Without water, life does not exist.

This year, our Minority and Indigenous Trends report focuses on water

The world is experiencing an unprecedented water crisis. From drought to floods and food insecurity to conflict, our report investigates the intersecting water crises faced by minorities and indigenous peoples worldwide.

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Reflections on water rights worldwide

VANDANA SHIVA

PEDRO
ARROJO-AGUDO

RAJENDRA SINGH

What is the water crisis all about?

People, Process and Planet – that is what it comes down to. Read these chapters written by experts to understand why.

People
Planet
Process

How does water inequity manifest itself?

Access

Minorities and indigenous peoples throughout the world are experiencing serious levels of water poverty.

Sanitation

Sanitation is a major concern for minority and indigenous communities impacted by water shortages, displacement or pollution.

Pollution

Rising water pollution levels are catalysing compounded rights violations for minorities and indigenous peoples.

Floods

Extreme weather is increasingly aggravating the exclusion faced by minority and indigenous communities worldwide.

Drought

Droughts are intensifying, intersecting with and worsening rights violations for minorities and indigenous peoples.

Infrastructure

Inadequate, unplanned or environmentally destructive infrastructure is spawning rights violations for minorities and indigenous peoples worldwide.

Conflict

Pre-existing tensions are exacerbated by water stress and scarcity, leading to many forms of conflict impacting minorities and indigenous peoples.

Usage

Minorities, indigenous peoples and marginalized farming communities are facing humanitarian and human rights crises caused by rising demands on water.

Governance

Achieving recognition for minority and indigenous peoples’ rights over water is a vital step towards water justice.

Culture

For many minorities and indigenous peoples, water is an intrinsic part of community spiritual beliefs and cultural identities.

This is a global problem

Read our case studies from all around the world to understand how water insecurity affects minorities and indigenous peoples worldwide.

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Banner video: Leweton Village Cultural Group perform ‘Sogor (Rim Rim Siag)’, on Espiritu Santo Island in Vanuatu, in an excerpt from Vanuatu Women’s Water Music (2015), directed by Tim Cole and produced by Further Arts and Small Island Big Song.

Bangladesh: Sanitation among Rohingya women in Kutupalong refugee camp

Rohingya are a stateless Muslim minority in Myanmar who for decades have experienced violent persecution in their home country. Over one million Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar in successive waves. The repression by the Myanmar government intensified in 2017, resulting in mass killings, the burning of dozens of villages and the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, further increasing the number of people seeking refuge across the border in Bangladesh. Rohingya refugees have primarily settled in Cox’s Bazar district in eastern Bangladesh. Over 600,000 live in the world’s largest refugee camp situated in Kutupalong.

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Ecuador: The right to water for Afro-descendant communities in Esmeraldas

The province of Esmeraldas in the northern coastal part of the country is one of the most strategically located, ecologically rich and biodiverse regions of Ecuador. It forms part of the Chocó, a celebrated ancestral territory for Afro-descendants that stretches from Panama down to Manabí province, Ecuador. Known as the Gran Comarca and Reino de Los Zambos, the Ecuadorian Chocó region is renowned for the rebellious spirit of African descendants who settled in these lands centuries ago. The historical presence of Afro-descendants in the region resulted from the establishment of palenques – settlements and camps made up of escaped or freed formerly enslaved persons – independent of colonial rule.

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Somalia: The impact of poor sanitation and improper waste disposal on the health of minority IDPs in Baidoa

Baidoa is the capital of the Bay region of Somalia, situated approximately 250 kilometres west of Mogadishu. It is an ethnically diverse town with local residents originating from other parts of Somalia. Baidoa’s population is estimated to be over one million. It hosts a large number of internally displaced persons (IDPs), many of whom identify with minority communities who have moved from their areas of origin due to drought, famine and poor security.

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Canada: Oil sands and ongoing Indigenous Peoples’ health rights violations

The Denı́nu Kų́ę́ First Nation, otherwise known as Moose Island or Fort Resolution, is situated on the western edge of Des Nedhé (Slave River) delta, which encompasses approximately 400 square kilometres of channels and wetlands in sub-Arctic Canada. Seventy per cent of the water flowing into Tu Nedhé (Great Slave Lake) flows from the Athabasca and Peace rivers down Des Nedhé, passing by Denı́nu Kų́ę́, located above the 60th parallel. A wide variety of animal and fish species, including moose, beaver, muskrat, whitefish, and seasonal ducks and geese, live within the beautiful Des Nedhé delta ecosystem.

