On 28 July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly formally recognised the human right to water and sanitation and acknowledged that clean drinking water and sanitation are essential to the realisation of all human rights. This makes sense. Water is the basis of life and is required by all beings. However, the topic is complex in our modern context, and it requires closer examination.

Today, increasingly so, resources fundamental to life sit within the paradigm of commerce and capitalism: that which the planet offers for free is commodified, privatised and “owned”. But is it possible to “own” water? Water is elemental; that is to say, it is a simple compound of the elements hydrogen and oxygen. Just three atoms bonded together, brought to our planet from outer space, resulting in our oceans, our water cycle and, ultimately, all life on Earth. How could it be possible to “own” such a thing?

But consider this: there once was a time when private land ownership didn’t exist. Before our societies became so complex and settled, land was mostly held in common. In many places worldwide, people still understand land in these terms – even if the land on which they reside is claimed by a nation or private person or entity. Concepts of land ownership emerged over time, influenced by the growth of commerce and the development of legal systems that recognise individual rights. Today, these concepts govern how we see land, which is often reduced to inert, static, even barren places with “natural resources” ready to be divided up, “developed” and “owned”. Yet land is fundamental.

It is where we all exist. It is where ecological processes on which we rely take place. It is where we have families, grow food and share space with other beings.

Air is another fundamental to life. It is generally considered to be held in common, a public resource which everyone has the right to breathe freely. Oxygen, vital for our survival, is inhaled into our lungs. Is it conceivable that air could be “owned”? (It’s worth noting that despite air being held in common, in many parts of the world there are regulations regarding its use, for example, relating to air pollution and air traffic).

These comparisons show how the paradigm of ownership and rights can shift, and they demonstrate how we may view the fundamentals of life through the prism of commerce. As Chief Tecumseh of the Shawnee people, a Native American nation, proclaimed in the early 1800s when Native American territories were ceded to the USA, “Sell a country! Why not sell the air, the clouds, and the Great Sea, as well as the earth? Did not the Great Good Spirit make them all for the use of his children?”

Today, broadly speaking, our understanding of water sits somewhere between how land and air are understood in the modern context. In many countries, water is a public good, managed by government agencies or other public entities. However, there are countries where water rights are privately held. Water rights are legal entitlements to the use of water. Water rights may reflect traditional usage. They may also relate to land ownership, for example when there is a lake on the property, an aquifer below the property, or a river that cuts through the property, where access to the water may be restricted by trespass and property laws.

Around the world, local, regional and national water markets, where water rights are traded, are appearing. This reduces water to an economic value; however, the social values of water may be very different to the economic values as considered by the market. With the free-market approach, water rights go to the highest bidders, risking inequality, injustice and reduced access to water for vulnerable people. In this scenario, multinational corporations could win priority for water over local people, and once water resources are depleted, these corporations have the mobility to move on and gain rights to other resources.

Proponents of water markets say that these markets enable water to be better distributed, which by some measures is true, as water-rights holders may not require their full allocations of water, and water markets incentivise the sharing – or selling – of those rights and the associated water. However, this risks reducing water to a commodity. Today, in many countries and regions where water can be bought and sold on a free-market basis, there are laws and regulations to protect the right to water for citizens and to prevent monopolies or excessive concentrations of water rights. But the free market is built on the principle that the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand without government intervention or regulation.

We’ve seen how the free market can influence politics and legal systems; before the Enclosure Acts in England and Wales, much of the land was held in common, but as the economy shifted towards commercial agriculture and industrialisation, there was an economic incentive to convert common land into private property, and so the Enclosure Acts were introduced, resulting in the displacement of rural communities and the loss of access to common and ancestral land. Many countries have introduced similar legal frameworks over the past centuries. Land, like water, is finite.

On our blue planet, water may feel abundant, but only 0.5 percent of the planet’s water is available freshwater. Demand for freshwater is increasing. Meanwhile, freshwater sources are being depleted: glaciers are melting faster than they gain mass; aquifers are being drained faster than they replenish; and around the world, the groundwater table is dropping. Many regions are facing water shortages and droughts. Four billion people – which is almost two-thirds of the global population – already face severe water scarcity for at least one month of the year. This number will grow with climate change, which is already forcing people to migrate.

The UN stresses that “water has to be treated as a scarce resource”. As water becomes increasingly scarce, its value will increase. As such, there need to be measures that ensure equitable distribution of and access to clean water now and in the future. As societies, we must cease misuse, poor management, over-extraction and contamination of freshwater sources. Tensions caused by water scarcity are already rising. Countries, regions and peoples will need to work together to overcome the upcoming challenges; they will need to honour the fluid nature of water, how it flows across continents and seeps into shared aquifers, and how we are connected through the water cycle. International arrangements will need to be made, transboundary collaborations will need to happen, just systems for ensuring water equity will need to be implemented and upheld, and improved infrastructure will need to be installed. Then we can move toward ensuring everyone’s fundamental right to water.

References upon request.