It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Water security. (Discuss) Proposed since April 2012.

Deforestation of the Madagascar Highland Plateau has led to extensive siltation and unstable flows of western rivers.

Water crisis is a general term used to describe a situation where the available water within a region is less than the region's demand. The term has been used to describe the availability of potable water in a variety of regions by the United Nations and other world organizations.^[1][2] Others, for example the Food and Agriculture Organization, said in 2003 that there is no water crisis but steps must be taken to avoid one in the future.^[3] The major aspects of the water crisis are allegedly overall scarcity of usable water^[4] and water pollution. Water is the fundamental life blood of all organisms on Earth; without it nothing on Earth can survive.

Research[link]

This section may require copy-editing.

According to Nature (2010), about 80% of the world's population (5.6 billion in 2011) live in areas with threats to water security. The water security is a shared threat to human and nature and it is pandemic. Human water-management strategies can affect detrimentally to wildlife, such as migrating fish. Regions with intensive agriculture and dense population, as the US and Europe, have high threat to water security. The researcher estimate that during 2010-2015, ca US$800 billion will be required to cover the annual global investment in water infrastructure. Good management of water resources can jointly manage biodiversity protection and human water security. Preserving flood plains rather than constructing flood-control reservoirs would provide a cost-effective way to control floods while protecting the biodiversity of wildlife that occupies such areas.^[5]

The New York Times article, “Southeast Drought Study Ties Water Shortage to Population, Not Global Warming”, summarizes the findings of Columbia University researcher on the subject of the droughts in the American Southeast between 2005 and 2007. The findings were published in the Journal of Climate. They say the water shortages resulted from population size more than rainfall. Census figures show that Georgia’s population rose to 9.54 million from 6.48 million between 1990 and 2007.^[6] After studying data from weather instruments, computer models and measurements of tree rings which reflect rainfall, they found that the droughts were not unprecedented and result from normal climate patterns and random weather events. “Similar droughts unfolded over the last thousand years, the researchers wrote. Regardless of climate change, they added, similar weather patterns can be expected regularly in the future, with similar results.”^[6] As the temperature increases, rainfall in the Southeast will increase but because of evaporation the area may get even drier. The researchers concluded with a statement saying that any rainfall comes from complicated internal processes in the atmosphere that are very hard to predict because of the large amount of variables.

Lawrence Smith, the president of the population institute, asserts that although an overwhelming majority of the planet is composed of water, 97% of this water is constituted of saltwater; the fresh water used to sustain humans is only 3% of the total amount of water on Earth (Hoevel). Therefore, Smith believes that the competition for water in an overpopulated world would pose a major threat to human stability (Hoevel); indeed, world wars may be fought over the control of thinning ice sheets and nearly desiccated reservoirs.^[7] 2 billion people have gained access to a safe water source since 1990.^[8] The proportion of people in developing countries with access to safe water is calculated to have improved from 30 percent in 1970^[9] to 71 percent in 1990, 79 percent in 2000 and 84 percent in 2004, parallel with rising population. This trend is projected to continue.^[8]

The Earth has a limited supply of fresh water, stored in aquifers, surface waters and the atmosphere. Sometimes oceans are mistaken for available water, but the amount of energy needed to convert saline water to potable water is prohibitive today, explaining why only a very small fraction of the world's water supply derives from desalination.^[10]

Manifestations[link]

There are several principal manifestations of the water crisis.

• Inadequate access to safe drinking water for about 884 million people^[11]
• Inadequate access to water for sanitation and waste disposal for 2.5 billion people^[12]
• Groundwater overdrafting (excessive use) leading to diminished agricultural yields^[13]
• Overuse and pollution of water resources harming biodiversity
• Regional conflicts over scarce water resources sometimes resulting in warfare

Waterborne diseases and the absence of sanitary domestic water are one of the leading causes of death worldwide. For children under age five, waterborne diseases are the leading cause of death. At any given time, half of the world's hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from waterborne diseases.^[14] According to the World Bank, 88 percent of all waterborne diseases are caused by unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene.^[15]

Water is the underlying tenuous balance of safe water supply, but controllable factors such as the management and distribution of the water supply itself contribute to further scarcity.

A 2006 United Nations report focuses on issues of governance as the core of the water crisis, saying "There is enough water for everyone" and "Water insufficiency is often due to mismanagement, corruption, lack of appropriate institutions, bureaucratic inertia and a shortage of investment in both human capacity and physical infrastructure".^[16] Official data also shows a clear correlation between access to safe water and GDP per capita.^[17]

It has also been claimed, primarily by economists, that the water situation has occurred because of a lack of property rights, government regulations and subsidies in the water sector, causing prices to be too low and consumption too high.^[18][19][20]

Vegetation and wildlife are fundamentally dependent upon adequate freshwater resources. Marshes, bogs and riparian zones are more obviously dependent upon sustainable water supply, but forests and other upland ecosystems are equally at risk of significant productivity changes as water availability is diminished. In the case of wetlands, considerable area has been simply taken from wildlife use to feed and house the expanding human population. But other areas have suffered reduced productivity from gradual diminishing of freshwater inflow, as upstream sources are diverted for human use. In seven states of the U.S. over 80 percent of all historic wetlands were filled by the 1980s, when Congress acted to create a “no net loss” of wetlands.

In Europe extensive loss of wetlands has also occurred with resulting loss of biodiversity. For example many bogs in Scotland have been developed or diminished through human population expansion. One example is the Portlethen Moss in Aberdeenshire.

