Overview

A sense of urgency about the global water crisis has entered the political and corporate discourse, and in humanity’s quest to solve it, we are all called to rise to the challenge. However, solutions are hard to come by where causes are not clearly defined. And given the scale and geographic dispersion of the problem, there are many drivers of the crisis. In fact the global water crisis is only global in the sense that there are people in regions all over the world that are condemned to insecure water access . The acute reasons for lack of water vary from place to place. The one unifying factor is the global power of the market over the provision, allocation and maintenance of water supplies. Building on a critique of recent responses to the water crisis and their contradictions, the book interrogates how savior-like, ‘high priests’ of a fetishized global developmentalism – embodied by celebrities, CEOs, and sustainability directors – are shaping global water governance. The book thus argues that if humanity is to escape the current deadlock that bedevils access to clean water around the world, it has to reconsider both its faith in the market and its relationship with nature.

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9781804290712

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Reviews

Takes the reader on a spectacular and comprehensive journey through the ways celebrities, charities, corporations, and communities engage with the water crisis. It is an essential book that sparks critical reflection and inspires action. -- Farhana Sultana, Professor of Geography and the Environment, Syracuse University A great and truly original book about the world's water condition. But it is much more than that. Menga dives into the forces that make and shape capitalism today. It is both an eye-opener and a call to act. -- Erik Swyngedouw, Professor of Geography, University of Manchester Warns of the dangers of charity-focussed philanthrocapitalism and corporate-led environmental governance. -- Lyla Mehta, Professorial Fellow, Institute of Development Studies From micro-loans backed by big finance to running marathons to fund new water projects, Thirst details how the spirit of capitalism seeks - but fails to find - redemption through an industry of water charities and the celebrity priesthood that fronts them. -- Jeremy Schmidt, author of <i>Water: Abundance, Scarcity, and Security in the Age of Humanity</i> Thirst develops a provocative critique of mainstream analyses of the 'global water crisis' by demonstrating how capital thrives on apocalyptic predictions. By focusing on celebrities, corporate philanthropy, and NGOs, Menga provides an original account of how the idea of a global water crisis has generated a distinct cultural politics of neoliberal capitalism that parasitically extends to everyday life. -- Maria Rusca, Lecturer in Global Development, Global Development Institute, University of Manchester Shows how a neoliberal version of charity and philanthropy feeds on our emotionsto elicit donations that further uphold, and validate, a market-based solutionism that remains unchallenged. This is a much-needed unpacking of how capitalism generates, but also absorbs and thrives on, the global water crisis. -- François Molle, Director of Research at the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement

Author Information

Filippo Menga is Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Bergamo, Italy and Associate Editor of the journal Political Geography. His research draws predominantly on political ecology, political geography, and critical geography to advance an innovative approach to the study of water politics. He has published articles on these topics in a wide range of academic journals, including Political Geography, Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, Geoforum, the Journal of Political Ecology, Development and Change, Nationalities Papers, and Water Alternatives. He is the author of Power and Water in Central Asia (Routledge), and co-editor (with Erik Swyngedouw), of Water, Technology and the Nation-State (Earthscan). Prior to joining the University of Bergamo in 2021, he held research and teaching positions at the Universities of Reading and Manchester. In 2018 he was awarded the Scopus Early Career Researcher UK Award 2018 (Elsevier/US-UK Fulbright Commission) in recognition of outstanding research in Social Sciences.

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