SPEECH BY RODRIGO HERNÁN VIVAS ROSAS ON THE ...
SPEECH BY RODRIGO HERNÁN VIVAS ROSAS ON THE ...
SPEECH BY RODRIGO HERNÁN VIVAS ROSAS ON THE ...
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
<strong>SPEECH</strong> <strong>BY</strong><br />
<strong>RODRIGO</strong> <strong>HERNÁN</strong> <strong>VIVAS</strong> <strong>ROSAS</strong><br />
<strong>ON</strong> <strong>THE</strong> OCCASI<strong>ON</strong> OF <strong>THE</strong><br />
2006 UNEP SASAKAWA PRIZE PRESENTATI<strong>ON</strong> CEREM<strong>ON</strong>Y<br />
Monday 30 October 2006<br />
New York City<br />
Good evening, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of<br />
UNEP, Mr. Achim Steiner, Mr. David Karashima of The Nippon Foundation, Mr. Sidi El<br />
Moctar Ould Waled, President of the Tenadi Cooperative, Your Excellencies, Ladies and<br />
Gentlemen:<br />
A native of Cuaca, a small rural town located in the Southern part of the Andes in<br />
Colombia, I am very happy to know that both, the United Nations Environment Program<br />
and the organizers of the Sasakawa prize, value, admire and acknowledge our community<br />
leadership and the environmental work we have been carrying out for several years.<br />
This has been achieved with the efforts, dedication and collaboration of some regional local<br />
institutions and organizations committed to their community and to environmental<br />
negotiation.<br />
I accept this prize in recognition of the hundreds of families that now believe and value the<br />
importance of caring for water, and the use of preservation alternatives in rain water<br />
harvesting. Their leadership has contributed to the development of a new culture on water,<br />
resulting, in the immediate future, into a public policy in Colombia, and hopefully not only<br />
there, but throughout the region and maybe world-wide.<br />
Being the winner of the 2006 UNEP Sasakawa Prize reaffirms my commitment, personally,<br />
and to my country’s communities, in the building of improved life conditions. Colombia<br />
needs new approaches and vision on the use and management of water, as a human right<br />
and as a public resource.<br />
I have lived all my life on a farm. In childhood, I learned from the wisdom of my<br />
grandfather “Crisanto Rosas”, who has now passed away. He was a humble farmer, an<br />
“engineer of hills”, as he was called, who dedicated his life searching for water solutions<br />
for many rural communities. He taught me from an early age the love, respect and care of<br />
water. I have continued this task all my life, and I still look for alternatives guaranteeing a<br />
water supply for present and future generations, particularly for the rural population.<br />
Fighting poverty and desertification is a task for all, and it is clear that the ruling economic<br />
model in Latin America is unsustainable, both from an ecological and conservation of water<br />
standpoint. Our entire planet is suffering from extreme water resource waste and<br />
degradation. There is practically no human activity that should not be reviewed, if<br />
humankind is to survive its own environmental irrationality: the extraction and<br />
transformation industries, agriculture, commerce, services, urban and architectural<br />
proposals, consumption patterns, and even personal hygiene patterns must be re-thought in<br />
order to avoid the exhaustion of the liquid, a disaster looming closer than we think.
Reflecting on the beauty, richness and potential of our countries, with their landscapes,<br />
peoples and struggles, and where waters spring along the way as a symbol of hope, rejoices<br />
us as well as worries us – mainly due to the deterioration of the protective forest zones,<br />
diminishing everything due to the unjustified actions of men.<br />
Even more dramatic is how many of our local governments still persist in their mercantile<br />
and privatizing visions of water resources without the sufficient conservation measures,<br />
completely blind to the implication and leadership of local organizations.<br />
It is insufficient that our national environmental authorities continue to invest large sums in<br />
advertising campaigns, publications and educational activities. We urgently need concrete<br />
physical intervention and the support to the efforts of civil society.<br />
Humankind already has gone beyond the demographic and economic scenario in which<br />
hydric resources are inexhaustible. It is now mandatory to change this outdated and<br />
inadequate notion. It is even possible that, due to the size of the world population, water<br />
should be included in the category of non-renewable natural resources.<br />
Taking into account regional demographic projections, the largest demand of water will<br />
come from rural areas, for domestic consumption as well as for agriculture and cattle<br />
raising, mainly to ensure the safety of our food supply. There is no Life without Water.<br />
Thanks to the experience-sharing carried out in the past four years by the Latin American<br />
and Caribbean Network on Alimentary Safety and Sustainable Development, (RedLayc, its<br />
acronym in Spanish), I realized the urgency of promoting rain water harvesting in<br />
Colombia, as an eventual public policy and a mechanism against poverty.<br />
It is a great personal pride for me to receive this prize, representing the committed<br />
communities that firmly believe in rain water harvesting. I still remember the many<br />
personal efforts and the sacrifices my family made in order for me to complete my<br />
academic and professional training. Specifically, my degree in law has enabled me to work<br />
for the rural communities of my country, not in civil or penal litigations, but in<br />
environmental management. Environment is my passion. These last years, this passion has<br />
been supported by the Association of the Inter-Institutional Consortium for Sustainable<br />
Agriculture, CIPASLA (its acronym in Spanish), and through my foundation” La<br />
Fundación Accion Ambiental” – an organization created six years ago to support socioenvironmental<br />
processes in the protection of biodiversity, water management and food<br />
safety for present and future generations, with a special interest in children, youth and rural<br />
women.<br />
The trust of UNEP and of the Sasakawa Prize sponsor will allow the development of<br />
solutions in Colombia, strengthening and promoting the use and harvest of rain water.<br />
This should become a public policy and a priority for all local and regional governments,<br />
since water is a universal right and a public good that should not be privatized.<br />
The rural communities are those producing the food for the countries’ populations, with the<br />
obligation to guarantee alimentary safety; they should have the right to use and utilize rain<br />
water to satisfy their own water needs, including agricultural, domestic and other uses.
My message to the international community:<br />
It is urgent to incorporate in our work the following orientations and universal<br />
principles:<br />
Water: It is a common good and a right for all living creatures on the planet.<br />
Water: It is a collective and a public good that should not be a matter of privatization,<br />
leading us to organize ourselves as a civil society in defense of water, together with the<br />
support of our local authorities and international cooperation.<br />
If we hope to reduce desertification, and to improve water management, let’s get<br />
started.<br />
To behave in an ecological manner is to ensure the survival of our present and future<br />
generations.<br />
How much paper is used around the world Paper has multiple uses. Each piece has<br />
two sides. Let us use both sides to avoid and reduce deforestation.<br />
Finally, I would like to thank UNEP and the sponsors of the Prize for their trust and<br />
support, and to invite the international community and civil society to invest and support<br />
me in environmental negotiations in defense of water and natural resources, as everything<br />
done towards ecology and the environment is still too little.<br />
Rodrigo Hernán Vivas Rosas<br />
Executive Director<br />
CIPASLA<br />
FUNDACI<strong>ON</strong> ACCI<strong>ON</strong> AMBIENTAL<br />
RedLayc<br />
Colombia<br />
E MAIL rodriven@cipasla.org faccinabiental@mail.com