In the context of the current financial crisis, and at a time of deep global change, growing attention is paid to the global norms and ethical values that could underpin future global policy. Water is a key global resource. At the 3rd Marcelino Botin Foundation Water Workshop, held in Santander, Spain, June 12-14, 2007, the role of ethics in the deep roots, values, and the potential commonalities of the global water policy were discussed.
Experts from different cultural, geographic and religious backgrounds considered the different ethical points of view to enhance the debate on how ethical considerations can play a more significant and explicit role in water development and management.
Common ground for all contributing authors was considered to be the UN Declaration of 1948, and more specifically the basic aspects related to water ethics: 1. the dignity of every human being and 2. the necessity of solidarity among all human beings.
The book is divided in 8 sections which correspond to the papers presented at the Workshop:
Some Cultural Traditional Approaches on Water Ethics
Some Ethical Aspects of New Water Management
Water as a Human Right and as an Economic Resource
Water and Poverty
Groundwater Use and its Ethical Aspects
Ethics of Water Ownership and Management
Corruption, Transparency and Participation in the Water Sector
Ethical Aspects of Unforeseen and Extreme Events Management such as Floods and Droughts
About the Author:
M.R. Llamas is emeritus professor at the Complutense University of Madrid. Fellow of Spain's Royal Academy of Sciences (1986). Fellow of the European Academy of Science and Arts (2005). Dr. Llamas has a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering and another Ph.D. in Geology.
He is author or co-author of nearly hundred books or monographs and about three hundred scientific papers.
Director of a large research program, launched (1999-2003) by the Marcelino Botin Foundation, on the role of groundwater resources on water policy.
Luis Martínez Cortina is Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (University of Cantabria, Spain). He has worked as a researcher of several European Union Research Projects, and also of the Groundwater Project, launched in 1999 by the Spanish Foundation Marcelino Botín (four years long), and focussed on the role of groundwater resources on water policy. He is co-author of four books and monographs, and is the author or co-author of about 40 scientific articles. Currently, he is a full researcher of the Spanish Geological Survey (IGME).
Aditi Mukherji is a researcher (social scientist) at International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Colombo. IWMI is a CGIAR center dedicated to research on water, food and environment. Aditi obtained her PhD degree from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom in 2007.
She has written around 20 academic papers on social and economic aspects of groundwater irrigation in South Asia. She is currently working on groundwater issues in South Asia and Central Asia and also on transboundary issues Nile river basin in Africa.
