PBI-Guatemala accompanies the Council of Communities of Retalhuleu (CCR) on March 22, World Water Day
On March 22, PBI-Guatemala posted:
“Today, on the #WorldWaterDay #PBI accompanies to the Council of Communities of Retalhuleu in their activities to vindicate their fight for vital liquid.”
The Oxford Human Rights Hub has explained: “Guatemala’s constitution has several provisions that provide for or implicate the right to clean and safe water. In April 2016 there was nationwide mobilization by rural and indigenous communities to demand a stop to the theft and contamination of water.”
Back in April 2016, Waging Nonviolence reported: “Across Guatemala, both rural communities and urban centers have mobilized to protest the systematic theft and privatization of water by transnational companies and the Guatemalan oligarchy. On April 22, nearly 15,000 gathered in Guatemala City to demand an end to this control over water.”
Photo by WNV/Jeff Abbott.
Water Law Framework Initiative 5070
The Oxford Human Rights Hub article also notes: “This [mobilization] led to a proposal for a new law (5070) which seeks to give the greatest possible power to communities to manage their water resources and to enforce the right of communities to be consulted on any agribusiness or mining project in their area.”
Lorna Ní Shúilleabháin of PBI-United Kingdom has previously written: “Civil society and grassroots organisations including the Council of Communities of Retalhuleu (CCR) have united to form Campaña Agua Para la Vida [Water for Life campaign] and have highlighted what should be included in the water legislation.”
She adds: “The water law framework initiative 5070 proposes a new law aimed at empowering communities to manage their water resources and ensuring their right to be consulted on any agribusiness or mining projects in their areas.”
Agribusiness and sugar exports
On April 1, 2024, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that Guatemala exported 85,900 metric tons (MT) of raw sugar to Canada in marketing year (MY) 2022/23 and 87,050 MT in MY 2021/2022. The USDA has previously reported that Guatemala exported 87,050 MT in MY 2022 (the same figure noted above), 113,650 MT in MY 2021 and also reported Guatemala exported 269,770 MT in MY 2020.
If we understand these reports to document 269,770 in 2020, 113,650 in 2021, 87,050 in 2022, and 85,900 in 2023, these four years represent 556,370 MT of sugar exported from Guatemala to Canada. When the 2024 numbers are released, perhaps in a few days, we will have the most recent five-year export data.
55 million cubic meters of water
Given the USDA has noted that sugar cane requires 100 cubic meters of water per ton, we could roughly estimate that these four years of 556,370 MT of exports to Canada required 55,637,000 cubic meters of water.
To put this in perspective, if an Olympic-size swimming pool holds approximately 2,500 cubic meters (or 2.5 million liters) of water, then 22,255 swimming pools of water were needed for these sugar exports to Canada.
The virtual water trade
The term “virtual water trade” can be understood as follows: When a country exports a water-intensive product (including sugar), that country effectively exports the water used to produce that product.
In February 2020, PBI-Guatemala interviewed Gerardo Paíz, an ecologist at the Madre Selva Collective, who commented: “It is estimated that by 2025 (within 5 years), there will be a deficit of about 200 million cubic meters of water in Guatemala.”
Accompaniment
Peace Brigades International has accompanied the Retalhuleu Community Council (CCR) since April 2020. In May 2023, a PBI-Canada delegation travelled to Guatemala and met with representatives of the CCR.
We continue to follow this.
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