The Vancouver Sun, The Province, Edmonton Journal, Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, and Regina Leader-Post have posted Peter G. Prontzos’ review of Blue Future by Maude Barlow. Prontzos, who teaches political science and political philosophy at Langara College in Vancouver, writes:
Does anyone own the rain? Well, in at least one instance, a corporation was given the “right” to “own” the water falling from the heavens. The U.S. transnational giant Bechtel, with the help of the World Bank, was granted ownership of the water system in Bolivia — and those “rights” included rainwater. This multibillion-dollar corporation tripled the price of water — and then demanded payment from poor people whose only hope for drinking clean water was to try to gather some rain.
Such actions are all-too-typical of the growing commodification of nature for the sole purpose of increasing corporate profits — no matter what the human cost. One result, as Maude Barlow points out in Blue Future, her third book on the water crisis facing humanity, is that, “every three and a half seconds in the developing world, a child dies of water-borne disease.”
The issue of access to clean water, however, is one that all of us are facing sooner or later, even here in Canada. For one thing, we are not as water-rich as many imagine, and Barlow contends that Canadian policies, especially at the provincial and federal levels, are putting our “water supplies at risk.”
One threat to our “freshwater heritage” is the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), “which allows American corporations operating in Canada to sue for financial compensation if any changes are made to the policies or practices under which they first invested.” One of these many costly lawsuits was made against Newfoundland when Abitibi Bowater declared bankruptcy and left the province. When the provincial government appropriated the company’s water rights, “in order to help pay for environmental cleanup and pensions for laid off workers,” Abitibi sued Newfoundland under NAFTA’s Chapter 11. Rather than contest the action, the Harper government gave the U.S. corporation $130 million.
The Alberta oilsands are another worry. Not only are 12 to 20 litres of water used for every barrel of oil that is extracted, but that water is then “dumped in massive toxic lagoons so dangerous that birds die on impact.”
Barlow chronicles a host of problems related to the threats to our supplies of clean water, including to the Great Lakes, to the growing number of refugees from water-deprived nations, and the growing potential for armed conflict to break out, especially in the Middle East or East Asia, over a resource that is even more vital to life than oil.
Ominously, she points out that, “global demand for water in 2030 will outstrip supply by 40 per cent.”
(Worse, as author and environmentalist Lester Brown said in November at his talk in Vancouver: “Peak water will lead to peak grain” — yet another threat to our food supply).
Environmental problems, including global warming, are also tied to the inappropriate use of water. Barlow cites a report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives which reports that British Columbia’s plan to use water for fracking for natural gas will, “contribute greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to … 24 million new cars on the road.”
Nevertheless, Barlow’s view is the opposite of despair. Rather, she not only details how these problems can be solved, but she outlines ways in which citizen groups and governments have already reversed numerous water challenges.
For instance, the book begins with the story of the successful struggle at the United Nations to make access to clean water and sanitation a human right — and therefore one which every government is legally obliged to respect. (Barlow served for two years as senior adviser on water to the president of the United Nations General Assembly, Miguel d’Escoto).
She explains the power of this human right, which “places the onus on governments to provide water and sanitation to their people and to prevent harm to the source waters that supply it.” She also relates the story of how the people of Bolivia rose up against the government that sold their water rights and put a new government in power which cancelled the contract.
Similar victories are described in Europe, the developing world, and here in Canada.
Barlow believes that the primary threat to our access to clean water is, “a world ruled by corporations” which establish “the rules for trade” and for which the only motivation is profit. The antidote, in her view, is more grassroots democracy and respect for the “commons” that are the birthright of all people.
Many Canadians would not be surprised to read that it was the Conservative government that “led the opposition” to making water a human right at the UN and pulled Canada out of the Kyoto accord.
Barlow’s book is an encyclopedic and up-to-date reservoir of information, covering numerous water-related problems, but also providing a number of hopeful — and practical — solutions. It should be required reading for all who care about the threats, not only to water, but to people and nature as well.
Further reading
Do We Have a Blue Future?
Barlow’s new book ‘Blue Future’ to be released on September 28
