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A review by cosmicllama
Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water by Maude Barlow
4.0
A far more focused book than Blue Gold, Barlow dissects how corporations have made water their next goal. Barlow begins by breaking down how severe our current water problems are and where we are headed, before launching into an analysis of how corporations have convinced the world that they are our saviors when it comes to providing water to the masses who do not have access.
While Barlow does not get into too much detail about how corporate entities (empowered by local, regional and national governments) have failed in providing water, she widens the scope highlighting how much damage has been done by making water a tradeable commodity. From consistent water price rises, to increasingly larger land grabs, to the willful ignorance of everyone involved, Barlow paints a grim picture. It seems that everywhere you look, problems are just waiting to be compounded.
Barlow offers one solution, take the power back, and force water to be recognized as a human right, not a human need. While she details the resistance movements building at the time, there is not much in the way of major systemic solutions beyond popular resistance. While I don't think she fails to make her case, she doesn't get into the kind of detail that would help readers galvanized by the issue spring into action. She lists groups she's worked with and others that are in motion, but doesn't give a clear idea of what the reader can do, besides seek out local groups.
In the end, the future of water is an incredibly complicated issue, and Barlow manages to put a laser like focus on making sure corporate control of water resources plays as little a part in this future as possible.
While Barlow does not get into too much detail about how corporate entities (empowered by local, regional and national governments) have failed in providing water, she widens the scope highlighting how much damage has been done by making water a tradeable commodity. From consistent water price rises, to increasingly larger land grabs, to the willful ignorance of everyone involved, Barlow paints a grim picture. It seems that everywhere you look, problems are just waiting to be compounded.
Barlow offers one solution, take the power back, and force water to be recognized as a human right, not a human need. While she details the resistance movements building at the time, there is not much in the way of major systemic solutions beyond popular resistance. While I don't think she fails to make her case, she doesn't get into the kind of detail that would help readers galvanized by the issue spring into action. She lists groups she's worked with and others that are in motion, but doesn't give a clear idea of what the reader can do, besides seek out local groups.
In the end, the future of water is an incredibly complicated issue, and Barlow manages to put a laser like focus on making sure corporate control of water resources plays as little a part in this future as possible.