World Water Council: UN agencies join board despite activist lobby

Three UN agencies, UNESCO, FAO and UN-HABITAT, have been elected on the new Board of Governors of the World Water Council (WWC), organisers of the World Water Forum (WWF). Activists see the election as a reaction to their own lobby to get the United Nations to organise the next World Water Forum instead of the WWC. The activists say that 26 countries’ governments had endorsed their call for a UN-led forum after the 5th WWF in Istanbul in March 2009.

After it became known that the WWC was lobbying to get the UN on board, activist groups started a counter-lobbying offensive with a petition directed at the UN’s Secretary General to prevent UN agencies from joining. The petition, which attracted nearly 700 signatories, was an initiative of the Blue Planet Project of the Council of Canadians.

Reacting to the news of the UN agency sign-on to the WWC, Anil Naidoo of the Blue Plant Project said “it was not unexpected, but is a disappointment. The reality is that these UN agencies have been under severe pressure for some time. I can tell you that there are many good people within the UN who are disturbed by the degree of corporate influence within their agencies”.

The WWC’s new Board of Governors will oversee and guide the Council’s work for the coming three years. The elections took place during the triennial General Assembly for which more than 280 members had gathered in Marseille, France. Through majority rule voting, the members elected the 36 Governors from 74 candidatures and appointed Loic Fauchon to continue to serve as President of the World Water Council.

The rector of UNESCO-IHE Institue for Water Education Andras Szollosi-Nagy was elected as one of the four WWC Bureau Members. UN-HABITAT Executive Director Anna Tibaijuka and the Service Chief of FAO’s Water Development and Management Unit (NRLW) Pasquale Steduto are the two other UN representatives on WWC’s board.

Several other UN agencies are WWC members. In the June 2009 membership list we find the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Bank and the World Meterological Organisation (WMO).