On Madagascar’s highland plateau, a massive transformation occurred that eliminated virtually all the heavily forested vegetation in the period 1970 to 2000. The slash and burn agriculture eliminated about ten percent of the total country’s native biomass and converted it to a barren wasteland. These effects were from overpopulation and the necessity to feed poor indigenous peoples, but the adverse effects included widespread gully erosion that in turn produced heavily silted rivers that “run red” decades after the deforestation. This eliminated a large amount of usable fresh water and also destroyed much of the riverine ecosystems of several large west-flowing rivers. Several fish species have been driven to the edge of extinction and some, such as, the disturbed Tokios, coral reef formations in the Indian Ocean are effectively lost.

In October 2008, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, chairman and former chief executive of Nestlé, warned that the production of biofuels will further deplete the world's water supply.

Overview of regions suffering crisis impacts[link]

Two abandoned ships in the former Aral Sea, near Aral, Kazakhstan.

There are many other countries of the world that are severely impacted with regard to human health and inadequate drinking water. The following is a partial list of some of the countries with significant populations (numerical population of affected population listed) whose only consumption is of contaminated water:^[21]

• Sudan 12.3 million
• Venezuela 5.0 million
• Ethiopia 2.7 million
• Tunisia 2.1 million
• Cuba 1.3 million

Several world maps showing various aspects of the problem can be found in this graph article.^[22]

According to the California Department of Water Resources, if more supplies aren’t found by 2020, the region will face a shortfall nearly as great as the amount consumed today. Los Angeles is a coastal desert able to support at most 1 million people on its own water; the Los Angeles basin now is the core of a megacity that spans 220 miles (350 km) from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border. The region’s population is expected to reach 41 million by 2020, up from 28 million in 2009. The population of California continues to grow by more than two million a year and is expected to reach 75 million in 2030, up from 49 million in 2009. But water shortage is likely to surface well before then.^[23]

Water deficits, which are already spurring heavy grain imports in numerous smaller countries, may soon do the same in larger countries, such as China and India.^[24] The water tables are falling in scores of countries (including Northern China, the US, and India) due to widespread overpumping using powerful diesel and electric pumps. Other countries affected include Pakistan, Iran, and Mexico. This will eventually lead to water scarcity and cutbacks in grain harvest. Even with the overpumping of its aquifers, China is developing a grain deficit. When this happens, it will almost certainly drive grain prices upward. Most of the 3 billion people projected to be added worldwide by mid-century will be born in countries already experiencing water shortages. Unless population growth can be slowed quickly it is feared that there may not be a practical non-violent or humane solution to the emerging world water shortage.^[25][26][27]

After China and India, there is a second tier of smaller countries with large water deficits — Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Mexico, and Pakistan. Four of these already import a large share of their grain. But with a population expanding by 4 million a year, it will also likely soon turn to the world market for grain.^[28]

According to a UN climate report, the Himalayan glaciers that are the sources of Asia's biggest rivers - Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra, Yangtze, Mekong, Salween and Yellow - could disappear by 2035 as temperatures rise.^[29] It was later revealed that the source used by the UN climate report actually stated 2350, not 2035.^[30] Approximately 2.4 billion people live in the drainage basin of the Himalayan rivers.^[31] India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar could experience floods followed by droughts in coming decades. In India alone, the Ganges provides water for drinking and farming for more than 500 million people.^[32][33][34] The west coast of North America, which gets much of its water from glaciers in mountain ranges such as the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada, also would be affected.^[35][36]

By far the largest part of Australia is desert or semi-arid lands commonly known as the outback. In June 2008 it became known that an expert panel had warned of long term, possibly irreversible, severe ecological damage for the whole Murray-Darling basin if it does not receive sufficient water by October.^[37] Water restrictions are currently in place in many regions and cities of Australia in response to chronic shortages resulting from drought. The Australian of the year 2007, environmentalist Tim Flannery, predicted that unless it made drastic changes, Perth in Western Australia could become the world’s first ghost metropolis, an abandoned city with no more water to sustain its population.^[38] However, Western Australia's dams reached 50% capacity for the first time since 2000 as of September 2009.^[39] As a result, heavy rains have brought forth positive results for the region.^[39] Nonetheless, the following year, 2010, Perth suffered its second-driest winter on record^[40] and the water corporation tightened water restrictions for spring.^[41]

Effects on climate[link]

Aquifer drawdown or overdrafting and the pumping of fossil water increases the total amount of water within the hydrosphere subject to transpiration and evaporation processes, thereby causing accretion in water vapour and cloud cover, the primary absorbers of infrared radiation in the earth's atmosphere. Adding water to the system has a forcing effect on the whole earth system, an accurate estimate of which hydrogeological fact is yet to be quantified.

Outlook[link]

Wind and solar power such as this installation in a village in northwest Madagascar can make a difference in safe water supply.

Construction of wastewater treatment plants and reduction of groundwater overdrafting appear to be obvious solutions to the worldwide problem; however, a deeper look reveals more fundamental issues in play. Wastewater treatment is highly capital intensive, restricting access to this technology in some regions; furthermore the rapid increase in population of many countries makes this a race that is difficult to win. As if those factors are not daunting enough, one must consider the enormous costs and skill sets involved to maintain wastewater treatment plants even if they are successfully developed.

Reduction in groundwater overdrafting is usually politically very unpopular and has major economic impacts to farmers; moreover, this strategy will necessarily reduce crop output, which is something the world can ill-afford, given the population level at present.

