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Virtual Exhibit Hall
Neoliberalism, World Water Government and Resistances against water grabbing in Latin America
Fri, May 24, 4:00 to 5:30pm, TBAAbstract
The gradual consolidation since the beginning of the new millennium of the so-called "world government of water" expresses the consolidation of neoliberal perspectives in the treatment and global management of this common good . Since the beginning of the 21st century, the growing influence of the mercantilizing perspectives was reflected in the promotion of policies aimed at promoting the private appropriation of this good for its commodification. In this context in Latin America, that is home to 47% of the planet's freshwater reserves, numerous conflicts against the processes of private appropriation and exploitation of water resources have been deployed. Within the framework of these conflicts, processes of regional convergence in defense of water that impugned the processes of commodification were developed. These movements have also highlighted the close relationship between the depletion and pollution of water resources and the expansion of the extractivist model (in particular, agro-industry, mega-mining and other activities that practice intensive use of water resources). The present work has three parts. In the first one, we synthetically analyze the rationalities and discourses underlying the global process of commodification of water and its specific inscription in the Latin American case. In the second part, two emblematic conflicts of defense of the public-social nature of water resources are analyzed. Finally, based on the claims and discourses of the actors of these conflicts, we inquire about the process of shaping rationalities and programmatic that emerge, seeking to construct alternative models of water resource management in relation to the market model.