Water, Rivers and People gives a face and a voice to those affected, who suffer the
consequences of the Global Water Crisis on its various fronts firsthand. They are
the protagonists, and because they directly and flagrantly suffer the resulting
problems, they deserve to be known, recognized and heard. The exposition gives
testimony to forced displacements, water contamination and the corresponding breakdown
of public health,to ecological destruction that causes massive famine; to the fight
against privatization; to inevitable disaster and massacres in «undeclared” wars and
conflicts… But on the other hand, it also offers testimonies of successful struggles
and achievements by thesocial movements, with alternatives that open the way to a
New Water Culture.
In short, the exposition pursues the following objectives:
1. Raise societal awareness from the empathetic viewpoint of direct contact
with the people affected and the communities that are most vulnerable.
2. Empower victims’ associations, movements and social actors that fight on the
different fronts of conflict.
3. Promote citizen debate on complex problems, open to all parties, but based on
getting to know and listening to the communities that suffer the problems firsthand.
4. Especially promote the education and awareness of the youth via the Educational
Agenda, providing the teachers with the corresponding work materials.
5. Open new avenues of social communication through art.
6. Motivate participation and involvement of the university community and
experts in water subjects, through the Citizen Agenda.
7. Promote new cultural values and priorities from ethic principles of
solidarity, equity and sustainability, in order to advance the effective access of human
rights and environmental justice regarding water issues, giving special attention to the
most vulnerable sectors, such as indigenes communities, women, the elderly and children…