Blue Future

Protecting Water for People and the Planet Forever

Maude Barlow

• Publisher: The New Press
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9781595589477
• eBook ISBN:
  9781595589484
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Ecology
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Water is a human right: “A rousing case for what will be one of the key environmental challenges of the twenty-first century.” —Booklist 
 
The United Nations has recognized access to water as a basic human right—but there is still much work to be done to stem this growing environmental crisis. In this book, water activist Maude Barlow draws on her extensive experience to lay out a set of key principles that show the way forward to what she calls a “water-secure and water-just world.”
 
Not only does she reveal the powerful players even now impeding the recognition of the human right to water, she argues that water must not become a commodity to be bought and sold on the open market. Focusing on solutions, she includes stories of struggle and resistance from marginalized communities, as well as government policies that work for both people and the planet.
 
At a time when climate change has moved to the top of the national agenda and the stage is being set for unprecedented drought, mass starvation, and the migration of millions of refugees in search of water, Blue Future is an urgent call to preserve our most valuable resource for generations to come.
 
“In a book as clear as a pristine mountain stream, Maude Barlow lays out a practical and inspiring vision for how we can defend water—the source of all life—from the forces of death.” —Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine

INDEX

Aarhus Convention, 200

Abdelnour, Ziad, 82–83

ability to pay, 24, 36, 45, 57, 58, 84, 109

Abitibi Bowater, 215–16

accountability, 37–42, 53, 70, 74, 100, 245, 251

acidification, 177

Action Aid in Karnataka, 104

Adelaide (AU), 194–96

Adelson, Sheldon, 213–14

Africa, 10, 14, 16, 22, 46, 54, 97, 120, 124, 146, 164, 198, 220, 221–22, 223, 244, 249, 250, 252, 269, 272–76

Afriforum, 39

agribusiness, 11, 71, 76, 78, 81, 114–15, 116, 178, 187, 222, 224, 235, 240, 248, 260

agricultural concession rights, 144

agricultural reform, 257–58

agriculture development, link to water availability, 253

agriculture fund, 237

agriculture, 18, 114, 141, 151, 166–67, 191, 222, 223, 247, 248

agri-monoculture, 158

agro-chemicals, 178, 256

agro-ecological farming, 252

agro-fuels, 252

agro-industry, 224

Agúas de Portugal, 110

aid organizations, 47, 51–54

Aigua és Vida, 110

air pollution, 200

Alberta, 84, 99, 170, 180, 215, 217

algae blooms, 143, 164

Algae Bowl, 162–63

Algae Bowl, The (Schindler), 162

algae, 145, 261

Algeria, 16, 146

Allan, J. A., 165, 167, 168

Alliance of Government Workers in the Water Sector, 120

Allianz, 76

alternative forum process, 2...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• PRINCIPLE ONE: WATER IS A HUMAN RIGHT
• PRINCIPLE TWO: WATER IS A COMMON HERITAGE
• PRINCIPLE THREE: WATER HAS RIGHTS TOO
• PRINCIPLE FOUR: WATER CAN TEACH US HOW TO LIVE TOGETHER
• Notes
• Further Reading
• Acknowledgements
• Index