Reference no: EM13160723

People can survive without food for weeks, but only from one to three days without water. Clean, fresh water is one of the most essential elements to human existence. Yet the supply of water on our planet is finite. As the world's population grows, economic expands, and climate change shifts weather and rainfall patterns, clean water becomes scarce. Furthermore, as the water crisis increases, transnational corporations are recognizing water as a source of huge profits. Through the process of economic globalization, the transnational corporations are pushing governments to accelerate the privatization and commodification of this natural resource. They are especially taking advantage of weak regulations and low tariffs in developing countries to export cheap water to rich customers in developed countries. Consequently, the availability and affordability of safe water to the poor and marginalized people in developing countries further diminishes. Moreover, water becomes not only a valuable trade commodity, but also a strategic commodity. Ismail Serageldin, Vice-President of the World Bank states that "The wars of the next century will be about water."[1] Thus, transnational corporations are generating not only huge profits, but also the power to determine who will live and who will die. However, access to safe drinking water is a basic human right that states have the obligation to provide. Yet governments are increasingly subordinating this fundamental human right to the interests of transnational corporations. Although a great number of on-governmental organizations are working to secure the right to water locally as well as to amplify the global water movement, in many developing countries the right to water is not recognized.