. Thedumapat is also responsible for controllingwater purity. This is achieved by manual tillingof fields on watersheds to prevent organic lea-ching caused by ploughing and by variousmeasures including the prohibition of grazingand butchering animals near or above watersources. Spitting and using soap near watersources are also prohibited.

Are traditional rules relating to water threate-ned in the Philippines? The example of a longdispute in the National Park of Mount Isarog(MINP), in the Camarines Sur Province ofLuzon Island, is an interesting example ofconflict resolution between indigenous nor-mative values and modern law.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION BETWEEN PASTNORMS AND PRESENT LAWS

Indigenous people represent about 20 per centof the archipelago’s total population. Acondescending attitude illustrated by aSupreme Court decision issued by theProvincial Board of Mindoro in 1919 describedthem as “of a low grade of civilization”. Theirdispossession and displacement came to anend when, in July 1997, the PhilippinesCongress enacted legislation “to recognize,protect and promote the rights of IndigenousCultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples(ICC/IP)”. The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act(RA 8371) gives provisions to guarantee socialjustice and human rights, to recognize andprotect cultural integrity, including “the inhe-rent right of ICCs/IPs to self-governance andself-determination”. It also contains provisionsabout ancestral lands, defined as all areasgenerally belonging to ICCs/IPs held under aclaim of ownership, occupied or possessed byICCs/IPs, communally or individually sincetime immemorial, and which are necessary toensure their economic, social and cultural wel-fare. The ownership includes “lands which mayno longer be exclusively occupied by ICCs/IPsbut from which they traditionally had access to[sic] for their subsistence and traditional acti-vities, particularly the home ranges of ICCs/IPswho are still nomadic and/or shifting cultiva-tors”. Although it also explicitly mentions“minerals and other natural resources” withinancestral domains, water is not specificallymentioned. Why do minerals take precedencewhen water is essential for life?

The recognition of the rights of indigenouscommunities was not new in the Philippines.

UNESCO Biosphere Reserve,Palawan, Philippines.

© UNESCO / F. Bequette

2. Ecotourism and biodiversityvalues are also increasinglyconsidered as forest products.

36



Their rights (“within the framework of nationalunity and development”), including “the rights ofindigenous cultural communities to their ances-tral lands”, were acknowledged in the 1986Constitution, and in the Ancestral Domain Bill in1991. In the Philippines, it was accepted thatthe right to lands includes the right to water.The Department of Environment and NaturalResources (DENR) had responsibility for takingthe “preparatory steps toward the recognition ofancestral domains”, namely to provide the indi-genous communities with certificates of ances-tral domain claims (CADCs). By 1997, 117 CADCscovered about 49,400 beneficiaries and 1.6million hectares. By June 1998 the area hadrisen to 2.5 million hectares.

SHARING PERCEPTIONS

In the Philippines, the dual status of indigenouspeoples’ territories as ancestral domains andprotected areas has spawned conflicts betweenthe Lumad (indigenous people) and governmentbodies responsible for managing these areas. InNovember 2001, indigenous people and theDepartment of Environment and NaturalResources (DENR) participated in a nationalconference on protected areas (in Davao City).They shared their perceptions about theseconflicts. Both parties agreed that the overlap-ping laws affecting the indigenous or Lumadterritories was a major cause. The Lumad alsoclaimed that consultations were conductedhaphazardly, or even not done before their ter-ritories were declared protected areas. DENRofficials denied the allegations and said theLumad had their own representatives inProtected Area Management Boards (PAMB). TheLumad invoked the Indigenous Peoples Rightsto support their claims on ancestral domains –

including both land and water, stressing thattheir Council of Elders or some similar customarystructures of governance should prevail. DENRofficials answered that the jurisdiction overthese areas was based on the NationalIntegrated Protected Areas (NIPA) System Act,and that Lumad lose their right to extractresources since the area was ruled by theProtected Area Management Board (PAMB). Thismulti-sectoral policy-making body decides on allmatters relating to planning and resource pro-tection of the National Park through a five-yearintegrated conservation and development pro-ject designed to protect the biodiversity of theNational Park and based on information, educa-tion and communication, capacity developmentin environment, forest rehabilitation, biodiver-sity monitoring and land tenure.

Yet this national conference opened a new per-spective. An officer of the Legal Rights andNatural Resource Centre stated that in the caseof ancestral domains declared as protectedareas, the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA)superseded the National Integrated ProtectedAreas (NIPA) law because it was more recent.IPRA was enacted in 1997 whereas the NIPA lawin 1992. He also argued that IPRA is a specificlaw compared to NIPA, which recognizes ingeneral terms the rights of the Lumad in protec-ted areas (Section 13). Knowing that no law isever perfect, this officer very wisely pointed outthat “while it is ideal to resolve these conflictsthrough the courts, it is more viable to formulatelocal solutions based on specific conditions”.3

This example of a conflict between on the onehand a modern State’s law customs, and on theother one traditions, customs and testimony ofelders was solved, at least partly, through goodgovernance.

3. CyberDyaryo :http://www.codewan.com.ph/

CyberDyaryo

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http://www.codewan.com.ph

GOOD GOVERNANCE

A study made by the Asian Development Bankshows that the provision of the Certificate ofAncestral Domain Claim (CADC) Programme inthe Cordillera created a strong basis for theobservance of iBesao traditional governanceand traditional customs. It stimulated theirsocial development while it protected their cul-tural integrity.

Formal authority was attributed to elected localgovernment officials who were perceived asfacilitators and coordinators of activities rela-ted to national interests. Informal leadershipremained entrusted to the community elders –the lallakay or amam-a – whose vast experience,wisdom, integrity and willingness to serveothers and their traditional social organiza-tions, such as the dap-ay. Some elders run foroffice and run as elected officials to assume thelallakay leadership functions, and others aremore or less relegated to cultural functions.

Still existing in many communities, the dap-ayis the political, social and cultural core of thebarangay. In the old times, it maintained unityand cooperation: men used to discuss impor-tant community matters in this place where theelderly performed the rituals, assisted by theyounger generation, and lallakay settled dispu-tes about water and other problems betweenthe community members. Some were abando-ned or only used to conduct rituals until theCADC was introduced and renewed culturalawareness. The CADC programme considers therevival of traditional practices to be a way tofoster adaptive development for indigenous people.

