All inhabitants of the world should be guaranteed equitable access to potable water and sanitation as a fundamental right. For this, it is necessary to end the management of water on a sectoral basis, which ignores its multiple uses and prevents the conservation and preservation of hydrological systems. Short term solutions that aim to privatize and fragment the hydrological cycle worsen the existing situation. The solutions to problems due to the use and reuse of water require a holistic vision of river basins, to be obtained through people's participation and cooperation. General Principles 10.
Water is critical for life on earth.
It links the planet's diverse ecosystems as it moves between the sea, air and land, providing for human health and welfare, food security and economic development. All inhabitants of the planet have a basic right to clean, fresh water. Scarcity, misuse and pollution of fresh water resources pose increasingly serious threats to ecologically and socially sustainable development, human health and ecosystem maintenance, all of which will be exacerbated by impacts of global climate change on the hydrologic cycle. Fresh water resources, although renewable, are limited. Per capita water supplies and other water-dependent resources are declining as the world population increases.