Global Institutions and Water Privatisation

Global Institutions and Water Privatisation

The IMF, World Bank, WTO and GATS

International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Founded in 1944, the IMF is one of the most powerful actors in the global economy. Governed primarily by the major shareholding countries, the Group of 7 (G-7), the IMF lends billions of dollars to countries that are experiencing extreme economic imbalances. The loans come with 'conditionalities' that generally include fiscal austerity, de-regulation, privatization, and trade liberalization.

World Bank
Founded in 1944, the World Bank is made up of four distinct agencies that provide loans to governments and private sector businesses, offer policy advice, and arbitrate investment disputes. Also governed by the major shareholding countries, the World Bank exercises powerful influence over cash-strapped developing country governments that must comply with World Bank conditions in order to access loans and debt relief.

World Trade Organization (WTO)
Founded in 1995 as part of the Uruguay Round Agreements of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT), the WTO has dramatically expanded and re-organized the power of global trade agreements. WTO agreements undermine the ability of local and national governments to regulate commerce and have eroded environmental, health, labor, and safety standards, often in the interest of expanding the markets and wealth of major corporations.

General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)
GATS is now part of the WTO. The existing GATS regime seeks to gradually phase out government 'barriers' to international trade and commercial competition in the services sector. Services include health, education, water, transportation, postal delivery, social security, and many others. Many G-7 trade ministers, acting in the interest of major corporations, are attempting to expand the mandate of the GATS even further.

The Global Water Partnership and World Water Council
The Global Water Partnership is a working partnership among all those involved in water management: government agencies, public institutions, private companies, professional organizations, multilateral development agencies and others committed to the Dublin-Rio principles.

Today, this comprehensive partnership actively identifies critical knowledge needs at global, regional and national levels, helps design programs for meeting these needs, and serves as a mechanism for alliance building and information exchange on integrated water resources management.

Although it is widely understood that water should be holistically managed, it was not until the Dublin Conference on Water and the Environment in 1992 and the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 that a more comprehensive approach to water management was judged necessary for sustainable development. This awareness, together with the need for participatory institutional mechanisms related to water, called for a new coordinating organisation. In response to this demand, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) created the Global Water Partnership (GWP) in 1996.

This initiative was based on promoting and implementing integrated water resources management through the development of a worldwide network that could pull together financial, technical, policy and human resources to address the critical issues of sustainable water management.

The World Water Council is the International Water Policy Think Tank dedicated to strengthening the world water movement for an improved management of the world's water resources. The World Water Council was established in Marseille, France, in 1996 as a non-profit non-governmental umbrella organization.

The missions of the World Water Council are to promote awareness and build political commitment on critical water issues at all levels, including the highest decision-making level, to facilitate the efficient conservation, protection, development, planning, management and use of water in all its dimensions on an environmentally sustainable basis for the benefit of all life on earth.