Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Introduction
Claudia Campero Arena
The alarming figures of 1.1 billion people lacking access to safe drinking water and 2.4 billion lacking reasonable access to improved sanitation (WHO and UNICEF, 2000) are repeated again and again in publications that address the ‘water crisis’ we are facing. The explanations for this crisis are somewhat concentrated on natural, technological and financial reasons, sometimes ignoring that political and socioeconomic reasons play a chief part in the problem. The consequences that the deficiencies of these services have on people’s lives are multidimensional because not only their health is affected, but also their livelihoods and overall development. Rising population, urbanization and per capita consumption of water show how the stress on the resource is increasing. Yet these figures need to be contextualised to see the differences between and within geographical regions. While in some places people take water for granted, in others people suffer a daily struggle for water.
This work attempts to address the differences concerning water service within Mexico City. The basic assumption is that problems in the governance system, where the government and the private sector dominate the decision-making process to the disadvantage of a wide sector of the population, are to a certain extent responsible for the socially unjust distribution and management of water. This injustice experienced by some parts of the city turn into conflicts that evidence the governance failure.
The two key questions that guide the discussion are:
How far is the water governance system in Mexico City responsible for a socially unjust distribution and management of the resource? How can civil struggle or conflict help to change governance systems to achieve more socially just results?
To address these questions, the followed methodology takes briefly into consideration some theoretical debates regarding the concepts used in this work. For this purpose literature concerning governance, water governance, conflict and social justice was studied. Also some examples to back the general arguments in the theoretical discussion were included. Next the recent historical background of water provision and governance in Mexico City was examined. Then specific examples of the water governance conflicts and water injustices in the city in recent years were chosen. These examples where found through a variety of sources including specialised literature, newspapers and personal interviews with people highly involved in the sector.
Unfortunately due to information and time constrains this methodology needs more systematization. The different examples of Mexico City to back the argument are drawn from different areas of the city and in different dates. Whether water conflicts have increased or decreased in recent years cannot be precisely defined using this methodology. What can be said is that they are still present and affect a substantial portion of the city’s population.
This work is divided in two sections. The first part, the theoretical framework, introduces the key concepts and debates that will be needed in the discussion of the case of Mexico City. Not only will concept definitions be tackled but an attempt to see the interactions among the different concepts will be made. Thus how governance systems may help to solve but also trigger conflicts will be examined. In addition, how governance systems may undermine or promote social justice is also discussed.
The second part is about water governance and social justice in water services in Mexico City. It starts with an overview of the water authorities at the federal and local levels, how they are organised and what their main problems are. Then the introduction of private participation in the sector and its consequences is addressed. Subsequently the role of the civil society is explored in two dimensions: their participation in the organisations created by the federal authority, contrasted with their ways of organising and demanding attention from the authorities to address their needs. Here we find that conflict plays an important role to obtain the attention of officials that might turn into negotiations for solutions.
Further on various recent examples drawn from the city are given to explore the social injustice of water distribution in the city. Issues of availability, quality and affordability are analysed to prove the inequalities present in the water service in the city. Finally a brief exploration on how the conflicts generated by these inequalities have already had an impact on the local government and parliament is addressed.
A last observation before entering the discussion: conflict is a central theme in this work. This is not to disregard the great importance of cooperation among different actors in addressing water management. But underlying these efforts of cooperation there are conflictive interests that need to be acknowledged. Furthermore when water distribution inequalities are dismissed as financially, technically or naturally conditioned and there is no engagement in dialog and negotiation, cooperation becomes a distant possibility and conflict takes over. I consider this to be the case in Mexico City at present.
The alarming figures of 1.1 billion people lacking access to safe drinking water and 2.4 billion lacking reasonable access to improved sanitation (WHO and UNICEF, 2000) are repeated again and again in publications that address the ‘water crisis’ we are facing. The explanations for this crisis are somewhat concentrated on natural, technological and financial reasons, sometimes ignoring that political and socioeconomic reasons play a chief part in the problem. The consequences that the deficiencies of these services have on people’s lives are multidimensional because not only their health is affected, but also their livelihoods and overall development. Rising population, urbanization and per capita consumption of water show how the stress on the resource is increasing. Yet these figures need to be contextualised to see the differences between and within geographical regions. While in some places people take water for granted, in others people suffer a daily struggle for water.
This work attempts to address the differences concerning water service within Mexico City. The basic assumption is that problems in the governance system, where the government and the private sector dominate the decision-making process to the disadvantage of a wide sector of the population, are to a certain extent responsible for the socially unjust distribution and management of water. This injustice experienced by some parts of the city turn into conflicts that evidence the governance failure.
The two key questions that guide the discussion are:
How far is the water governance system in Mexico City responsible for a socially unjust distribution and management of the resource? How can civil struggle or conflict help to change governance systems to achieve more socially just results?
To address these questions, the followed methodology takes briefly into consideration some theoretical debates regarding the concepts used in this work. For this purpose literature concerning governance, water governance, conflict and social justice was studied. Also some examples to back the general arguments in the theoretical discussion were included. Next the recent historical background of water provision and governance in Mexico City was examined. Then specific examples of the water governance conflicts and water injustices in the city in recent years were chosen. These examples where found through a variety of sources including specialised literature, newspapers and personal interviews with people highly involved in the sector.
Unfortunately due to information and time constrains this methodology needs more systematization. The different examples of Mexico City to back the argument are drawn from different areas of the city and in different dates. Whether water conflicts have increased or decreased in recent years cannot be precisely defined using this methodology. What can be said is that they are still present and affect a substantial portion of the city’s population.
This work is divided in two sections. The first part, the theoretical framework, introduces the key concepts and debates that will be needed in the discussion of the case of Mexico City. Not only will concept definitions be tackled but an attempt to see the interactions among the different concepts will be made. Thus how governance systems may help to solve but also trigger conflicts will be examined. In addition, how governance systems may undermine or promote social justice is also discussed.
The second part is about water governance and social justice in water services in Mexico City. It starts with an overview of the water authorities at the federal and local levels, how they are organised and what their main problems are. Then the introduction of private participation in the sector and its consequences is addressed. Subsequently the role of the civil society is explored in two dimensions: their participation in the organisations created by the federal authority, contrasted with their ways of organising and demanding attention from the authorities to address their needs. Here we find that conflict plays an important role to obtain the attention of officials that might turn into negotiations for solutions.
Further on various recent examples drawn from the city are given to explore the social injustice of water distribution in the city. Issues of availability, quality and affordability are analysed to prove the inequalities present in the water service in the city. Finally a brief exploration on how the conflicts generated by these inequalities have already had an impact on the local government and parliament is addressed.
A last observation before entering the discussion: conflict is a central theme in this work. This is not to disregard the great importance of cooperation among different actors in addressing water management. But underlying these efforts of cooperation there are conflictive interests that need to be acknowledged. Furthermore when water distribution inequalities are dismissed as financially, technically or naturally conditioned and there is no engagement in dialog and negotiation, cooperation becomes a distant possibility and conflict takes over. I consider this to be the case in Mexico City at present.
# posted by Claudia Campero Arena @ 9:30 PM 
