25/02/2011 Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
While underlining that climate change compounds the problem of malnutrition in the world’s most arid regions, the Environment Committee drew attention to the fact that water shortages also led to acts of violence and conflicts “which may threaten a state’s political and social stability”. The close links between water and security are being confirmed, said the parliamentarians, while noting that water had become “a military and political tool and a new weapon for terrorists”.
Following the proposals by the rapporteur Bernard Marquet (Monaco, ALDE), the committee called on European governments to recognise that access to water is a fundamental human right and to apply and if necessary revise the rules of international water law. The systems for the joint management of transfrontier rivers and aquifers should be reviewed, and transparency and the flow of information between all stakeholders should be improved. The parliamentarians also advocated the implementation of a programme of assistance and co-operation with countries which suffer from water shortages.
They urged parliaments and all other interested parties to take part in the helpdesk, as recommended by the 5th World Water Forum held in Istanbul in 2009.