Four Issues of Justice in Global Water Resource PolicyThere are (at least) four major issues of justice arising in global water policy. The entries below offer brief summaries of each, a list of some of the many organizations dealing with water issues, and documentary films that provide useful discussions of each. The four issues are:
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You can read more on the four issues of justice in the brief discussions immediately below. The documentaries cited just below the issue summaries provide useful introductions to all four issues, and they are presented from the point of view of critics of current governmental policies, business practices, and international economic institutions such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and World Trade Organization. At the bottom of this page are websites that go into depth about both technical issues and the global political context in which debates over water policy occur. More extended discussions and references for each of the four issues can be found by clicking the tabs on the top right hand side of this page.
A Bit More on the Four Issues of Justice
Issue # 1: Emerging Threats to the Adequacy of Aggregate Local Water Resources
The planet is experiencing dramatic threats to available fresh water, both due to pollution and from various factors that lead to the long-term loss of available groundwater and the depletion of aquifers. Problems of these kinds are familiar enough to environmental activists, urban planners, and natural resource managers who have to contend with a host of overlapping and reinforcing causes of decreased water availability in some of the wealthiest nations on Earth.
But as bad as problems of this sort often are within affluent, merely wasteful nations, many lesser developed nations face risks of human-made catastrophe. In may water-stressed nations, water is becoming one of the "new non-renewables," the loss of which poses major threats to the well-being of many of the planet's most vulnerable persons. They face increased disease, exacerbated poverty, and the loss of secure access to an already dwindling resource vital for human, animal, and plant life. Many of these trends pre-date the contribution that global warming makes to desertification, and global warming adds further stress on water resources compromised by both geographic factors, land use decisions, and external investment strategies of multi-national corporations.
But as bad as problems of this sort often are within affluent, merely wasteful nations, many lesser developed nations face risks of human-made catastrophe. In may water-stressed nations, water is becoming one of the "new non-renewables," the loss of which poses major threats to the well-being of many of the planet's most vulnerable persons. They face increased disease, exacerbated poverty, and the loss of secure access to an already dwindling resource vital for human, animal, and plant life. Many of these trends pre-date the contribution that global warming makes to desertification, and global warming adds further stress on water resources compromised by both geographic factors, land use decisions, and external investment strategies of multi-national corporations.
Issue # 2 Market Commodification, Privatization of Local Water Supplies, and Poverty
Much of the water available for personal use in some of the poorest countries of the world is supplied by private companies, and in many instances, this fact is due to the economic incentives and funding provided by governments and international lending institutions. The publicly articulated aim is to make safe, clean water available to more persons and to reduce waste by requiring "full-cost recovery" of production. Critics object to the full market commodification of water for personal use on the grounds that in some instances the poor cannot pay the prices charged and that substantial profits made from the water supplies of these nations goes abroad.
Moreover, there are many forms of market-based water supply involving non-state private entities. They include systems that contract for management services, systems that effectively hand over the resource to foreign corporations for sale back to the citizens of the nations on the theory that they add value by way of purification and expanded delivery mechanisms, and systems that drive out all public mechanisms for meeting local water needs, again on the theory that any form of water purification and delivery that treats water as a public good undermines market-based, price rationing conservation goals.
Moreover, there are many forms of market-based water supply involving non-state private entities. They include systems that contract for management services, systems that effectively hand over the resource to foreign corporations for sale back to the citizens of the nations on the theory that they add value by way of purification and expanded delivery mechanisms, and systems that drive out all public mechanisms for meeting local water needs, again on the theory that any form of water purification and delivery that treats water as a public good undermines market-based, price rationing conservation goals.
Issue # 3 Water Prospecting, Commodity Speculation, and Sovereignty over Water Resources
The emerging water crisis, as many have described it, has encouraged global speculation in land and water rights and the extraction of water for bottled water and sodas at a pace that often exceeds recharge rates necessary to preserve the water table. Critics thus charge that the emerging practice of global water prospecting puts at risk a loss of sovereign control over vital water resources and endangers adequate and affordable local access to water. Moreover, the concomitant worry is that the prospectors will leave behind permanent environmental degradation from bottling plant wastes and, in the worst cases, irreparable disruption of the natural hydrologic cycle in the area.
In short, the worry is that the globalization of water as a purely market good, largely insulated from government efforts to limit external acquisition of vital national resources for the benefit of its citizens, undermines both rights to water as a vital human resource in its own right and a constellation of other human rights along with it.
In short, the worry is that the globalization of water as a purely market good, largely insulated from government efforts to limit external acquisition of vital national resources for the benefit of its citizens, undermines both rights to water as a vital human resource in its own right and a constellation of other human rights along with it.
Issue # 4 Industrial Agriculture, Globalization, and Its Implications for Water
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Water is a key component in agriculture, and in many places the most significant uses of water, or a close second behind the production of energy. Just as water sources become both more scarce and more degraded, modern agricultural techniques have become one of the major sources of pollution and one of the major causes of water overdraft. The interactive role of the supply-side loss and the demand-side excess becomes more significant as global water prospecting and the globalization of agriculture result in the rapid extraction of resources from the developing world only to be used for the primary benefit of the world's most affluent nations. While agricultural uses themselves pose problems for sustainable water supplies, the global expansion of industrial agriculture into new regions, often with inadequate environmental controls on usage and the rapid extraction of water for crops not well-suited to the locale, compound the ordinary problems that industrial agriculture has produced under more favorable environmental conditions.
