Water Wars

Vandana Shiva, a world-renowned environmentalist and campaigner, examines the “water-war” of the 21st century: the progressive privatization by the multinationals of communal water rights. While drought and desertification are intensifying around the world, corporations are aggressively converting free-flowing water into bottled profits. The water wars of the 21st century may match - or even surpass - the oil wars of the 20th. This title sheds light on the activists who are fighting corporate manoeuvres to convert this life-sustaining resource into more gold for the elites. Shiva draws on her knowledge of science and society to outline the emergence of corporate culture and the historical erosion of communal water rights. Using the international water trade and industrial activities such as damming, mining and aquafarming as her lens, Shiva exposes the destruction of the earth and the disenfranchisement of the world’s poor as they are stripped of rights to a precious common good. She calls for a movement to preserve water access for all, and offers a blueprint for global resistance based on examples of successful campaigns.