In this increasingly privatized world, to talk about water is almost synonymous with talking about its appropriation by some company to turn it into merchandise and source of profit. The seriousness of the situation has been understood by many people and has led to major struggles – sometimes pacific, sometimes violent – to avoid it passing into the hands of transnational corporations.
However, the role of transnational corporations goes far beyond the drinking water business and extends from pollution to the destruction of ecosystems that ensure the functioning of the water cycle.
Bulletin Issue 128 – March 2008
Water, Forests and Climate
Download here the full bulletin as pdf
THE FOCUS OF THIS ISSUE: WATER, FORESTS AND CLIMATE
Life on Earth found its origin in water. And water continues to sustain all forms of life. This precious natural element has been respected and valued by all cultures except for the present dominant market-based culture which is increasingly converting water into a mere resource to be used and abused. Forests are a key component of the global water cycle. Forest degradation and destruction affects water reservoirs which together influence the earth’s climate. In turn, climate change is impacting on forests, water and people. The main drivers of deforestation --transnational corporations-- by appropriating and destroying water and forests are putting at stake our common future on Earth. We intend this month’s bulletin serves as a tool to highlight these connections and raise local communities’ denounces.
WRM Bulletin
128
March 2008
OUR VIEWPOINT
WATER: A VITAL SOURCE OF LIFE
-
2 March 2008The relationship between forests and water has long pre-existed the appearance of humans on the planet. Wherever water comes down from the skies with certain frequency, there is a forest. For scientists, forests are ecosystems hosting much biological diversity, both regarding different species and also regarding genes within the same species. They are places dominated by trees, but nevertheless composed also of plants of different species, sizes, ages and forms of life. We find lianas, creepers, ferns, shrubs, young trees and old trees that could tell us of history one thousand years before Christ. This gives rise to the great biodiversity these ecosystems host, as so many different plants provide food to many different animals.
-
2 March 2008In the symbiosis between water and forest referred to in the previous article, another component should also be considered: climate change. Climate is a determining factor of the forest, of its flora and fauna. Climate makes a forest boreal or humid-tropical and consequently its diversity will be of one type or another. In turn, forests have been crucial in the development of the world climate because of their role in trapping carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen.
-
2 March 2008“The surface of the earth had not appeared. There was only the calm sea and the great expanse of the sky. There was nothing brought together, nothing which could make a noise, nor anything which might move, or tremble, or could make noise in the sky. There was nothing standing; only the calm water, the placid sea, alone and tranquil. … Only the Creator, the Maker, Tepeu, Gucumatz, the Forefathers, existed in the water surrounded by clarity.” (Fragments from Popol Vuh, the sacred book of the Maya, explaining the origin of the world).
DIFFERENT FORMS OF WATER APPROPRIATION
-
2 March 2008In a country already suffering severe economic hardship and repression under its military rulers, thousands of people mainly in rural areas face losing their homes and lands to seven large dam projects planned for the Irrawaddy (Ayeyarwaddy) River Basin in Northern Burma’s Kachin State. The dam projects are being built under a joint agreement between the Burma’s military regime and the China Power Investment Corporation (CPI). The electricity generated from the dams would be sent via China’s Yunnan power network to feed the western region and eastern coastal areas of China. The electricity revenue to the Burmese junta from China is estimated at about US$500 million per year.
-
2 March 2008The Pampas of Argentina and Uruguay is one of the largest uncultivated grasslands in the world. Grasses have dominated the Pampas for at least three thousand years. Starting in the 19th Century eucalyptus trees were planted on small areas, for shade on cattle ranches and for construction materials. Today, the pulp and paper industry and the carbon offsets industry are expanding their operations in South America. Increasingly, they are targeting grasslands for conversion to large-scale industrial tree plantations.
-
2 March 2008Lake Chini is dying. The beautiful lake in the state of Pahang is one of the only two large natural freshwater bodies in Malaysia --and is dying. It used to teem with fish and other aquatic animals and plants and has been the home of indigenous communities, the Jakuns. Various human activities have contributed to the pollution of Lake Chini especially the establishment of a dam. However one contributing factor has been the pesticides and fertilisers used in the oil palm plantations fringing the lake and in many places next to the water.
-
2 March 2008Yesterday I could cry and shed watery tears I could labour and freely shoot watery sweat But today Not so, not so Riverbeds turned dustbowls Rivers diverted into private throats Creeks turned into rivers of salt I sweat blood And weep dry-eyed Our fathers and forefathers and mothers and grandmothers say waters from Streams and rivers, creeks and lagoons In their days Were clear, odourless, tasteless, healthy In their days When we talked of process none guessed we Were in the process of privatising our throats Choking our taste buds on caustic soda as Process waters from drill pits and fluid effluents
-
2 March 2008The proposed Phulbari open pit coal mine in Bangladesh would divert a river, suck an aquifer dry for 30 years and evict thousands of people from their homes. Vast machines would dig a series of holes 300 metres deep over a total area of 59 square kilometres. The coal would be largely exported via a railway and port in the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest.
WOMEN AND WATER
-
2 March 2008Together with the arrival of large-scale monoculture tree plantations is the departure of water. This affects the whole village community, but for women, the effects are particularly differentiated. They tell us about with their own words.