Trading Basic Human Necessities

Human civilizations over the past have evolved due to some vital factors. Availability of life sustaining resources in abundance and for free is one of the most important factor. No body has been taxed for free and pure breathing air so far. Though its availability in pure form is hardly seen. Water has been the base of life. Life without water is totally out of context. Water has been available to us through various sources. Natural sources have provided us with pure and abundant water since our growth.

But the pressure of increasing population has changed the scenario in a much distorted manner. Every resource has got its limitation. With ever increasing population, the natural sources are becoming insufficient day by day. Added to that increasing population and development that we have achieved have rendered many sources either unfit for use or unhealthy to consume. Industrial discharge containing toxic ingredients has found its way to rivers and lakes for years now. Industrial pollution has many other forms that keep exposing as the related problems are developing. Human population is mired today by numerous diseases that result from unsafe drinking water.

The divide between rich and poor which has always been fuelled by the capitalist control of market and resources, make the scene worse. Rich people are able to get ultra purified drinking water in the leisure of their confinements. But the vast majority of poor and deprived people, who are unable to get fair nutrition are forced to consume unhealthy water and face the consequences. Here the role of government comes handy. Any elected government has the moral and legal responsibility to ensure that natural resources that are gifts of nature, reach to each and every one in a human manner. Ensuring pure air and water is the first and least expectation from any government. If rich and poor divide is able to deter this, its the utter failure of the governance.

Making money out of human necessities is not a new concept. It has always been there in the society. There are many socio-economical factors that make it complex to comprehend. But what is quite simple to see is the fact that human race has always faced greed as its enemy. The recent happenings around the globe to privatized civic water supply has raised such similar concerns. It is slowly creeping the society in different lucrative forms and by the time people would realize, everything will be out of their hands. Lets look at this more deeply.

Water is, according to Fortune magazine, "One of the world's great business opportunities. It promises to be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th." In the past ten years, three giant global corporations have quietly assumed control over the water supplied to almost 300 million people in every continent of the world. A 12-month investigation by journalists in Canada, the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America shows that the results range from questionable to disastrous. And it shows how well-meaning municipal governments in the U.S. and Canada can become vulnerable to the persuasive techniques of these high-powered corporate giants.In Europe and North America, analysts predict that within the next 15 years these companies will control 65 percent to 75 percent of what are now public waterworks. The companies have worked closely with the World Bank and other international financial institutions to gain a foothold on every continent. They aggressively lobby for legislation and trade laws to force cities to privatized their water and set the agenda for debate on solutions to the world's increasing water scarcity. The companies argue they are more efficient and cheaper than public utilities. Critics say they are predatory capitalists that ultimately plan to control the world's water resources and drive up prices even as the gap between rich and poor widens. The fear is that accountability will vanish, and the world will lose control of its source of life.

A fact check on water demand and supply around the globe reveals:

• About 1.1 billion people lack access to clean drinking water.
• About 2.4 billion people lack access to sanitation. Most are in Africa and Asia.
• Roughly one-third of the global population lives in countries with moderate-to-high water stress. Water stress occurs when water consumption exceeds 10 percent of renewable freshwater resources.
• West Asia faces the severest threat. More than 90 percent of the population in the region lives under severe water stress.
• About 80 countries, comprising about 40 percent of the world's population, had experienced serious water shortages by the mid 1990s.
• In less than 25 years, two-thirds of the world's population will live in water stressed conditions.
• By 2020, water use is expected to increase globally by 40 percent.
• Two billion people (about one-third the world's population) depend on groundwater. Countries around the world face rapidly depleting groundwater resources, including parts of India, China, West Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, the former Soviet Union and the western United States.
• The cost of bringing poor universal access to water by 2015 is projected to be $30 billion a year.

Source: United Nations Environment Programme, GEO-Global Environment Outlook 3, Past, Present and Future Perspectives

Privatization is an umbrella term that includes selling assets to a private company, tendering a water concession to a private company, or awarding management contracts to a private company. These projects received loans either from the World Bank or from its investment arm, the International Finance Corporation. The bank lends only to governments, but it can require government leaders to privatize state-owned assets, such as water utilities, before granting loans. The IFC can lend to businesses.

The matter has to be addressed today before it can grow out of proportion. People need to understand and intervene if their governments continue such processes. The resources like water and air are natural gifts and no people or organization can control them. Awareness and timely action is the only way out. People need to realize the truth and horror behind attractive offers. We have to save our future before money minded devils can cripple it.

Find more at : http://www.publicintegrity.org/water