Global Research Editor’s Note

According to a Reuters report “Nestle, Unilever & Coca-Cola are among bidders for GlaxoSmithKline’s Indian Horlicks nutrition business, expected to fetch more than $4 billion”.

Also of relevance is the privatization of water in relation to the upcoming October elections in Brazil.

CocaCola and Nestle have denied the reports. Nestle has also clarified (quoting news reports which deny the privatization of the aquifer):

Nestlé does not extract water from any part of the Guarani Aquifer in South America, including in Brazil. We have no plans to do so and neither are we discussing this matter with the Brazilian authorities. Suggestions to the contrary in stories online are incorrect. We are fully committed to water stewardship and the human right to water. We are fully committed to water stewardship and the human right to water.

An AFP Report has clarified that:

“CocaCola and Nestle are not going to privatise the Guarani Aquifer, … The information was first shared in the Correio do Brasil in 2016, quoting an unknown senior official at the National Water Agency”. … The Guarani Aquifer was never one of the 34 infrastructures which Temer had announced were to be sold by the government in order to boost the economy and bring it out of recession under the Investment Partnership Programme, an IPP spokesperson told AFP.”

According to Mint Press

In Brazil, intense lobbying has been underway since at least 2016 to tap into the aquifer. These efforts fell under the spotlight late last month (February 2018) at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where private talks were reported between Brazil’s President Michel Temer and a range of top executives with interests in the aquifer…”

Invariably, the model for the extraction of natural resources including water is not outright “privatization” but the granting of concessions (long term leases) to private corporations, while retaining formal public ownership.

For Nestle’s insidious role in the water business, See the report on Nestle by Bloomberg

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Private companies such as Coca-Cola and Nestlé are allegedly in the process of acquiring private ownership of the largest reserve of water, known as the Guarani Aquifer, in South America. The aquifer is located beneath the surface of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay and is the second largest-known aquifer system in the world.

Reported by Correio do Brasil the major transnational conglomerates are “striding forward” with their negotiations to privatize the aquifer system. Meetings have already been reserved with authorities of the Brazil’s Temer government to outline procedures required for private companies to exploit the water sources. The concession contracts would last more than 100 years.

The first public conversation about this dilemma was scheduled on the same day the process of voting for the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff was opened. As Central Politico reports,

“This coincidence was fatal for the adjournment of the meeting.” “There must be another list of projects to be granted or privatized in the medium term, with auctions that may occur in up to one year, such as Electrobras energy distributors and freshwater sources,” [translated from Portuguese].

This issue extends beyond South America. Humanity will be affected by the decision to privatize the second-largest aquifer system in the world. Essentially, the corporations are profiting of a natural resource that should be freely available to all.

Under the Guarani Aquifer Project’s Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development Project, known as ANA’s Guarani Aquifer Project (SAG), the aquifer would be managed and preserved for present and future generations. Following the conservatives’ victory in Argentina and the coup d’état, pressed for by the ultra right in Paraguay and Brazil, only Uruguay was left to vote on the privatization of the aquifer.

Approximately two-thirds (1.2 million km²) of the reserve is located in Brazilian territory, specifically in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul. Future generations will ultimately suffer if this deal goes through, which is why human rights organizations around the world are getting involved.

“Organized civil society is alert to possible privatization strategies of transnational economic groups. Since 2003, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the World Bank, through the Global Environment Facility (GEF), have implemented the Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development project to gather and develop research on the Guarani Aquifer , with the objective of implementing a common institutional, legal and technical model for MERCOSUR countries,” says a document from the Human Rights Organization Terra de Direitos.

Nothing will change if we sit idly by and watch greedy corporations exploit the environment and snatch precious resources from present and future generations. Forward this article.

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Amanda Froelich is an RHN, plant-based chef, freelance writer with 6+ years of experience, Reiki master therapist, world traveler and enthusiast of everything to do with animal rights, sustainability, cannabis and conscious living. I share healthy recipes at Bloom for Life and cannabis-infused treats at My Stoned Kitchen.

Featured image is from Wikimedia Commons.