Indigenous people’s lack of modern technicalskills including those to gather the necessary

information, to process information and analysethe data and to make it operational raisedsome concerns. But, as pointed out by theAsian Development Bank, the iBesao possess“a very unique and sophisticated resourcemanagement system that is rooted in their deepawareness of their forefathers’ efforts, and therespect and profound devotion to what is spiri-tually and morally just”.4 Most batangans, orthe forests, are identified as sacred becausethey are the dwelling place of gods or spirits.

The Lumad consider the batangan as their sourceof both water and wood. The ownership andaccess depends on whether the lot belongs to:• the municipality (one or several barangay)• a clan or kinship• an individual.The owners of the forest lots are those whogenerally determine who has access to thewater and the trees and how they are used.Cutting trees in somebody else’s lot withoutpermission is illegal and socially unaccepta-ble. The forests – and the water they sustain –are maintained through the belief that theyare sacred places.

This traditional stewardship is neverthelessendangered by mining works, and final deci-sions on the issue are centrally based. Asstressed in the Proceedings of the FinalConsultative Workshop organized by the AsianDevelopment Bank, the “voluntary, prior infor-med consent” required only comes in areasformally considered as ancestral domains.

Yet, according to the Asian Development Bank,it is now recognized that “It is vital that indi-genous culture be well understood as it couldinherently provide for contextually relevantsocial development and governance mecha-

4. ASIAN DEVELOPMENTBANK, Proceedings:Final Consultative Workshop,Philippine Country CaseStudy on Forest Policy andInstitutional Reforms: 34.

38



nisms. This also implies that policies and insti-tutions which would involve indigenous peopleshould adapt to their culture and not the otherway around”. Differing concepts of develop-ment between traditional leaders and the elec-ted ones have highlighted policy gaps andcontributed to proposed action for other sus-tainable water projects:• Science-based policy dialogues among keygovernment officers, NGOs and private stake-holders.• In full partnership with local and indige-nous communities, recognition of the valueof indigenous knowledge systems and full useof them.• Wide public dissemination of consensuspoints.• Formal recognition of culturally relevantforestry and water management practices ofindigenous communities as valid and legal.• Strengthened consideration of alternativelivelihood.• Comprehensive assessment of the multi-dimensional nature of poverty.• Promotion of gender equality.• Targeting of usually unrepresented vulnera-ble groups such as indigenous peoples and“listening to the voices of the poor”.• Conduct of focused studies in selectedwatersheds on the environment-povertynexus; incorporating results in guidelines forproject/programme design and development ofmonitoring systems.• Fit procedures for indigenous communities,and requirements to traditional practices andcultural imperatives.• Development of locally appropriate, compre-hensive and multi-sectoral water and forestprotection programmes.• Network government agencies, academics,private sector and NGOs for information sharing.

• Decentralized approvals and contractssigned at more administratively permanentlocal levels.• Integration of good governance supportcomponents in projects and programmes:local leadership training, promotion oftransparency, and of consultative decision-making processes.• Combating graft and corruption.

Finally, experience clearly shows that withoutinformation, education and communicationprogrammes directed at policy and decision-makers as well as the general public, the deepunderstanding that builds political will forurgent policy and institutional reforms cannotbe achieved.

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41

Case study 4

Women acting locally in the Andes

Self-sufficiency,gender equity, rights to water and health, political will, inclusiveness, common good, women’s empowerment, respect for cultural diversity,effective clean low-cost technologies,universal access to information

As water is essential for life, it is one of themost critical issues of sustainable develop-ment and good practice, providing a clearillustration of the interrelationship betweenpeople, resources and development. Our pla-net’s water resources are limited whereashumanity’s needs for safe drinking water andsanitation are constantly on the increase.Public health is a concern not only for thosein the medical profession but also for hydrolo-gists and all activities dependent on the watersupply – including food production. In manycountries, women traditionally take a crucialpart in basic agricultural production. Too oftenirrigation projects do not take into accountthe contribution of women. To help womenalleviate their daily workload at home and inthe fields, a number of non-governmentalorganizations have focused on the design ofeffective low-cost technologies for wells,pumps and water treatment that can raisewomen’s self-sufficiency and thus strengthengender equity.

STRONG-MINDED WOMEN AT WORK

In the Andean highlands, ancient and modernconquerors denied the indigenous populationa role in the management of springs andrivers. Water became a source of conflict:local water management by indigenous com-munities was neglected or suppressed bynational policies and legislation. Often, Indianpeasants have fought to organize and managethe irrigation system according to their owntraditional rules.

The town of Licto (about 15,000 people) islocated in the centre of Ecuador, nearRiobamba (a population of 100,000 that


makes it the second city of Ecuador), at about200 km from Quito and near the volcanoChimborazo (6310m). Some 28 indigenousrural communities live in this area whichendures extreme cold at night and heat duringthe day, and suffers from soil erosion at analtitude of 2700 to 3600 m. The land holdingsare extremely scattered and often reduced to1-3 hectares. The poor quality of the landadded to the lack of water combined withdemographic pressures accelerates the degra-dation of natural resources. Women are usuallyproducing food crops both to feed their house-holds and for local markets. Men migrate tothe cities in the hope of earning a wage,hoping to improve their families’ standard ofliving.

Until the beginning of the 1990s, most womenand especially widows ranked among the poorest,facing great difficulties in gaining recognitionof their rights to water, and were often mis-treated by the somewhat feudal agriculturalsystem run by the blancomestizos (10% of thewhole population).

The local union of blancomestizos farmers1

invited the indigenous community to partici-pate in a vast irrigation project in 1989. Theproject did not raise much enthusiasm, a simi-lar project of rice irrigation designed by theNational Ecuadorian Institute of HydrologicalResources (INERHI) having brought more dis-illusion than tangible success.

The project was designed on the basis of aerialphotos and hydro-geological expertise only, ina top-down manner by the INERHI experts inthe offices of Quito. It was ambitious, but itexcluded the indigenous community from deci-sion-making. It aimed at extending an already

existing channel to cover an area of 1340 haflowing at 1100 l/s, which required a criss-crossed network of secondary channels as wellas some siphons and tunnels through themountain. The intention was to irrigate thefields by night and day. The project did nottake into account the complexity of the waterdistribution for sometimes more than 300holdings.

