The Ministerial Declaration of The Hague on Water Security in the 21st Century was the start of a long-term political commitment to solving global water issues in developing collaboration and partnerships and building a secure and sustainable water future. To those ends the contribution of society as a whole is required.

The Commission, known as COMEST, serves as a forum to promote ethical, multidisciplinary and multicultural reflection on a number of situations that might become a risk to society as a result of advances in science and technology. To further its goals, the Commission set up three Working Groups, one of which was to examine the ethical questions concerning the use of freshwater resources.