The human right to water will be an issue discussed at the 9th General Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC), in Porto Alegre, Brazil, 14-23 February 2006, a gathering of delegates from 348 member churches representing 500 million members. Recently, the National Council of Churches in Brazil together with the Roman Catholic Conference of Bishops and the Federation of Swiss Churches affirmed the human right to water in a joint statement. The synod of Protestant churches in Germany has raised concerns about the commodification of resources essential to life, including water. The Ecumenical Team at 13th session of the UN Commission of Sustainable Development (CSD-13) held a side event on the strength of community based initiatives as an alternative to water privatisation.

On 11-12 April 2005, twenty-seven organisations representing members of seven world religions and an array of banks, private philanthropies and socially responsible investing (SRI) organisations, became the founding members of the first International Interfaith Investment Group (3iG). The Group will be run on a cluster basis. Water is one of the four initial areas for investigation (the others being forestry, micro-finance and labour dignity). In 2002 the total sum available for ethical investment was estimated to be US$ 20,000 billion (EUR 15,800 billion).

For more information on the involvement of religious organisations in water activities see:

• WCC - ecumenical earth – water concerns
• Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) - Holy Water project
• Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) - Water and Food Working Group

Contact: 3iG, UK, info@3ignet.org, http://www.3ignet.org/

Source: Taking issue, 21 Apr 2005 ; ARC, 19 Apr 2005

Tags: financing, policies & legislation