Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit
3 journalers for this copy...
From the back cover:
"In Water Wars, Vandana Shiva uses her remarkable knowledge of science and society to analyze the historical erosion of communal water rights. Examining the international water trade, damming, mining, and aquafarming, Shiva exposes the destruction of the earth and the disenfranchisement of the world's poor as they are stripped of their right to a precious common good.
Shiva reveals how many ofhte most important conflicts of our time, most often camouflaged as ethnic wars or religious wars, such as the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, are in fact conflicts over scarce but vital natural resources.
Water Wars celebrates the spiritual and traditional role water has played in communities throughout history, and warns that water privatization threatens cultures and livelihoods worldwide."
"In Water Wars, Vandana Shiva uses her remarkable knowledge of science and society to analyze the historical erosion of communal water rights. Examining the international water trade, damming, mining, and aquafarming, Shiva exposes the destruction of the earth and the disenfranchisement of the world's poor as they are stripped of their right to a precious common good.
Shiva reveals how many ofhte most important conflicts of our time, most often camouflaged as ethnic wars or religious wars, such as the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, are in fact conflicts over scarce but vital natural resources.
Water Wars celebrates the spiritual and traditional role water has played in communities throughout history, and warns that water privatization threatens cultures and livelihoods worldwide."
This book arrived last night. I just finished the novel I was reading today, so I will get to start this right away.
A very interesting read, and I have to agree with Shiva in her argument that water management has not been well enough managed so that local communities are given their full right to a safe, undisturbed, water source. In her zeal to blame commercial and financhial institutions though I fear that she blinds herself to any reasons by the "opposition".
One example suggested at was of how the World Bank had sponsored loans for well development in India at the expense of the local people so that they would then be more dependent upon outside commercial agencies. Having met one of the engineers who is working with the World Health Organization on that same project, I feel like Shiva is strongly baising the presentation of this material by leaving out a lot of material. In the case of the drilled water pumps versus the original surface pumps, one of the major reasons for installing the deeper wells was not to cheat the locals as suggested. By getting at the subsurface water they were able to virtually elimate exposure to many of the waterborn illness that are present in surface water such as disentry and cholera. Also extensive elemental testing reveiled that the deeper wells had significantly lower amounts of arsenic in many areas of the country.
Despite my misgivings as to what other material was omitted by this text, I did enjoy this book. In particular I learned a lot about traditional indian farming.
One example suggested at was of how the World Bank had sponsored loans for well development in India at the expense of the local people so that they would then be more dependent upon outside commercial agencies. Having met one of the engineers who is working with the World Health Organization on that same project, I feel like Shiva is strongly baising the presentation of this material by leaving out a lot of material. In the case of the drilled water pumps versus the original surface pumps, one of the major reasons for installing the deeper wells was not to cheat the locals as suggested. By getting at the subsurface water they were able to virtually elimate exposure to many of the waterborn illness that are present in surface water such as disentry and cholera. Also extensive elemental testing reveiled that the deeper wells had significantly lower amounts of arsenic in many areas of the country.
Despite my misgivings as to what other material was omitted by this text, I did enjoy this book. In particular I learned a lot about traditional indian farming.
Book came in mail today. Thank you.
