33 Amendments of Caroline ROOSE related to 2021/2187(INI)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 (new)
Paragraph -1 (new)
-1. Whereas according to the United Nations, there are about 2.2 billion people who do not have access to safe drinking water and 4.2 billion people who lack sanitation services[1]; [1] UN Water, 2021.
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 a (new)
Paragraph -1 a (new)
-1 a. Whereas it is estimated that by 2050, 25% of the world’s population will live in countries where the lack of freshwater is chronic and recurrent[1]; [1] The UN global water Conventions: Fostering sustainable development and peace, UN Water, 1 Dec. 20, p.6.
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 b (new)
Paragraph -1 b (new)
-1 b. Whereas water stress in developing countries may occur in case of rainfall deficits; the presence of weak institutions around irrigation and water markets; sudden population growth resulting i.e. from forced displacement;
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 c (new)
Paragraph -1 c (new)
-1 c. Whereas water insecurity (resulting from limitations in water availability, access, use, quality and reliability) threatens food security and generates waterborne disease such as cholera or diarrheal, which is the second- leading cause of death in children under the age of five globally[1]; [1] Sources: UN Water 2019.
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 d (new)
Paragraph -1 d (new)
-1 d. Whereas the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need to accelerate progress on WASH in schools;
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 e (new)
Paragraph -1 e (new)
-1 e. Whereas the ongoing global boom of dams, linked to energy production and irrigation water provision, raises concerns in terms of access to water, including through the evaporation of water storage;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 f (new)
Paragraph -1 f (new)
-1 f. Whereas the surge of energy crops, such as rapeseed, palm oil, soybean, corn, maize, etc., which are produced for biodiesel and ethanol, compete with water use linked to food crops;
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 g (new)
Paragraph -1 g (new)
-1 g. Whereas cities across Africa are particularly facing escalating water challenges due to poor urban planning, unaffordable, unreliable and unsafe access to water and sanitation and environmental degradation and water pollution;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 h (new)
Paragraph -1 h (new)
-1 h. Whereas deforestation and forest degradation in watersheds jeopardise water availability by altering local hydrology and reducing the interseasonal stability of water supplies;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 i (new)
Paragraph -1 i (new)
-1 i. Whereas healthy ecosystems enable to improve water quantity and quality, while increasing resilience to climate change;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Reaffirms that access to water and sanitation is a vital imperative and a fundamental right that needs to be addressed in a context of competing water uses between agriculture, energy, extractive and other industrial activities relying on a large quantity of water resources;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Notes with concern that while climate change will exacerbate water- related challenges, including increasing the magnitude and frequency of floods, water quality is also deteriorating due to increasing pollution, resulting i.e. from agricultural run-off and untreated industrial and municipal wastewater;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1 b. Notes with concern that the EU is the largest virtual water “importer” in the world, notably through its imports of agricultural products and its biofuel policy, which impact upon local water availability[1]; [1] Sources: DROI Study entitled “The Human Right to Drinking Water: Impact of Large-Scale Agriculture and Industry” (2021).
Amendment 28 #
1 c. Highlights that some of the proposed climate response to address climate change may impact negatively on the universal right to water, as in the case of large-scale dams and the cultivation of food and feed crops used for biofuels; accordingly, highlights the importance to implement fully-fledged Human Right Impact Assessment related to the EU biofuel policy and to any agricultural and energy investment projects financed by the European Fund for Sustainable Development; in particular, calls for the inclusion, in the remit of the revision of the Renewable Energy Directive, of water provisions in the definition of the sustainability criteria on biofuel crops;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 d (new)
Paragraph 1 d (new)
1 d. Recalls the state obligations to fulfil the human right to drinking water entails i.e. to ensuring the setting-up of participation mechanism, including the implementation of the Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of Indigenous People and Local Communities in relation to large-scale energy infrastructure (such as dams) and extractive industries, the systematic recognition of customary rights to drinking water and the provision of justiciable remedies (through complaint mechanism) in case of human rights violations;
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the European Union to promote a rights-based approach to access to water and sanitation in its external action in accordance with the UN-declared Water Action Decade 2018-2028, and in keeping with Sustainable Development Goal 6, which entails to anchor the water-energy- food security nexus into its development aid and water diplomacy;
Amendment 51 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Is concerned that easy access to drinking water is severely restricted in developing countries (only one person in two enjoys such access) and extremely limited in sub-Saharan Africa (only one person in eight in rural areas); stresses that access to water is intrinsically linked to health and education;
Amendment 54 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Notes with concern that according to the World Health Organisation and UNICEF, 2 out of 5 children without a basic drinking water service at school lived in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2019[1];emphasises the importance of providing basic water, sanitation and waste management facilities in schools for eradicating waterborne diseases and reducing the transmission of infectious diseases and protecting global health; [1] WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene, “Special Focus on Covid- 19”, 2020, p. 7.