At more realistic levels, developing countries can strive to achieve primary wastewater treatment or secure septic systems, and carefully analyse wastewater outfall design to minimise impacts to drinking water and to ecosystems. Developed countries can not only share technology better, including cost-effective wastewater and water treatment systems but also in hydrological transport modeling. At the individual level, people in developed countries can look inward and reduce overconsumption, which further strains worldwide water consumption. Both developed and developing countries can increase protection of ecosystems, especially wetlands and riparian zones. These measures will not only conserve biota, but also render more effective the natural water cycle flushing and transport that make water systems more healthy for humans.

A range of local, low-tech solutions are being pursued by a number of companies. These efforts center around the use of solar power to distill water at temperatures slightly beneath that at which water boils. By developing the capability to purify any available water source, local business models could be built around the new technologies, accelerating their uptake.^[42]

Conventional fossil or nuclear energy based desalination[link]

Due to record low rainfall in Summer 2005, the reservoir behind Sameura Dam runs low. The reservoir supplies water to Takamatsu, Shikoku Island, Japan.

As new technological innovations continue to reduce the capital cost of desalination, more countries are building desalination plants as a small element in addressing their water crises.^[43]

• Israel desalinizes water for a cost of 53 cents per cubic meter ^[44]
• Singapore desalinizes water for 49 cents per cubic meter ^[45] and also treats sewage with reverse osmosis for industrial and potable use (NEWater).
• China and India, the world's two most populous countries, are turning to desalination to provide a small part of their water needs ^[46][47]
• In 2007 Pakistan announced plans to use desalination ^[48]
• All Australian capital cities (except Darwin, Northern Territory and Hobart) are either in the process of building desalination plants, or are already using them. In late 2011, Melbourne will begin using Australia's largest desalination plant, the Wonthaggi desalination plant to raise low reservoir levels.
• In 2007 Bermuda signed a contract to purchase a desalination plant ^[49]
• The largest desalination plant in the United States is the one at Tampa Bay, Florida, which began desalinizing 25 million gallons (95000 m³) of water per day in December 2007.^[50] In the United States, the cost of desalination is $3.06 for 1,000 gallons, or 81 cents per cubic meter.^[51] In the United States, California, Arizona, Texas, and Florida use desalination for a very small part of their water supply.^[52][53][54]
• After being desalinized at Jubail, Saudi Arabia, water is pumped 200 miles (320 km) inland though a pipeline to the capital city of Riyadh.^[55]

A January 17, 2008, article in the Wall Street Journal states, "World-wide, 13,080 desalination plants produce more than 12 billion gallons of water a day, according to the International Desalination Association." ^[56]

The world's largest desalination plant is the Jebel Ali Desalination Plant (Phase 2) in the United Arab Emirates. It is a dual-purpose facility that uses multi-stage flash distillation and is capable of producing 300 million cubic meters of water per year.^[57]

A typical aircraft carrier in the U.S. military uses nuclear power to desalinize 400,000 US gallons (1,500,000 L) of water per day.^[58]

While desalinizing 1,000 US gallons (3,800 L) of water can cost as much as $3, the same amount of bottled water costs $7,945.^[59]

However, given the energy intensive nature of desalination, with associated economic and environmental costs, desalination is generally considered a last resort after water conservation. But this is changing as prices continue to fall.

According to MSNBC, a report by Lux Research estimated that the worldwide desalinated water supply will triple between 2008 and 2020.^[60]

However, not everyone is convinced that desalination is or will be economically viable or environmentally sustainable for the foreseeable future. Debbie Cook, the former mayor of Huntington Beach, California, has been a frequent critic of desalination proposals ever since she was appointed as a member of the California Desalination Task Force. Cook claims that in addition to being energy intensive, desalination schemes are very costly—often much more costly than desalination proponents claim. In her writing on the subject, Cook points to a long list of projects that have stalled or been aborted for financial or other reasons, and suggests that water-stressed regions would do better to focus on conservation or other water supply solutions than to invest in desalination plants.^[61]

Solar energy based desalination[link]

A novel approach to desalination is the Seawater Greenhouse which takes seawater and uses solar energy to desalinate it in conjunction with growing food crops in a specially adapted greenhouse.

Global experiences in managing water crisis[link]

This section is written like a personal reflection or essay rather than an encyclopedic description of the subject. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (September 2009)

It is alleged that the likelihood of conflict rises if the rate of change within the basin exceeds the capacity of institution to absorb that change.^[35] Although water crisis is closely related to regional tensions, history showed that acute conflicts over water are far less than the record of cooperation.

The key lies in strong institutions and cooperation. The Indus River Commission and the Indus Water Treaty survived two wars between India and Pakistan despite their hostility, proving to be a successful mechanism in resolving conflicts by providing a framework for consultation inspection and exchange of data. The Mekong Committee has also functioned since 1957 and survived the Vietnam War. In contrast, regional instability results when there is an absence of institutions to co-operate in regional collaboration, like Egypt’s plan for a high dam on the Nile. However, there is currently no global institution in place for the management and management of trans-boundary water sources, and international co-operation has happened through ad hoc collaborations between agencies, like the Mekong Committee which was formed due to an alliance between UNICEF and the US Bureau of Reclamation. Formation of strong international institutions seems to be a way forward - they fuel early intervention and management, preventing the costly dispute resolution process.

One common feature of almost all resolved disputes is that the negotiations had a “need-based” instead of a “right–based” paradigm. Irrigable lands, population, technicalities of projects define "needs". The success of a need-based paradigm is reflected in the only water agreement ever negotiated in the Jordan River Basin, which focuses in needs not on rights of riparians. In the Indian subcontinent, irrigation requirements of Bangladesh determine water allocations of The Ganges River. A need based, regional approach focuses on satisfying individuals with their need of water, ensuring that minimum quantitative needs are being met. It removes the conflict that arises when countries view the treaty from a national interest point of view, move away from the zero-sum approach to a positive sum, integrative approach that equitably allocated the water and its benefits.

