Opening speech of Mr Frantisek Dohnal,
Vice-President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe

Water management: A shared responsibility
Strasbourg, 20-21 October 2005 Palais de l’Europe (Room 1)

Conference co-organised by the Parliamentary Assembly and
the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe in co-operation with the Directorate General of Education, Culture and Heritage, Youth and Sport

Messieurs Co-Chairs,
Madame Deputy Secretary General,
Madame Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once said: “Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.” Water is a source of life and inspiration, contemplation and reflection – it is not by accident that we can look at the sea infinitely without getting tired, and it is not by accident that we can go for much longer without food than without water.

But water can also be a source of trouble and death, destruction and disease. In eastern fables and fairy tales, heroes always carried with them two kinds of water – living water to bring to life good people, and dead water to inflict death on enemies.

Throughout history, water has been seen as a source of magic, cleanliness and help. But today it is water that needs our help. Water resources and the system of water management are undergoing a worldwide crisis marked by degrading water ecosystems, river pollution, a lack of infrastructure causing disastrous floods in some places and devastating droughts in others. As a result, more than 1 billion people today do not have a guaranteed access to drinking water – which is a blatant offence to human dignity, decent living and even to the most fundamental human right, the right to life.

Europe is not immune to the problems of water management, and the situation is still worrying in some of the Council of Europe’s 46 member states. However, the end of political division on our continent over the past 15 years heralded an era of new opportunities, paving the way for a better and closer cooperation in managing water resources. River basins, of course, know no frontiers or levels of government – rivers flow through our cities and regions and across the national borders. This is why the process of European integration – at the national level but also at the level of regional and local authorities, through their transfrontier cooperation and the creation of Euroregions – is of paramount importance for better water management.

This is also the thrust of the European Union Framework Water Directive, which promotes an integrated approach to tackling the problem and stresses the key role of both local and regional authorities and civil society in ensuring proper use of water resources and delivery of water services to the citizens.

The Council of Europe is not new in this role, having been at the origin of the European Charter on Water Resources – adopted in 1968 and revised in 2001 –
The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities has been assisting elected representatives in applying the Charter ever since. The Congress has as well prepared many reports, resolutions and recommendations on the issue, dealing with, for example, management of transboundary water resources in Europe, the role of territorial authorities in the management of river basins, or the role of the regions in youth education for sustainable development, to name but a few.

The novelty of today’s situation, however, is the burning need to interlock our policies and practices to guarantee the sustainable development of water resources. Sustainability is the key word of the day, the only way forward, and to achieve it we need concerted action of all actors and at all levels – from the top down, on the international, national, regional and local levels; across the board, the public and private sector, civil society, and individual citizens.

We need to foster a new water culture – a culture of sharing the responsibility as far as water is concerned. The theme of this conference is very appropriate in this regard, reminding all of us that water is our shared responsibility, of the need to work together to reverse the negative trends of today. We need a clear division of competences, including between the public and private sectors; we need to back coherent and competent water policies with competent elected representatives and their staff, as well as competent educators in the civil society. Education for sustainable development is an absolute must if we are to make sure that young people develop correct attitudes and responsible behaviour towards water.

The new water culture which I have just mentioned must take into account the need to strike the right balance between economic and environmental concerns, and must be ethically driven. We must constantly ask ourselves what is the best for the citizens – bringing in a big enterprise that creates jobs and boosts local economy, or preserve the environment and avoid pollution? The local and regional authorities are often faced with such challenges and have to make difficult choices. It depends on our joint efforts that their decisions are right, and the Congress as the unique forum of local and regional elected representatives from across our continent has a very important role to play in raising their awareness of possible consequences of the steps that they are taking. Sustainable development is part and parcel of the development of local democracy and therefore a direct task of the Congress and of territorial authorities.

Let us do our best to return magic to water. Let us strive to make sure that water always remains a source of life and joy. Let us pass to future generations living water, not dead water.

Thank you.