Lars Müller, Klaus Lanz, Christian Rentsch, and René Schwarzenbach (eds.)

Who Owns the Water?

Industrialization and population growth have brought about a global water crisis. Nature can no longer compensate the exploitation of our freshwater and our oceans. One billion people have no reliable access to clean drinking water; two billion live in precarious hygienic conditions. Famine, poverty, epidemics, and infant mortality are closely linked with the water crisis. Social, ecological, political, and economic conflicts obstruct efforts to resolve the global water crisis. Water is an instrument of power.

The key question reads: Is water a commodity or is free access to water an inalienable human right? By approaching water from a phenomenological perspective, Who owns the Water? seeks to persuade the reader that an element that is constantly flowing and changing defies all claims to own it, be they political or economic, and is instead the responsibility of the entire international community.

Industrialization and population growth have brought about a global water crisis. Nature can no longer compensate the exploitation of our freshwater and our oceans. One billion people have no reliable access to clean drinking water; two billion live in precarious hygienic conditions. Famine, poverty, epidemics, and infant mortality are closely linked with the water crisis. Social, ecological, political, and economic conflicts obstruct efforts to resolve the global water crisis. Water is an instrument of power.

The key question reads: Is water a commodity or is free access to water an inalienable human right? By approaching water from a phenomenological perspective, Who owns the Water? seeks to persuade the reader that an element that is constantly flowing and changing defies all claims to own it, be they political or economic, and is instead the responsibility of the entire international community.

Dieses Buch ist auch auf Deutsch erhältlich

Edited by Lars Müller, Klaus Lanz, Christian Rentsch, and René Schwarzenbach with support of EAWAG, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science as part of th ETH Domain

With contributions by Christian Rentsch and others

Design: Integral Lars Müller

16,5 x 24,0 cm, 6 ½ x 9 ½ in

536 pages, 301 illustrations

hardback

2006, 978-3-03778-018-3, English
CHF 40.00 CHF 50.00

Klaus Lanz

Klaus Lanz is a journalist and environmental researcher.

lars müller

Lars Müller, born in Oslo in 1955 and a Norwegian citizen, has been based in Switzerland since 1963. After becoming a graphic designer in Zurich, extended travels, and a one-year assistant position with designer Wim Crouwel in Amsterdam, Müller established his studio in Baden/Switzerland in 1982. In 1983, Müller published his first book and as Lars Müller Publishers, with offices in Zürich, has produced some 600 titles to date.

Christian Rentsch

Christian Rentsch is a journalist.

René Schwarzenbach

René Schwarzenbach is dean of the Department of Environmental Sciences at the ETH Zürich.

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