Water Justice: The Case of Brazil

摘要

Water is directly linked to health, wealth, and the fertility and productivity of the land, and as such presents--simultaneously--ethical, economic, and political questions, as well as legal concerns. Conventional scientific wisdom posits that there is no life without water. This inextricable inseparability, a cliche even among laypersons, has indelibly marked the trajectory of humankind, so much so that "nearly every ancient society enjoyed close spiritual relationships with water." From the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River to ritual Hindu bathing in the Ganges even today, the purifying gift and sacred nature of water have always expressed universal characteristics of both past and present cultures.