EP’s Water Ministerial Summit in Nepal 2011   

  Call for Speakers, Sponsors, Ministerial Policy Initiatives and Scientific Papers  

  With EP’s Water Ministerial Summit in Nepal 2011 we recognize the importance of universal access to clean water in satisfying essential human specie’s need for drinking clean water, for sanitation and for agriculture.    

Because of this, the EP Water Ministerial Summit in Nepal 2011 will highlight free access to drinking water and measured and sustainable access to fresh water for agriculture, and especially innovations to maintain the upstream sources, save the glaciers, enrich the acquifers and improve access to water and efficiency of water use downstream.     

To learn more about improving access to clean water and sanitation, come participate at the WMS 2011 and Ioffer nnovation as well as government and business solutions to reducing wastewater, to reducing contamination of the acquifers and to start the Water as a Human Right global conversation, 

   Agriculture, industry and city runoffs are the greatest sources of water waste. How can that be solved? For many families, and especially women, improved access to safe drinking water and access  to sanitatin water improves the quality of Life and economic prospects for Women and Children, more than any other measure. Secondly, getting water to crops, and slow yet steady irrigation is the key to sustainable agriculture.     

We place herewith an Open Call for Papers to be submitted and for Speaker Opportunities to become available to those organizations, individuals and even businesses who are willing to sponsor the Conference and bring value to the proceedings.    

In July 2010 the United Nations (UN) agreed to a new resolution declaring the human right to “safe and clean drinking water and sanitation”. One hundred twenty-two nations voted in favor of the resolution; 41 (primarily developed) countries abstained; and there were zero “no” votes. The agreement comes on the heels of a protracted effort on the part of Bolivia and 30 other (mostly developing) nations determined to improve access to clean water and proper sanitation systems for the poorer human residents of the planet. the need to recognize access to safe drinking water and sanitation as a human right as global supplies of fresh water get fewer and farther between.  

“Approximately one out of every eight people does not have drinking water,” EP spokesperson Vince Hayward said to reporters. “In just one day, more than 200 million hours of the time used by women is spent collecting and transporting water for their homes.”  

According to the declaration, approximately 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water.  The lack of sanitation is even worse, because it affects 2.6 billion people or 40 percent of the global population, based on a 2009 World Health Organization and a UNICEF study found some 24,000 children in developing countries were dying each day from preventable causes like diarrhea resulting from polluted water. This means that a child dies every three-and-a-half seconds.   

The Water as a Human Right resolution itself carries no regulatory weight, people already view it as important to raising awareness of the problem and engendering support for solutions. “We are calling for actions in communities around the world to ensure that the rights to water and sanitation are implemented,” said Anil Naidoo of the Council of Canadians, a group that has been crucial in the international struggle for the right to clean water. “Governments, aid agencies and the UN must take their responsibilities seriously,” he added.  

Still according to the Environmental Parliament spokesperson Vince Hayward,  serious politicking and anti water as a human right resolution forces gathered to kill the initiative as had succeeded many times before. Even some wealthy and fully developed countries — including the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and several European nations with large water companies, bottled water distributors and water related commercial business interests — tried to block passage of the resolution in hopes of minimizing their future obligations or to enhance their financial sector. As one official from the United Kingdom put it, these countries “don’t want to pay for the toilets in Africa.” As the Environmental Parliament spokesperson put it, the developed world fears to be fair to the nations their wealth is derived from. In all, when it came time to vote on the water resolution, even six African countries (Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Tanzania and Zambia) and two in the Caribbean (Guyana and Trinidad/Tobago) — all former European colonies — joined efforts to try to kill the declaration. But when it was finally time to vote, and push came to shove, these nations abstained from the procedures -- so as not to go on record as opposing it.  ‘’This matters hugely because we are a planet running out of water,’’ said Maude Barlow, an expert affiliated with the Council of Canadians as well as the Blue Planet Project and Food and Water Watch. Indeed, a still-growing human population, global warming and other factors combine to make fresh water supplies scarcer around the world. A recent World Bank study predicted that demand for fresh water will exceed supply by some 40 percent within just two decades. While the UN resolution may not move any mountains, it is a step in the right direction for the world’s increasing number of have-nots.

In the past century, the world’s population tripled while global demand for water increasing six fold (UNFPA,1999). Today, more than one and a half billion people lack safe drinking water and almost two and half billion live without access to sanitation system (UNDP/MDG). An estimated thirty five thousand people, mostly young children and elderly, die everyday from easily avoidable water related diseases (UN press release, Water Year 2003). If current trend persists, by 2025 two thirds of the world’s population will be living with serious water shortages or almost no water at all (UNESCO, 1999). The availability of adequate water supplies is critical to every aspect of life because an expected water crisis would have adverse impacts on People’s health and welfare, and on the environment and economics of all the countries in the world.

