<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.23588">
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV>Был приглашен на 1й водный Форум Месопотамии и не жалею что поехал в
Иракский Курдистан.</DIV>
<DIV>В приложении -декларация, которую я от имени РбГ подписал, так как
пришлось вовлечься в формулировку и выполнение ряда её пунктов.</DIV>
<DIV>В регионе очень боевое, но раздробленное гражданское общество. Такой форум
прошел впервые.</DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV>Придется им помогать, надо подумать как это делать эффективно.
<BR></DIV>
<DIV>ЕАС</DIV>
<DIV>РбГ<BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><BR>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>
<DIV dir=ltr class=gmail_attr>---------- Forwarded message ---------<BR>From: <B
dir=auto class=gmail_sendername>Toon Bijnens</B> <SPAN dir=ltr><<A
href="mailto:bijnens.toon@gmail.com">bijnens.toon@gmail.com</A>></SPAN><BR>Date:
Wed, Apr 17, 2019 at 4:02 PM<BR>Subject: “Water is Under Assault in Mesopotamia”
– Final Declaration 1st Mesopotamia Water Forum<BR><BR></DIV><BR><BR>
<DIV dir=ltr>
<P></P>
<H1>“Water is Under Assault in Mesopotamia” – Final Declaration 1st Mesopotamia
Water Forum</H1>
<P>Herewith the final declaration of the 1st Mesopotamian Water Forum, which was
held on April 6-8, 2019 in Sulaimani (Sulaymaniyah) in the Kurdistan Region of
Iraq. More than 180 water activists from the Mesopotamia region and other
countries gathered for the 3-day forum at Sulaimani University.</P>
<P>Several civil society organizations from all over Mesopotamia – in particular
members of the Save the Tigris Campaign – organized this water forum, which
consisted of several plenary sessions and nine workshops. It was an open space
to give voice to civil society of the region, too often excluded from decisions
on water. The forum was accompanied by a photo exhibition on the upper Tigris
River.</P>
<P>The activists denounced the grave impacts of dams and other water
infrastructures on social structures, river ecosystems, cultural heritage, and
local economies. The lack of democratic, decision-making mechanisms was
highlighted. Another important aspect that was critiqued is the use of dams as
weapons of hegemony by upstream states and powers against downstream
communities. Strong alternative approaches were proposed to counter these
developments.</P>
<P>After a vibrant discussion of the final declaration, it was decided to
organize the 2nd Mesopotamian Water Forum in Diyarbakir (Amed).</P>
<P><I>Water for Life and Water for Peace!</I></P>
<P>Below the final declaration in English.</P>
<H2><B>Water is under assault in Mesopotamia</B></H2>
<P><I>Declaration 1st Mesopotamian Water Forum (MWF)</I></P>
<P><I>University of Sulaimani,<BR>Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan Region of Iraq 6-8
April 2019</I></P>
<P>Over-extraction; the draining of marshes and wetlands; deforestation; too
many irrigation projects, poorly-drained land; pesticides and fertiliser
run-off; contamination by poorly or often un-treated discharges from industry as
well as households; the widespread building of large and cascade small dams; the
increasing exploitation of groundwater aquifers; stream channelization; inter
catchment water transfer schemes; and the ravages of fossil-fuel-induced
climatic change have variously disrupted hydrological cycles and created
conditions of severe local and regional scarcity. For human and non-human
beings, such physical scarcities have been exacerbated by policies aimed at
commodifying and/or politicising water, denying access to the common good of
water.</P>
<P>Taken separately, each of those assaults would be cause for grave concern.
Taken together, they pose a threat to the collective survival of humans and
non-humans alike. Defending water and the right of all forms of life to access
to water, in Mesopotamia, is now a critical civic duty: without water, there can
be no life.</P>
<P>Water is a crucial element of our culture and spirituality. Many legends,
myths, songs, poems, prayers, and dances are centered on water. This has been
the case since humans settled in Mesopotamia up to 13.000 years ago.</P>
<P>Within Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran – the four states through which the
rivers of the Mesopotamian Basin flow – the multiple crises affecting water are
no accident. For the past century or more, governments, business interests and
the military have recklessly pursued policies that have polluted and degraded
the region’s rivers and ecosystems.</P>
<P>Hundred of thousands have been forcibly displaced from their homes to make
way for dams and water transfer projects. The riverine environment has been
severely degraded, threatening the survival of many species of flora and fauna;
the health of citizens has been put at risk; and economic and social
inequalities have increased.</P>
<P>None of this has gone unchallenged. Throughout the Mesopotamian region,
vibrant movements for environmental and social justice have long sought to
exercise their constitutional rights to campaign for access to clean and safe
water. In many instances, they have been met by arrest, imprisonment or
worse.</P>
<P>Committed to working for peaceful, sustainable and equitable solutions to
these multiple injustices, over 150 water activists from the region, together
with like-minded colleagues from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe, gathered
at the University of Sulaimani in the Kurdistan region of Iraq from 6-8 April
2019 to participate in the first ever Mesopotamian Water Forum.</P>
<P>We met in the spirit of solidarity and mutual learning. We interrogated the
many causes of water scarcity, exploring the complex ways in which demand for
water is mediated through economic and social systems. We learned how the
