Reality bites
"W e are dealing with a different type of reality,' said Nicky Nzioki, a non-governmental representative from Kenya. "In the South, it would be almost impossible to put an economic value on water that flows by in a stream in a village, far away from developed areas.' China reflected this sentiment at csd -6 when it pointed out that issues such as water deficit, water pollution and waste of water due to unsophisticated irrigation techniques made it difficult for the country to attach an economic value to water.
At the same time, countries such as Venezuela have made some progress. Luis Fernando Perez-Segnini, second secretary of the Venezuelan mission to the un , said that their laws had incorporated the economic value of water. "Communities that withdraw water from the government irrigation canals have to pay for it,' he informed Down To Earth . However, he added that they could not get their people to pay for groundwater extracted on private property.
One constant call that developing countries made throughout csd -6 was that a cut in financial assistance for development activities would be of no help. But for all efforts on the part of G-77 and China, there was no substantial encouragement from csd on the issue of finances. India, too, raised the point of diminishing financial assistance on several occasions.
"It appears that as far as development planners (of the North) are concerned, most of future funding will have to be linked with the economy and economic activity,' said Ang Heffernan, a Greenpeace campaigner from Fiji who, was representing the Alliance of Small Island States ( aosis ) at the csd . This statement held true, particularly for aosis , who are reported to have been asked to turn to private industry for finances for development.
While theirs was a case that stood out, this was the common refrain at csd -6. The bottom line was that the governments of the North were opting out of earlier commitments to the South, and were asking developing countries to turn towards industry for future finances. With regard to the concept of seeing water as an economic commodity, developing countries were of the opinion that water was a basic human need and of vital importance in meeting food security needs. G-77 and China had the commission delete from the draft text that agriculture be considered a major user of global water in economic terms. It was evident that the developing world was readying itself to the fact that sooner or later, water would be treated at par with other economic resources, and threw in their lot to protect their interests.
Industry, on the other hand