See also[link]

	Water portal
	Environment portal

• 1998 Klang Valley water crisis
• Arable land
• California Water Wars
• Chinese water crisis
• Consumptive water use
• Deficit irrigation
• Green Revolution
• Life Saver bottle
• Living Water International
• Ogallala Aquifer
• Peak water
• Water resource policy
• Spragg Bag
• Sustainable development in an urban water supply network
• Seawater Greenhouse
• Water conflict
• Water footprint
• Water resource policy
• WaterPartners International
• Whisson Windmill

References[link]

Resources[link]

An International Food Policy Research Institute book about the intersection of water policy, globalization and food security: Ringler, C., Biswas, A., and Cline, S., eds. 2010. Global Change: Impacts on Water and Food Security. Heidelberg: Springer.

External links[link]

• The World Bank's work and publications on water resources
• The Global Water Crisis - myHydros.org | Everything About Water
• BBC News World Water Crisis Maps
• International Action: Fighting the Water Crisis in Haiti
• World Water Council: Water Crisis
• Food and Water Security under Global Change and Water Policy at the [http://www.ifpri.org/ International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
• China water crisis - Greenpeace China
• Water Wars: Multimedia coverage of East Africa's water crisis from CLPMag.org
• Worldwide water shortages by 2080
• Water Crisis Information Guide - From Middletown Thrall Library. Subjects include: Drinking Water, Government Information, International Challenges and Efforts, Global Water Issues, Oceanography, Sea Levels, Desalination, Water Scarcity, Pollution and Contaminants, Conservation and Recycling, News and Special Reports, and library catalog subject headings for further research.
• Water and Conflict: Incorporating Peacebuilding into Water Development
• Raipur Water Crisis Website For World
• [2]

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (January 2011)

Maude Victoria Barlow
Born	(1947-05-24) May 24, 1947 (age 65) Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Occupation	author and activist
Known for	The Council of Canadians, Food & Water Watch, World Future Council.

Maude Victoria Barlow (born May 24, 1947) is a Canadian author and activist. She is the National Chairperson of The Council of Canadians, a citizens’ advocacy organization with members and chapters across Canada. She is also the co-founder of the Blue Planet Project, which works internationally for the human right to water. Maude chairs the board of Washington-based Food & Water Watch, is a founding member of the San Francisco–based International Forum on Globalization, and a Councillor with the Hamburg-based World Future Council. In 2008/2009, she served as Senior Advisor on Water to the 63rd President of the United Nations General Assembly. She has authored and co-authored 16 books.

Awards[link]

Maude Barlow is the recipient of 11 honorary doctorates as well as many awards, including the 2005 Right Livelihood Award (known as the “Alternative Nobel”), the Citation of Lifetime Achievement which she received at the 2008 Canadian Environment Awards, the 2009 Earth Day Canada Outstanding Environmental Achievement Award, the 2009 Planet in Focus Eco Hero Award, and the 2011 EarthCare Award, the highest international honour of the Sierra Club (U.S.).

Published works[link]

Books: Principal author or co-author[link]

Parcel of Rogues: How Free Trade Is Failing Canada – Key Porter Books, Toronto (1990)

• Take Back the Nation (with Bruce Campbell) – Key Porter Books, Toronto (1992)
• Take Back the Nation 2 (with Bruce Campbell) – Key Porter Books, Toronto (1993)
• Class Warfare: The Assault on Canada’s Schools (with Heather-Jane Robertson) – Key Porter Books, Toronto (1994) ISBN 1-55013-559-7.
• Straight through the Heart: How the Liberals Abandoned the Just Society (with Bruce Campbell) – Harper Collins, Toronto (1995) ISBN 0-00-638580-X.
• The Big Black Book: The Essential Views of Conrad and Barbara Amiel Black (with Jim Winter) – Stoddart, Toronto (1997) ISBN 0-7737-5904-2.
• MAI: The Multilateral Agreement on Investment and the Threat to Canadian Sovereignty (with Tony Clarke) – Stoddart (1997) ISBN 0-7737-5946-8.
• MAI: The Multilateral Agreement on Investment and the Threat to American Freedom (with Tony Clarke) – Stoddart, Toronto (1998)
• The Fight of My Life: Confessions of an Unrepentant Canadian – Harper Collins, Toronto (1998) ISBN 0-00-255761-4.
• MAI: The Multilateral Agreement on Investment Round 2; New Global and Internal Threats to Canadian Sovereignty (with Tony Clarke) – Stoddart, Toronto (1998)
• Frederick Street: Life and Death on Canada’s Love Canal (with Elizabeth May) – Harper Collins, Toronto (2000)
• Global Showdown: How the New Activists Are Fighting Global Corporate Rule (with Tony Clarke) – Stoddart, Toronto (2001) ISBN 0-7737-3264-0.
• Blue Gold: The Battle Against Corporate Theft of the World’s Water (with Tony Clarke) - Stoddart, Toronto (2002) ISBN 0-7710-1086-9.
• Profit Is Not the Cure: A Citizen’s Guide to Saving Medicare – McCelland & Stewart, Toronto (2002) ISBN 0-7710-1084-2.
• Too Close For Comfort; Canada’s Future Within Fortress North America – McClelland & Stewart, Toronto (2005) ISBN 0-7710-1088-5.
• Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Fight for the Right to Water – McClelland & Stewart, Toronto (October 16, 2007) ISBN 978-0-7710-1072-9. Also available in French, Arabic, Japanese, Portuguese, Korean, Greek, Turkish, and Spanish.

