1st Edition

Water Ethics Marcelino Botin Water Forum 2007

    In the context of the current financial crisis, and at a time of deep global change, growing attention is paid to the global norms and ethical values that could underpin future global policy. Water is a key global resource. At the 3rd Marcelino Botin Foundation Water Workshop, held in Santander, Spain, June 12-14, 2007, the role of ethics in the deep roots, values, and the potential commonalities of the global water policy were discussed.
    Experts from different cultural, geographic and religious backgrounds considered the different ethical points of view to enhance the debate on how ethical considerations can play a more significant and explicit role in water development and management.
    Common ground for all contributing authors was considered to be the UN Declaration of 1948, and more specifically the basic aspects related to water ethics: 1. the dignity of every human being and 2. the necessity of solidarity among all human beings.

    The book is divided in 8 sections which correspond to the papers presented at the Workshop:
    Some Cultural Traditional Approaches on Water Ethics
    Some Ethical Aspects of New Water Management
    Water as a Human Right and as an Economic Resource
    Water and Poverty
    Groundwater Use and its Ethical Aspects
    Ethics of Water Ownership and Management
    Corruption, Transparency and Participation in the Water Sector
    Ethical Aspects of Unforeseen and Extreme Events Management such as Floods and Droughts

    PRESENTATION, by the Marcelino Botín Foundation.
    FOREWORD, by M. Ramón Llamas, Luis Martínez-Cortina & Aditi Mukherji  
    KEYNOTE ADDRESS, by Ana Palacio
    I – SOME CULTURAL TRADITIONAL APPROACHES ON WATER ETHICS
    1. Water and Wisdom as Embodied in the Works of Thales of Miletus, by Alejo J. Sison
    2. Water and Conflict: Whose Ethics is to Prevail? by Dipak Gyawali
    3. Water Management Ethics in the Framework of Environmental and General Ethics: The Case of Islamic Water Ethics, by Magdy Hefny
    II – SOME ETHICAL ASPECTS OF NEW WATER MANAGEMENT
    4. Water Rights and Water Governance: A Cautionary Tale and the Case for Interdisciplinary Governance, by Charles Sampford
    5. Ethics and Uncertainty in Integrated Water Resources Management with Special Reference to Transboundary Issues, by Janusz Kindler
    6. Water and Ethics in Food Production and Provision – How to Ensure Water and Food Security and Equity into the 21st Century? by Karen G. Villholth
    III – WATER AS A HUMAN RIGHT AND AS AN ECONOMIC RESOURCE
    7. Water: A Human Right or an Economic Resource? by Luis Veiga da Cunha
    8. Water as a Human Right and as an Economic Resource: An Example From Mexico, by Luis E. Marín, Ricardo Sandoval, Fanny Tagle, Eva Sánchez & Víctor H. Martínez
    IV – WATER AND POVERTY: IS THERE A LINK?
    9. Poverty and the Ethics of Water Development, by Caroline A. Sullivan
    10. Monitoring Water Poverty: A Vision from Development Practitioners, by Alejandro Jiménez, Jorge Molinero, & Agustí Pérez-Foguet
    11. Water and the Twin Challenge of Feeding 3 Billion New People and Ending Rural Poverty, by Paul Polak & Stephanie Fry
    V – ETHICS OF GROUNDWATER USE
    12. Specific Aspects of Groundwater Use in Water Ethics, by M. Ramón Llamas & Luis Martínez-Cortina
    13. Economics, Ethics and Politics of Groundwater: Evidence from West Bengal, India, by Aditi Mukherji
    VI – ETHICS OF WATER OWNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
    14. Achieving Ethical Business Conduct in Public and Private Water Enterprises – Troublesome Challenge or Enhanced Opportunity? by Reinier Lock & Kathy S. Shandling
    15. Water Ethics and Business, by Jack Moss
    VII – CORRUPTION, TRANSPARENCY AND PARTICIPATION IN THE WATER SECTOR
    16. Corruption and Transparency in the Water Sector, by Donal O’Leary
    17. Public Participation to Promote Water Ethics and Transparency, by William J. Cosgrove
    VIII – ETHICAL ASPECTS OF UNFORESEEN AND EXTREME EVENTS MANAGEMENT: FLOODS AND   DROUGHTS
    18. Water Disasters and Ethics, by Janos J. Bogardi
    19. Identifying Actions to Reduce Drought Impacts, by Enrique Cabrera & José Roldán
     PARTICIPANTS IN THE WORKSHOP

    Biography

     M.R. Llamas is emeritus professor at the Complutense University of Madrid. Fellow of Spain’s Royal Academy of Sciences (1986). Fellow of the European Academy of Science and Arts (2005). Dr. Llamas has a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering and another Ph.D. in Geology.
    He is author or co-author of nearly hundred books or monographs and about three hundred scientific papers.
    Director of a large research program, launched (1999–2003) by the Marcelino Botin Foundation, on the role of groundwater resources on water policy. 

     Luis Martínez Cortina is Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (University of Cantabria, Spain). He has worked as a researcher of several European Union Research Projects, and also of the Groundwater Project, launched in 1999 by the Spanish Foundation Marcelino Botín (four years long), and focussed on the role of groundwater resources on water policy. He is co-author of four books and monographs, and is the author or co-author of about 40 scientific articles. Currently, he is a full researcher of the Spanish Geological Survey (IGME).

     Aditi Mukherji is a researcher (social scientist) at International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Colombo. IWMI is a CGIAR center dedicated to research on water, food and environment. Aditi obtained her PhD degree from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom in 2007.
    She has written around 20 academic papers on social and economic aspects of groundwater irrigation in South Asia. She is currently working on groundwater issues in South Asia and Central Asia and also on transboundary issues Nile river basin in Africa.