A Few Documentary Films
Blue Gold: World Water Wars (Bozzo, 2008):
click image for link to the book
This documentary film is based on Maude Barlow's book Blue Gold: The Right to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water. It seeks to investigate the environmental, socio-political, and economic implications of the steady decline of our global freshwater supply. More specifically, the film combines eyewitness videos with expert testimony to highlight how the corporate monopolization of regional water supplies infringes upon the human rights of marginalized peoples, often leading to widespread violence. The message is clear – water will supplant oil as the catalyst for future wars, but we can fight back through community organizing and activism.
The official website builds upon the film with an “Action Plan” for the fight to defend access to water as a universal human right. It is an excellent resource for anyone who wants to help the cause by volunteering, protesting, donating, or making basic lifestyle changes. The film is available for free streaming here.
The official website builds upon the film with an “Action Plan” for the fight to defend access to water as a universal human right. It is an excellent resource for anyone who wants to help the cause by volunteering, protesting, donating, or making basic lifestyle changes. The film is available for free streaming here.
FLOW: For the Love of Water
This documentary covers issues related to the disruption of the hydrologic cycle, the global business of water prospecting and the bottled water and soda industry, water resource depletion problems with energy production and exploration, water privatization and its impact on water access in developing nations and its profit potential for multinational corporations.
More information about the film can be found at the filmmaker's website.
More information about the film can be found at the filmmaker's website.
The Primary Sources of Deterioration in Water Quality and Quantity
Poisoned Waters, A PBS Frontline special report
This PBS film examines a host of issues of ground water quality and availability using the Puget Sound and the Chesapeake bay as cases studies. It documents the biological transformation of two major estuaries by the increased concentration of chemicals such as estrogen from birth control pills, commonly prescribed anti-depressants, rocket fuel, and especially, the large volume of agricultural pollution that includes animal waste, fertilizers, animal growth hormones, and antibiotics.
The film also examines the causes of significant loss of groundwater availability, including the role of hardscape in exacerbating urban water run-off, the stress on water resources created by suburbanization, and the effect of deforestation on regional watersheds. The film can be seen online, along with useful supplemental materials at the PBS Frontline website. The focus of the film is on the US, but many of the lessons are applicable to other developed nations and lesser developed nations where land use decisions are being made under conditions of rapid transformation from mainly rural population centrers to new mega-city environments.
This PBS film examines a host of issues of ground water quality and availability using the Puget Sound and the Chesapeake bay as cases studies. It documents the biological transformation of two major estuaries by the increased concentration of chemicals such as estrogen from birth control pills, commonly prescribed anti-depressants, rocket fuel, and especially, the large volume of agricultural pollution that includes animal waste, fertilizers, animal growth hormones, and antibiotics.
The film also examines the causes of significant loss of groundwater availability, including the role of hardscape in exacerbating urban water run-off, the stress on water resources created by suburbanization, and the effect of deforestation on regional watersheds. The film can be seen online, along with useful supplemental materials at the PBS Frontline website. The focus of the film is on the US, but many of the lessons are applicable to other developed nations and lesser developed nations where land use decisions are being made under conditions of rapid transformation from mainly rural population centrers to new mega-city environments.
A Few Web Resources: NGOs, Advocacy Groups, Research Organizations
Food and Water Watch
Food and Water Watch is a non-government organization (NGO) that branched off from Public Citizen, a non-profit consumer rights advocacy group, in 2005 to "ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainably produced." Food and Water Watch constantly rotates its nationwide campaigns to maintain focus on the most pressing issues of the day. It is renowned for utilizing grassroots organizing in the form of events, petitions, social networking (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Flickr), and a comprehensive e-mail list.
For more information, check out the official website's List of Issues, Blog Posts, or News Updates. Additionally, Food and Water Watch has recently expanded its YouTube Channel to cover a variety of current issues and related events.
For more information, check out the official website's List of Issues, Blog Posts, or News Updates. Additionally, Food and Water Watch has recently expanded its YouTube Channel to cover a variety of current issues and related events.
International Water Management Institute
International Water Management Institute (IWMI) is one of 15 international research centers that form the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). IWMI's overarching objectives and corresponding methods are best detailed in the organization's Strategic Plan, the bulk of which consists of a thematic breakdown of the most pressing issues along with a list of relevant stakeholders, partners, and research topics. These themes, as well as a variety of related topics, can also be explored in more detail on the IWMI website.
The IWMI website also details the organization's latest projects and publications (including its comprehensive Annual Report). Likewise, the website serves as a phenomenal resource for both breaking news stories and their specific geo-political contexts (re: regional profiles in Asia and Africa).
The IWMI website also details the organization's latest projects and publications (including its comprehensive Annual Report). Likewise, the website serves as a phenomenal resource for both breaking news stories and their specific geo-political contexts (re: regional profiles in Asia and Africa).
UNESCO Water Portal
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the U.N. whose missions is "to contribute to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, communication and information." This webpage is devoted entirely to UNESCO's work on water, which includes research and education, resource management, and capacity building. It provides a solid background in the current policies and emerging trends, particularly with respect to the International Hydrological Programme (IHP) and the global centers it sponsors.
The UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education serves primarily as a provider of educational courses in the field of water at various institutes around the world. Additionally, UNESCO-IHE conducts research on five themes - water security, environmental integrity, urbanization, water management and governance, and information and communication systems - and produces a wide array of corresponding publications. Finally, the institute carries out related projects in the fields of institutional capacity building, advisory services, and policy development, among others.
The UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education serves primarily as a provider of educational courses in the field of water at various institutes around the world. Additionally, UNESCO-IHE conducts research on five themes - water security, environmental integrity, urbanization, water management and governance, and information and communication systems - and produces a wide array of corresponding publications. Finally, the institute carries out related projects in the fields of institutional capacity building, advisory services, and policy development, among others.