LATIN AMERICA:
Water Polluters "On Trial"
Diego Cevallos

MEXICO CITY,  (IPS) - A panel of eight legal and water experts is 'trying' governments and companies from 10 Latin American countries on charges of polluting rivers and lakes, and building harmful dams. Their verdicts will have moral force only, but are intended to placate the sense of injustice aroused by each case.

"It's very difficult to come up with solutions to these problems, but the idea is that these trials will focus the attention of the international community on what is happening, so that together we can move towards solutions," Javier Bogantes, director of the non-governmental Latin American Water Tribunal, based in Costa Rica, told IPS.

The Tribunal's "judges" began to meet on Monday and will continue to do so through Mar. 21, in order to hand down verdicts, resolutions calling for negotiations, or recommendations addressed to both plaintiffs and defendants.

The trials are part of dozens of activities, declarations and reports being presented at the Fourth World Water Forum, which will draw thousands of government, business and civil society delegates to the Mexican capital from this Thursday until Mar. 22.

The Water Tribunal, a non-compulsory ethical tribunal established in the Central American region in 1998, expanded to cover the whole of Latin America in 2004.

Supported by European non-governmental organisations (NGOs), it was created to confront the "crisis of legality, and the diminished effectiveness of laws on issues related to water resources," Bogantes said.

Since its creation, the Water Tribunal has investigated 30 cases. Now it is preparing to issue non-binding sentences in another 13 "lawsuits" brought by local communities and civil society groups in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Peru.

The Brazilian case involves a plan to fill in part of a lagoon in the southern state of Sao Paulo with contaminating sludge, while in Bolivia, the complaint focuses on seven years of bad service from a private water company in the sprawling working-class city of El Alto, next to La Paz.

The case from Chile involves the Celco pulp mill, whose toxic waste was blamed for a massive die-off of swans in a nature reserve. Ecuador's suit is against the construction of dams along the Pacific coast, and El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua are complaining of pollution and diversion of rivers due to mining activities.

Mexico has brought six different cases focusing on river and lake pollution and dam construction; the Peruvian trial is about the environmental impact of mining; and Panama's suit is against the transport of radioactive materials through the canal joining the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

None of these cases have been settled by the respective national legal systems, Bogantes explained.

"What we are seeing is that environmental codes, laws and treaties to protect water resources do exist, but they are not being enforced," he added.

The public trials taking place this week in Mexico City are the culmination of lengthy investigations, during which most of the defendants refused to recognise the Tribunal and ignored its summonses to appear at hearings.

"We try to ensure due process" with participation on both sides, but this isn't always possible because of reluctance on the part of defendants, said Bogantes.

Is it a foregone conclusion, then, that most of the accused will be convicted? he was asked. "In general, the cases have been debated for many years without any kind of solution being achieved, so it's very likely that the jury's verdict will be critical," he stated.

"But in other cases that have been tried, there has not necessarily been a guilty verdict, and instead negotiations or studies of environmental impact are requested. We have also had some positive responses from the defendants, with which we are very pleased," he added.

The eight "judges" are from Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, France, Guatemala and Mexico. Four work in legal or related professions, and the others work in the field of water resources.

In parallel, the Tribunal has organised forums on the "crisis of legality and water conflicts in Latin America".

Although the Tribunal's verdicts are non-binding, Bogantes maintained that its very existence is a blow against the impunity and injustice that surrounds the issue of access to water in the region.

Furthermore, "the number of cases we have received for consideration demonstrates our legitimacy, and shows that in the face of the legal vacuum, this Tribunal has a role to play," he said.

Although Latin America has sufficient water for the entire population, 77 million people lack adequate access to clean water, and only one out of six have proper sanitation, according to studies by the World Water Council, which organised the Fourth World Water Forum in Mexico.

The World Water Forum, which has been held every three years since 1997, does not form part of the United Nations system, but is widely recognised as the foremost global forum on water resources.

In contrast to many NGOs that view the Forum as promoting privatisation of public water and sanitation services, Bogantes thinks that it is an appropriate arena for debating and presenting all points of view.

The first water tribunal dates from the 1980s, when a hearing was held in the Dutch city of Rotterdam to adjudge the damage caused by pollution in the Rhine river basin.

The publicity given to that tribunal contributed to the adoption of policies to curb pollution.

In 1992, again in the Netherlands, a tribunal set up in Amsterdam 'tried' cases of pollution of bodies of water in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania. In almost all of these, governments and transnational corporations were held responsible for the pollution.

In Latin America, the first water tribunal met in 1993 in the Brazilian city of Florianopolis. Cases of pollution caused by mining, radioactive materials, and toxic agrochemicals were examined, as well as the impact of the country's large hydroelectric dams.