The global water crisis will worsen - especially in the developing world - if
water is commodified and water services are liberalised under the purview
of the WTO. Once countries adopt increased commitments to liberalise in a
specific sector, it is virtually impossible to reverse the course.

Background:

Civil society representatives, gathered at the Bonn International Freshwater
Conference, (December 2001) stated that access to adequate safe water is a
fundamental human right and that the governments have an obligation to
ensure this right. Those of us present there had expressed our concern and
opposition to the increasingly narrow focus on the economic value of water
at the expense of the social, cultural, spiritual and ecological values
when it comes to policy formulation and practice. We reaffirm that the
integrity of the hydrological cycle must be maintained for the common good
of our societies and ecosystems.

In the context of the above statements, we want to draw your attention to
the dangerous developments at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar and after.