Albright: Share World's Water Resources

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright proposed creation of a worldwide water alliance Monday, April 10, to keep neighboring countries from fighting over the use and management of the planet's most precious resource.

"The need for greater cooperation exists in many regions," said Albright, pointing to problems in the Mekong River and the Aral Sea basins in Asia and the Nile River Basin in Africa.

"More Africans lack access to safe water now than a decade ago," she said. "Almost half the people on the continent suffer from water-related disease. The result is economically crippling and from a humanitarian standpoint, flat out unacceptable."

Instead of a formal NATO-like structure that would be limited only to certain countries and governments, Albright suggested the proposed water alliance be open to anyone who understands "the urgency of working together to conserve transboundary water, manage it wisely and use it well."

In early Earth Day remarks at the National War College at Fort McNair in Washington, Albright said crucial countries will be invited to send representatives to Washington this summer to talk about water management. The State Department plans to donate $2 million to start a new fund at the United Nations to improve regional water management, she said.

The United States would benefit from an alliance through the easing of regional tensions around the world and improvement in the world environment, she said.

"The goals of our alliance must be to dramatically improve the management of transboundary water resources, eliminate water as a source of region instability and use cooperation on water as a basis for bringing nations together on other issues," she said.

Earth Day is April 22. Albright said she was giving her speech now because she will be in central Asia during most of the Clinton administration's Earth Day observations.