 from preventable causes like diarrhea resulting from polluted water. An Ethiopian girl (pictured) drinks water from a newly installed hand pump.)
FRESH START: A 2009 World Health Organization and UNICEF study found that 24,000 children in developing countries die each day (one every three-and-a-half seconds) from preventable causes like diarrhea resulting from polluted water. An Ethiopian girl (pictured) drinks water from a newly installed hand pump.
Image: water.org, courtesy Flickr
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Dear EarthTalk: Recently the U.N. voted to declare access to safe and clean water a “human right”. Isn’t that a no-brainer? What are the ramifications of this declaration?—P. James, Boston, Mass.
In July 2010 the United Nations (UN) agreed to a new resolution declaring the human right to “safe and clean drinking water and sanitation”. One hundred twenty-two nations voted in favor of the resolution; 41 (primarily developed) countries abstained; and there were zero “no” votes. The agreement comes on the heels of a protracted effort on the part of Bolivia and 30 other (mostly developing) nations determined to improve access to clean water and proper sanitation systems for the poorer human residents of the planet.
Bolivia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Pablo Solon, cheered passage of the resolution that he had campaigned hard for, and stressed the need to recognize access to safe drinking water and sanitation as a human right as global supplies of fresh water get fewer and farther between. “Approximately one out of every eight people does not have drinking water,” Solon told reporters. “In just one day, more than 200 million hours of the time used by women is spent collecting and transporting water for their homes.” According to the declaration, approximately 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water.
“The lack of sanitation is even worse, because it affects 2.6 billion people [or] 40 percent of the global population,” Solon said, citing a 2009 World Health Organization and UNICEF study which found some 24,000 children in developing countries were dying each day from preventable causes like diarrhea resulting from polluted water. “This means that a child dies every three-and-a-half seconds,” added Solon.
The resolution itself carries no regulatory weight, but backers view it as important to raising awareness of the problem and engendering support for solutions. “We are calling for actions…in communities around the world to ensure that the rights to water and sanitation are implemented,” said Anil Naidoo of the Council of Canadians, a group that has been crucial in the international struggle for the right to clean water. “Governments, aid agencies and the UN must take their responsibilities seriously,” he added.
Some developed countries—including the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and several European nations—tried to block passage of the resolution in hopes of minimizing their future obligations. As one official from the United Kingdom put it, these countries “don’t want to pay for the toilets in Africa.” Also, six African countries (Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Tanzania and Zambia) and two in the Caribbean (Guyana and Trinidad/Tobago)—all former European colonies—joined efforts to try to kill the declaration. But when it was time to vote, these nations abstained so as not to go on record as opposing it.
“This matters because we are a planet running out of water,” said Maude Barlow, an expert affiliated with the Council of Canadians as well as the Blue Planet Project and Food and Water Watch. Indeed, a still-growing human population, global warming and other factors combine to make fresh water supplies scarcer around the world. A recent World Bank study predicted that demand for fresh water will exceed supply by some 40 percent within just two decades. While the UN resolution may not move any mountains, it is a step in the right direction for the world’s increasing number of have-nots.
CONTACTS: United Nations, www.un.org; Council of Canadians, www.canadians.org; Blue Planet Project, www.blueplanetproject.net; Food and Water Watch, www.foodandwaterwatch.org.
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7 Comments
Add CommentI would suggest Pablo Solon's time would have been better spent learning to plumb. This "right" to clean water goes hand in hand with the "right" to work, pay taxes, and select governments that will provide clean water. Expecting UN members to come make up for the inefficiencies of local goevernment is foolish at best.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe Earth's resources, including potable water, are fixed.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe global population has quadrupled since 1900 and will soon have tripled since 1950. The U.S. Census Bureau conservatively expects it to increase 30% by 2050.
Do we also have a and a 'human right' of unrestricted reproduction? If so, how can access to potable water be assured? These are conflicting 'human rights'!
This mentality is among the basic reasons we have come to the point of having such a big percentage of global population without access to drinking water. Because people in the affluent west, especially the US, think they somehow deserve better than everybody else and are unwilling to make any kind of sacrifice.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI wonder if it's the belief in Gawd almighty or market almighty that is to blame more for this way of thinking.
Yes, access to fresh drinking and washing water is an human right, but the questions remaining are where, when, at which cost, who pays it and for what. It's reasonable demanding water to drink, but is it wise spending trillions to supply water, for example to an irredeemible desert like the Hoggar mountains ?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIs drinkable water a human right? Is the right to live in dignity a right that every human should have? When I wake from a long nights sleep, I go to the bathroom and take care of my bodily needs; without a thought in the world that most of the worlds population do not have access to the basics of clear water and water accessibility (plumbing and in-house, and not out-house, water services). It used to be said, "eat your vegetables, there are starving children in Africa." Now it can be said, "Drink your water there are children without clean water in the third world". But the question of clean water brings up a host of problems in its wake, what has prevented the "third world" from development? Colonialism was the biggest culprit for the last five hundred years, but why is it that these third world countries can not provide its population the basic necessities that should be the right of every human being; human right(s).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMoney like that of salt needs to be placed in the ask can of history. The problems that we face time and time again when it comes to our very survival depends on how much something will cost us.
Money or the value of a human being, which is more important? But, as Adam Smith once said, "the wealth of nations is created by human labor".
I agree with jtydwter that we need to start discussing the issue of human reproduction and overpopulation in connection with resource depletion. The population explosion is a big part of the problem, yet this issue hardly seems to be debated. As the population increases, and as everyone demands more and more equal access to resources, the problem is only going to worsen. We need to come to some international consensus on how to curtail population increases as well as conserving the resources that we have. Both of those actions are necessary to achieve a sustainable world.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is much cheaper to provide education and family planning resources than it is to provide food and water. If the third world countries want our help it should come with our terms. Limit each woman to having 1 or fewer daughters during their lifetime. Women control population growth while men are somewhat disposable as far as population growth goes.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGive them family planning resources and teach them how to make their own sanitation and water facilities and why they should limit family sizes. I would pay for this system of aid quite willingly. I've done my part. My wife and I have 2 sons and no daughters. We are not part of the long term population explosion.