Agenda 21 - control of the water?

[Elwar]

To all of those Agenda 21 folks, I have a vague idea of what it entails but have not found anything specific having to do with controlling our water.

I am giving a speech tomorrow to get on the board of directors of my water company and I would like to be able to site something specific pertaining to the UN's agenda to take over our water.

Any help on this would be much appreciated.

[donnay]

http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/resourcesquality/wpcchap10.pdf
http://www.earthsummit2002.org/ic/freshwater/reschapt18.html
http://ppjg.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/is-the-u-n-stealing-control-of-our-water-and-republic-right-out-from-under-us/

[Travlyr]

Found this on UN's Agenda for the 21st century website (http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/agenda21/res_agenda21_07.shtml). Not sure how it relates though.

D. PROMOTING THE INTEGRATED PROVISION OF ENVIRONMENTAL INFRASTRUCTURE: WATER, SANITATION, DRAINAGE AND SOLID-WASTE MANAGEMENT
BASIS FOR ACTION
7.35. The sustainability of urban development is defined by many parameters relating to the availability of water supplies, air quality and the provision of environmental infrastructure for sanitation and waste management. As a result of the density of users, urbanization, if properly managed, offers unique opportunities for the supply of sustainable environmental infrastructure through adequate pricing policies, educational programmes and equitable access mechanisms that are economically and environmentally sound. In most developing countries, however, the inadequacy and lack of environmental infrastructure is responsible for widespread ill-health and a large number of preventable deaths each year. In those countries conditions are set to worsen due to growing needs that exceed the capacity of Governments to respond adequately.

7.36. An integrated approach to the provision of environmentally sound infrastructure in human settlements, in particular for the urban and rural poor, is an investment in sustainable development that can improve the quality of life, increase productivity, improve health and reduce the burden of investments in curative medicine and poverty alleviation.

7.37. Most of the activities whose management would be improved by an integrated approach, are covered in Agenda 21 as follows: chapter 6 (Protecting and promoting human health conditions), chapters 9 (Protecting the atmosphere), 18 (Protecting the quality and supply of freshwater resources) and 21 (Environmentally sound management of solid wastes and sewage-related issues).

OBJECTIVE
7.38. The objective is to ensure the provision of adequate environmental infrastructure facilities in all settlements by the year 2025. The achievement of this objective would require that all developing countries incorporate in their national strategies programmes to build the necessary technical, financial and human resource capacity aimed at ensuring better integration of infrastructure and environmental planning by the year 2000.

ACTIVITIES
7.39. All countries should assess the environmental suitability of infrastructure in human settlements, develop national goals for sustainable management of waste, and implement environmentally sound technology to ensure that the environment, human health and quality of life are protected. Settlement infrastructure and environmental programmes designed to promote an integrated human settlements approach to the planning, development, maintenance and management of environmental infrastructure (water supply, sanitation, drainage, solid-waste management) should be strengthened with the assistance of bilateral and multilateral agencies. Coordination among these agencies and with collaboration from international and national representatives of local authorities, the private sector and community groups should also be strengthened. The activities of all agencies engaged in providing environmental infrastructure should, where possible, reflect an ecosystem or metropolitan area approach to settlements and should include monitoring, applied research, capacity-building, transfer of appropriate technology and technical cooperation among the range of programme activities.

7.40. Developing countries should be assisted at the national and local levels in adopting an integrated approach to the provision of water supply, energy, sanitation, drainage and solid-waste management, and external funding agencies should ensure that this approach is applied in particular to environmental infrastructure improvement in informal settlements based on regulations and standards that take into account the living conditions and resources of the communities to be served.

7.41. All countries should, as appropriate, adopt the following principles for the provision of environmental infrastructure:

(a) Adopt policies that minimize if not altogether avoid environmental damage, whenever possible;

(b) Ensure that relevant decisions are preceded by environmental impact assessments and also take into account the costs of any ecological consequences;

(c) Promote development in accordance with indigenous practices and adopt technologies appropriate to local conditions;

(d) Promote policies aimed at recovering the actual cost of infrastructure services, while at the same time recognizing the need to find suitable approaches (including subsidies) to extend basic services to all households;

(e) Seek joint solutions to environmental problems that affect several localities.

7.42. The dissemination of information from existing programmes should be facilitated and encouraged among interested countries and local institutions.

