Editor's Note

Editor's Note

Abstract

10.1177/1070496503257749 EDITORIAL JOURNALOF ENVIRONMENT & DEVELOPMENTEDITOR'S NOTE Editor's Note Theglobal crisis over water was, for the first time, a critical issue of debate at the recent World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in early September 2002.1 Despite the fact that water issues were discussed at the Earth Summit on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, in the years since, the pres- suretoassurewatersecurity theworldoverhas increased exponentially. According to various sources, it is estimated that in the next 20 years, 2.5 billion people--a quarter of the world's population--will not have access to adequate water supplies to assure their survival (Gleick, 1996, 2001).2 The issue of water security is testing our abilities as a global commu- nity to come up with viable, equitable, and sustainable solutions. The water debate is illustrative of the limits of capitalism, the essential importance of the state in the distribution of scarce resources, and the needtoconstantlyreaffirmtheveryprincipleslaidoutintheBrundtland Commission Report more than 20 years ago (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). Living things, humans among them, cannot live without water, yet the current development debate pits those who consider water a human right against those who would argue that the