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Guatemala: Water pollution and the rights of Q’eqchi Peoples in El Estor

Difficulties in accessing clean water under international human rights standards are increasing for Indigenous communities globally. Mining operations are a leading cause of water contamination in many Indigenous territories. This is true for the Indigenous Q’eqchi Peoples of El Estor, located on the shores of Lake Izabal in Guatemala.

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Nigeria: ‘Water was the source of life; it is now the cause of death’ – the ongoing oil pollution crisis among Ogoni people in the Niger Delta

With an estimated area of about 1,050 square kilometres, Ogoniland is situated in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, which happens to be the third largest mangrove ecosystem in the world and second largest in Africa. Ogoniland is home to six kingdoms and two special areas including Babbe, Eleme, Gokana, Ken-Khana, Nyo-Khana, Tai, Bori National Territory and Bangha Goi. Home to about 1.5 million people, Ogoniland is also an area of great linguistic diversity. Four main languages are spoken in Ogoniland, which are all related. They are the Kana, Gokana, Eleme and Tai languages.

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Hungary: Flood-borne environmental injustices against Roma communities

The Hungarian floods and flash floods that have affected Roma communities in recent years must be analysed from the perspective of environmental injustice. This case study describes the unequal burdens Roma people faced during the 2001 flood of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County and the 2010 flood of the Sajó, Herdánd and Bódva rivers in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County. It also shows how these historical incidents serve as lessons for similar events that happened in the past year and are expected to recur in years to come. Two hundred and twenty-seven Roma settlements in Hungary reported at least one flood-related occasion during the last decade. This case study also raises concerns over the vulnerability of Roma communities to flash floods in the mountainous areas of Hungary.

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Kenya: Eviction, flooding and disability in Baringo County

Lake Bogoria is located in Baringo County, in the Great Rift Valley region in Kenya. It is a salt alkaline lake, which makes it an essential breeding ground for lesser flamingos. Fringed by grazing grounds for cattle, the lake and its surroundings constitute the ancestral lands of the indigenous Endorois people. This case study explores the community’s land rights battle to retain access to the lake and the impacts that persistent flooding is having, particularly on indigenous women and people with disabilities.

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Pakistan: Unequal distribution of flood relief in Umerkot District

Sindh is Pakistan’s third-largest province and is home to a diverse population of religious and ethnic minorities, including Hindus, Christians and Ahmadis. Despite supposedly guaranteeing equal rights to all citizens, the Pakistan Constitution falls short when it comes to guaranteeing the rights of minorities facing widespread discrimination and abuse in Sindh. As a result of the 2022 flood, Sindh also faces the greatest level of damage of all the country’s provinces.

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Australia: Water crisis, rising sea levels and coastal inundations affecting Zenadth Kes Islanders

The colourful five-pointed star on the recently designed Torres Strait Island flag conveys a poignant message: Zenadth Kes is a tropical paradise made up of 274 islands (five groups), five cultures and five languages at least, as well as a long-standing sense of community and reverence for ancestors. Traditional inhabitants of the land bridge between North Queensland and Papua New Guinea, Zenadth Kes or Torres Strait Islanders are deeply connected with the land and sea country they have inhabited for many tens of thousands of years.

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Libya: The impact of water scarcity on Amazigh communities in the Nafusa mountain region

Libya, a country that has been experiencing multiple political crises for over a decade, is currently going through a series of environmental challenges that directly affect people’s quality of life. During the past few years, Libya has witnessed a major wave of climate-related challenges, including an unprecedented rise in temperatures accompanied by extreme weather events, such as high winds and sandstorms, with a noticeable reduction in annual rainfall and increased drought. Extreme weather events have become a reality for people trying to cope with climate change. Matters are made worse given the lack of action by successive governments.

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Madagascar: Tiomena, the red sandstorm and its impact on Tandroy people

Tiomena is a strong wind that blows from the sea, inland into the lands of Androy in southern Madagascar. Tiomena starts at Analapasy, which is its epicentre, from where it blows to the villages of Sampona, Maroalopoty, Maroalomainty before entering Ambovombe and Erada. In total, up to 200 kilometres of land are affected by this gusty and often troublesome wind. In recent years, the wind has been known to affect not only southern Madagascar but the island as a whole.