An indigenous group mainly composed ofsome strong-minded women decided to seizethe opportunity to change the system, and tochallenge the existing power structures. Atfirst, the blancomestizos farmers refused tocooperate with them. Women insisted on theirrights. An agreement was finally signed bet-ween INERHI, CODOCAL, COSUDE (the SwissAgency for Development and Cooperation) andthe non-governmental organization CESA(Central Ecuatoriana de Servicios Agrícolas) toform the Inter-institutional Committee ofLicto (COIL) responsible of the coordination ofthe project. INERHI would complete the buil-ding of the main infrastructure, and CESA andCODOCAL would be responsible for a compre-hensive project of rural development, whichincluded reafforestation, agriculture, soilconservation, and a special programme“women and health”.

Yet, the water allocation resulting from thenew project raised a number of problems: thepeasants living in the sierra could not affordto pay for the water at prices fixed at nationallevel that favoured the blancomestizos who, asthe women asserted, “did not get their handsdirty in the fields”. The peasants felt that thewater belonged to those actually producingthe food. The women were also highly reluc-tant to maintain the fields’ irrigation system

1. The Corporación deOrganizaciones Campesinasde Licto (CODOCAL).

42



at night. Rather, they wanted to have reser-voirs at their disposal. After long discussions,the women presented a document to INERHI,whose representatives claimed it to be ‘illegal’.A review of the project and its potentialconsequences failed to stimulate new discus-sions. Most women were illiterate: topographicmaps and figures did not appeal to theirunderstanding nor to their imagination.Besides, the whole project was not presentedin Quechua.2

Suddenly, the highest representative of thenational water agency took the matter inhand, analysed the situation, and concludedthat this impasse would lead to a new disas-ter, both social and technical. He supportedthe technical change proposed by the indige-nous community in March 1994, and agreedthat the irrigated surface be enlarged to 1700ha in order to include the ‘forgotten areas’.Although the national water agency was not ina position to change the law, the peasantswho actually used and managed the water tocultivate the fields, accomplishing self-imposed tasks at communal and inter-commu-nal levels, were now entitled to use not onlythe available water and infrastructure, butalso to participate in decision-making relatingto the management of the irrigation system.

In December 1996, however, about 1200 pea-sants from the 16 communities benefitingfrom the Irrigation and Rural DevelopmentProject of Licto joined a demonstration inQuito. The peasant families persuaded theMinistry of Finance to authorize the fundsnecessary to finalize the irrigation works andthey were able to return home with the neces-sary papers signed. Exactly one year later,water flowed in the area of Licto: irrigation

was adapted both to the local environmentand to traditional water rules. This fight forwater probably changed the national politicalscene. The indigenous population’s fundamen-tal rights began to receive improved recogni-tion in Ecuador from the early 1990s.

An Indian woman, Iñès Chapi, was so active insupporting the creation of the users’ irrigationcommittee in Licto that she was elected to itsboard. She challenged some misconceptionsabout indigenous communities, and demons-trated that a locally adapted system couldhighlight the common interests of formerlydistinct social groups. The indigenous initiativeto create an Irrigation Committee meant buil-ding a new relationship between users andowners,3 and developing a respect for cultu-ral diversity.

FROM ISOLATION TO SOLARIZATION

Wind and solar energy can help where water isinsufficient. Sun is a source of unlimited,clean energy for everybody. Solar equipment iswell adapted to rural and isolated areas whereit gives the possibility of creating employ-ment opportunities.

Access to water is frequently a problem indeveloping areas, whether in high mountai-nous regions or in coastal zones and smallislands, especially for women who are almostalways those responsible for the daily collec-ting of water. Wind energy, and solar desalina-tion can improve the living conditions in aridareas. Solar desalination is reliable and neednot be too sophisticated or too expensive. Onesuch system was developed by the TechnicalUniversity of Berlin as early as the late 1970s.

2. Quecha is an indigenouslanguage of the Andean region,spoken today by approximately13 million people in Agentina,

Bolivia, Northern Chile,Southern Colombia, Ecuadorand Peru. It was the official

language of Twantinsuyu, theInca Empire.

3. For more information:[email protected]

43



mailto:[email protected]

Salt or brackish water is put into black cove-red basins which are then heated by solarradiation, causing evaporation. The ensuingcondensation is collected from the inner sideof a glass or plastic roof.

Another problem that can be solved by usingsolar energy is sanitation. UNICEF WATER-FRONT popularized what has been called theVIP pit latrines in early 1982. The concept wasdeveloped by Peter R. Morgan of the BlairInstitute in Harare, Zimbabwe, and D. DuncanMara, Professor of Civil Engineering, Universityof Leeds, United Kingdom. The VIP designa-tion does not refer to visiting officials, butstands for Ventilated Improved Pit latrines.The VIP latrine is a vent pipe built on thesunny side of the latrine and covered by ascreen on the top. For odour control, the sunheats air inside the vent pipe causing strongair circulation. The odours in the pit are drawnup through the vent pipe, leaving the super-structure odour-free. The effect is strengthe-ned by wind passing across the top of the ventpipe. Flies and mosquitoes are attracted to thetop of the vent pipe but the screen preventsthem entering (and the flies laying eggs). Ifthey do succeed in entering they are drawn upto the light and emerge from the pit. Bothflies and mosquitoes are deadly scourges: fliesare the vector of onchocerciasis,4 trypanoso-miasis (the sleeping disease),5 and mosquitoesare the vectors of malaria,6 dengue,7 and filaria-sis.8

Diarrhoeal disease, the cause of death of atleast 2 million children under the age of three,is spread by unsafe water. Using the sunlightto improve the quality of drinking water athome is easily feasible. Solar radiation in thenear ultraviolet range (300-400 nm) inactiva-

tes harmful micro-organisms.9 Transparentplastic or glass bottles filled with contamina-ted but clear water are put on corrugated ironroofs. Exposure to the sun for 6 hours/day, orfor 1 hour when a 50°C temperature is rea-ched, is sufficient to destroy coliforms causingdiarrhoea.10

CLEAN WATER FOR DOMESTIC USE

The collection of water can take up to 60% ofwomen's and girls' time in certain communi-ties. It is one of the reasons why young girlsare forced to abandon school, and preventstheir participation in formal education pro-grammes. The carrying of water over long dis-tances is a health hazard especially duringchildhood and during pregnancy. Contaminatedwater is another major health risk in develo-ping countries and because of their frequentcontact with it women are the most at risk.Access to a supply of good quality water at anaffordable cost is a basic need for all, and isintrinsically linked to the rights to water,health and education. When talking aboutethical and moral values relating to water andhuman life the role of women is of the utmostimportance. Not only are women almostalways those responsible for the daily collec-ting of water, they are also those who decideon how it is to be used within the household.

