ICC responds to challenge of water privatization

Dr Steve Lennon represented the business community at the conference

Paris, 4 May 2004 - ICC called for the ownership of water to remain in public hands and stressed the importance of the role of business in water services management at a UN meeting in New York.

Over 100 ministers attended the twelfth session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-12) which took place at UN headquarters last week. The session was the first to be addressed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Dr Steve Lennon, Chair of ICC's Commission on Environment and Energy, delivered the statement on behalf of business and took several questions from ministers and government delegates. He underscored the need for governments and business to work together, the need for good governance and highlighted the important role partnerships have in achieving targets.

"The business sector firmly believes that water ownership should remain in public hands, at the level of local government, with the potential for contracting with the private sector for the operation of water and sanitation services," he said.

"The bottom line is that we have the answers to service delivery - we just need to create the enabling environment, develop the financing mechanisms, apply the technologies, and develop the related capacity, all through effective partnerships."

The meeting sought to review the progress made in reaching the targets defined at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002, such as improving access to freshwater and sanitation, particularly among disadvantaged communities.

Norwegian Minister of the Environment, B¸rge Brende, who chaired the meeting, called on delegates to embark on a decade of keeping promises and declared: "The international community is not on track and efforts must be scaled up. Achieving the targets is doable."

Noting that the high level of rhetoric surrounding public-private partnerships is not always matched by success, Bj¶rn Stigson, Executive Director of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, said that partnerships require time, shared values, common goals, synergies and feasibility analyses.The European Union's response stated that partnerships must complement government commitments, comply with corporate responsibility, have realistic goals, and employ tools to monitor progress.

Paula Dobriansky, US Under Secretary for Global Affairs, identified four conditions favorable to unleashing what she describes as the vast untapped potential of local entrepreneurs, including: an enabling environment, capacity building, financing and partnerships. She said that the power of the private sector in terms of finance, technology and human resources is greater than that of government. The EU highlighted the role of the private sector in the provision of infrastructure and service delivery, and stressed the importance of corporate social responsibility.

Other speakers from business and industry included: Thierry Chambolle (Suez), Anne Weir (Unilever), Robert Martin (WBCSD), Annik Dollacker (Bayer), Alain Mathys (Suez) and Jack Whelan (ICC).

ICC summaries of CSD, including statements, photos, documents and links are located at:
http://www.iccwbo.org/home/environment_and_energy/sdcharter/topics/water/water.asp

Full text of Steve Lennon's statement