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Paraguay: Lack of drinking water in the country that holds the world’s largest freshwater reserve

Indigenous people from the Yalve Sanga Enlhet community in the Paraguayan municipality of Loma Plata in the arid Chaco region must walk several kilometres to get drinking water. Three years ago, a significant part of the Chaco territory endured one of the most intense droughts in recent times, with temperatures that reached up to 45° Celsius. In these conditions, under a scorching sun and a fierce dry wind, water is vital to cool off, to quench thirst. In short, to survive.

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Kyrgyzstan: The Kempir-Abad reservoir – political uncertainty or an opportunity for cooperation?

Soviet water and energy infrastructure legacies have been a painfully problematic for the countries of Central Asia for years. Relations between the countries of the region recently show a gradual shift away from that historical legacy, particularly in terms of a desire to renovate old infrastructure, overcome border conflict, enhance multilateral cooperation and trade, while seeking to mitigate the damages caused by climate change. However, bilateral border agreements are adding new complexities to old problems. Central Asia is a region where the issue of disputed borders still lingers on three decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and these border treaties have become a point of contention and violent inter-ethnic conflict.

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Nepal: The cost of hydropower – dispossessing indigenous Magar communities of land and water

Now in his late sixties, Til Bahadur Thapa is a local villager from the indigenous Magar community of Tanahu district in western Nepal. Gazing across a patch of wild vegetables on the banks of the Seti River in Badarkuna, Til Bahadur recalls when the fields would grow three harvests of paddy and wheat per year, plus enough lentils and vegetables to feed his large family, all of whom live in the local village situated a few hundred yards further uphill. The land before him now lies barren. The fields have been drying up for three years now. In 2020, a mining operation extracted sand and stone from the river, subsequently damaging the irrigation canals in Til Bahadur’s fields. Later that year, the same irrigation system was completely destroyed by a landslide.

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Turkey: Water is used as a weapon against Kurdish people in south-eastern Anatolia

Over the past decades the government of Turkey has sought to implement a plan to modernize south-eastern Anatolia. The plan is called the Southeastern Anatolia Project (Güneydoğu Anadolu Projesi, GAP). The main idea is to utilize the waters of Tigris and Euphrates rivers for the development of hydropower. The government conducted several studies to ascertain how rivers in Turkey could be utilized to produce energy, especially in the context of existing and potentially growing security issues related to energy shortages. The main objectives of the GAP were to ensure improvement of people’s living standards and income levels; to eliminate regional economic inequalities; and to enhance productivity in the rural sector. In short, the government of Turkey argued that the construction of dams on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers represented a large-scale government effort to achieve socio-economic development in south-eastern Anatolia, even though the project caused tensions with Iraq and Syria. Despite international pressure, the government insisted on the construction of 22 hydroelectric power plants.

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Ethiopia: The GERD dam, the Gumuz community and the escalation of conflict in Metekel

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is one of the largest hydropower mega-projects ever conducted in Africa. The project, which will have a total capacity of 15.3 million cubic metres of water, is expected to reduce the risks of flooding of the Blue Nile for downstream countries. Among the expected benefits is electricity generation by hydroelectric power stations installed at the foot of the dam, through which Ethiopia is aiming to generate 15,700 GWh per year to expand its energy-dependent industries and address urban demands. The project, hailed as a national regeneration or ‘renaissance’, was funded by bonds sold to Ethiopian citizens. Thus, the project has led to a national mobilization campaign steered by the Ethiopian government and galvanized by a political ideal of unity in the midst of deep divisions running along ethnic lines.

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Iraq: Marsh Arabs and ecological resilience – the legacy of conflict

Fatima, also known as Umm Ahmed, is a 40-year-old woman who has lived her entire life in the marshes of Maysan Governorate in southern Iraq. Fatima usually helps her husband harvest reeds, which are used in the making of traditional mats required for the roofs and floors of marsh houses. However, recent droughts have dried up the rivers, so Fatima and her husband can no longer collect sufficient reeds.

