Documentos CIDOB Desarrollo y Cooperación; 3

This study analyses the evolution of political discourse over the past 30 years on the subject of the so-called world water crisis, which ranges from the pollution of water resources to the lack of access to drinking water and plumbing suffered by millions of people. Following the failure of different strategies to meet the demand, it is being acknowledged that the so-called natural crisis is, in fact, a consequence of bad management, and the political dimensions of the problem are beginning to come to light. The global water policy produces recommendations that are based on western views and which are incorporated into cooperation policies. The study claims that unlike other ecological crises, the water crisis is only manifested on a local level and not a global one, though despite this, most of the proposals insist on global strategies. By establishing a relationship between the discourse on the water crisis, the organisation of the water sector and cooperation with development (in the case of Peru), the study examines to what extent this global focus is useful in dealing with such a crisis in a national context. A differentiated approach to the problem that springs from the local level provides us with a variety of solutions that become lost in a global discourse.

ISSN: 1886-6999 (print edition)
ISSN: 1887-1798 (online edition)

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