intensive construction of dams and other water infrastructure schemes have
created water scarcity.</P>
<P>We explored alternative ways of managing water in the interests of the many,
not the few. We heard of new initiatives, notably in the Rojava/Northeastern
region of war-torn Syria, to evolve new participatory approaches to water
governance, involving all citizens – regardless of ethnicity, gender or religion
– in bottom-up, consensual approaches to decision-making.</P>
<P>We people of Mesopotamia – and the allies present at the Mesopotamian Water
Forum – affirmed that, despite our diverse cultural, social, political and
environmental realities, our struggles are one, and we expressed our solidarity
with all those who struggle for water justice in the region and
internationally.</P>
<P>We resolved to:</P>
<P>1.Challenge destructive and exploitative water policies in the region,
recognising the particular burden on women and other oppressed identities, and
addressing their underlying causes.</P>
<P>2. Mobilise support for negotiated agreements under legally binding
international law that would ensure the equitable sharing of water of the
Euphrates and Tigris for the benefit of all life, both human and non-human, in
the region;</P>
<P>3. Stand against the use of water as a weapon for hegemony and to work to
ensure that water is a tool for cooperation and sustainable peace. Upstream
states in Mesopotamia must ensure the rights of people downstream to water.</P>
<P>4. Call for an end to the recent cutting of water flows by Turkey and Iran to
Syria and Iraq.</P>
<P>5. Call to prevent the flooding of the 12000-year-old city of Hasankeyf
caused by the Ilisu Dam and to preserve the unique natural and cultural heritage
of the Iraqi Mesopotamian Marshlands from degradation.</P>
<P>6. Build alliances, nationally, regionally and internationally to evolve
policies and practices that would democratise water management.</P>
<P>7. Ensure that water is used in ways that prioritise the collective right of
all, rather than the few, to survival;</P>
<P>8. Considering that most diverted water goes to irrigation, the following
points are crucial: For farmers in a subsistence economy, clean water is vital,
which is why in areas close to water no chemicals should be used. As hybrid
seeds and GMO seeds require too much water and harm the ecosystems, local seeds
should be used. Animal shelter should not be built close to water so that no
serious harm is caused to waters. The water used in agriculture should not be
contaminated by industry. Irrigation close to the water course is feasible, but
no water should be transferred to areas far away from the water course. Thus,
instead of transfering water to plants, plants appropriate to the climate and
precipitation regime should be cultivated.</P>
<P>9. The pollution and destruction of the Tigris River starts in an intensive
way far upstream. One reason for this is that the river has no river status in
the upstream stretch until Bismil city. We call for an international campaign to
declare the river status for the upper-most stretch of the Tigris River.<BR>To
strengthen the Save the Tigris Campaign (STC) as a network through which water
activists in Mesopotamia can exchange information and analysis, explore
commonalities and differences, prepare common statements and reports and
organize common activities/campaigns.</P>
<P>10. Develop the Mesopotamian Water Forum as an open space for advocating for
new decision-making processes at municipal, national and regional levels through
which environmentally and socially just water policies can be inclusively
formulated and promoted.</P>
<P>11. Implement the specific recommendations made by workshops at the
Forum.</P>
<P>12. We have committed to organise the 2nd Mesopotamian Water Forum in
Diyarbakir (Amed) / Turkey in the near future.</P>
<P><I>Main contributing organizations:</I></P>
<P><I>Save the Tigris Campaign (STC)<BR>Humat Dijla (Tigris Keepers),
Iraq<BR>Mesopotamia Ecology Movement, North Kurdistan<BR>Iraqi Civil Society
Solidarity Initiative (ICSSI), Iraq<BR>Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive,
Turkey<BR>People’s Campaign to Save the Kind Zagros, Iran<BR>Waterkeepers Iraq,
Kurdistan Region of Iraq<BR>Make Rojava Green Again Campaign, Rojava/Northeast
Syria<BR>Ecology Union, TurkeyMountain Watch, Iran</I><BR><I>DOZ international,
Northeast Syria<BR>Union of Turkish Chambers of Engineers and Architects
(TMMOB), Diyarbakir (Amed) Branch, Turkey<BR>KAREZE Environmental Organization,
Iran<BR>Lebanon Eco Movement, Lebanon<BR>Rivers Without Boundaries, East and
North Asia<BR>Movement of Defence of Water, Land and Environment (MODATIMA),
Chile<BR>Un Ponte Per, Italy<BR>Corner House, UK<BR>International Rivers,
USA<BR>Ecosocialist Horizon, North America<BR>Water Grabbing Observatory,
Italy<BR>Italian Forum of Water Movement, Italy</I></P>
<P><I>For more information: <A
href="https://www.savethetigris.org/international-mesopotamian-water-forum"
target=_blank>https://www.savethetigris.org/international-mesopotamian-water-forum</A></I></P>
<DIV><IMG alt=MWF-banner-FINAL.jpg
src="cid:9B94A97D2D8A4665ACA25892F161E2FE@lewpostnew" width=471
height=236><BR></DIV>
<P><I></I></P></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV>
<P></P>
<DIV>-- <BR>Вы получили это сообщение, поскольку подписаны на
группу "seu-international".<BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=esimonovster@gmail.com href="mailto:esimonovster@gmail.com">eugene
simonov</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, April 17, 2019 12:55 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Fwd: “Water is Under Assault in Mesopotamia” – Final
Declaration 1st Mesopotamia Water Forum</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></BODY></HTML>