The Power of Community: Human Rights in Water and Nature
Developing water infrastructure, whether natural or man-made, is likely to be more sustainable if those people affected by them are included and meaningfully engaged in project design, development and implementation.
It is becoming more evident that with limited water supplies and limited finance we have to be cleverer with our approach to investment, aiming to ensure that projects are designed to capture the needs of all marginalised people. The human rights-based approach can achieve this through policy that supports non-discrimination, inclusive participation, data transparency, and accountability, but we need to find ways to integrate it into the systems we use, and not just the policy we write.
As we know from experience, the principles are simple to understand but require extra effort to achieve. The gains in sustainability are potentially huge, and especially important for reaching the more vulnerable members of our communities, such as women, elderly, children, people with disabilities, indigenous communities and those in homeless or nomadic situations. This extra layer of engagement is the most important aspect in designing solutions that provide more sustainable and long term outcomes for both the people that are being left behind and the environment.
The Talkshow will discuss some successful case examples from Lao PDR, Cambodia, and Viet Nam where meaningful participation and principles of human right-based approach have been demonstrated. This will be complemented by comparative initiatives from other regions.
This sessions includes interventions from Alejandro Iza, Director, Environmental Law Centra, IUCN and BRIDGE Co-Director.
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