“Algeria has proposed to make a water transfer from the Rhone or the Rhine to «satiate the thirst of the desert», because it considers that «Europa is being warmed» by the gas sent across the continent through pipelines and is entitled to receive the same treatment”
World Water Forum, April 19, 2011.
Natural capital accounting is the latest effort to financialise our air, water, forests and land by putting a price on nature to save it. In the name of sustainable economic development, focusing on our natural capital, or environmental "assets", the theory claims that if private companies and countries account for environmental resources used in the production of other goods - accounting for their cost to the environment - we can better see the sustainability of our current economic path. The hope is that this knowledge leads us to mitigate the chances of degrading natural resources beyond their renewable capacity.
On November 14, the European Commission adopted “A Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Water Resources”, commonly known as the Blueprint. The Blueprint is made of 18 measures intended to increase the EU’s political efficiency in the field of water policy. These 18 measures were put forward after evaluation of the European legislative framework of water management through a procedure called Fitness Check. The Fitness Check identified inconsistencies, deficiencies and difficulties in implementing the Water Framework Directive (WFD ) adopted in 2000 as well as various associated policies (urban wastewater, nitrates, groundwater, flooding...). Most of the measures suggested by the Blueprint have to do with the economic and financial aspects.
Preface
The private shareholdings in the Berliner Wasserbetriebe (BWB) were bought back by the State of Berlin in late 2013. We wish to take this further and democratise both Berliner Wasserbetriebe and water policy as a whole, and so achieve transparent, socially just and environmentally sustainable water management in Berlin.
This demands a complete return of the formerly part-privatised company to ownership of the State of Berlin. To this end, the Berliner Wassertisch has drawn up a draft water charter for Berlin. Our intention is to develop this draft further by means of a broadly-based debate within society. We wish to bring together all the different areas of expertise on the subject of water in our city, and to invite Berlin’s population to actively participate. We regard the Berlin water charter as the basis for statutory regulations and as a guide for Berliner Wasserbetriebe.