Amendment 59 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3 b. Recalls that agriculture mobilizes 70% of water resources; calls for a coordinated and coherent water management in developing countries. In view of the large-scale consumption of water for industrial purposes; considers that it is necessary to promote systems and methods of use that take account of the sustainability of aquifers and, in particular, agricultural systems that incorporate improved irrigation techniques adapted to resource-poor environments;
Amendment 61 #
3 c. Calls on the EU and its Member States to fully integrate water into its external food security policy; insists that EU funding for agriculture must be in line with Agenda 2030, the Paris Climate Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity and prioritise investments in agroecology, whose practises can buffer rural livelihoods from climate change and increasing rainfall variability while minimising the environmental footprint;
Amendment 62 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 d (new)
Paragraph 3 d (new)
3 d. Recognises the central role of healthy ecosystems in achieving water security; in particular, highlights the benefits of nature assets for water management, such as forest conservation to regulate the water supply, mangroves, wetland restoration/conservation to reduce potential flood damage, etc.; therefore, believes that the protection and restoration of water-related ecosystems should be a central pillar of water resources management, especially to mitigate and adapt to climate change;
Amendment 63 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 e (new)
Paragraph 3 e (new)
3 e. Highlights the potential risks of water grabbing and water pollution associated to foreign direct investments in large-scale land acquisitions for agriculture and extractive industries; calls on the EU and its Member States to enact water-related mandatory due diligence and reporting standards for corporations;
Amendment 67 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls urgently, following the COVID-19 pandemic and given the increasing number of climate change- related natural disasters, for access to water and sanitation to be made a priority in developing countries, in particular in the least developed countries and small island developing states and in humanitarian context;
Amendment 71 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Highlights the need to link life- saving humanitarian responses to the development of sustainable water and sanitation systems for all; to this effect, calls on the EU to support the public authorities in developing countries in targeting policies to increase water connections, affordability and availability for the most socially vulnerable;
Amendment 73 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Recalls that the Commission mobilised almost EUR 2.6 billion over the period 2014-2020 for water-related issues, and calls for steady efforts to be pursued in the context of the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument that go beyond 20% of spending on human development, while ensuring that a consistent part of the 30% dedicated to fight climate change is allocated to strengthen water and sanitation infrastructures; highlights the need to tailor infrastructure investments to local and historical contexts, while investing in the protection and restoration of natural ecosystems (including forests, floodplains, wetlands, etc.), which often provide more cost-effective and sustainable water management solutions than conventional infrastructure remedies, in terms of water storage, water treatment, erosion control, moderate extreme events;
Amendment 78 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Highlights the role of EU trade policy to achieving the fundamental human right to water; to this end, calls for the inclusion of water-related provisions in EU trade agreements as “essential elements” clauses; to harness the Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapter of FTAs through the definition of binding and mandatory commitments and standards related to multilateral environmental agreements and to develop safeguards in investment and trade agreements to prevent the privatisation of water, which may jeopardise the achievement of universal access to drinking water;
Amendment 81 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5 b. Recalls that climate variability, and its impact on water availability, affect existing patterns of migration; in particular, notes that a recent World Bank report estimates that climate change could lead up to 216 million people to become internal migrants; while the vast majority of these migrants are expected to end up in urban areas, notes with concern that most cities in developing countries are not prepared for efficient and sustainable expansion, notably regarding the provision of critical public services, such as water management and water supply; calls on the EU to step up its support to contribute to making cities in developing countries more resilient to water shocks, including through sustainable urban planning, while providing better integration of rural migrants into urban settings;
Amendment 82 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5 c. Stresses that Africa’s rapidly changing urban context necessitates particularly urgent action to build water resilience; highlights the deep inequalities in access to basic infrastructure which place disproportionate water-related burdens on the urban poor, while urban construction, agriculture and extractive industries often lead to pollution of surface water, exploitation of groundwater sources and forests; notes with deep concern that water security has been limited by poor governance, aging water delivery systems, depleted groundwater supplies, rising water costs and widespread chemical and microbial contamination;
Amendment 83 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 d (new)
Paragraph 5 d (new)
5 d. Calls on the EU to step up its technical and financial support to build up urban water resilience in Africa; more broadly, stresses the need to develop a holistic water and sanitation management approach, notably through the involvement of key players across sectors and industries that impact directly or indirectly the water system, such as land development and management, planning, construction, mining, roads and drainage, transport, farmers and forestry;
Amendment 87 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Draws attention to the major geostrategic dimension of water, which can give rise to sudden conflict and forced displacement; notes with concern that in many parts of the world, cooperative arrangements for transboundary rivers, lakes and aquifers are lacking or are too weak to deal with growing water-related challenges; stresses the benefits of transboundary water cooperation to providing for equitable benefit sharing, avoiding conflicts, fostering the energy- food-water ecosystem nexus, safeguarding sustainable water management and ecosystem protection; calls on the Commission to promote regional cooperation on the shared management of water resources around the 286 transboundary river basins;
Amendment 90 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Encourages developing countries to join and to strive for the full implementation of the two United Nations global water Conventions (UN Water Convention and the UN Watercourse Convention), as important tools to support water diplomacy, peace and conflict prevention through transboundary water cooperation;
Amendment 97 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls for coordinated and coherent water management in developing countries with regard to its various uses (agriculture, energy production, industry, etc.),Stresses the need to address the complexity of competing and increasing demands of water resources; recalls that fragmented governance and the lack of coordination between institutions and sectoral agencies are major barriers to building resilience into water systems; accordingly, urges for coordinated and coherent water management in developing countries with regard to its various uses (agriculture, energy production, industry, etc.); reminds that an integrated water resources management policy should be transparent, inclusive, and should encourage multi-stakeholder planning and participation across all sectors and at all levels; and calls on the European Union to provide better support to developing countries for water resource conversation and sustainable water management;
Amendment 111 #
8. Stresses the need to support smallReminds that solutions that are co- designed with local knowledge and community participation will be the most effective in achieving social and community resilience towards water- related shocks; stresses the need to diversify water supply sources as well as management and conservation options, to increase funding for policies and programmes that improve locally led adaptation, to support small-scale, off-grid and decentralised projects, including those in rural areas, and to pay particular attention to women, children and the most vulnerable communities as regards access to water and sanitation.;