hi water forum members

I have had quite a few interesting responses to my posting on Karen Bakker's 
article. I am forwarding one below with the permission of the sender. Please 
forward all messages to the list as the objective is to start a conversation 
on Bakker's thought provoking article

Bharat


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hi Bharat


Thanks for your response.  Feel free to copy any response to this to the
relevant lists.

I certainly agree with your assessment that there is a real water shortage,
and that the less powerful / marginalised sections of society bear the brunt
of it.  However, I see most of this 'scarcity' (for want of a better word)
as human induced and/or human constructed.  Hence I'm interested in the
distributional politics.

I found Bakker's argument against a conceptualisation of water as 'human
right' and for a conceptualisation of water as 'commons' interesting. There
has been a lot of academic critiques of neoliberalism being undertaken in
the context of resource policies, but I think many of them fail to provide
alternative conceptual frameworks. I think Bakker is strong on this, but at
the same time would not want to step completely away from a 'human right to
water' as I think there is a basic right there.

I am currently skimming last years UN Human Development report (these
reports are all so long...).

With regard to the human rights vs. commons debate, there is certainly
debate in Australia about water markets as a management tool (in the rural
sector).  These are being implemented in my state of New South Wales at
present. Perhaps the 'anti-market voice' is weaker here because people are
not facing a scarcity in terms of water for subsistence agriculture or basic
needs, but for market-based agriculture and 'disposable' water uses (eg
watering gardens, washing cars etc).  I certainly see issues in the
increasing marketisation of the water industry, because I don't believe in
the end that it is good for the country as a whole nor the majority of
individuals.

Gareth.


_____________________________________________________
Gareth Edwards
PhD Candidate
School of Geosciences
University of Sydney
(M) 0425 290 684
[log in to unmask]

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