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Inequalities and Conflict: Water in Latin American Cities

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Globalized Water

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Abstract

Water reflects inequality and segregation in Latin American cities, with access to drinking water varying in terms of quantity and quality according to social status. Many reforms have been introduced to reduce the number of people with no access to drinking water and sanitation systems, but the results vary widely from one country to another and have generated disciplinary and institutional controversies. Water management not only depends on the technical, financial, and political choices of managers, but also, and more fundamentally, on global social choices made by a variety of actors linked to each other by power relations. This literature review, through a social geography lens, shows how the equitable distribution of water among all members of society is at the heart of the water issue.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Another somewhat similar case illustrating the failure of privatization, which has been the object of a good deal of research, is the one of Buenos Aires (see Chaps. 8 and 16).

  2. 2.

    See Chap. 2.

  3. 3.

    See Chap. 6.

  4. 4.

    The World Social Forum (Porto Alegre Forum ) has championed the idea of water as a human right. Water can be considered part of the global commons, shared with all of the world’s people and life forms, and as a collective asset and heritage belonging to all of mankind.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Espaces et Sociétés – ESO (UMR 6590, CNRS), Université de Caen, ESO-CNRS, Maison de la Recherche en Sciences Humaines (MRSH) Campus 1, Caen cedex, 14032, France

    Jean-Marc Fournier

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  1. Jean-Marc Fournier
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Correspondence to Jean-Marc Fournier .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. GDR 2524 CNRS Urban Water Research Network “rés-EAU-ville”, Paris, France

    Graciela Schneier-Madanes

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Fournier, JM. (2014). Inequalities and Conflict: Water in Latin American Cities. In: Schneier-Madanes, G. (eds) Globalized Water. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7323-3_15

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