Global Water Fund President's Statement

Providing Water Solutions for Our World

In today’s global world, there are few topics more complex than the challenge of reconciling economic growth with social justice and environmental sustainability. In the 21st century, in the era of so much technological achievement and capital accumulation, too great are the problems still besetting the developing world; where 2 billion people still live on less than $2 a day; where access to clean water and energy is still lacking; and where air pollution, soil degradation, loss of bio-diversity, and a build-up of greenhouse gases are all much too high. Although there were some macro-economic and structural reforms, in the last 20 years, which made a difference in some developing countries, the record now show that these countries actually saw their equity deteriorate and any efficiency gains were must too short-lived. Governmental and donor bank reform packages exacerbated conditions, and there was never a transfer of knowledge or technology. Therefore, to address the current discourse on poverty and development, it cannot be stressed enough that innovation and technological change, being equally important to the accumulation of capital, are the true engines of economic development.

In 1998, the United Nations estimated that more than 53,000 multinational corporations and 450,000 global affiliates had global assets exceeding $13 trillion and global sales in excess of $9.5 trillion. With sales of the ten largest corporations exceeding the combined national product (GNP) of the 100 smallest nation-states, the rise of power of these corporations suggests that a shift of power from nation-states to multinational is taking place. Industry is a powerful engine of economic growth and structural transformation, because industry is the main owner and diffuser of technology and organizational knowledge. As a result of this capacity to innovate and to achieve technological progress, industry is assigned a great responsibility to achieve sustainable economic and social development.

As a result of this shift in power relationships among involved actors, a new mechanism of governance has emerged that is defining a new institutional framework. This new paradigm gives the corporation the ability to derive commercial advantages and profits from markets, while being legitimized by partnerships with government, civil society involvement, and NGO relations.

In this increasingly complex and interdependent world, and with the disintegration of geographical boundaries, new definitions of economic governance, accountability, ethics and legitimacy are being written as a new form of hegemonic power is taking place. With its unknown risks and challenges, a new borderless world mandates a new form of leadership. If we are to achieve intergenerational equity, so that we may provide for the economic, social, and environmental needs of our future generations, this new world requires a new vision that is holistic and revolutionary.

Stella Thomas
Founder & President

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