Alonso, Georgian

English

Canadian Woman Studies / les cahiers de la femme (E-Journal, York University)

VOLUME 30,  NUMBERS 2,3 121Book ReviewsMaude Barlow—Senior Advisor on Water to former United Nations General Assembly President Mi-guel d’Escoto Brockmann in 2008 and 2009, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, and chairperson of the Food and Water Watch board—is truly an expert on global water issues. Blue Future is the final instalment in Barlow’s Blue series, a series which underscores the seriousness of the world’s water crisis. In Blue Future, Barlow looks at water management from historical, geographical, ecological, social, polit-ical, and economic perspectives and reaches the same conclusion every time: water must be established as a public trust for the good of both humanity and the rest of the world. In her book, Barlow lays out the important work that has already been done in the name of water justice and the significant work that remains to be done. Her solutions to the water prob-lematic follow four key principles: 1) water is a human right, 2) water is a common heritage, 3) water has rights too, and 4) water can teach us how to live together. Through these four principles, Barlow lays out the current state of water politics. She emphasizes the necessity of legally recognizing water as a human right and estab-lishing it as a public trust, noting the disastrous effects of privatization and commodification of water. She argues that while protecting water sources is of great benefit to humans, water does not merely exist for our benefit; we are part of our ecosystems and we must respect that. She also highlights the fact that water inequality is directly linked to global social and economic inequality. Instead of focusing on one region or on a handful of water basins, Bar-low provides a diversity of examples of water injustice from around the world—showing that water injustice is truly a global issue—and empha-sizes that while impacts of a lack of clean, affordable, accessible, and sus-tainable water supplies are often felt most in developing countries, water inequality is not only between rich and poor countries but also within countries. Examples of Detroit and Attawapiskat represent several cases of poorer racialized communities in urban centres as well as neglected First Nation reserves lacking adequate public water. Barlow is also diverse in her relation of activist movements fighting back against corporations and governments who see water principal-ly as a money maker, citing inspiring examples from nearly every continent.Barlow does not make any attempt at remaining apolitical in her expla-nation of the consequences of the world’s dwindling water supply and her calls for significant improvement in water management. Instead, she importantly situates the issue of wa-ter into the broader global political economic context, dedicating an entire section to discussing neolib-eral globalization and unbridled capitalism. These, she argues, are the real causes of the water crisis as well as several other related global crises such as food, poverty, and climate change. Unlike some environmental publications, Barlow emphasizes that these crises are not simply a matter of reducing household consumption. While, for example, it is important not to run the tap while brushing one’s teeth, this combined with other household changes are not enough to save the world’s water when, as Barlow shockingly states, ninety percent of water is used by natural resource industries. Industry is where the most pressing changes are needed and these changes will only happen with a systemic political overhaul. Like clean freshwater itself, Blue Future presents detailed information that is crystal clear, essential to our continued existence, and a sign of life in an overwhelmingly difficult fight for water justice. With 2015 being the deadline for the un to achieve the Millennium Development Goals that were set in 2000 and Barlow’s assertion that we are not even close to meeting the minimalist goals on water (or several other areas for that matter), the question on the minds of every concerned global citizen appears towards the end of the book: Is it too late? Barlow is hopeful that it is not, but stresses that we must act now, in a unified, unrelenting manner. Georgina Alonso is a writer and researcher with a Master of Arts in International Development Studies from Saint Mary’s University where she conducted field research on the impacts of Canadian international development policy related to mining in Peru. Her research interests include foreign aid, sustainable development, and international political economy. Altogether, she has academic experience in five different countries (Canada, France, Spain, Bolivia, and Peru) and in three different languages (English, French, and Spanish).BLUE FUTURE: PROTECTING WATER FOR PEOPLE AND THE PLANET FOREVERMaude BarlowToronto: House of Anansi Press, 2013reviewed by georgina  alonso

Blue Future: Protecting Water for People and the Planet Forever

https://cws.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/cws/article/download/37490/34037

Blue Future: Protecting Water for People and the Planet Forever

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Canadian Woman Studies / les cahiers de la femme (E-Journal, York University)