RT Journal Article
T1 The role of ethics in water and food security: Balancing utilitarian and intangible values
A1 López-Gunn, Elena
A1 De Stefano, Lucia
A1 Llamas, Ramón
AB In the past two decades, the world has experienced deep changes in terms of globalization of goods and people, the emergence of new economic powers, political turmoil, and a sustained growth of an increasingly urban global population. These and other factors have deep implications for global water and food security, and make discussion of ethical values – often implicit in global debates – more pertinent. An understanding of the ethical issues underlying water and food security is key to formulating solutions that truly contribute to their achievement. This is particularly true when considering that water and food security is strongly intertwined with human security and environmental security, and these cannot be addressed separately. This paper argues that solving water and food problems is not only a technical challenge but also a problem of fundamental ethical values and political will. It showcases three technological advances (desalination, information technology, and modern groundwater abstraction technology) and one concept (virtual water) that could contribute to secure water and food for a growing population, thus shedding light on the lack of concerted political will to face global and water food securities. In this context, trade has the potential to help countries manage water security in a globalized world, provided that global trade is revisited and undergoes a process of deep reform in the light of ethical considerations. Water and food are not isolated from general socio-economic and political trends. Therefore the drivers resulting in the present economic crisis also affect water and food, and add further complexity to the search for solutions.
PB World Water Council
SN 1366-7017
YR 2012
FD 2012-03
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/43334
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/43334
LA eng
DS Docta Complutense
RD 27 jul 2024