Collecting water in tanks is not new, but tanksmade of ferro-cement are too expensive forpoor communities. The idea of water-basketsoriginated from Thailand where UNICEF disco-vered rural women carrying water in basketscovered inside with an impermeable layer oftree resin. The concept was developed to meetthe needs of Kenyan households, where long-

4. Onchocerciasis, the second lea-ding cause of blindness worlwide,affecting over 18 million people,is endemic in more than 25nations located in a broad bandacross the central part of Africa.Small endemic foci are also pre-sent in the Arabian Peninsula(Yemen) and in the Americas(Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador,Guatemala, southern Mexico andVenezuela).

5. More than 66 million people in36 countriesof sub-Saharan Africasuffer from trypanosomiasis.

6. Malaria occurs in over 100countries and territories. Morethan 40% of the people in theworld are at risk. Large areas ofCentral and South America, Haitiand the Dominican Republic,Africa, the Indian subcontinent,South-East Asia, the Middle Eastand Oceania are considered mal-aria-risk areas.The World Health Organizationestimates that yearly 300-500million cases of malaria occur andmore than 1 million people die ofmalaria. Africa’s GDP would beup to $100 billion greater if mal-aria had been eliminated years ago.

7. Dengue and dengue hemorrha-gic fever (DHF) are the mostimportant mosquito-borne viraldiseases affecting humans.Dengue global distribution iscomparable to that of malaria,and about 2,5 billion people(1997) live in areas at risk for epi-demic transmission. The case-fatality rate of DHF in most coun-tries is about 5%. Most fatalcases are among children andyoung adults.

44



term water storage is required. The traditionalgranary basket is plastered inside and out,with a 2:1 sand/cement mixture. In Kenya, thebasket frame is made of sticks from a woodyshrub which grows throughout the country. Itcan also be made from bamboo, as in Rwandaand Burundi. The basket shape is not asimportant as the fact that the bottom must beomitted so that the sides can be bound with abase made of concrete or of layers made of anaturally-found mixture of sands and pebbles,through which the pipe delivers the filteredwater.11 But this adaptation of a traditionalgrain basket made waterproof by the additionof mortar is susceptible to rotting and termiteattack. Hence the design can only be used fora short period of time and in case of emergency.

Clay water filters are well known throughoutthe world for removing turbidity, but they donot eliminate bacteria. A new filter treatedwith colloidal silver (CCS or Ceramic ColloidalSilver) is relatively inexpensive. Evaluations,including a USAID funded test, show that itremoves turbidity and 98% to 100% of thebacteria causing diarrhoea, cholera and otherwater-borne diseases. Its maintenanceconsists of cleaning it with a brush and chan-ging the filter element (US $2) every one totwo years. Filled up twice a day, the filter pro-duces enough drinking water for a family ofsix. Its commercial production is already deve-loping in Guatemala and Nicaragua, and isstarting in other countries.12

Treadle, rope, horse and wind powered pumpsnot only facilitate women farmers’ lives inalleviating their irrigating tasks but also redu-ce the distance to access water. Their produc-tion, marketing and maintenance at local levelcan also help women in creating private enter-

prises and thus provide a new source of inco-me that ensures gender equity, respect forwomen’s rights and their self-esteem.

Treadle pumps for small-scale irrigation fromwells down to 1-7 metres are already producedby 300 local workshops and used by more than1 million poor rural families in Bangladeshwho could not afford a motor pump. The tread-le pump requires only a US $20 investmentand generates US $100 a year. Coined the‘Moneymaker pump’ in Kenya, the device isnow adopted throughout East Africa.13

Rope pumps for wells 50 metres deep are usedby more than 5,000 families in Nicaraguawhere a survey (2002) indicated that familiesowning one, earned US $220 more than thosewithout a pump. More than 20 local workshopsare currently producing rope pumps in CentralAmerica. It is known as the ‘Elephant pump’ inZimbabwe, where over 98% stay working afterinstallation.14

Horse-powered pumps can lift 60-120 litresper minute from a well 20 metres deep. Horsesare commonly used to power rope pumps inNicaragua in combination with wind powerderived from a locally manufactured windpump designed in Holland. The investment canbe recovered within one to two years.15

Water access is also a problem among peoplesuddenly obliged to adapt to the harsh condi-tions of a refugee camp, where the emergencysituation does not allow any other choice thanto undertake ‘water-harvesting’ and to rely onmaking one’s own tools for survival. Womencan be considered as victims not only becauseof the direct impact of environmental degra-dation, but also because of their economic

45

8. Originally found in Africa, itwas brought to Central Ameriaat the time of the slave trade.

Some 120 million people inabout 80 countries are infected

with lymphatic filarial parasites,and it is estimated that 1 billionare at risk of acquiring infection.

9. Acra, A. et al. “Desinfectionof Oral Rehydration Solutions

by Sunlight”, The Lancet, 6December 1980.

10. The method is currentlyknown as SODIS (Solar Water

Desinfection): see www.sodis.chand the Nether lands Water

Partnership: www.nwp.nl IRCprovides advice, research and

training on low-cost water sup-ply and sanitation in developing

countries: www.irc.nl ThePRACTICA Foundation facilita-tes exchange and the develop-

ment of low-cost water techno-logies: www. practicafounda-tion.nl AGROMISA provides

information on small-scale andsustainable agriculture in the

tropics: www.agromisa.org

11. UNICEF, Eastern AfricaRegional Office, P.O.Box

44145, Nairobi, Kenya.

