The value of water is not measured by the pricelabel!

More efforts to uphold the human right to water and preserve the precious commons demanded by government

Berlin, 19^thMarch 2021 - On the occasion of World Water Day on 22^th March, environmental and development organisations as well as representatives of the public water sector are calling on the German government to address the conflicts over water more strongly and to find appropriate solutions for our livelihoods. These must be based on the human right to water!

Under the motto "The Value of Water", the United Nations is calling for this year's World Water Day and thus to address the importance of this precious resource. For billions of people worldwide, the human right to clean drinking water and hygienic sanitation is still an unfulfilled goal. At the same time, scarce freshwater resources and their associated ecosystems are being overexploited, polluted and destroyed all over the world. The climate crisis is massively exacerbating the global water crisis with increasing weather extremes, putting ecosystems and thus the livelihoods of humans and nature at additional risk. Conflicts over the use of water will increase.

Sebastian Schönauer, spokesperson for the BUND Water Working Group, calls for a fundamental change in the use of hydropower: "Hydropower plants are destroying our river ecosystems. Millions of dams are among the main causes of global species extinction and threaten our natural livelihoods. The goals of nature and water protection are fundamental to sustainable climate protection and must not be sacrificed for the marginal generation of electricity."

"In Amazonia, large dams are contributing to the destruction of the planet's green lungs and the displacement of the indigenous population," Michael Bender, Head of the Federal Contact Point of the GRÜNE LIGA Water, points out. "In the Balkans, hundreds of small hydropower plants threaten the last almost untouched wild rivers in Europe."

"Water shortage is not only a consequence of the climate crisis." said Christa Hecht, coordinator of the Blue Community Movement in Germany. "In favor of global commercial interests, the privatisation of water rights and water services in many places is increasingly restricting the access of the local population. Water is not a commodity, water is a human right.

"In addition to an adequate supply of drinking water, equitable access to water is also essential for peasant agriculture and thus for food sovereignty, especially for the rural population in the global South. Gertrud Falk, a consultant at FIAN Germany, emphasises that "especially many small farming families are at risk of going empty-handed in the intensified competition for water, while the cash crops of industrial export agriculture are intensively irrigated. Industrial agriculture, mining and heavy industry account for almost 90% of global water consumption. To end hunger and poverty, intact ecosystems and access to water must be protected and promoted primarily for smallholder food production."

Whether water will still be available in sufficient quantity and quality in the future, and who will have access to it, depends more than ever on political decisions: "A readjustment is long overdue. The German government must take measures to prevent future conflicts over water and also lead the way internationally with answers. Due to the changed conditions caused by the climate crisis, all user groups must make their contribution not only to deal more consciously with the precious resource of water, but also to adapt the way they deal with water. In this context, the concerns of public services for a secure drinking water supply and those of the natural balance in the sense of the common good must be taken into account first," says Durmus Ünlü, Deputy Managing Director of the Alliance of Public Water Management and coordinator of the WG Water in the Forum Environment and Development.

(Photo: ideengrün | markus pichlmaier)

Press release

WG Water in the Forum Environment & Development

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or would like a background discussion.

Technical contact persons:

Sebastian Schönauer | Contact person Working Group on Water

Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND)

+49 (0)6094 984 022