A Planetary Crisis: Water and Sustainable Development

By Jeff Golliher

On this Earth Day, 2004, the global scarcity and condition of water must be seen with the deepest possible concern. Nearly forty percent of the world's people will suffer from severe water shortages within a decade, which amounts to planning for seven generations by default, their inheritance passed on in the form of salvageable remains. It is self-evident that we have entered, headlong, the crisis that we had hoped the 1992 UN Earth Summit would help us avoid.

The Dublin Principles of the 1992 International Conference on Water and the Environment are just as significant and problematic as they were a decade ago:

1. “freshwater is a finite and vulnerable resource, essential to sustain life ...”;
2. “water development and management should be based on a participatory approach ... at all levels”;
3. “women play a central part in provision, management, and safeguarding of water”;
4. “water has an economic value ... and should be recognized as an economic good.”

The phrasing “essential to sustain life,” while true, does not state emphatically or clearly enough the significance of water. The fourth principle, concerning water's economic value, has opened the door to privatization, as well as corruption, which marginalizes the voices of women and whole communities in most parts of the world.

We must claim water as a Universal Human Right, yet the fact that this must be done suggests that our collective commonsense has been muddled by factors outside normal practical and moral reasoning. Clearly, water is “essential to sustain life.” Without it, life would not exist. The same can be said for healthy food and breathable air. The extent to which water must be claimed as a fundamental right (even more a “need”) is the measure of how much that birthright has already been lost and our spiritual understanding diminished. The extent to which we believe the fundamental right to water can be regained on the basis of its economic value is the measure of how much that right has already been given/taken away.

The whole question of the ownership of water (and water as “an economic good”) has been an uneasy one on the international scene. Private industry has tremendous resources which can help solve the water crisis. However, solutions must be placed in humanitarian, ecological, spiritual, as well as economic contexts. A large part of the crisis we have now entered results from the rejection of sustainability and the universality of human rights by powerful economic interests who favor competition to decide who will win and lose in wars for dwindling resources.

The chemistry of our bodies is changing now with the earth's. Water is much more than a right or a need. Water is a primordial manifestation of the sacred on earth. The sacred is about survival – real survival for the whole body of life, which is the reason religious traditions, especially those of indigenous peoples, have valued water so highly.

Thomas Berry, arguably the most prophetic voice in our time, has said that we are changing the chemistry of the entire biosphere. It is not enough to believe that this fact will affect our lives sometime in the future. The chemistry of our bodies is changing now with the earth's. Water is much more than a right or a need. Water is a primordial manifestation of the sacred on earth. The sacred is about survival – real survival for the whole body of life, which is the reason religious traditions, especially those of indigenous peoples, have valued water so highly.

Through the water of baptism, Christians affirm their responsibilities to the whole human community, which, in practice, must include the web of life. Water symbolizes the possibility of rebirth, empowerment, and the hope of a renewed Creation. The substance of water itself and the natural design of watersheds express this spiritual meaning though their ecological properties of cleansing and healing. Yet, we continue to destroy watersheds, while poisoning what remains of a well that is running dry.  

The deteriorating condition of freshwater across the planet threatens the integrity of religious life as a whole and erodes our ability to meet other crises in the present and future. What does it mean when water is so scarce that our primary symbol of renewal is no longer available? What does it mean when water is so contaminated, i.e., poisoned, that its primordial capacity to heal has been lost? What does it mean when this source and symbol of empowerment must be purchased from those who “own” it?

As members of the world's religious community, we must organize ourselves again in the spirit of the World Parliament of Religions and the Assisi Declarations, and take action. There is nothing to lose that hasn't already been lost, or threatens to be, and everything to gain.

The Rev. Canon Jeffrey Golliher, Ph.D., is the program associate for the Environment and Sustainable Development for the office of the Anglican Communion Observer at the United Nations in New York City. Previously a canon for Environment and Community Development at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, he now serves as rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Ellenville, N.Y. Jeff may be reached by email at jmgolliher@earthlink.net .