12. For more information:www.who.int; www.potpaz.org

13. For more information:www.ideorg.org;www.aprotec.org

14. For more information onevaluation: www.irc.org; on

Zimbabwe: www.pumpaid.org;on Nicaragua:

www.ropepump.com

15. For more information:www.ropepump.com



http://www.sodis.ch

http://www.nwp.nl

http://www.irc.nl

http://www.practicafounda-tion.nl



http://www.agromisa.org

http://www.who.int

http://www.potpaz.org

http://www.ideorg.org

http://www.aprotec.org

http://www.irc.org

http://www.pumpaid.org

http://www.ropepump.com

http://www.ropepump.com

status. The 1991 Human Development Report(UNDP) recognizes the ‘gender bias’ in poverty:women form the larger proportion of the world’spoor and they make up the greater number ofrefugees in the world, it being estimated that80 per cent of refugees are women and child-ren. Architect Yona Friedman, born in 1923,was one of the first to suggest that architec-ture be conceived by users. A consultant atUNESCO and other UN agencies, he was alsoone of the experts who prepared the UNConference on Habitat, Vancouver, Canada,1976. Very active in the communication ofscientific knowledge at grass-roots level, hedesigned what he called water-traps for peopleliving in harsh conditions, such as nomads andrefugees to whom water scarcity is a dramaticproblem and drip irrigation can be an advan-tageous solution. He presented them as sket-ches to be used for wall-journals, the leastexpensive medium for making informationaccessible to all 24 hours a day and for sti-mulating discussion.

46


Irrigation in Chad.

© UNESCO / Ledru and Martel

© Drawing by Yona Friedman


47

Case study 5

1. NEWELL, B. & WASSON, R.“Social System vs Solar System:

Why Policy Makers NeedHistory”, Conflict and

Co-operation related toInternational Water Resources:

Historical Perspectives,Technical Documents in

Hydrology, IHP-VI, No 62,Paris, UNESCO, 2001.

Transnational management and bioregions for conflict resolution

Common good,democratic dialogue,inclusiveness,transparency,confidence,shared values,solidarity,human development,equity,access to information,respect for cultural diversity,regional stewardship,environmental justice

During the last century, our understanding ofthe nature of reality has evolved from a fixedworld made of separate phenomena, and alinear vision of evolution, to that of a cons-tant and dynamic co-evolution of interactingsystems. Barry Newell and Robert Wasson,from the Australian National University,explain: “Causality through feedback loops iscircular: a change in A causes a change in B;then the change in B causes a change in C;then the change in C causes further change inA – and so on around the loop. Such circularity,while dominant in the world, is often hard tosee (particularly if there are delays in theloops) and so it is not well represented in oureveryday thinking”.1

The static view inherited from the EuropeanRenaissance justified States’ frontiers suppo-sedly fixed once and for all. Today our percep-tion of reality is far more complex: we knowthat all ecosystems, including humanity andnation states, are interdependent, and thatinterdependency also means mutual cons-traints. This new perception is transformingnational water policies to support society’sadaptative process to new climatic conditions,and to resolve conflict when disputes occurbetween riparian States about water.


TRANSNATIONAL MANAGEMENT OF FRESH WATER

The distribution of water between States thatshare rivers has resulted in many warsthroughout history. It is still a crucial ques-tion, especially when considering the globalchange that is taking place. Since Antiquity,water has been an important political factor inthe Middle East, the driest region on Earth.Most water resources are internationally sha-red rivers, and access to water means survival.Yet, as Joseph Dellapenna2 argues, “water issimply too critical a resource to fight over, anda river basin, including both its surface andunderground waters, hydrologically forms asingle unit best managed without regard tointernational borders”.3 Water resources sharedby several countries are usually managedthrough international law. Today, our bio-sphere and the planet’s water resources mustbe considered as a whole if humanity is tomeet the challenge posed by increasing waterscarcity and the climatic change.

The United Nations Convention on the Law ofNon-Navigational Use of International Water-courses stresses the obligation to respect an“equitable utilization” of the water resources(article 5), and subordinate to it, to use “duediligence” to avoid causing “significant harm”to another riparian State (article 7). TheUnited Nations has no executive power to actupon States’ decisions. This is sometimesregretted because it apparently slows downconflict resolution. But its constitution refersto the respect of national sovereignty. The UNis a stage where governments of all nations,rich and poor, are actors. The UN system’s vir-tue is to allow Member States to express their

views at countless meetings of apparentlyinterminable length. Indeed, law can stimu-late dialogue but it never replaces it. Dialogueis easier and traditionally used in small com-munities, as is the case of the ancient Tribunalde las Aguas in Valencia, Spain.4 But today, inour “global village”, the international demo-cratic dialogue allows UN Member States toshare their concepts and experience, and thusmoderate and even modify their views for thesake of common good. It allows careful andconscious examination of best practice thatcan later result in environmental equity,social justice and conflict resolution, espe-cially in the case of conflict related to inter-national water resources.

Several hundred treaties on internationallyshared water are currently in force, extendingfrom simple promises to consult before chan-ging a water source, to others not to intervenein water uses in the other State, nor toattempt to partition the water for their bene-fit, others to cooperative management, andfinally to integrated management.

Management of water in Africa is a complexproblem. Traditional collective ownership ofwater – held in oral tradition and not in writ-ten documents, the influence of religiousauthority, the decline of traditional manage-ment, all interfere with the thorny problemsof interstate relations resulting from bounda-ries inherited from colonialism.

The Nile (the longest river on Earth at 6,875km) and its tributaries flow across ten coun-tries.5 It is a classical example of the promiseand difficulties of transnational governanceof fresh water. The Blue Nile, the major sour-ce for the river flow (75-90%), originates

2. Professor of Law,Villanova University School ofLaw, USA.

3. DELLAPENNA, J.“The Nile as a Legaland Political Structure”,Conflict and Co-operationrelated to InternationalWater Resources:Historical Perspectives,Technical Documents inHydrology, IHP-VI, No 62,Paris, UNESCO, 2001.

