Water is life, but it is also big business. Over the last 20 years activists and scholars have noted an alarming rise in the financialization of water; that is, water, and the infrastructure to manage and deliver it, is made into something that financiers can invest in to make a
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Drying Out African Lands: Expansion of Large-Scale Agriculture Threatens Access to Water in Africa
As the escalating climate crisis threatens access to water for millions across Africa, a new report by the Oakland Institute, Drying Out African Lands: Expansion of Large-Scale Agriculture Threatens Access to Water in Africa unveils the devastating impact of large-scale agricultural plantations on the right to water on the continent. By:
Continue readingHydropower Projects in African River Basins – Unequal Power Relations and the Struggle for Water Justice
Introduction “This is the time for Africa to harness its huge hydro-energy potential” stated former AfDB (African Development Bank) President D. Kaberuka, in 2007. Undeniably, the African continent is currently experiencing an unprecedented upsurge of large-scale hydropower projects within its major river basins largely funded by international donors, such as
Continue readingThe Covid-19-water-service-provision nexus: Structural problems and transformative potential in times of crisis – the case of Lagos, Nigeria
Just like the year preceding it, 2021 was marked by the Covid-19 pandemic and its severe health, economic and social consequences. In the face of a highly infectious and potentially deadly virus, the interrelated concepts of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) became the center of official preventive measures by international
Continue readingReport: South African Water Justice Roundtables
In 2018 and 2019, three Water Justice Roundtables took place in South Africa co-hosted by The Blue Planet Project, the African Water Commons Collective, the Surplus People Project, Tshintsha Amakhaya and the Environmental Monitoring Group. The Water Justice Roundtables (WJRTs) were a series of three workshops that met in South
Continue readingReport: Womn + Water in Africa: An Overview of Water Justice Struggles
Access to clean water is a basic human right but one that is denied to millions of poor communities across Africa. This research commissioned by the Urgent Action Fund- Africa (UAF-Africa) underlines how it is womn who bear the brunt of lack of water and how this has an impact
Continue readingNew CAPPA Report Calls for Africa to Rise and Resist Water Privatisation
‘Africa is under the siege of multinational private water corporations. Public water systems in the majority of countries across the continent are facing disturbing levels of privatisation pressures, creating an urgent need for broad-based civic actions to expose and challenge these threats.’ Akinbode Oluwafemi, Executive Director, CAPPA Read the report
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