Water Commons Principles

= the Water Commons Principles were developed by Our Water Commons

URL = http://www.ourwatercommons.org/about-us

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"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)

More Information

1. Our Water Commons
2. Water Commons