Books: contributing author[link]

• The Silent Revolution: Media, Democracy, and the Free Trade Debate - University of Ottawa Press, Ottawa (1990)
• Trading Freedom: How Free Trade Affect our Lives, Work, and Environment - Institute for Policy Studies, Washington (1992)
• The American Review of Canadian Studies - Twentieth Anniversary Issue of The Association for Canadian Studies in the United States, Washington (1992)
• Crossing the Line: Canada and Free Trade With Mexico- New Star Publications, Vancouver (1992)
• The Charlottetown Accord, the Referendum, and the Future of Canada - University of Toronto Press, Toronto (1993)
• The Trojan Horse: Alberta and the Future of Canada - Black Rose Books, Edmonton (1995)
• The Case Against the Global Economy - Sierra Club Books, New York (1996)
• Globalization and the Live Performing Arts, Conference Papers - Monash University, Melbourne (2001)
• Alternatives to Economic Globalization, a Report of the International Forum on Globalization - Berrett-Koehler Publishers, San Francisco (2002)
• Whose Water Is It? The Unquenchable Thirst of a Water-Hungry World - Edited by Bernadette McDonald and Douglas Jehl, National Geographic, Washington (2003)
• Meeting the Global Challenge: Competitive Position and Strategic Response - BMA Program, Edited by Tom Wesson, York University Press, Toronto (2004)
• Globalization, Human Rights & Citizenship, An Anthology From the Gannett Lecture Series - Rochester Institute of Technology, Edited by Robert Manning – trade paperback (2005)

Reports[link]

• Blue Gold: The Global Water Crisis and the Commodification of the World’s Water Supply - International Forum on Globalization, San Francisco (June 1999)
• The Free Trade Area of the Americas, The Threat to Social Programs, Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice - International Forum on Globalization, San Francisco (February 2001)
• The World Trade Organization and the Threat to Canada’s Social Programs - The Council of Canadians, Ottawa (September 2001)
• Profit is not the Cure: A Call to Action on the Future of Health Care in Canada - The Council of Canadians, Ottawa (Winter 2002)
• Making the Links, A Citizen’s Guide to the World Trade Organization and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (with Tony Clarke) - The Council of Canadians, Ottawa (Summer 2003)
• The Global Fight Against Privatization of Water - Annual Report, The World Forum on Alternatives, Geneva (April 2004)
• The Canada We Want, A Citizen’s Alternative to Deep Integration - The Council of Canadians, Ottawa (March 2004)

Film[link]

Barlow is in the feature documentary Blue Gold: World Water Wars by Sam Bozzo.

Barlow is featured in two other recent documentaries about water rights issues: Irena Salina's documentary Flow: For Love of Water, and Liz Marshall's Water On The Table. Barlow also contributes to a blog associated with Water On The Table.

Barlow is the subject of a National Film Board of Canada documentary Democracy à la Maude as well as a CBC TV Life and Times biography.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Maude Barlow

• The Council of Canadians - Maude Barlow
• Blue Planet Project
• Maude Barlow Interview with Jeff Fleischer of Mother Jones
• Maude Barlow on the Need for Water Justice - video report by Democracy Now!
• Video: Maude Barlow: "The World Has Divided into Rich and Poor as at No Time in History"
• Video: Maude Barlow: "The Continued Destruction of the Earth Can Go on Quite Happily"
• Right Livelihood Award
• Huffington Post (Canada) - Maude Barlow
• Watch Democracy à la Maude at NFB.ca

Matt Damon
Damon in 2009
Born	Matthew Paige Damon (1970-10-08) October 8, 1970 (age 41) Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Alma mater	Harvard University (Dropped out)
Occupation	Actor, screenwriter, producer
Years active	1988–present
Spouse	Luciana Barroso (m. 2005–present)
Children	4
Awards	Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay

Matthew Paige "Matt" Damon (born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting (1997) from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck. The pair won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and a Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay for their work. Damon alone received multiple Best Actor nominations, including an Academy Award for his lead performance in the film.

Damon has since starred in commercially successful films such as Saving Private Ryan (1998), the Ocean's trilogy, and the Bourne series, while also gaining critical acclaim for his performances in dramas such as Syriana (2005), The Good Shepherd (2006), and The Departed (2006). He garnered a Golden Globe nomination for portraying the title character in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Invictus (2009). He is one of the top 40 highest grossing actors of all time. In 2007, Damon received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was named Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine. Damon has been actively involved in charitable work, including the ONE Campaign, H2O Africa Foundation, and Water.org.

Early life[link]

Matt Damon was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the son of Kent Telfer Damon, a stockbroker, and Nancy Carlsson-Paige, an early childhood education professor at Lesley University.^[1][2] Damon is of Scottish, English, Finnish, and Swedish ancestry.^[3] He has a brother, Kyle, who is an accomplished sculptor and artist.^[2][4] He and his family moved to Newton and lived there for two years. After his parents divorced, Damon and his brother moved with their mother back to Cambridge,^[2][5] where they lived in a six-family communal house.^[6][7] Damon grew up near actor Ben Affleck, a close friend since childhood and collaborator on several films. (Damon is Affleck's tenth cousin, once removed, through a common New England ancestor.)^[8] Another neighbor of Damon's was historian and author Howard Zinn,^[9] whose biographical film You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train and audio version of A People's History of the United States Damon later narrated.^[7]

