| This "WaterCrisis" site is meant to raise awareness only. The organizations listed below are actually fighting for water rights, and need your support. Many of these websites also provide research reports on environmental issues. |
| The Council of Canadians |
Maude Barlow, the National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, is one of the world's most active Water Warriors. With Tony Clarke, she is the author of "Blue Gold: The Battle Against Corporate Theft of the World's Water." Founded in 1985, the Council of Canadians is Canada’s largest citizens’ organization, with members and chapters across the country. We work to protect Canadian independence by promoting progressive policies on fair trade, clean water, safe food, public health care, and other issues of social and economic concern to Canadians. Water is a public trust; it belongs to everyone. No one should have the right to appropriate it or profit from it at someone else's expense. Yet that's what corporations and investors want to do. And they see Canada's freshwater lakes, rivers and aquifers as a rich reservoir to tap. In early 1999, the Council launched its campaign to ban the bulk export of Canadian water and head off what it sees as the gradual commodification and privatization of this priceless, public resource. |
| The Green Party
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Will they ever win an election? No, they won't. But with 1 or 2 members of the Green Party in the House of Commons they can at least initiate environmental protection bills which, with the support of Canadians, could become law and save our country and our planet's water. What should you expect from a Green Party government? We will protect our children and their grandchildren from being sold out for short-term gains. We will be a voice for sustainable industries and lifestyles. We will avoid government expansion and top-down solutions. We will give voters more power, more choices and a balanced budget. We will stand up for Canada and our uniquely diverse culture. We will form the most open and democratic government that Canada has ever seen. Many Canadians are waiting for a political party that they can really believe in. The Green Party has grown from the bottom, up — one conversation at a time, among people who are dedicated to doing politics differently. We are not a political machine. We do not have financial backers with deep pockets. We are just ordinary citizens, making an extraordinary commitment. |
| David Suzuki Foundation |
Nature is our home. And just as we take care of our house, we also must take care of nature. But nature takes care of us too. Nature cleans our air and water, makes the soil that grows our food and provides the resources to make all our material goods. Unfortunately, with six billion of us now living under one roof, we are gradually eroding the services nature provides – even though we depend on them for our quality of life and our future. Since 1990, the David Suzuki Foundation has worked to find ways for society to live in balance with the natural world that sustains us. Focusing on four program areas – oceans and sustainable fishing, forests and wild lands, climate change and clean energy, and the web of life - the Foundation uses science and education to promote solutions that help conserve nature. CANADA Given our rich natural assets and the strong environmental values, Canada should be a world leader in sustainability. However, in a recent study comparing the environmental performance of Canada to other developed countries, we finished 29th out of 30. The Foundation’s report, Sustainability within a Generation, is a map to put Canada on the path to sustainability by the year 2030. To achieve this goal we work with different levels of government, business leaders, academics and the public to ensure that Canada adopts policies that reward activities that reduce waste and pollution, conserve energy and resources and protect our natural capital while maintaining our quality of life. OCEANS Without water, life on Earth is not possible. And when our water systems are unhealthy, human beings suffer. Oceans, seas, lakes and rivers are our lifelines, providing us with food, recreation and great beauty. But overfishing, pollution and habitat loss are weakening these aquatic ecosystems. Staff biologists and researchers working on our oceans program focus on habitat conservation, fisheries management and sustainable aquaculture to conserve our precious water resources for future generations. |
| Blue Planet Project |
The Right to Water is the Right to Life When the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights was drafted over 50 years ago, water was not included in the list of protected rights. The rationale was simple. Water, like air, was considered so fundamental to life that naming a right to it would have been redundant. Times have changed. Despite the everyday dependence we have on water, access to fresh water is far from equal or guaranteed. Of the world’s population of 6 billion, at least 1.5 billion people do not have access to clean drinking water and another 4 billion lack adequate sanitation services. In parts of the developing world, a child dies every 15 seconds due to easily preventable water-related diseases. Global water corporations, international financial institutions, trade agreements, governments and even parts of the United Nations have been promoting privatization and commodification of water as a way to deal with this crisis. But the evidence shows that privatization leads to rising water rates, unclean water – and of course, soaring corporate profits. Water should be safe, affordable, and accessible to everyone – not just those who can afford to pay. |
| WaterKeeper Alliance |
Our Mission
Waterkeeper Alliance connects and supports local Waterkeeper programs to provide a voice for waterways and their communities worldwide. To champion clean water and strong communities, Waterkeeper Alliance: 1. Supports and empowers member Waterkeeper organizations to protect communities, ecosystems and water quality; 2. Promotes the Waterkeeper model for watershed protection worldwide; and 3. Advocates for issues common to Waterkeeper programs. |
| Worldwatch Institute
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Founded by Lester Brown in 1974, the Worldwatch Institute offers a unique blend of interdisciplinary research, global focus, and accessible writing that has made it a leading source of information on the interactions among key environmental, social, and economic trends. Our work revolves around the transition to an environmentally sustainable and socially just society—and how to achieve it. The credibility and accessibility of Worldwatch research has made our publications popular among a cross-section of society, from government and business decisionmakers to the media, students, and the general public. Since the first Worldwatch Paper was published in 1975, the Institute has broadened discussion of environmental and social issues by analyzing them from a global and interdisciplinary perspective. This has produced fresh angles on the issues of the day, whether they are in the headlines or not. |
| The Polaris Institute |
Polaris is designed to enable citizen movements to re-skill and re-tool themselves to fight for democratic social change in an age of corporate driven globalization. The water project involves critical research and analysis on the world’s largest water corporations, their most influential lobby groups, and the for-profit water agenda and strategy they shape at a global level. Our aim is to make this information accessible so that it can be used for organizing and fighting back. Through our popular education and movement-building tools we aim to assist community groups in developing strategies to defend their water rights. We seek to build connections through solidarity work with communities and workers all over the world to strengthen the global water justice movement and fortify our local struggles, while also working towards building social alternatives for water management. |
| Sierra Club of Canada
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Mission:
To develop a diverse, well-trained grassroots network working to protect the integrity of our global ecosystems. Sierra Club of Canada’s mission focuses on five overriding threats:
loss of animal and plant species; deterioration of the planet’s oceans and atmosphere; the ever-growing presence of toxic chemicals in all living things; destruction of our remaining wilderness; spiralling population growth and over consumption. |
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