On July 28, after years of grassroots pressure, the United Nations' General Assembly will consider and debate a resolution supporting the right to "safe and clean drinking water and sanitation". Maude Barlow, former Senior Advisor on Water to the President of the United Nations General Assembly described the denial of access to clean water as the "most violated human right". It's worth recalling some alarming statistics: 1.2 billion people have no access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion without access to proper sanitation. Every 8 seconds a child dies from preventable water-borne disease. Women and girls are disproportionately affected …

At the alternative climate summit currently underway in Cochabamba, Bolivia, criticism is sharp and unrelenting about false climate change solutions. Rightly so. Most of the solutions proposed through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) process are based on poor science, lucrative carbon markets and only measly changes in the production and consumption practices that got us into this greedy and perilous situation in the first place. There is broad agreement that official climate negotiations are controlled by the large CO2 emitters and that they will not lead us out of this mess. Hats off to Bolivian President …

  st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } The battle to preserve water as a common good takes to the Roman streets this weekend. As you turn on the tap to hydrate yourself today, please take a moment to think of our Italian colleagues fighting to overturn the water-privatizing Ronchi law. World Water Day is Monday, March 22. Not doing anything this weekend? Do as the Romans do ... Head to Rome and protect water for all. Here's a really illuminating exchange between two European water activists, one Italian and one German about the implications of the Italian fight for European water. Dear friends, Just …

How does improved water stewardship fit into cooling our planet? How well were the water-climate connections made at the recent Copenhagen climate deliberations? If you're like me, you only have a lay person's understanding of ecology -- and global politics for that matter. But I do know that the CO2 reduction and carbon sequestration strategies that were batted around in Denmark -- caring for our tropical forests and fighting desertification, for example -- will require copious amounts of clean water. I'm beginning to understand that the role of water in climate change is not just about adapting to accelerating droughts …

With their natural resources pilfered, have Native American gambling casinos been payback, a further pillage (described as Tonto’s revenge during the Abramoff scandal) or perhaps both? It’s a relevant debate for today’s global warming talks. During these next weeks of climate change deliberations in Copenhagen, environmental service payment programs will be hammered out. What’s the fair way to compensate indigenous and rural communities for their help in stabilizing the climate? Colonialism and its more modern forms haven’t been kind to rural communities and their ecosystems. Globalization and its trade agreements have tended to steamroll rural enterprises by flinging borders open …

It's not so unusual to see water stories topping the news these days. Even when that news is very bad, that's very good news indeed. The stories are frequently troubling; they should be. Climate change is increasing the ferocity of floods and droughts and water privatization is drowning our democracy. But it's about time that the seamy details of how we manage our water commons see the light of day. Water binds all of nature and humanity together in one big (ailing) ecosystem. In our current legal framework, future generations of people and animals have a hard time getting their …

Torrents of mud and boulders flattened villages in El Salvador recently, leaving over 100 people dead and thousands homeless. From all indications, climate change will be most acutely felt in an escalating frequency and ferocity of floods and droughts. It’s chilling to think that we ought to expect much more of this kind of devastation in the coming years. I was in El Salvador to meet with government officials and non-governmental representatives to mull policies to manage water as a commons -- ensuring that future generations (humans, plants, and animals) will receive their fair share of water through sensible, sustainable …

You'll be hearing a lot about the "commons" for the next few days. It's about time. There are celebrations taking place around the world -- and not just by people, but maybe in the plant and animal kingdoms as well -- for Oslo's award of the Nobel Prize for Economics to Elinor Ostrom. Not only is she the first woman to win the prize but her work on common resource management offers a refreshingly non-traditional lesson on resource economics. The commons is what we share together. From parks and clean water to scientific knowledge, and the Internet, some things are …

Chances are, the average U.S. citizen has no idea that their demand for electricity might require that a Mexican village be flooded for a hydroelectric dam. The question is: if the environmental and human costs were known, would we consume just a little bit less? As part of my own personal battle against under-estimating people, I’m betting that a little bit of knowledge would go a long way. That high environmental cost, which goes hand-in-hand with a slew of human rights abuses, is not likely to sit right, even if that average U.S. citizen is comfortably sipping a Coke in …

One man gathers rain to recharge groundwater reserves and another pushes salt water through a desalination plant for subsequent sale. Are these both viable solutions to the world’s water crisis? With the impacts of climate change, water waste, contamination and mismanagement driving us ever closer to the edge of a cliff, ensuring clean and plentiful water to both people and nature becomes tougher and more urgent each day. A seemingly broad variety of water management strategies was on display at the recent 5th World Water Forum (WWF), confusing participants with repackaged policy prescriptions and technological bells and whistles. Helping people …