CHENNAI: Water activists from diverse countries such as Japan, the Philippines, Palestine, Turkey and Mexico have expressed themselves against the commodification of water. In an interaction with reporters, the activists, who are here to participate in a pan-Asian colloquium, said there were several alternatives to privatisation of the water sector mooted by international funding agencies. But the main issue was not finance or technology but of governance. The key was democratisation of the sector. Mary Ann Manahan of Focus on Global South, Philippines, described as failure the privatisation experiment in a part of Metro Manila and said there was no transparency and accountability after water distribution was handed over to the private sector. Claudia Campera Arena of Mexico, who represents Red Vida, an inter-American network in defence of water and life, said that while aggressive efforts were being made to privatise the water sector in her country and Colombia, social movements in many other Latin American nations had driven private companies out of the sector. Fuat Ercan, representative of Platform against Commodification of Water, Istanbul, said water resources belonged to people, and they could not be bought or sold. V. Suresh, founder trustee and director, Centre for Law, Policy and Human Rights Studies, said that as a curtain-raiser to the World Water Forum scheduled for next year in Turkey, the colloquium began here on Tuesday, with the field visit of 22 foreign delegates to Vizhukkam village in Villupuram district, where the system of rice intensification was being practised. The delegates, representing 17 Asian countries and water networks from Palestine, Mexico and Canada, visited Endal in Tiruvannamalai district and Pagalmedu in Tiruvallur district. On Wednesday, they met senior engineers of the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board and the Agricultural Engineering Department, who briefed them about the experiments made in the water sector. On Friday, a public event,