Damon took to role-playing as a child partly because his mother raised him "by the book,"^[6] which made him feel as though "you couldn’t define yourself, because you already had been defined by her."^[6] He attended Cambridge Alternative School (now Graham & Parks) and then Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, where he was a disciplined student^[10] but had a "terrifying" first two years due to his short height at the time.^[11] As a lonely adolescent, Damon has described feeling "such pain in wanting to belong somewhere and not belonging."^[6] Damon performed as an actor in several high school theater productions;^[2] he has credited his drama teacher at Rindge and Latin, Gerry Speca, as an important artistic influence, even though Damon recalls that, "Mr. Speca always seemed to trust Ben [Affleck] with the biggest roles and longest speeches."^[10]

Damon attended Harvard University from 1988 to 1992 but did not graduate.^[12] While at Harvard, he studied English and lived in Lowell House. He took part in student theater,^[13] appearing in plays such as Burn This in Winthrop House and A... My Name is Alice (in one of the three male roles usually performed by women).^[14] Damon dropped out of the university to pursue his acting career in Los Angeles because he mistakenly expected Geronimo: An American Legend to become a big success.^[15] "By the time I figured out I had made the wrong decision, it was too late. I was living out here with a bunch of actors, and we were all scrambling to make ends meet," Damon has said.^[16]

Acting career[link]

Early years[link]

Damon made his film debut in 1988 when he was eighteen, with a single line of dialogue in the romantic comedy Mystic Pizza.^[17] As a student at Harvard University, he continued to pursue acting and performed small roles in projects such as the TNT original film Rising Son and the ensemble prep-school drama School Ties.^[18] In 1992, he landed a big part in Geronimo: An American Legend with Gene Hackman and Jason Patric.^[18] Four years later, he auditioned for a small role in Cutthroat Island, but was turned away.^[19] Damon next appeared as an opiate-addicted soldier in 1996's Courage Under Fire. He was required to lose 40 pounds (18 kg) in 100 days (for only two days of filming).^[20][21] After following a self-prescribed diet and fitness regimen to lose the weight, Damon was told after filming that he was fortunate his heart did not shrink. He took medication for several years afterwards to correct the stress inflicted on his adrenal gland. Courage Under Fire gained him some critical notice, as The Washington Post labeled his performance "impressive";^[22] Damon has stated that it was worthwhile to risk his health in order to properly portray his character and show the industry how committed he was to his work as an actor.^[17][21]

Breakthrough[link]

During the early 1990s, Damon and Affleck wrote a screenplay about a young math genius, which they then pitched around Hollywood for a long time. Receiving advice from director Rob Reiner, screenwriter William Goldman, and their friend writer/director Kevin Smith, the two made changes to the script.^[15] The script eventually became Good Will Hunting (1997), and received nine Academy Awards nominations, earning Damon and Affleck Oscars for Best Original Screenplay.^[23][24] Damon was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for the same film, which also netted an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for co-star Robin Williams.^[23] He and Affleck were each paid salaries of $600,000, while the film grossed over $225 million at the worldwide box office.^[25][26] The two later parodied their roles from the film in Kevin Smith's 2001 movie Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

Also in 1997, Damon was the lead in the critically acclaimed drama The Rainmaker, where he was recognized by the Los Angeles Times as "a talented young actor on the brink of stardom."^[27] After meeting Damon on the set of Good Will Hunting, director Steven Spielberg cast Damon as the titular character in the 1998 World War II film Saving Private Ryan.^[15]

Hollywood star[link]

Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Damon, Andy García, Julia Roberts (the cast of Ocean's Eleven), with director Steven Soderbergh in December 2001

Damon has become known for choosing a wide variety of film roles,^[28] from his portrayal of Patricia Highsmith's anti-hero Tom Ripley in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)^[17] to a fallen angel who discusses pop culture as intellectual subject matter with Affleck in Dogma (1999); from a conjoined twin in Stuck on You (2003), which got a mixed critical reception,^[29] to the low budget experimental film Gerry (2002), which he co-wrote with Casey Affleck and Gus Van Sant. Damon garnered generally positive critical reaction for his Golden Globe-nominated^[30] portrayal of Ripley, with Variety stating, "Damon outstandingly conveys his character's slide from innocent enthusiasm into cold calculation."^[31]

Damon's attempts at essaying leading characters in romantic dramas such as 2000's All the Pretty Horses and The Legend of Bagger Vance were commercially and critically unsuccessful.^[25] Variety said of his work in All the Pretty Horses: "[Damon] just doesn't quite seem like a young man who's spent his life amidst the dust and dung of a Texas cattle ranch. Nor does he strike any sparks with [Penelope] Cruz."^[32] He was similarly deemed "uncomfortable being the center" of Robert Redford's The Legend of Bagger Vance.^[33]

From 2001 to 2007, Damon gained wider international recognition as part of two major film franchises. He co-starred as thief Linus Caldwell, alongside George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Julia Roberts, in Steven Soderbergh's 2001 remake of the Rat Pack's 1960 caper film Ocean's 11; the successful crime dramedy spawned two sequels, Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007).^[17] He played amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne in the hit action thrillers The Bourne Identity (2002), The Bourne Supremacy (2004), and The Bourne Ultimatum (2007).^[17] Entertainment Weekly placed Damon as an "action star" on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "When he first signed on as the ass-kicking amnesiac Jason Bourne in 2002, no one would've predicted that Damon would become the decade's best mixer of brawn and brains. Shows what we know."^[34] In August 2007, financial magazine Forbes created a list of actors who generated the best box office performance related to their salaries; the list placed Damon as the most bankable star of the actors reviewed, revealing that Damon had averaged USD29 at the box office for every dollar he earned for his last three films.^[35][36]

