Excerpt – Human Watershed: The Emerging Politics of Bioregional Democracy
The Crisis Downstream: Waiting For A Rainy Day
By James Quilligan
(image) James Quilligan and CommonFirst, the bad news. Our global community no longer has the luxury of putting off its complex problems till a later time. Mounting data on Earth’s atmosphere confirm what is already known in daily life: the planet is warming and water is becoming less accessible.
Water scarcity is the result of climate change, diminished rainfall, overpopulation, inefficient infrastructure, over-pumping of aquifers, pollution and wasteful agricultural practices. Nearly three billion people around the world are experiencing periodic water shortages. It’s affecting people in southern and northern Africa, the Middle East, the nations of central Asia, China, India, Australia, Mexico and southwestern United States.
In coming years, water deprivation will spread to more areas, resulting in drought, food shortages, economic hardship and migration.
With this global crisis emerging, it may seem odd to explore stressed-out watersheds and their regional systems as a way of developing new ideas and policies. Yet this is also a moment for pragmatism. Ironically, temperature-driven civil strife and social displacement may lead to new approaches in the production and allocation of vital goods and services, leading to political reform, social stability, economic opportunity and international peace.
So here’s the good news. Humanity is rediscovering its commons: the self-organized management of resources which people need for their survival and livelihood. The ethic of commoning is based on the recognition that a person has the right to a means of sustenance without interference or harm from others. In this sense, the commons are an inclusive expression of the right to life and the right to justice.
Following the practices of locally-based commons, which have enjoyed a long and successful history around the world, decentralized groups at the regional level can also develop the means of governing their resources through negotiated rules and responsibilities for fair access and use. Bioregional democracy involves collective decision-making in the management and provisioning of the ecosystems that people depend upon for their existence.
The future of water-scarce nations lies in political restructuring, along with economic and educational advances that help them design this new landscape for regional accountability. Of course, bioregions occur within national perimeters, but there are also eco-regions which cross national boundaries. This is why watershed politics require a vision which embraces sovereign internationalism while reforming it at the same time.
Unlike liberal democracy, which favors individual rights within sovereign borders, a new set of rules and institutions is needed to balance the short-term interests of individuals against the long-term interests of all resource users within and across State boundaries. Bioregional democracy must be based on both individual freedom of expression and a respect for social differences in national and transborder communities alike.
This article does not deal with mitigation issues such as CO2 emissions reductions or geo-engineering. It focuses rather on adaptation—how civilization can limit its vulnerability to the impacts of climate change through the growing bioregional identity of citizens and the practical issues of resource cooperation and security which this entails. It also discusses how social diversity and resilience can lead to a new policy framework for consumption and provisioning in which energy and resource use are compatible with a limited biosphere.
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