Commodification of water
Commodification is theoretically rooted in the neoclassical discourse which says that by assigning an economic value to a good or service, one can prevent misuse.
[3] The state incurred high capital costs in building long-lasting infrastructure that could readily supply the population with universal access to water in the pursuit of economic growth and industrialisation.
This approach was heavily criticized during the late 20th century and under the prevailing ethos of neoliberal economic globalization, commodification of water was increasingly presented as the answer.
[3] The ability of the state to continue provision of water efficiently was questioned in the latter half of the 20th century in parallel with the environmentalist movement which raised awareness of the resulting environmental degradation and ecological disturbances.
[1] The fiscal crisis of the 1970s decreased public spending in most developed nations, leading to further deterioration of state-run infrastructure and further exacerbating problems of provision.
The theoretical reasoning for proposing commodification as an answer to environmental problems can be related back to Garrett Hardin's work "The Tragedy of the Commons".
According to Hardins' theory multiple individuals acting both independently and rationally will continue to deplete common resources in the pursuit of self-interest.
[11] For a commodification to be achieved the commons are enclosed into private property which provides the motivating force for conservation and efficient management in the absence of strong collective action.
The creation of water as a private good and a scarce resource enabled a market-based approach to be put forward as the best available solution to protect it.
In light of this, the commodification of water can be viewed as a market-based governance approach which seeks to confront conflicts between public and private interests and as such part of a broader shift in focus 'government' to 'governance'.
Commodification inherently requires the enclosure of public assets to allow trade within the market place as economic goods.
Marx's theory of primitive accumulation describes how the capitalist system needs to continually expand into non-capitalist sectors which would have originally taken place through imperialism.
[3][4] Marx's criticism of commodification refers to this reckless addiction to growth and extends to the manner in which it changes a good's materiality so that natural objects lose their use value simply in exchange for a price.
[5] David Harvey built upon Marx's theory and coined the phrase "accumulation by dispossession"[17] which refers to this notion of expansion but considers it inherent within the capitalist system, which will find ways other than imperialism to achieve its goal.
In South Africa this has led to thousands of disconnections from the water supply for those who cannot pay; commentators fear that this has harmed the health of the nation's people and decreased social equality further.
Multinational water companies due to their enormous size are able to exert strong pressure on national governments to cooperate with their demands.
[18] They argue that the world's poor stand to become worse off as a result of commodification as objectives of social equality and universal access are traded in for economic efficiency and profit.
[17] NGOs and members of civil society have formed voluntary networks with the aim of banning future decisions to further commodify water.
Full commodification faces difficulties theoretically as it relies on an economic good or service being standardised and readily exchangeable in the market place irrespective of its spatial and temporal dimensions.
Some communities in the Middle East, South-Central Africa, Northern China, Western United States, and Mexico live in areas completely devoid of fresh water.
The capturing and acquisition of land by violence or coercion, adaptation to the culture or proceedings of the nearby people, and misguided post-hoc justification are all aspects of colonization, even on this smaller scale.
[citation needed] The commodification of water has resulted in limited consumer choice due to corporate concentration and retail channel restrictions.
A survey conducted among young adults revealed that about 34 percent chose not to purchase bottled water due to concerns about pricing, environmental impact, and objections to supporting large corporations.
