by Barbara Schreiner and Barbara van Koppen

Inequality has been rising across the world for several decades. While there has been a reduction in the number of people living in extreme poverty in some countries, the 1% have continued to amass vast amounts of wealth. What do internationally used concepts of "equitable access to water" really mean in this context? Is it just empty rhetoric?

On September 14, 2024, Juan López, environmental defender and coordinator of the Municipal Committee for the Defence of Common and Public Assets, was shot and killed in Tocoa, Colón, northern Honduras. He was part of the local community resistance against mining in a protected area with vital water resources which has been going on since 2015.[1] In 2023, 196 environmental defenders, and possibly more, were killed, mostly in Latin America.[2] Civic space is closing globally; according to Civicus, in 2023, only 2% of the global population could "freely access their rights to associate, protest and express dissent without significant constraints and limitations"—down from 3% in 2019.[3]

The COVID pandemic, impacts of climate change, conflict, and instability are interlinked and are increasing inequality within countries. 71% of the world's population lives in countries where inequality has grown.[4] Both income and wealth are increasingly concentrated in the hands of a tiny minority—the richest 1% now have more wealth than the bottom 95% of the world's total population. Only 31% of global wealth is owned by the Global South despite accounting for 79% of the world's population.[5] Rising national debt across the developing world, particularly in the poorest countries, is placing severe strain on national budgets as countries struggle to meet huge repayment obligations.

It is not a pretty picture, particularly if you are part of a poor or marginalised community.

In the water sector, we continue to talk of 'equitable access to water', but we are not clear on what is needed or how to achieve it. In the water services sector, the human right to water forms a baseline: it is widely agreed that everyone has a right to a minimum amount of water, defined by the WHO as 50 litres per person per day year-round, reliable, and close. Yet this should be considered the bare minimum, not an indicator of equity. In the area of water for productive purposes, not even such a bare minimum has been defined. The phrase, 'equitable access to water' is, to be honest, an empty slogan without substance.

According to the UNDP, "There is more than enough water in the world for domestic purposes, agriculture, and industry. The problem is that some people, notably the poor, are systematically excluded from access by their poverty, by their limited legal rights or by public policies that limit access to the infrastructures that provide water for life and livelihoods" (UNDP, 2026, p 3)

Rural communities in the global South may gain some access to water through self-supply, but with growing competition, they may be losing more through land acquisitions: infrastructure development to serve powerful urban elites, mines, industries, and large-scale mechanized agriculture; pollution; changes in cultivated crops and land use; and climate change.

In many cases, rural communities are ignored and relatively powerless—they generally must fight for a seat at the table, largely by organizing and mobilizing to have a real voice, particularly in the face of closing civic space. Many have resorted to protest actions or even revolutionary and disruptive activities to protect their rights. Statutory legal systems, often rooted in colonial legislation and focused on the formal economy, lack protection for rural water rights. In some countries in Latin America and Africa, protection is offered in land and forest legislation, but not in water legislation.

What does this mean for the water sector? What action is needed to challenge this erosion of water rights of marginalised communities?

Some rural communities have been more successful than others in protecting their water rights. But without a baseline and measurable agreement on equity, we cannot know whether these struggles have achieved some form of equity or have merely served to protect already severely curtailed access to water. How do we measure equitable access to water: do we need a volumetric indicator, as in the WASH sector, or a process indicator, e.g., regarding consultation with affected communities and a recognition of their expression of their needs, or a combination of both? Or something else entirely?

We need a clear, measurable agreement on what equity means, how to achieve it, and how we will know if it has been achieved. Surely it is not about ensuring that marginalised communities have a small amount of water that enables them to eke out a living on the borderline of poverty, but is it about ensuring access to water that enables transformation of the quality of life of these communities and lifts them out of poverty? For some, the escape from poverty may derived indirectly from water – through, for example, employment in industry or commercial agriculture. For others, who choose to remain on the land, there is a need for sufficient water (and support in using the water effectively) to create sustainable and decent livelihoods.

This begs the question as to whether change is possible in the water sector alone, or whether it requires far-reaching economic change: how can change in the water sector support other struggles, and vice versa, such as struggles to protect community land rights, struggles against mining and extractive industries, and struggles to access economic opportunities? What cross-sectoral collaborations have shown themselves to be most effective? Can indigenous people's land struggles be supported by ensuring equitable access to water?

Perhaps there are (partial) answers that lie in other sectors. The forestry sector, over many years, put in place a sustainability certification system that guarantees that the legal and cultural rights of local communities to land and forest resources are protected; and that local communities are consulted—but even this does this does not really grapple with issues of equity. Protecting the status quo may simply mean protecting an already inequitable system. Are there other sectors that have addressed the issue of equity better than we have done in the water sector?

This blog has raised many critical questions, to which there are no easy answers. We look forward to a dialogue that identifies potential ways forward.


Reference

UNDP. 2006. Human development report: Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty, and the global water crisis. New York City, New York: United Nations Development Programme. https://hdr.undp.org/content/human-development-report-2006


[1] Honduras: Demand justice for murdered water defender

[2] The violent erasure of land and environmental defenders | Global Witness

[3] Rights Reversed: Data from 2019 to 2023

[4] Inequality – Bridging the Divide | United Nations

[5] World's top 1% own more wealth than 95% of humanity, as "the shadow of global oligarchy hangs over UN General Assembly," says Oxfam | Oxfam International