MEANS OF IMPLEMENTATION
A) Financing and cost evaluation
7.43. The Conference secretariat has estimated most of the costs of implementing the activities of this programme in other chapters. The secretariat estimates the average total annual cost (1993-2000) of technical assistance from the international community grant or concessional terms to be about $50 million. These are indicative and order-of-magnitude estimates only and have not been reviewed by Governments. Actual costs and financial terms, including any that are non-concessional, will depend upon, inter alia, the specific strategies and programmes Governments decide upon for implementation.

B) Scientific and technological means
7.44. Scientific and technological means within the existing programmes should be coordinated wherever possible and should:

(a) Accelerate research in the area of integrated policies of environmental infrastructure programmes and projects based on cost/benefit analysis and overall environmental impact;

(b) Promote methods of assessing "effective demand", utilizing environment and development data as criteria for selecting technology.

C) Human resource development and capacity-building
7.45. With the assistance and support of funding agencies, all countries should, as appropriate, undertake training and popular participation programmes aimed at:

(a) Raising awareness of the means, approaches and benefits of the provision of environmental infrastructure facilities, especially among indigenous people, women, low-income groups and the poor;

(b) Developing a cadre of professionals with adequate skills in integrated infrastructural service planning and maintenance of resource-efficient, environmentally sound and socially acceptable systems;

(c) Strengthening the institutional capacity of local authorities and administrators in the integrated provision of adequate infrastructure services in partnership with local communities and the private sector;

(d) Adopting appropriate legal and regulatory instruments, including cross-subsidy arrangements, to extend the benefits of adequate and affordable environmental infrastructure to unserved population groups, especially the poor.

[Lishy]

Looks like they're trying to aid nations with Famine than control our water. Mind clarifying?

[vechorik]

Don't have a clue where to find it -- but last I saw was Rand Paul was demanding a definition of "water run off" -- They were trying to also say that any water run off was also considered a stream. This was within the last month?

You could also show them this --- the Republican party considers Agenda 21 a serious threat

REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE UNANIMOUSLY PASSES ANTI-AGENDA 21 RESOLUTION!
http://www.varight.com/news/they-did-it-republican-national-committee-unanimously-passes-anti-agenda-21-resolution/

[flightlesskiwi]

the local zoning issue within Agenda 21 is HUGE... most municipalties and counties take their zoning laws straight out of a generic playbook-- as "smart growth" zoning regulations have become more and more prevalent, those run-of-the-mill "plain vanilla" zoning laws/codes have been tainted with sustainable development features-- restricted water use, restricted land use, "green" commercial and residential building codes, etc etc...

the sustainable development folks hide this stuff in plain sight. what mayor, city or county councilman/woman doesn't want to be known for his/her care for the environment??? they sell it to the city/county staffers and elected officials as being "green" and the staffers/elected officials sell it to the people (the ones who somewhat pay attention) as "good for the environment". "good for the environment" is being sold as "good for you".

these "green" zoning laws and codes get laid down locally and take away our choices. and a lot of time-- take "affordable housing" for instance-- a lot of times these ordinances get implemented under some "noble cause" (who doesn't want affordable housing, right? thing is-- what, exactly is the definition of "affordable housing"?? the same can be asked of "sustainable development".) and then the greenie lawyers come swooping in and use judicial activism or just outright try to break the city into submission by threatening lawsuit after lawsuit because the city isn't implementing their (the lawyers' or their clients') vision of "sustainable development." and so the city caves (because of their ordinances) and usually doubles down-- leaving the taxpayer footing the bill.

it's a lose-lose situation. small and large towns have these "smart growth" policies implemented on them and are unaware or basically unable to stop them-- and once they get implemented, it's pretty much impossible to un-implement them unless the citizens revolt.

i'd like to say more people are waking up, but i'm not that optimistic.


The realities of life on our planet dictate that continued economic development as we know it cannot be sustained…Sustainable development, therefore is a program of action for local and global economic reform – a program that has yet to be fully defined.

&

'No one fully understands how or even, if, sustainable development can be achieved; however, there is growing consensus that it must be accomplished at the local level if it is ever to be achieved on a global basis.” The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide, published by ICLEI, 1996. http://americanpolicy.org/2011/03/31/agenda-21-in-one-easy-lesson/

interestingly enough:


Why is AWWA promoting sustainability?

Sustainability is increasingly referenced as part of the every-day operation of water utilities; however, there is still some confusion about what being a sustainable utility actually means. http://www.awwa.org/Resources/SustainableUtilities.cfm?itemNumber=54091&navItemNumber=54564

also: the sustainable development people view fresh water as a FINITE resource.