Scientists, politicians, educators, and leaders gathered on 23-24 February for an interdisciplinary discussion on the role of policies in water and sanitation management. Dr. Delli Priscoli represented GWP in a panel on challenges for the future, speaking on the topic “Water Resources Management and Potential Nexus of Theological, Ethical and Pastoral Approaches”.
“Allocating and reallocating water is the heart of water resources management. It is achieved, for good or bad, within a variety of political cultures and governance systems. As development changes, so too do societal needs and thus the way people value water and its uses. No matter the system there are always costs and distributive ethical issues,” said Delli Priscoli.
He presented five suggestions regarding water ethics:
- We should adopt a preference for the poor and ask what our water policy prescriptions mean to them;
- We must go beyond seeing water as primarily humanitarian aid and reconnect water as the vital tool for economic and social development;
- We need to build a new ideological and ethical consensus around water that focuses on the common grounds of engineering means and environmental ends;
- The water policy ethics we require should be based on finding a new balance of the sacred and utilitarian in water;
- We must find a new understanding of humans and nature, an understanding that goes beyond engendering fear of the future based on observed changes with limited understanding of their historical contexts.
The full statement of Dr. Delli Priscoli is available here.
Top photo: Via della Conciliazione leading up to Saint Peter's Square and the Vatican City.
Inset photo: Dr. Jerome Delli Priscoli in Water & Faith debate at Stockholm World Water Week 2016.