Mumbai, the most densely-populated city in India with 13 million inhabitants in 2006, is currently facing a severe water crisis. The quantities of water available have reached a critical level, meaning the various uses of water resources have to be prioritised.

During a seminar held on 3 December 2009 in Hanoi (Vietnam) on public-private partnerships for water management and the environment, Charles Chaumin (President of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT Asia) and Frédéric GOURDIN (Director of SUEZ ENVIRONMENT China at that time) submitted responses to help Vietnam “reinforce its environmental policies”.

The 1st forum of the African Monitoring of the Environment for Sustainable Development programme (AMESD) was held in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on 1-4 December 2009. It was designed to set up a continental policy to manage water resources using “global structures for satellite observation of changes in rain basins”.

At the end of 2009, the 2030 Water Resources Group (McKinsey & Company, financial institutions, agricultural and industrial enterprises, experts, etc.) issued a report on the economic and social risks induced by possible water shortages on the 2030 timescale, and a number of recommendations to prevent them.

On October 23, 2009, the World Bank published a new study on the water treatment and distribution activities of major private operators (such as SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT, Veolia, Saur and Agbar) in emerging countries. The study concludes that “well-managed public utilities can be found within the developing world”, but that “the private sector has much to offer”.

Given the urgency of climate change, the mobilisation of all players is essential. Within the Copenhagen Conference on climate, SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT has presented its contribution to international action to confront climate change through a “White Paper”.

The French National Observatory on the Effects of Climate Warming (ONERC) has just submitted its third report to Jean-Louis Borloo, the French Minister for Ecology. The report presents the Observatory’s results for ten key sectors: natural risks, water resources, biodiversity, health, road infrastructures, agriculture, forestry, energy, tourism and regional development. It indicates that the annual costs related to climate change could reach several billion euros if adaptive measures are not quickly taken.

According to the preliminary conclusions of a global World Bank study entitled “Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change” (EACC), adapting to climate change will cost developing countries between USD 75 to 100 billion per year between 2010 and 2050 if global temperatures rise 2°C by the latter date.

Currently, 39 countries recognise the right to water in their constitution; the UN first specifically mentioned it as a separate human right in 2002. The challenge of our times, however, is to enforce this recognised legal right by improving the situation of populations that still have no access to water. We invite you to meet Loïc Fauchon, President of the World Water Council.

View the last interview within the framework of the workshop with stakeholders on October 27, 2009: Antoine Malafosse, Managing Director of CFFD-Terre Solidaire (the Catholic Committee against Hunger and for Development) presents the role of the CCFD, which is based on respect for human dignity. Among its actions, the CCFD makes international companies sensitive to their social and environmental impacts in the countries where the are present.