[IPSM] The Keepers of the Water Declaration

[Macdonald Stainsby]

THE KEEPERS OF THE WATER DECLARATION

September 7, 2006
We the peoples gathered in Liidlii Kue, Denendeh, from September 5-8th, 
2006, having come
together as Keepers of the Water, connected as peoples residing in the 
vast basin including Lake
Athabasca, Nsededha (Slave river), Tucho/Tu’neda (Great Slave Lake), and 
Dehcho.
RECALLING THAT the Creator sent Zhambáhdézha as a messenger to the 
Indigenous peoples
who live on Mother Earth, bringing us sacred laws to live by. We have 
been taught that the land
is our Mother, and the waters are her blood that sustain life for all 
peoples, lands and creation.
We are born from our Mother Earth and we are inseparable from her.
AFFIRMING THAT water is essential to life, and the right to life 
constitutes a fundamental
human right, recognized by all countries of the world.
FURTHER AFFIRMING that as Indigenous peoples, since time immemorial, 
have fundamental
rights to live on our own lands and to survive as peoples. As a sacred 
trust we have been given
responsibility from the Creator to ensure the integrity of all waters in 
our lands in all its many
forms – from the aquifers deep underground, to the rich marshlands, 
rivers and lakes that connect
and sustain our communities, to the glaciers on the high mountains, to 
the rains and snow that
restore and replenish our Mother Earth in an unending cycle of renewal.
RESPECTING that our sacred laws have not been honoured and that our 
Mother Earth is being
abused out of ignorance and greed.
CONVINCED that our fundamental human rights with respect to water must 
be acknowledged
and respected by all others.
CONVINCED that climate change, together with the unprecedented impacts 
of oil and gas
extraction, oil sands developments, land conversion, deforestation, 
hydroelectric development,
mining activities, industrial discharges, atmospheric pollution and 
water withdrawals on our
waters, are diminishing the quantity and quality of water in our basin, 
other present and any
future activities that change our land.
BEARING WITNESS THAT we are seeing the impacts of these changes before 
our eyes. When
we travel our lands and waterways we see receding shorelines and 
depleted populations of fish
and wildlife. Exotic species of plants and animals are encroaching, 
while indigenous species are
disappearing as conditions change too quickly for them to adapt. The 
land and wildlife are being
poisoned by pollution and contaminants. The very rhythms of the seasons 
are no longer familiar
to us.
RECOGNIZING that causes of these changes are many and complex, but they 
are all caused by
human action, government and industry, and we as the peoples of the 
Basin all share a common
fate.
ASSERTING our rights to defend and protect the body and blood of our 
Mother Earth according
to our sacred laws. Demanding that immediate steps must be taken to 
ensure that the spirit of the
water, which sustains all life within the Basin, be protected today for 
our ancestors and future
generations.
WE PROCLAIM THE FOLLOWING PRINCIPLES:
Water is a sacred gift, an essential element that sustains and connects 
all life. It is not a
commodity to be bought or sold. All people share an obligation to 
cooperate to ensure that water
in all of its forms is protected and conserved with regard to the needs 
of all living things today
and for future generations tomorrow.
All peoples in the Basin have a fundamental human right to water that 
must be recognized
nationally and internationally, and incorporated into domestic law and 
policy. Progress towards
the realization of the right to water must be monitored, and appropriate 
institutional mechanisms
developed to ensure that these rights are implemented.
These rights require water undiminished in quality, quantity or natural 
rate of flow, to access
waterbodies for purposes of harvesting, travel and navigation, and to 
prevent or seek redress for
any action that may affect these rights. These rights extend to water as 
part of a healthy
environment, and recognize spiritual and cultural values, taking into 
consideration the needs of
the most disadvantaged and of future generations.
The use of water for industrial and commercial purposes is fundamentally 
limited by the
requirement to not substantially alter the quantity, quality or natural 
rate of flow of the water
within the Basin. The full costs of such water use decisions must be 
internalized and assumed
according to the principle that polluters must be held accountable. This 
principle includes
environmental bonds that would be great enough to ensure full 
remediation and reclamation from
potential damages.
All governments and industry—have common responsibilities to protect and 
conserve water, and
must sustain commitments to implement these responsibilities.
The precautionary approach must be widely applied in all decisions or 
actions that may affect the
quality, quantity or natural rate of flow of water within the Basin.
Comprehensive watershed management and land use planning to safeguard 
water sources and
maintain ecosystem integrity across the Basin must be implemented in 
advance of industrial
allocations or development decisions.
The health and integrity of the Basin as a whole will only be achieved 
through integration and
cooperation at all levels. Measures to protect and conserve water must 
be enacted and
implemented by all levels of government.
Local communities have obligations to act decisively to protect the 
health and integrity of their
water sources. All governments share responsibilities to take proactive 
steps to fund and sustain
local capacity, training and infrastructure to improve and maintain the 
health and integrity of
water and waterbodies throughout the Basin.
Indigenous and local communities play a vital role in water management 
because of their
knowledge, traditional practices and relationships to the land. Formal 
mechanisms to improve
scientific and traditional knowledge and understanding and to advance 
the effectiveness of
measures to monitor, protect and conserve water must be undertaken by 
governments, industry,
academic institutions and non-governmental organizations.
Information about the state of water within the Basin must be collected 
and be disseminated to
communities in a timely and accessible way. This will be sustained by a 
network of Indigenous
and local communities who will gather to share experiences, knowledge 
about how to
sustainably develop, protect and conserve their watersheds.

-- 
Macdonald Stainsby
http://independentmedia.ca/survivingcanada
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green
In the contradiction lies the hope
    --Bertholt Brecht.