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Niger: Ethnic conflict along the Komadugu River and the shores of Lake Chad

The Komadugu or Yobe River flows across the borderlands of Nigeria and Niger Republic, along an extensive plateau that covers most of Kano state and Hadejia Jama’are, until finally flowing into the fast-receding Lake Chad. The Komadugu River has been an important historic waterway and resource both for farming and pastoralist communities living in this semi-arid part of Central West Africa. For hundreds of years, the Fulani people have lived by the side of the Komadugu River; indeed, for many members of this cross-border community, their livelihoods and cattle farming are inextricably linked to river access and the availability of nomadic routes. The Komadugu River provides a key route for the movement of cattle, as well as an important sense of cultural connection, continuity and belonging for many local groups.

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Philippines: Caught in the current – how nationalist development narratives threaten the future of Dumagat people

The indigenous peoples of the Philippines experience systemic discrimination and human rights abuses perpetrated by local and national governments and multinational corporations. These abuses have become more visible due to government-led development programmes, especially mega-dam construction, which have further pushed indigenous peoples into the margins of society by excluding them from every stage of the policy and project-making processes. The government has used the nationalist discourse of ‘development’ to legitimize projects encroaching on indigenous lands. On top of this, indigenous activists who have openly opposed and resisted hydropower projects have been threatened, punished and killed by the Philippine government and their allies.

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Chile: At the ends of the world, upside down

Chile is known as the ‘Country at the Ends of the World’ because it is the southernmost country on the planet. Chile is also a country of topsy-turvy inconsistencies. In a country dubbed the most water-stressed in the Americas according to the World Resource Institute, successive governments have resorted to the use of armoured water cannon trucks known locally as guanacos to deal with recent water riots. Water cannons hold up to 14,000 litres of water. But instead of supplying populations in need, the Chilean authorities have used water to commit crowd-dispersing violence, thus acting against international recommendations on the use of such weapons.

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China: Water usage in the Uyghur Autonomous Region

The Uyghur homeland lies in the very heart of Asia. It is known as East Turkistan to Uyghurs and designated the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) by China. Situated along the fabled ancient Silk Road, it has been a prominent centre of commerce for more than 2,000 years. The region gave birth to many great civilizations and at various points in history has been a cradle of scholarship, culture and power. It is inhabited by a majority of Uyghur and other Turkic people.

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Iran: Baluch people running out of water due to unfair water management

Sistan and Baluchistan is a predominantly Sunni and Baluch province in Iran. Once a lush and green land that benefited from fertile soil, Sistan and Baluchistan is home to ancient civilizations that date back more than 5,000 years. One of the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions, Sistan is also enduring an ever-worsening 22-year drought. However, it is not the environmental crisis that is most concerning for local populations but the political crisis, and the ways in which climate change and the water shortage intersect with the discriminatory practices of the local government. Sistan has lost 25 per cent of its population due to forced migration in recent years – evidence of a prolonged social and political crisis, and largely a result of water mismanagement and drought.

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Finland: Fishing restrictions may lead to the disappearance of an ancestral way of life

Deatnu, also known as Teno in Finnish and Tana in Norwegian, is one of the world’s most important spawning rivers for Atlantic salmon. About 30 different Atlantic salmon populations live in the Deatnu watercourse. Salmon fishing is also the foundation of the river Sámi culture and identity, particularly for the Sámi inhabitants of Deatnu valley. Salmon is one of the main reasons why the indigenous Sámi people inhabited the area in the first place, and it is one of the key sources of food in this richly biodiverse Arctic region.

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India: River embankment governance and the situation of Lodha people in the Sunderbans

‘I have seen four storms before this one during which everything was destroyed … even when we are sitting at home we can get blown away. But this is where I was born, and this is where I will die.’ These are the words of Bhima Devi (a pseudonym) in the aftermath of Cyclone Amphan. Now in her fifties, Bhima Devi has been a resident of the Sunderbans all her life.

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Mexico: Zapotec water rights and self-governance – a positive precedent for water justice

Oaxaca is among the states with the largest indigenous populations in Mexico. According to government statistics published by the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy, Oaxaca is also among the states with the highest poverty indices in the country. In this mountainous and highly biodiverse region of southern Mexico, people have been making a living for generations through crafts and subsistence farming, including livestock rearing. Climate change has deeply affected food security and self-sufficiency across Oaxaca, not least in terms of increased pressures on highly threatened water sources.

