Water Commons Principles
From P2P Foundation
= the Water Commons Principles were developed by Our Water Commons
URL = http://www.ourwatercommons.org/about-us
Text
"We base our work on the following principles:
- Affirm water as a commons, that is, it belongs to everyone and no one, passed onto future generations in sufficient volume and quality
- Ensure that the earth and all of its ecosystems enjoy rights to water for their survival – indeed it is on those ecosystems that human life depends
- Conserve water as society’s first course of action (enforced by law), including suggesting drastic changes to industrial and agricultural practices
- Treat watersheds – the source of water - as a common as well and not simply the water itself
- Encourage local, community management while legally binding communities to respect upstream and downstream neighbors’ rights
- Forge or affirm trans-boundary agreements that respect water sovereignty for both communities and nations
- Provide water as a basic principle of justice, not as an act of charity
- Ensure public delivery and fair pricing of water
- Promote enshrining the right to water in nation-state constitutions, laws and a UN covenant
- Employ innovative legal tools to protect water and manage water as a commons, including through public and community trusts
(http://www.ourwatercommons.org/about-us)
