“A powerful, global movement”
Maude Barlow explains why the solution to the world water crisis is in our hands
Maude Barlow is about to
hit the road again. With a
new book, Blue Covenant:
The Global Water Crisis
and the Coming Battle for
the Right to Water, hot off
the presses, the long-time activist and
National Chairperson of the Council of
Canadians is gearing up to tour Canada
to talk about one of her favourite topics – how to save the world’s water from
privatization and exploitation. She took
some time from her busy schedule to
sit down with Canadian Perspectives to
reflect on the growing movement for
water justice both at home and abroad.
It’s been six years since you wrote
your first big book about water
issues, Blue Gold. What changes have
you see in the global water justice
movement since then?
When I first wrote Blue Gold, the global
water justice movement was still in
its infancy – vibrant, but young and
unconnected. In the years intervening,
we have built a powerful, global movement.
We work in solidarity to support
each other’s struggles. Collectively, we
have discredited the World Bank, the
World Water Council and all of those
who promote private control of water.
A concrete example of the movement’s
sophisticated level of organization is
the way we organized around the referendum
that took place in Uruguay
in 2004, which entrenched the right to
water in the country’s constitution, forcing
it to be delivered as a public service.
There were very powerful forces arguing
against it. The Council of Canadians’
Blue Planet Project worked with
national and international partners to
organize support from all over the world
to flood into Uruguay. Our message
was, “The whole world is watching, and
it matters. You are making history here.”
It made the Uruguay government feel
very proud. This was a victory in one
country, but because of the solidarity
behind it, it has served as an inspiration
to activists all over the world.
By working together, we’ve managed to
discredit the big water corporations and
the international financial institutions.
At every one of the tri-annual World
Water Summit meetings, we have organized
opposition on a huge scale. We
were at The Hague in 2000, in Kyoto
in 2003 and in Mexico City in 2006.
Activists from all over the world converged
and refuted claims that privatization
is working. Together, we promoted
a public alternative for water.
Working with research institutes like the
Public Services International Research
Unit and the World Development
Movement in Europe and Food and
Water Watch in the U.S., we have conducted
in-depth studies to demonstrate
that not only has privatization failed in
the developing world, but – this is really
important – since the privatization
experiments started, the net amount of
money flowing from the global North
to the global South on water projects
has decreased substantially. Thinking
the private companies would invest in
water development, the World Bank and
the development agencies of the rich
countries pulled back their aid. The net
effect was an overall decrease in funding
for water services at a time when
demand was exploding.
How are the threats to Canada’s water
related to the threats you see to the
world’s water internationally?
The threats to Canada’s water are a little
different, but in many ways the same. The big private water companies haven’t
had success yet in convincing local governments
to hand over contracts for private
water delivery – that’s been the big
struggle in the South. Our struggle is
more about protecting water from commercial
export to the United States.
In Canada, we have no national water
policy to protect water ecologically or
politically. In Blue Covenant, I talk
about three myths associated with
Canada’s water. The first is the myth of abundance – the idea that Canada has
unlimited water to spare. The second is
that Canada actually cares for its water
– which is easily de-bunked when you
see the appalling way we treat our water
ecologically. The third myth is that
Canada’s water is protected from export,
which is absolutely false.
In the end, both struggles are about
ensuring public control and sovereign
stewardship of a precious resource.
What’s the first thing you would like
people to do after reading your book?
I would hope that people would hold
water in their heads, hearts and souls,
so that we could start to collectively
have a relationship with water, one that
more closely resembles the Aboriginal
approach to water as a sacred part of
nature. This would go a long way in
confronting the global water crisis.
On a personal level, people can make
decisions about their water use. Do they need that big lawn? Do they need
to do that extra load of dishes in the
dishwasher? We need to confront the use
and abuse of water in our daily lives.
I would also like people to become
“water watchers” – aware of the water systems in their area. I would hope that
they would work to protect them ecologically,
and also that they would get
involved if a privatization fight is looming.
I also challenge people to become
“water warriors,” and fight for the right
of all peoples around the world to accessible
clean water for life.
On a federal level, the Council of
Canadians needs people to work with
us to fight for a national water policy.
In my book, I describe what an effective
policy might look like. We need our
supporters to contact their Members of
Parliament and help make this happen.
Maude Barlow’s new book, Blue
Covenant: The Global Water Crisis
and the Coming Battle for the Right
to Water, hits the stands this month.
Click here for ordering
information and to find out if her
book tour is visiting a community
near you.
The Council of Canadians encouraged by UN High Commissioner's report on the right to water
Following the release of a
report on water by Louise
Arbour, United Nations High
Commissioner for Human
Rights, the Council of
Canadians is calling for an
immediate halt to water privatization
and a review of all existing forms of
privatization.
“Madame Arbour is unambiguous in
demanding that states ensure effective
monitoring of human rights violations
pertaining to water through
a system of penalties. This is a step
forward,” says Anil Naidoo of the
Council of Canadians’ Blue Planet
Project. “But due to the limitations of
her mandate she falls short of calling
for an absolute restriction on all
water privatization.”
“Madame Arbour states that privatization
should not take place in the
absence of a clear and efficient regulatory
framework that can maintain
sustainable access to safe, sufficient,
physically accessible and affordable
water and sanitation,” says Canadian
lawyer Steven Shrybman. “Because
the vast majority of cases of water
privatization have occurred without
these conditions being met, the only
responsible thing to do is to call for
a moratorium and review of all water
privatization schemes.”
“We would encourage the Human
Rights Council to continue to
work on this subject with the High
Commissioner and to appoint a
Special Rapporteur on Water,” says
Maude Barlow, author of the forthcoming
book Blue Covenant and cofounder
of the Blue Planet Project.
“The water justice movement will not
give up until water is fully recognized
as a human right enshrined at all
levels of government from local ordinances,
to nation-state constitutions,
to a full UN covenant.”
To read Anil Naidoo’s reflections
on his participation in the
crafting of Madame Arbour’s
report at the International Expert
Seminar in Berlin, visit www.blueplanetproject.net. |
Photo credit: Meera Karunananthan
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