4. The tradition is maintained,although it is no longer suffi-cient to face the complexy ofmodern irrigation works. EachThursday, on the stroke of twel-ve, 8 men wearing the farmers’typical black blouse, gather andsolemnly sit in a circle on state-ly wooden chairs in front of theCathedral. Each of these 8 sin-dicos represents one of the 8channels of river Tuuria, whichfor about 2000 years irrigatedthe 17,000ha of the famousHuerta (garden) Valenciana.Invested with the supremeauthority for the water sharing,they represent the conscious-ness of self-responsability in tisancient peasant community.

5. Rwanda, Burundi,Democratic Republic of Congo,Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda,Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Egypt.

48



from Lake Tana in Ethiopia and flows toSudan and Egypt. The White Nile flows fromCentral Africa. Egypt is the main consumer ofthe Nile waters since Antiquity, with about75% of the total flow. The annual Nile floodsirrigated Egypt until the mid-nineteenthcentury, when the first low-level dams wereconstructed, followed by modern hydraulicworks, which culminated with the AswanHigh Dam inaugurated in 1971.

The Nile Treaty was ratified in 1959, sevenyears after Egypt was proclaimed a Republic.It included both Egypt and Sudan’s consentsto new dams in each country. Twenty-fiveyears later, Egypt needed more water for itsgrowing population and Sudan increasinglyresented not being able to use the Nile flowfor its fields. Political turmoil preventedEthiopia, and to a lesser extent Eritrea,undertaking water development projects.Ethiopian development of hydropower facili-ties along the Blue Nile would not affectSudan and Egypt, but irrigation extractionfrom its water might absorb as much as about40%.

Egypt and Sudan claimed that Ethiopiashould not undertake works without theirconsent, referring to the agreement passedbetween Great Britain and Ethiopia in 1902.On the one hand, Ethiopia had renouncedthis agreement in the 1950s, invoking intheir support the fact that Egypt and Sudanhad denounced colonial-era treaties whenthey were not in these countries’ interest,and on the other hand, it also protested atnot being included in the Nile Treaty. Asrequired by its article 5, Egypt and Sudanshould have presented a united front toEthiopia, ranked last of all nations in terms

of national wealth per capita, according tothe World Bank (1995). Rather, Egypt andSudan undertook separate negotiations withEthiopia, despite their commitment to pre-sent a united front about the Nile waterspledge in the Nile Treaty. Egypt and Sudaninvoked the “no harm” rule expressed in the1991 version of the Draft Articles on the Lawof Non-Navigational Use of InternationalWatercourses (article 7).

Finally, Egypt, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania,Uganda and Zaire (six of the Nile ten ripariancountries) signed an agreement to create aTechnical Cooperation Committee for thePromotion of Development and EnvironmentalProtection of the Nile (TECCONILE), and anAction Plan for the Nile River Basin was pre-pared in 1994. Both highlighted that theshared need for best management of watershould be a source of regional unity and well-being rather than discord between the Statesof the Nile Basin, covering an area of 3million km2 (1/10 of the African continent).

TECCONILE aims at stimulating these countriesto manage their increasing water shortagesthrough a legal and institutional framework. Itis designed to promote: • integrated water resources planning andmanagement (including assessment and ana-lysis of water resources availability anddemands, national water development andmanagement plans, assessment of the impactof potential climatic changes, updating thewater balance of Lake Victoria and manage-ment of wetlands); • capacity building and human resourcesdevelopment (to improve water resourcesmanagement methods and procedures, streng-then related agencies and national and regio-

The Nile near Philae, Egypt.


49

TRANSNATIONAL MANAGEMENT AND BIOREGIONS


nal institutions for water quality and environ-mental protection, establish a basin-wide database and to assess the needs and prepare atraining programme); • regional cooperation (to develop a legaland institutional framework acceptable to allbasin countries); • environmental stewardship (control of landdeterioration, of siltation, pollution andeutrophication in equatorial lakes and theWhite Nile, and environmental protection formajor lake subregions, including a diagnosticof the Nile Basin sponsored by UNEP.

Finally, the ten countries joined together toprepare the Nile River Basin Action Plan(NRBAP) within the framework of TECCONILEin 1995, with technical and financial supportof the Canadian International DevelopmentAgency (CIDA), including 22 technical assis-tance projects.6 One of the projects has as itsobjective the development of a cooperativeframework for the Nile management aimed atproducing a legal agreement between the ripa-rian States to their mutual benefit.Implemented with UNDP funding, it is the firstprogramme including all its riparian countries,except Eritrea. Since 1997, the World Bankconducts and coordinates donor support. WithUNDP and CIDA, it also facilitates dialogueand cooperation among the riparian popula-tion in order to create a climate of confiden-ce. Cooperation between individuals as well asbetween nations is based on confidence.Drawn to a common goal, the concernedStates agreed on an overall process, the NileBasin Initiative (NBI).

THE PROMISE OF GOOD PRACTICE

Following extensive consultations, the idea ofa Shared Vision was adopted in February 1999,and the NBI process was officially launched inSeptember 1999. The riparian populations’inclusiveness in the development of the NileBasin Initiative is so crucial that a SharedVision called for developing an actual, metho-dical discourse that would involve all stake-holders. At local level, the NBI should impro-ve in a sustainable manner the well-being ofconcerned communities. At global level, itwould also impact on one of the world’s mainwater resources, thus interacting with otherglobal ecosystems, and influencing the econo-my and political issues of the whole region.The ensuing ripples would ultimately impacton the rest of the world.

Establishing an organized discourse involvingcivil society at the very early stage of a deve-lopment project is a sound innovation ininternational development processes. Afterdiscussion to clarify what best method shouldbe adopted, it was decided to organize a spe-cial workshop and to invite a sample group ofthe concerned communities: representatives oforganizations (NGOs, academics, internationalnetwork organizations, UN agencies, bilateralagencies) involved in development, povertyalleviation, environmental security, conflictresolution, coming from local, national, regio-nal and international levels.

Titled Finding a Platform for Engagement, theworkshop was co-hosted by the WorldConservation Union (IUCN), the World WideFund for Nature (WWF), the World Bank, spon-sored by the Rockefeller Foundation, and held6. CIDA’s support amounts to

US $ 100 million.

