It runs, it pours, it spills into every instance of life, flowing through the bodies of both the earth and sky, clenching the thirst of each and every creature: water is the collective denominator of all living things.
The cascade of cultural, social and environmental challenges linked to water expose how essential this is for our basic biological lives. It can be a driver of migration, conflict or change, enabling many to live with dignity and making others tremendously vulnerable. In the climate crisis characterised by increasingly more floods, more droughts, more refugees, water lies like an open wound which exacerbates the growing inequalities and contradictions of our time. As the instrument binding together economy and ecology, water should become the very reason for change on a global dimension in our course towards a brighter future. Along with ocean acidification, sea level rise and water management, many of the effects of climate change are slowly but inevitably modifying entire ecosystems connected to the sea and even eroding islands, particularly in the tropics. Consequently, as the traditional knowledge of islanders is becoming outdated in terms of agriculture and food supply, many are forced to migrate from their flooded homes as ‘climate refugees’. Islanders are also becoming part of those who are obliged to leave their lands for environmental reasons, in spite of the fact the word ‘refugee’ has never legally lent itself to include this category before. Nonetheless, due to the fact that this phenomenon is not voluntary and is significantly increasing, the terminology is now also used to define those who have been disadvantaged by climatic variations. Malé, in the Maldives, is already surrounded by a sea wall to protect it from surrounding water. Without traveling too far, the fate of Venice, kept afloat by hydraulic expedients combined with astronomical tides, is dramatically changing as proved by the most recent acque alte (high water). In order to confront the impacts of climate change on islands, there are discussions about some time-bound solutions, such as regularly raising the land or pushing human settlement increasingly towards the heart of the land, as well as more innovative and radical suggestions such as building floating islands on waves. Rather than run from it, we should be drawn to water and the possibilities that come with its relentless hydrologic patterns, in order to make it a resource rather than an ever-present enemy. It is therefore crucial that we do not focus on designing short-term solutions, which may in the future reveal further problems in our landscapes, but rather learn to adapt and coexist with the waves of change on the long term. In the last 100 years, 70% of the world’s natural wetland has been lost, along with its freshwater biodiversity (United Nations, 2018). Lake Urmia in Iran is slowly dying, and with it the populations of shrimps and flamingos that populated the hypersaline waters. On the other hand, the glens, lagoons, floating islands and savannas of Iberá Wetlands in Argentina are a great example of how water can become the guardian of an incredible amount of animal and plant species living together. This area, which is one of the largest freshwater reservoirs in the world, is bursting with life and represents the incredible capacity of water to maintain biodiversity. As well as programmes of wildlife protection and rewilding, the local communities round the Iberá Wetlands have been economically developed through the promotion of nature-tourism, which allows for a healthy human-nature relationship and an alternative activity for tourists who are able to access conservation areas and spread awareness of environmental issues on their return. Nature has become the main source of economic income and job opportunity in the area, effectively working and sweeling the ranks due to the careful fostering and deep respect for the local ecosystem. As well as our negative impact as cohabitants, the positive actions we inflict on our environments can have a dangerous impact. For instance, over 80% of wastewater is poured back into the environment without appropriate treatment (UNESCO, 2017). Our culture of consumption, rather than usage, make us the only creatures alive who create non-disposable waste. Plastic, micro-plastics and chemicals, which often inhabit wastewater, are not easily digestible for the earth and can produce a chain of inexorable harms. However as well as the ecological aspect, our relations to water can also create social and economic challenges in the ways we relate to each other. Today 1 in 3 people on planet Earth lack safe drinking water (WHO, 2019). In 2010, access to safe and clean water was recognised as a human right by the UN General Assembly and the Human Right Council. In spite of this however, it is predicted by the UNCCD (United Nation Convention to Combat Desertification) that in less than 10 years from now, in 2030, the issue of water scarcity will displace between 24-700 million people, causing them to flee from their lands. Water is not only slowly reshaping and furrowing our environment, but also the social relations and values upon which we survive. The fact that young girls have no access to water in schools, for instance, obliges them to drop out school when having their period each month. This creates an inevitable disadvantage and an obstacle for female emancipation, which is essentially reliant upon education. When children are obliged to spend hours every day carrying water due to lack of sanitation and water access, they are sacrificing time that should be spent in schools and with their communities. Finally, with water also comes freedom. Having access to basic health and hygiene may be one of the formal human rights, but we are still distant from its substantial realisation. In the midst of a climate crisis, where paradoxically the distribution of risks mostly affects the already vulnerable, investing in water becomes the best way to ensure some hopeful development for those who most need it and to instil resilience in the most precarious systems. Rather than focusing on our usual politics of now, we should be aiming to create a new notion of profit which extends into the future, although we may not directly see any immediate returns. Merely reacting to reactions is not the solution: rather than focusing exclusively on climate change, we should address the greater scope of how we decide to interact and inhabit this world. Only by reshaping not just our outer chambers, but also our moral landscapes, we will be able to forge the new economics of sustainability, which not only reset our egotistic idea of success and achievement, but also propose resilience and new values as means to survive and, more importantly, coexist with nature. By embracing our infinitely creative power to adapt, we should aim to redefine the relationship between humans and water in a sensitive and evenly distributed manner. Investing in water is the fundamental way of closing the open wound of inequalities and washing it with the light of a sustainable future.
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