Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Mexico City
""Nobody is talking about it,"" World Water Council president Loc Fauchon told reporters on Thursday's opening day of the World Water Forum (WWF).
""Nobody is talking about privatization of a resource basic to all people,"" repeated the Frenchman, who until 1997 was President of the Marseilles Water Supply Company (SEM), a subsidiary of Suez, one of the largest private water companies in the world.
The 4th WWF, held from March 16-22, has gathered in Mexico City 11,000 of people from governments, water companies, UN officials, international financial institutions, water specialists and non-governmental organizations from all over the world.
The triennial forum hosting hundreds of sessions and a ministerial conference on water aims to improve access to and quality of clean water in the world, particularly in poorer countries.
Begun in 1997, WWF is now regarded as the most important meeting on water, helping shape global water policies. The main theme for this year's forum is ""Local Actions for a Global Challenge"".
In the opening speech, Fauchon called on rich countries to bring more money to ""the poorest, the weakest, the condemned of the earth"".
""Today, only 5 percent of public aid is allocated to water. That is charity. Today only 5 percent of investments are dedicated to water. This is a major economic error,"" he said.
He further called for infrastructure for the 50 countries most in need and the 20 poorest megacities.
It was apparent that Fauchon was proud of his statement to help poor countries.
However, in the press briefing after his opening speech, many reporters questioned the objectives of the forum, criticized for being too closely inclined toward privatization.
Such a notion stems from the fact the coorganizer of WWF, the World Water Council, has some on its board of governors from multinational water companies like French Suez and British Biwater, which are involved in the privatization of public water companies in developing countries.
In Jakarta, Suez has shares in PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya, which manages tap water in the western half of Jakarta.
This year, for the first time, the forum is facing protest rallies and an alternative event organized by international NGOs. In the afternoon, a protest rally of about 1,000 people was staged outside Centro Banamex, the official WWF venue.
""This is the first time that international NGOs have organized an alternative to WWF. Our friends who attended the third WWF in Kyoto in 2003 found that WWF was not open to discussion,"" said Mexican Claudia Campero, coordinator of the International Forum and Rallies in Defense of Water.
She said WWF focused only on public-private partnerships in respect of water supply, waiving the possibility of public-public or other forms of partnership.
A UK organization, the World Development Movement, criticized the forum in its press release.
""The Ministerial Declaration is presented on the last day of the WWF, but its content is drafted in advance. The process by which the declaration is drafted is neither transparent nor inclusive,"" the group said.
The forum does not seem to have done much to fend off the criticism. Despite words repeated by Fauchon and other forums officials about water being a basic human right that should not be expensive, WWF itself has not provided either free or cheap drinking water.
In the arid Mexico climate, where a person has to drink at least one to two liters of water a day, WWF's participants have to buy bottled water at food counters provided in the venue.
The 600 ml bottles of water they sell is a Mexican brand produced by the Coca-Cola company, and it costs 12 pesos (US$1).
Fauchon refused to comment on the situation and told reporters to ask the committee about it.
""This forum, I am sure, will allow water to flow for a long time -- now and forever -- in the direction of peace and prosperity,"" Fauchon said earlier in his speech.
Nevertheless, after having to spend $2 a day on basic drinking water at WWF, many forum participants might have disagreed.
