Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow tweeted this morning:
In Milan with exciting development and human rights org Mani Tese. Big conference on resource grabs. I spoke on water grabs.
— Maude Barlow (@MaudeBarlow) May 9, 2014
Photo: Maude speaking in Milan, Italy this morning.
As noted on the Mani Tese Facebook page, Maude commented in her remarks, “L’acqua è una ragione per unire comunità e azioni” (“Water is a reason to merge community and actions”).
As explained by Annalisa Stagni, “Mani Tese is an Italian NGO celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2014. Since its foundation Mani Tese has been dealing with the concept of ecological debt. Over the last three years we have worked extensively on environmental justice from a range of different points of view. We analysed the impact of European policies in terms of natural resources grabbing with a particular focus on water and land as cross cutting resources that are grabbed, and at the same time we tried to raise awareness and sustain grassroots activism.”
Stagni adds, “The conference is an occasion to celebrate our important anniversary and to discuss development cooperation, where it is going and how it is changing. We will discuss the scenario in which these changes are happening: from the issue of environmental justice and the role of European Union in view of the next elections, to the need to put into effect the alternative(s) to the current economic system.”
To read more (in Italian) about the conference please click here, for more on the work of this organization click here.
To read Barlow’s speech there, please click on Protecting water and land from grabbers. For a new water ethic.
