William Cosgrove
William Cosgrove is a former vice-president and president of the World Water Council – a pro-privatisation think tank with close ties to business and global governing and financial institutions.[1]. His work as the council’s director of the Vision for Water, Life and the Environment in the 21st Century was published in a report he co-authored along side Frank Rijsberman entitled “World Water Vision: Making Water Everybody’s Business.”[2]. The report was presented at the 2nd World Water Forum in The Hague.
As a member of the World Water Council since its inception in 1996 Cosgrove has played a significant role in the formation of the council’s vision and has made significant contributions to their policy platform. In addition to serving as director of the Vision exercise he supervised a two year action monitoring program that was presented at the 3rd World Water Forum in Kyoto entitled, “World Water Actions Making Water Flow for All.”[3]. The report aimed to formalize the council’s water vision. Cosgrove also had a varied career with the World Bank. He initially joined the bank as a Water Resources Specialist and retired in 1989 as Vice-President after 26 years of service.[4].
Cosgrove is founder and former president of the Ecoconsult Inc. consultancy firm.[5]. Ecoconsult Inc. offers water-related services including: services in multi-disciplinary project management; strategic analysis and development planning; policy analysis, policy and institutional reform; project financing, capital flows, trade agreements; socioeconomic and environmental impact studies; post evaluation of programs and projects; development of indicators and monitoring systems; and visioning and scenario development.[6]. Ecoconsult has worked with Global Water Partnership (GWP) - particularly on the “Dialogue on Effective Water Governance”, and consulted with UNSECO and the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) on a project entitled, “From Potential Conflict to Co-operation Potential” which “facilitates multi-level and interdisciplinary dialogues in order to foster peace, co-operation and development related to the management of shared water resources.”[7].
References
- ↑ World Water Council, World Water Council: Press Release, October 3, 2003, accessed 26 November 2008.
- ↑ World Water Council, World Water Vision: Making Water Everybody’s Business, accessed 26 November 2008.
- ↑ World Water Council, World Water Council: Press Release, October 3, 2003, accessed 26 November 2008.
- ↑ World Bank, World Bank Group Historical Chronology: 1980-1989, accessed 26 November 2008.
- ↑ Ecoconsult Inc., What’s New, accessed 26 November 2008.
- ↑ Ecoconsult Inc., Home, accessed 26 November 2008.
- ↑ UNESCO, About PCCP, accessed 26 November 2008.