50



at IUCN Headquarters in Switzerland, inJanuary 2001. At first, the organizers themsel-ves recognized that they had not a clear initialidea of how the discourse would be organized.The key concept was that it should reflect thefree expression of the civil society’s true feel-ings, needs and proactive will. The workshopwas intended to be a ‘brainstorming meeting’.

A draft agenda was mailed with the invitationtwo months before the workshop was held,with a request for comments and suggestions(none was received). The workshop objectiveswere to share all information available, todevelop the idea of a Civil Society Discourseabout NBI, and not the least in the context ofsome thorny relationships among riparians, tostimulate sound communication among parti-cipants with a number of various interests.Three elements were to be balanced:• Sharing: all participants would have anopportunity to explain their concerns and aimsin developing the Nile Basin.• Agreement: the workshop should ensure theywould understand and freely agree on the pro-cess.• Conviviality: it should provide sufficienttime to discuss and develop the discourse onNBI in a friendly and open atmosphere in orderto create a wider community awarenessthrough mutual respect.

Underlying the workshop and in some wayssimilar to a group therapy, the process washealing tensions in order to allay suspicionand build partnerships between local andnational communities, and official experts.The participants agreed that the workshop’sinformal style should also guarantee that itwas a safe place to express freely their ideasand concerns. The organizers made clear that

the meeting aimed at engaging in the dis-course itself, the NBI development issuesbeing discussed at a later stage. It was agreedthat no record of individual statement wouldbe noted in the proceedings that would be cir-culated for comments before publication.

Before examining the structure, function andcosts of the NBI, the organizers explained thatthe Discourse could work as a twin process,external and independent of the NBI underta-ken by the riparian governmental bodies, butcentral to the NBI process and expressing thevoice of civil society as a whole, the Nilerafiki or Nile community. The Discourse wasneeded to:• Go beyond differences that once dividedpeople, and explore the mutual benefits of aBasin shared cooperation.• Identify from this early stage the strategicalliances aimed at promoting social equityand mobilize stakeholders.• Move from reactive attitudes to plans alreadymade to proactive conceptualization of deve-lopment alternatives.• Favour mutual understanding and respectby ‘seeing through the eyes of others’, espe-cially regarding various national perspectives.• Ensure respect for cultural values of thepopulations living in the Basin, and that itsdevelopment be multifaceted in order to add-ress such crucial issues as poverty, environ-mental security, conflict resolution, etc.• Promote the understanding of the Nile as ashared resource, thus drawing concerned par-ticipants to think about their region as a bio-region – namely a land and water territorywhose limits are defined not by political boun-daries, but by the geographical features ofhuman communities and ecosystems.

51



A bioregion should be defined in terms whichare both large enough and small enough. Itmust include the human communities involvedin the use, understanding and management ofbiological resources, maintain the integrity ofthe biological communities, habitats and eco-systems, support vast ecological processessuch as water flow, nutrient and waste cycling,and migration. It must be small enough forlocal residents to consider it as their home, tomaintain their cultural identity and as such,have the right to decide upon their own deve-lopment. In large and complex systems such asthe Nile Basin with varying political systems,broad cultural diversity, a wide range of inter-dependent ecosystems, complex hydrology,fragile economies and enormous potential,activity in one separate field may haveunforeseen and profound consequences in arange of other areas.

SHAPING OF A PREFERRED FUTURE

Communication was consequently at the fore-front of discussions taking place during theworkshop. The use of Internet reduces thecosts of access to information and conse-quently to education and knowledge that helpto choose best practice and technologies forintersectoral activities, and thus ensure goodgovernance. Yet, modern communication isnot accessible to the most remote and poorestcommunities in the Nile Basin. Another diffi-cult priority is how to ensure that the poorestbe directly represented. Civil participation inthe NBI process relies on access to resources,information being a crucial resource. It wasagreed that establishing a clearing house forinformation on the Nile Basin, to gather anddisseminate information, was a priority need.

It would ensure that the Discourse can actual-ly complement the intergovernmental NileBasin Initiative in exploring and promotingsubstantive and continuous debate on alterna-tives, and look at various options and scenarios.

A relevant hydrological information flow wouldalso ensure transparency and support NGOs’work in the Basin, for example in making refe-rence resources available, technical (hydrolo-gical, biological, on development, law, policyand baseline data in advance of proposals), aswell as political (proposals and plans).

Another crucial issue was raised: the need foreasy messages conveyed in at least the fivemost widespread languages used in the regionin order to ensure equity in access to infor-mation between the Nile riparian populations,and respect for cultural diversity. Easingaccess to information and improving commu-nication by a two-way flow between all stake-holders and official bodies would make peoplecentral to decision. As stressed in theUniversal Declaration on Democracy,“Democracy is founded on the right of everyoneto take part in the management of publicaffairs” (Article 11).7

Participants expressed the need to establishan institutional identity for the Discourse.With a view to strengthening all stakeholders’inclusiveness and accountability, they propo-sed drawing up Terms of Reference, aMemorandum or Charter.8 One group proposedthat the Discourse be defined as “an ongoingprocess or platform for widespread civil socie-ty debate on the programmes envisioned byNBI and/or issues related to Nile Basin deve-lopment that contributed to a shared visionfor sustainable economic development”. Its

52


The Nile Falls, Ethiopia.


7. Declaration adoptedwithout avote (China expressed reserva-tions on the text) by the Inter-Parliamentary Council at its 161st

session, Cairo, 16 September1997.

8. Since the Magna Carta (apeace treaty signed by BritishKing John in 1215 with citizens,and the first formal documentguaranteeing basic freedoms)and like the UN Charter (SanFrancisco, 1945), the word“charter” is commonly acceptedto define obligations betweenone or several governments andcivil society, guarantees a num-ber of rights, redresses grievan-ces of owners and tenants ofland or territory, implies theneed to consult the nation’shigher authority or council. Acharter’s aims are to preventinjustice and control administra-tive bodies’ behaviour.


development should be dynamic, flexible andestablish links with grass-roots actors toexplain the potential consequences of plans,as well as who should promote alternatives,provide relevant practical and technical assis-tance, particularly in sensitive issues such asresettlement, sustainable use of naturalresources and the assessment of environmen-tal impact.

