International agua con justicia para todos resistencia mundial y local contra el control empresarial y la mercantilización del agua

This report by Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) examines the global trend of water privatization and the role of international financial institutions and corporations in commodifying water resources. It argues that water should be treated as a fundamental human right and a social good rather than a commodity, detailing various local and international resistance movements against corporate control of water.

• The World Bank and other international financial institutions promote water privatization by conditioning loans to impoverished countries on the promise of privatizing water services, often under the guise of 'public sector reform'.
• Privatization often leads to significant increases in water tariffs, which can exclude the poorest populations from accessing potable water. In Ghana, conditions imposed by the World Bank and IMF in May 2001 resulted in a 95% increase in water tariffs.
• The global water market is heavily dominated by two French multinationals, Suez and Vivendi Universal, which together control water companies in over 100 countries and serve more than 100 million people.
• The European Union is actively pushing for greater market access for its water multinationals through the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), targeting 109 countries to open their markets for the collection, extraction, purification, and distribution of water.
• In Cochabamba, Bolivia, popular mobilization forced the departure of Aguas del Tunari (a Bechtel and Edison joint venture) after tariffs rose by up to 300%. Bechtel subsequently sued the Bolivian government for $25 million in lost profits using a bilateral investment treaty between Bolivia and the Netherlands.
• In Indonesia, the government has granted water concessions to companies like Danone and Coca Cola, leading to the bottling and sale of groundwater at prices where a liter of bottled water costs more than a liter of gasoline.
• The World Water Forum is described as a venue dominated by water and food transnationals, where the World Water Council and Global Water Partnership promote the view of water as an economic good to facilitate private market access.
• In Peru, the Minera Quellaveco project (a joint venture between Anglo American and the World Bank's IFC) threatens the water security of local communities by planning to use 700 liters of water per second and divert a river, potentially destroying the Chilota wetland.
• The French company Alstom is identified as the world's largest builder of large dams, involved in projects such as the Three Gorges Dam in China, which is expected to displace up to 1.9 million people.
• In Malaysia, the privatization of water in the state of Selangor since 1994 has led to continuous tariff increases, including a 37.5% increase for domestic users in April 2001, while 23 of the 27 potable water sources in the state are severely contaminated.

APA

Friends of the Earth International (2003). International agua con justicia para todos resistencia mundial y local contra el control empresarial y la mercantilización del agua. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/water_esp.pdf

Chicago

Friends of the Earth International. International agua con justicia para todos resistencia mundial y local contra el control empresarial y la mercantilización del agua. 2003. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/water_esp.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Friends of the Earth International |title=International agua con justicia para todos resistencia mundial y local contra el control empresarial y la mercantilización del agua |date=January 2003 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/water_esp.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{friendsoftheearthinternational2003international, author = {{Friends of the Earth International}}, title = {{International agua con justicia para todos resistencia mundial y local contra el control empresarial y la mercantilización del agua}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2003}, month = jan, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/water_esp.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }