Water unites but forums divided

Last week, IRC participated in the Fifth World Water Forum (5WWF) in Istanbul, the largest gathering in the water, sanitation and hygiene sectors. Among participants were national governments and local authorities, intergovernmental organisations, NGOs, and the private sector, representing a very diverse group. The World Water Council (WWC) coordinates the organisation of the forum every three years with the host country. As with previous World Water Forums, there has been grumbling about the legitimacy of this platform. Some accuse the World Water Council of being influenced greatly by the French private sector members of the organisation. While the theme of the forum was "Bridging Divides for Water", two separate smaller forums provided alternative perspectives and were at the centre of protests covered in the media.

Three forums divided

Nick Dickinson from IRC, interviewed a representative from the Alternative Water Forum 2009 who was handing out flyers around the UN Water pavilion of the 5th World Water Forum. His argument was that the UN would be the natural host for this kind of event. Although, his forum was issue based, he justified a separate forum due to the fact that this one was organised by the WWC. You can read the transcript below (podcast will also be made available):

AF representative: Our alternative forum has a special focus on the environmental issues and the dam issue. I would say these two aspects are at the centre of our discussions.

Nick Dickinson: Who was part of the protests? Was it the Alternative Forum or the Counter Forum?

AF representative: There was a protest outside from the platform, "No to the Commercialisation of Water", that was more from the Counter Forum. The one inside was more from us [the Alternative Forum]. The two people who were arrested and had to leave Turkey were from International Rivers and we work with them. The protests were not violent; it was only a banner inside the forum. If they don't agree then they can say "take the banner back" but to arrest them and take them out of Turkey is a hard reaction. For us it is unacceptable. This was inside. There were also many people from international NGOs and movements in both protest.

The most striking of these protests, which was covered in the media, was composed of mostly individuals from the "Counter Forum", whose main issue is anti-privatisation. Reuters reported, ironically, that the Turkish choose water cannons to disperse the protesters. It is interesting to note, that even among the boycotters of the forum, there was division.

Inside the Fifth World Water Forum

IRC had two information stands in the forum and also ran a number of sessions. We had some presence in stands on both of the water (Feshane and Sütlüce) dividing the Golden Horn. The forum built a foot bridge for participants and it was at least a 20 minute walk to go from one stand to the other, including two security check points. One stand was in the NGO village and the other in the Netherlands Pavilion as part of the NGO Platform stand. These separate forums attracting many local NGOs and some large international NGOs in combination with the isolated NGO village, created a large space between civil society and those preparing the final Ministerial Declaration.

Future of the World Water Forums

The fact that many civil society proponents of the Right to Water and the government representatives found themselves in different events/places may be a contributing factor to the Right to Water being absent in the final declaration.

It has been announced the next WWC forum will take place in Durban, South Africa. With yet another opportunity to bridge divides, it still remains to be seen, whether the next forum will succeed to “bridge” these divides and bring all stakeholders together. The alternative is yet again, more platforms for talking and spaces dividing people who should be working together.