Damon with Robert De Niro in Berlin in February 2007 for the premiere of The Good Shepherd

Damon played a fictionalized version of Wilhelm Grimm in Terry Gilliam's fantasy adventure The Brothers Grimm (2005), which was a critically panned commercial failure;^[25] The Washington Post concluded, "Damon, constantly flashing his newscaster's teeth and flaunting a fake, 'Masterpiece Theatre' dialect, comes across like someone who got lost on the way to an audition for a high school production of 'The Pirates of Penzance.'"^[37] Later that year, he appeared as an energy analyst in Syriana.^[38] In 2006, Damon joined Robert De Niro in The Good Shepherd as a career CIA officer, and played an undercover mobster working for the Massachusetts State Police in Martin Scorsese's The Departed, a remake of the Hong Kong police thriller Infernal Affairs.^[17] Assessing his work in the two films, Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote that Damon "does what few stars with his kind of billing do: he disappears."^[28] The Departed was a success amongst critics and audiences alike.^[25][39]

Damon had an uncredited cameo in Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth (2007) and another cameo in the 2008 Che Guevara biopic Che. He lent his voice to the English version of the animated film Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, which was released in the United States in August 2009.^[40] He also made a guest appearance in 2009 on the sixth season finale of Entourage as himself, where he tries to pressure Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) into donating to his charity OneXOne — a real foundation for which Damon is an ambassador — and gets increasingly irritated when Chase does not seem to comply.^[41][42]

Damon next appeared in Steven Soderbergh's dark comedy, The Informant! (2009),^[43] in which his Golden Globe-nominated work was described by Entertainment Weekly as such: "The star – who has quietly and steadily turned into a great Everyman actor – is in nimble control as he reveals his character's deep crazies."^[44] Also in 2009, Damon portrayed South Africa national rugby union team captain François Pienaar in the Clint Eastwood-directed film Invictus, which is based on the 2008 John Carlin book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed a Nation and features Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela.^[45] Invictus earned Damon an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The New Republic observed, "It is not a demanding role, but the ever-more-actorly Damon brings it off with low-key charm and integrity."^[46]

Handprints and footprints of Damon in front of the Grauman's Chinese Theatre

In 2010, Damon re-teamed with director Paul Greengrass, who directed him in the Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum, for the action thriller Green Zone, which flopped commercially^[47] and received ambivalent reception from critics.^[48]

In motion pictures that feature him either as a leading actor or as a supporting co-star, his films have grossed a total of U.S.$1.94^[49] to U.S.$2.42 billion^[50] (based on counting his roles as strictly lead or including supporting roles, respectively) at the North American box office, placing him in the top forty grossing actors of all time.

He has appeared as a guest star in an episode of Arthur, titled "The Making of Arthur", as himself.^[51] During Season 5 of 30 Rock, he appeared as guest star in the role of Liz Lemon's boyfriend in the episodes "I Do I Do", "The Fabian Strategy", "Live Show", and "Double Edged Sword".

Damon's 2010 projects included Clint Eastwood's Hereafter and the Coen Brothers' remake of the 1969 John Wayne-starring Western True Grit; the latter movie started filming in March 2010 and was released in December of that year.^[52]

In 2011, he starred in The Adjustment Bureau, Contagion, and We Bought a Zoo.

Upcoming films[link]

Damon will next work with frequent collaborator Steven Soderbergh on a project as Liberace's longtime partner, Scott Thorsen, opposite Michael Douglas in an upcoming film centered on the pianist's life.^[53] He will also star in Elysium. He will shoot Promised Land, directed by Gus Van Sant, in April 2012, which he co-wrote with John Krasinski.^[54]

Producing career[link]

Along with Affleck and producers Chris Moore and Sean Bailey, Damon founded the production company LivePlanet, through which the four created the documentary series Project Greenlight to find and fund worthwhile film projects from novice filmmakers.^[55] The company produced and founded the short-lived mystery-hybrid series Push, Nevada, among other projects. Project Greenlight was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Reality Program in 2002, 2004, and 2005.^[15]

In March 2010, Damon and Affleck teamed up again to sign a first-look production deal with Warner Bros.^[56]

Humanitarian work[link]

Damon volunteering in Haiti as part of the United Nations Stabilization Mission

Damon was the founder of H2O Africa Foundation, the charitable arm of the Running the Sahara expedition,^[15][57] which merged with WaterPartners to create Water.org in July 2009.^[58] He, along with George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, and Jerry Weintraub, is one of the founders of Not On Our Watch, an organization that focuses global attention and resources to stop and prevent mass atrocities such as in Darfur.^[59] Damon supports the ONE Campaign, which is aimed at fighting AIDS and poverty in Third World countries. He has appeared in their print and television advertising. Damon is also an ambassador for OneXOne, a non-profit foundation committed to supporting, preserving and improving the lives of children at home in Canada, the United States, and around the world.^[60] Damon is also a spokesperson for Feeding America, the largest USA-focused hunger-relief organization, and a member of their Entertainment Council, participating in their Ad Council PSAs.

