Governments, civil society organizations and Christian agencies have expressed their disappointment that the ministerial declaration adopted at the World Water Forum in Istanbul does not include a reconfirmation of water as a human right.

Representatives of the Ecumenical Water Network (EWN) have expressed their hope that state representatives at the World Water Forum taking place in Istanbul, 16-22 March, will affirm access to water as a human right.

NEW YORK, Tuesday, March 3, 2009-- Deborah Katina, coordinator of Church World Service-supported Yang'at in Kenya, will speak on water as both a life sustainer and a conflict creator at the March 13-16 Ecumenical Advocacy Days gathering of faith-based advocates outside Washington, D.C. The conference will be held at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center Hotel in Alexandria, Va.

As the season of Lent draws near, the Ecumenical Water Network (EWN) invites Christians to mark the occasion with reflection and action on water justice.

In a pastoral letter to the faithful in his diocese, Roman Catholic Bishop Luc Bouchard of St Paul in Alberta, Canada decried that "the integrity of creation in the Athabasca Oil Sands" - the largest reservoir of crude bitumen in the world and the largest of three major oil sands deposits in Alberta - "is clearly being sacrificed for economic gain."

Guatemala City, Monday, 9 February 2009 (ALC) - The prosecution of the Lutheran ministers, José Pilar Alvarez Cabrera, Néstor Eduardo Alvarez Cabrera and Rubén de Jesús Aldana Guzmán in the Montaña de las Granadillas case ended at a hearing of the Zacapa Criminal Court of First Instance on the morning of 6 February, when the judge declared the charges to be unfounded.

(Trinidad Vásquez / ALC) The Special Attorney For Civic Participation of Nicaragua, Sixto Ulloa and pastors of different churches and institutions, such as the Inter-Ecclesial Center for Social Studies (CIEETS, Spanish acronym), declared themselves to be in solidarity and demanded the immediate release of Lutheran pastor, José Pilar Alvarez, arrested in Guatemala as a result of his having defended 22 indigenous communities that demand the...

On Monday 26 January, about 50 people attended the Ecumenical Water Forum sponsored by the National Council of Christian Churches of Brazil (CONIC) and the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB) at the University of Amazon (UNAMA).

As the Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip is in its third week, water scarcity adds to the vulnerability of the civilian population there. ACT International, the churches global alliance for emergency response, reports an increasingly serious water and sanitation situation, with electricity for the pumps that deliver water to people's homes only available for a maximum of four hours per day.

For the first time, the All Africa Conference of Churches gave prominent space to the water and environmental crises at its general assembly in Maputo, Mozambique, 7-12 December.