Because water is essential for survival, to maintain life, to remain healthy, to produce food, and to clean the surroundings in which human beings live, this conference is a must as to define what ‘’WATER AS A HUMAN RIGHT’’ means for the people, for civil society, for businesses and for the governments across the globe.

If the right to gain access to water is not realised or if impediments to the realisation of that right are put in place, there are implications for other human rights - rights long entrenched within the Carta of Human Rights - such as the right to an adequate standard of living, and the right to be free from discrimination. Water also plays an important role in many cultures and faiths therefore reduced access to water could also violate specific cultural rights. In addition it may have implications on a range of civil and political rights. The human rights implications of water related concerns therefore go beyond the immediate issue of access to water. All actors need a deeper, more comprehensive and holistic understanding of the issues involved (IHRB, 2009).

1. Topics of the Conference: International Conference on Water as Human Rights 2011, Nepal

2. Venue: National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC).

3. Date: 16th October – 18th October

4. Proposed themes of Conference

• Water as basic human right
• Himalay Glaciers - The engine of global Climate and precipitation regulator.
• Glacier Runoff regeneration, sharing and management
• Mt Kalash - Axis of Life - water culture and religion
• River water management for Peace
• Wars of Water
• Mekong river claims
• Just sharing of rivers worldwide - UN doctrine - Dispute resolution
• Environmental Court for Sound water management for access to safe fresh water
• Environmental Court for impact of Climate Change and Glacier Disappearance
• Cost benefit of Achieving MDG target for drinking water and sanitation
• Drinking water policies and quality issue
• Population linkages and water demand
• Water sharing Justice
• Agriculture, food security and water
• Himalayan water towers and Climate Change
• Approaches for sustainable management of water management and conflict resolution.
• Water and development
• Water and Youth “Our common future”.
• Water Rights from Glaciers amongst countries
• Fossil Water

5. The conference is scientific / technological importance and governs water as primary sector relating human rights

6. Organizing Agencies: SEAT and EP

7. Sponsoring agencies,: Proposed Sponsors

Environmental Parliament
United Nations
SE Asian Nations:
India, China, Thailand, Japan, Nepal, TAR, Vietnam, Campuchia, Bhuttan, etc
Ministers & Ministries of Agriculture of above countries
Ministers & Ministries of Environment of above countries
Ministers & Ministries of Energy of above countries
Ministers & Ministries of Housing and Physical Planning of above countries
Ministers & Ministries of Economic Development of above countries
Ministers & Ministries of Water Resources of above countries
Ministers & Ministries of Development

Civil Society, Environmental and Human Rights Organizations of all above countries:
I.E. :
Water Aid Nepal
High Powered Bagmati Conservation Development Committee
Himalaya University Consortium
British Council
UN-Habitat
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)
Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL)
National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC)
Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS)
National Water Commission (NWC)
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
WHO - World Health Organization
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

Businesses: Water Bottlers, Pepsico, Coca-Cola, etc

9. Number of National and International delegates expected to participate: As mentioned by EP

10. The subject matter of the conference is Water Access is a Human Right. This is an apolitical, Civil Society, and governmental responsibility to ensure this human right for the people, as well as to regulate the commercial and business response in the nature of water as a human right.

Proposed structure
The 2011 conference “Water as Basic Human Rights” will include the following models

• Ministerial Keynote presentations, specialized knowledge speakers and panels.
• Press Conferences
• Government only panels and audiences.
• Open sessions and registration and by invitation only sessions for high level talks.
• Thematic sessions convened by global leaders in their filed.
• Working sessions to review and further develop activities within focused research program.
• Poster sessions, linked to the thematic and working sessions
• Public events to facilitate knowledge exchange and open source knowledge workshops.
• Shared Governance and shared Politics of Development.
• Environmental Parliament Ambassador Training.
• UN Development Program Advocates and Emissaries training

Along the Water Conference we ought to examine the consensus of the Climate Change in relation to water, glacier melt down, polar melt, arctic ocean defrost and fossil waters:

What needs to be worked out most urgently is how best to deal with global warming and climate change.

Here's a proposed Action Plan:

> 1. Adapt and deal with symptoms (preparation, preservation, plantation, etc)

> 2. Combat causes of global warming

> Long-term impacts

> Cut CO2 emissions and remove CO2 from atmosphere and oceans.

> Short-term impacts.

> Reflect more sunlight back into space.

> Reduce pollutants other than CO2

> Reduce CH4 and N2O emissions, see B.

> Reduce emissions of gases such as HFCs, PFCs, CFCs and HCFCs.

> Reduce further pollutants

> Reduce emissions of pollutants such as BC, CO, NOx and VOCs.

> Produce extra hydroxyl.