WORLD FORUM ON WATER, AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT FOR LIFE

VATICAN CITY, MAR 22, 2003 (VIS) - Archbishop Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, today addressed the Third World Water Forum in Kyoto, Japan, and presented a Note prepared by the council entitled "Water, An Essential Element for Life." The Forum began March 16 and ends on Sunday, March 23.

In his remarks, the archbishop said that "even the title of the Note reflects the concern of the Holy See, as well as its ethical and religious understanding of the many complex water-related problems. Water is a good that must serve for the development of the whole person and of every person."

He explained that "after the first section, in which some of the fundamental moral principles related to the question of water are laid out, the Note deals with the key problems which governments and the international community have to face today at the social, economic, political and environmental level. In the final section, after having acknowledged the importance water holds within religious traditions, the Note considers in some detail the right to water because of the growing importance that the efforts towards its full recognition are assuming in the public debate."

In conclusion, Archbishop Martino said that "after the Third World Water Forum, and in the light of its conclusions, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace will deal with the topic of water in a more developed and detailed document. The topic is closely related to the message of the social doctrine of the Church concerning human promotion and is also an extremely urgent problem in today's world."

The document consists of an Introduction, six parts and a Conclusion. Part I, entitled "A Far-Reaching Question," notes that "water plays a central and critical role in all aspects of life - in the national environment, in our economies, in food security, in production, in politics. Water has indeed a special significance for the great religions." It adds that water is, for the poor, a crucial issue for life, indeed "a right to life issue."

Part II, "The Water Issue: Some Ethical Considerations," highlights that respect for life must guide development policy, that the human person is central to policy issues, including water, and that water is included in the "principle of the universal destination of the goods of creation."

Part III, "Water: A Social Good," examines Water for Food and Rural Development, Safe Drinking Water, Health and Sanitation and Peace and/or Conflict. Part IV then looks at "Water: An Economic Good," studying The Economics of Water, Water and Energy, Private Sector Engagement and Privatization. In Part V, "Water: An Environmental Good," the Note reviews Environmentally Sound Sanitation and Disaster Mitigation and Risk Management.

Part VI, entitled "Other Issues Impacting Water Supply," looks at the issues of Population, Politics, A Right to Water and Poverty. The Conclusion states that "none of the issues presented here is done in isolation. Only in a true holistic approach can the human being confront the challenges set forward in addressing the issue of water. The Holy See's contribution is presented with the conviction of the central role of the human being in caring for the environment and its constitutive elements."

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