Promoting respect of Human Rights
These are defined as vital services essential for a dignified and decent life.
The UN's International Covenant on Economic,Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) includes collective drinking water and sanitation, waste management and waste disposal, energy distribution and public transportation services in the definition of essential services. Although frequently mentioned in the context of the developing world, the problem of access to these services is also an issue for urban services management in the developed world.
An important presence in emerging countries
Although Veolia Environnement earns most of its revenue in developed countries, its presence in emerging or developing countries measured in terms of industrial and human realities, is very significant.
Veolia Environnement has a large economic influence in some of these countries, which reinforces the extent of our company responsibility.
Facilitating financial access to the service
Social support mechanisms must be created in developing countries to meet the needs of the worst off populations.
Emergency humanitarian assistance and technical support
Veolia Environnement makes its expertise available for emergency humanitarian assistance (Veolia Force) and development (Veolia Waterdev) through its network of 450 volunteer employees.
Solutions for social support
In Africa,Veolia Water AMI (Africa, Middle East, India) is developing appropriate solutions for the poorest populations.
"Mobile offices", that are actually buses outfitted as offices, are used to visit associations and inhabitants of under-equipped and remote districts; automatic water fountains, with prepaid fixed fees, are used to reduce waste while allowing access of poor families to water.
Since initial contact in 2002, Moroccan subsidiaries of Veolia Water have connected 198 995 inhabitants to the drinking water network and 66 180 inhabitants to the sanitation network through subsidized connections. A similar policy is implemented in Niger.
Finally in March 2008, Veolia Water agreed with the Grameen Bank to create a new company, Grameen - Veolia Water Ltd.
This innovative partnership will enable to provide drinking water to poor rural populations in Bangladesh. At the end of 2008, the first unit should supply 25,000 inhabitants of Gaolmari with drinking water from water fountains, at a price calculated as a function of the financial capability of the community. All profits shall be reinjected into the project to finance its expansion.
Adapting rates
Veolia Environnement does not determine rates for access to services for users of water, energy or transportation; they are fixed by the public authorities within the framework of each contract.
But we propose special rate arrangements in cooperation with local authorities and possibly associations, to enable better access of the population to these services.
Thus in Africa, Veolia Water contributed to applying :
- rates adapted to the capability of inhabitants and the type of consumption considered (essential or leisure) to reduce the cost for the poorest;
- free connection to the drinking water networks, or cost spread out over up to 7 or 10 years, to determine monthly contributions that inhabitants can afford;
- combination of multiple levels of financial solidarity - between subscribers to the water service (in Morocco); between large cities and isolated centers (in Niger), between developed and emerging countries through international solidarity, for example as in Burkina Faso, in which the difference between the contribution requested from inhabitants and the real cost is paid by the ONEA and then the World Bank.
Identifying models that take into account traditional local context
Gothenburg : regional transportation and territorial development
Veolia Transport operates five ferry lines connecting islands in the archipelago to the city center.
In developing countries, our businesses are encouraging informal craft activities that can play an important role in maintaining social and economic balance. The waste management sector with Egyptian zabaleen or pepenadores (ragmen) in Venezuela are very typical of this phenomenon.
New modern systems must adapt to these realities, and either eradicate their most unacceptable aspects such as child labor by accompanying it with social and education monitoring, or search for means of conciliation and balance. The simplest tasks can be carried out by traditional means as soon as a framework is set up to guarantee legitimacy and health and safety.
Practices from the South deserve attentive consideration; the Transmilenio in Bogota has demonstrated that financial constraints can lead to the invention of effective and economic solutions that can be perfectly transposed to developed countries. Waste recycling requires large financial support from public authorities in the richer world, whilst it is done spontaneously in the developing countries.
We believe that one of the keys to success, in improving urban facilities in large cities throughout the developing world is to successfully balance both the modern and the traditional in an organizational framework that uses rigorous standards in terms of financial and environmental efficiency and social balance.
Adapting and developing availability of our services
The problem of service availability can arise in some developing regions and parts of the population of developed countries. Divisions of Veolia Environnement adapt their services to propose technical solutions and services to the local context or to specific populations.
Jerusalem tramway : exercising our responsibility in a difficult context
Veolia Environnement operates in 68 countries, and sometimes conducts its activities in very sensitive contexts in which it has social and environmental responsibilities, and special vigilance is necessary.
Thus in terms of mobility, Veolia Transport is developing its range of services so as to make it more accessible.
When it is impossible to set up a regular line for remote geographic areas, or in areas with special access, the company develops transportation on demand services, for example an intermunicipalities transportation on demand service operating in rural or suburban areas in eastern France.
These services are particularly appropriate for transportation of the elderly.
Services are also developed for the disabled ; this is the case in Oakland (United States) where 2,200 people are transported per day. Welcoming disabled customers requires specific training.
Campus Veolia, in partnership with Veolia Transport and associations of disabled people, set up a first session in 2007 for training in welcoming and dealing with these customers.
In developed countries, Veolia Water sets up initiatives to maintain access to water services for people in a vulnerable situation; education on usage with underprivileged people, involvement with social services, spreading of payment of bills, contact with consumers in difficulty, and cancelling debt when necessary.