Various cooperative activities were proposedby the Discourse members, such as to identifyconcerned people who did not attend theworkshop; promote the concept of Nile Rafiki;revise the Nile Basin Atlas and add social data;ensure that more information was available todevelop and share a toolbox of materials andresources, including emphasis on printedmedia and broadcasting programmes to coun-terpoise the absence of electronic media insome parts of the Nile Basin, and promotechampions with regional focus – some kind of‘positive contamination’ of excellence.

In conclusion, it was clear that informationand communication should be the key to ensu-ring interaction between the Nile BasinInitiative and civil society, and that the timingand the agenda of their activities should beattuned and synchronized.

The Nile Basin Initiative was launched by theCouncil of Ministers (Nile-COM) of WaterAffairs of the Nile Basin States. Its Secretariatwas established in TECCONILE’s former officefacilities in Entebbe, Uganda. Recognition ofthe Civil Society Discourse (CSD) and anchoringit at national level facilitated its establish-ment at the NBI Secretariat offices in Entebbe,where the CSD Interim Steering Committeemet in December 2002 and launched its work

programme. The CSD Interim SteeringCommittee (ISC) agreed to proceed with theestablishment of a National Civil SocietyForum in each of the countries of the NileBasin by June 2003, after identification ofconcerned civil society sectors and individualsfrom all sectors: local groups (farmers, fisher-men/women, etc.), journalists, academics,NGOs, private sector, faith groups, localgovernment, etc., thus covering a wide rangeof issues such as development, poverty, envi-ronment, peace and security, water, agricultu-re, human rights, etc. Headed by the slogan:Providing a voice to the voiceless from theroots of the Nile Basin, the process is gover-ned by Terms of Reference allowing each coun-try forum to have the same legitimacy. Limitedfunds are available for the exercise in eachcountry.

The Nile Basin Discourse Work-plan 2003Project Goal promotes dialogue – includingthrough its forum on an interactive website9 –aimed at establishing an independent NileBasin Civil Society Discourse Desk within theNile River Basin (Civil Society). Its work plan,planned in detail and thus ensuring transpa-rency, is an exemplary model. It might be sum-marized as follows:

Outcome 1: Civil Society Discourse Desk established andeffectively and efficiently operating.From October 2002 to December 2003, esta-blishment of the Nile Basin Discourse (NBD)Facility Office; consultations initiated with theNile Basin Initiative Secretariat (Nile-SEC);launching of the communication process tocreate awareness on the Discourse throughpublications, brochures, etc.

9. http://www.nilediscourse.org

53



http://www.nilediscourse.org

Outcome 2: Working relationship established with Nile-SECon the Nile Basin Initiative.From January 2003 to December 2003, designand implementation of the Discourse program-me of action, including the 1st Meeting of theGeneral Assembly; quarterly reports andreviews of progress of ND activities. A form tobe filled by ISC members was designed for theDiscourse participants identified. Developmentof draft guidelines for National DiscourseForums, and of National Proposals in eachcountry. A National Discourse Forums (NDF)Plan was sent in a proposal format to ISCmembers. From February 2003, initiation ofnational consultations processes in each coun-try. In March 2003, production of a list ofpotential National Discourse Participants tothe 1st consultative workshop organized ineach country in April. In June, organization ofNSC elections to enable the establishment ofNDFs structure. Finalized Programme report inAugust. From February to December 2003,efforts focused on creating an awareness ofNDFs.

Outcome 3:Enhanced communications and informationflows between interested and affected partieson pertinent issues relevant to the Nile Basin.During the first quarter 2003, relevant infor-mation on NBI regularly disseminated, thusallowing to initiate engagement between NBIand the Discourse, while maintaining conti-nuous action and participation in NBI mee-tings, projects, planning and work plan.

Outcome 4:National, Regional and International CivilSociety organizations constructively engagedin discourse activities and dialogue.

In February 2003, a draft research agenda wasready to enhance capacities on NGOs andother stakeholders (civil society organiza-tions) and engage in dialogue. From October2003, regular meetings and localized eventswere held, and participation in internationalmeetings ensured.

TOWARDS A CULTURE OF PEACE

Through consensus, transparency and inclusi-veness, the Civil Society Discourse is expectedto ensure that action is sensitive to the politi-cal context and to the existence of grass-rootsneeds and interests, hence contributing to aculture of peace and equity.

The challenge is to create an environmentwhere parties are able to share their perspecti-ves and hear the views of others. This can beachieved provided that everyone has a part inthe action and understands that there is no sin-gle truth in which all the aspirations of all par-ties come together: there are many truths. Thesolution lies in accepting compromises for afuture which is inevitably interlinked.

The Civil Society Discourse is an open-endedprocess and has no foregone conclusions. Thiscollective exercise through which opinions aremodified shows that perspectives can be broa-dened in difficult conditions. In the Nile Basin,there are many different and divergent inter-ests, both from within and from outside theBasin. The Discourse work in progress illustratesthat louder voices do not imply greater legiti-macy. As is the case with many innovations, itis a delicate process to be handled with care. Italready shows an encouraging example of howethical values can lead to more equity, peaceand therefore to sustainable development.

54



UNESCO

Division of Ethics of Science and Technology

Social and Human Sciences Sector

1, rue Miollis

75732 Paris Cedex 15

France

http://www.unesco.org/shs/ethics

The Division of Ethics of Science and Technologyreflects the priority UNESCO gives to ethics ofscience and technology, with emphasis on bio-ethics. One objective of the medium-term strate-gy of the Organization is to “promote principlesand ethical norms to guide scientific and techno-logical development and social transformation”.

Activities of the Division include providing sup-port for Member States of UNESCO that are plan-ning to develop activities in the field of ethics of

Division of Ethics of Science and Technology of UNESCO

science and technology, such as teaching pro-grammes, national ethics committees, conferen-ces and UNESCO Chairs.

The Division also ensures the executive secretariatfor three international ethics bodies, namely theWorld Commission on the Ethics of ScientificKnowledge and Technology (COMEST), theInternational Bioethics Committee (IBC) and theIntergovernmental Bioethics Committee (IGBC).


http://www.unesco.org/shs/ethics