Damon is a board member of Tonic Mailstopper (formerly GreenDimes), a company that attempts to halt junk mail delivered to American homes each day.^[61] Appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show on April 20, 2007, Damon promoted the organization's efforts to prevent the trees used for junk mail letters and envelopes from being chopped down. Damon stated: "For an estimated dime a day they can stop 70 percent of the junk mail that comes to your house. It's very simple, easy to do, great gift to give, I've actually signed up my entire family. It was a gift given to me this past holiday season and I was so impressed that I'm now on the board of the company."^[62]

In 2011, the documentary which he narrated, American Teacher, opened in New York prior to national screening.^[63]

In the media[link]

Kimmel and Damon[link]

Comedian Jimmy Kimmel at some point started stating near the end of his ABC television show Jimmy Kimmel Live!, "My apologies to Matt Damon; we ran out of time." The line is a gag lampooning instances where shows cannot feature their last guest due to time constraints. On September 12, 2006, after a segment highlighting the running gag and a lengthy introduction by Kimmel, Damon finally appeared on the show, only for Kimmel to apologetically cut his interview and head to credits, as Damon cursed him. This encounter was entirely planned by Kimmel and Damon.^[64]

Kimmel's girlfriend at the time, comedian Sarah Silverman, appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on January 31, 2008 and aired a clip where she is singing a song entitled "I'm Fucking Matt Damon." Damon appeared in the song with Silverman.^[65] Kimmel responded by airing his own music video in which he announced, through song, that he is "fucking Ben Affleck." The video aired on February 24, 2008, and featured Affleck along with a host of celebrities, including Don Cheadle, Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, Harrison Ford, and Robin Williams.

Later on, Kimmel's sidekick, Guillermo, appeared in a spoof of The Bourne Ultimatum, which starred Damon. He was then chased down by Damon as he cursed about Kimmel being behind all this.

The most recent encounter was titled "The Handsome Men's Club" which featured Kimmel, along with other "Handsome Men" including Matthew McConaughey, Rob Lowe and Lenny Kravitz. At the end of the skit Kimmel has a door slammed in his face by Damon stating that they had run out of time and then Damon continues with a sinister laugh.^[66]

Political views[link]

Damon appeared on Hardball with Chris Matthews in December 2006 and, while discussing the ongoing war in Iraq, he stated: "It seems like we have a fighting class in our country that's comprised of people who have to go for financial reasons... I don't think that that is fair. If you're gonna send people to war... then that needs to be shared by everybody, you know, and if the president has daughters who are of age then maybe they should go too."^[67]

On September 10, 2008, a video was released on YouTube by the Associated Press in which Damon commented on the Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, whom he viewed unready to lead the country in case John McCain were to not make it through his first term. Damon referred to Palin as a "...bad Disney movie... 'I'm just a hockey mom from Alaska here to take on the White House,'" and added, "It's absurd ... I need to know if she really thinks dinosaurs were here 4,000 years ago. Because she’s gonna have the nuclear codes."^[68]

Damon narrated the audiobook version of historian Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, published in 2003.^[69] Zinn had been his next-door neighbor growing up in Cambridge.

Advertizing[link]

In January 2012 it was announced that Damon had signed a multi-year deal to be the voice of TD Ameritrade advertisements, replacing Sam Waterston as the discount brokerage's spokesman. Damon provides all fees from the advertisements to charity.^[70]

Personal life[link]

Damon with wife Luciana Bozán Barroso at the 2009 Venice International Film Festival

Damon dated his Good Will Hunting co-star Minnie Driver.^[71] He later had a two-year relationship with actress Winona Ryder.^[17] From 2001 to 2003, he dated Odessa Whitmire, a former personal assistant of Billy Bob Thornton and Ben Affleck.^[17] While filming Stuck on You in 2003,^[72] Damon met Argentine-born Luciana Bozán Barroso (born 1976) in Miami, where she was working as a bartender.^[73] They married in a private civil ceremony on December 9, 2005, at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau near New York City Hall.^[73] Damon became stepfather to Barroso's young daughter, Alexia, from her previous marriage. The couple's first child together, daughter Isabella, was born on June 11, 2006.^[74] On August 20, 2008, Barroso gave birth to the couple's second child, Gia Zavala Damon, both girls born in Miami, Florida.^[75] On October 20, 2010, Barroso gave birth to their third daughter, Stella Zavala Damon, in New York.^[76] As of 2011, Damon and his family reside in Manhattan.^[56]

Damon is a fan of the Boston Red Sox.^[77] After the team won the 2007 World Series, he narrated the commemorative DVD release of the event.^[78]

Damon enjoys playing poker and has competed in several World Series of Poker (WSOP) events^[79][80] including the 2010 World Series of Poker main event.^[81] He dropped $25,000 at the WSOP while researching his role as a professional poker player in Rounders (1998)^[82] and after filming the movie Damon was busted out of the 1998 WSOP by poker professional Doyle Brunson.^[83]

Awards and honors[link]

Matt Damon's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

• Damon won multiple awards for Good Will Hunting, a film he co-wrote with Ben Affleck. He was nominated for the Academy Award as "Best Actor in a Leading Role" and won for "Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen".^[23][24]
• On July 25, 2007, Damon became the 2,343rd person to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[84] He reacted to the award by stating: "A few times in my life I've had these experiences that are just kind of too big to process and this looks like it's going to be one of those times."^[85]
• Damon has been nominated for four Screen Actors Guild awards and seven MTV Movie Awards for various films. Additionally, he has three Emmy nominations for his work as producer on three seasons of Project Greenlight.^[86]
• Damon was named People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive for 2007.^[87]
• Damon won 'Best Ass-Kicker' and 'Guy of the Year' at the Spike Guys' Choice Awards of 2008.^[88]
• On March 27, 2010, Damon received the 24th Annual American Cinematheque Award, which was presented to him by Ben Affleck at a ceremony comprising roasts from Damon's colleagues and friends in the entertainment industry.^[89]

Filmography[link]

References[link]