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Colombia: The Atrato River, a landmark for biocultural rights among Afro-descendants

The Atrato River is located in north-western Colombia, 750 kilometres in length and mostly navigable, and is in an area characterized by an exuberant fauna and flora. The existence of many endemic species stands out, and the resident population boasts a cultural heritage of importance for all humanity. The conditions in this region make the river a primary resource for trade and transport of food products, guaranteeing the food security of communities that live here.

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The Atrato River: An Afro-Colombian cultural heritage of resistance

For Afro-Colombian communities, territory is everything. It is the history we have lived; it is the culture of our people; it is the inexhaustible resistance of our ‘mayores’ and ‘mayoras’; it is the memory of the fear and terror of the war; but it is also the love for the river, the marshes, the forests and, in general, all the natural resources, since it is where we develop our lives and where we want the lives of our children to develop.

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United Kingdom: Sewage, the Sikh minority and lack of access for persons with disabilities

At the River Roding Trust, an environmental charity based in East London, members refer to their local river as the ‘most multi-ethnic river in the UK’. The River Roding, which flows southbound along Ilford, West Ham and Barking, is home to a diverse range of ethnic minorities including Roma and West Indian communities, as well numerous ethnic and religious minorities including African Christian congregations, Hindus, Orthodox Jews and Sikhs. This case study explores the perspectives of members of the Sikh community with regards to the sewage crisis in the United Kingdom, and the voices of Sikh faith leaders with regards to environmental and accessibility issues faced by Sikh people living by the River Roding in East London.

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The United Kingdom’s broken cultural relationship with its rivers: A conversation with Paul Powlesland

Discrimination sometimes manifests itself in the idea that minoritized communities don’t deserve nature and nature’s culture. Lack of access to nature is very noticeable in our river, for instance due to infrastructure. The River Roding area is disconnected. You simply can’t get across. A major motorway was built along the river in the 1980s, which was one of the last motorways to cut through London. The government at the time thought they could simply expropriate the river from the local community. This of course affects cultural practices. People cannot bathe, fish or play. River destruction is a major cultural loss.

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Vanuatu: Water, music and cultural rights

Water, in the language of the indigenous peoples of Vanuatu, is Nebei. She is the head and the feet of a body sustaining the movement of human lives. Water is understood in my culture as a force that balances the environment. Nebei resides at the bottom of the earth, and she is also found above the earth, providing the necessary harmony for us who live on land.

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Namibia: Lack of water access and scarcity rock Tsumkwe settlement

Tsumkwe is a small settlement situated about 60 kilometres west of the Botswana border and 300 kilometres east of the town of Grootfontein in Namibia’s Otjozondjupa region. This case study provides a general overview of infrastructural discrimination faced by the indigenous people of Tsumkwe. Key issues include the lack of government investment in boreholes for water supply; the lack of investment and maintenance of the sewerage system; and the lack of existing legislation that recognizes the customary rights of indigenous peoples in Namibia to water access, as well as its management and governance.

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Georgia: Access to water is closely interconnected with the rights of national minorities

As in the rest of the world, water plays an important role in the daily life of national minorities in the Kvemo Kartli (Borchali) region of Georgia. The main minority population in the region is ethnic Azerbaijanis, who in some areas of the region make up more than 80 per cent of the population. The region is also inhabited by environmentally displaced people resettled from elsewhere in Georgia. Other small minority communities include ethnic Armenians and Greeks. Agriculture is what sustains the livelihoods of many of these communities. An equally important aspect is access to safe drinking water for personal or household needs. Thus, it is safe to say that access to water for agriculture and daily water use go hand in hand with the implementation of the rights and freedoms of national minorities. Water availability directly affects the economic stability of Georgia’s Azerbaijani community.

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United States: No end in sight to the Jackson water crisis?

Less than ten years after the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, another predominantly Black city in the United States – Jackson, Mississippi – now faces a similar problem. Water shortages in Jackson are adding to an already existing social and economic breakdown, which for decades has led to high levels of violent crime. Despite a drop in the number of killings in 2022, the homicide rate in Jackson – a total of 138 murders – is the highest among major cities in the United States for the second straight year. The water crisis in this city is part of a series of systemic and entrenched problems involving race, poverty and poor management of the city’s water supply that has exploded in recent years.

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