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Water – a basic human right! |  |
The UN General Assembly has recognized water and sanitation to be a fundamental human right. 122 countries supported the resolution, while over forty countries abstained from voting, including the United States, Canada, Sweden and Botswana.
It took Maude Barlow (Canada, RLA 2005) and her fellow activists many years to get this to the UN. Congratulations on this success!
Sadly enough, one week after the UN's declaration, a Botswana court ruling denied the Botswana's Bushmen access to their water borehole in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.
Barlow commented on this: "... now the world witnesses one of Africa's most prosperous countries denying its first inhabitants the right to sink a well, while promoting mining and safari camps just a few miles away. It’s hard to imagine a more cruel and inhuman way to treat people. One can only conclude Botswana's authorities view Bushmen as less important than wildlife. Many people around the world will be horrified at what they’re seeing."
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New book by Pat Mooney | |
Are we heading towards the next BANG (Bits, Atoms, Neurons and Genes or the convergence of Nanotech, Biotech, Information technologies and Cognitive sciences), asks Pat Mooney (Canada, RLA 2005) in his new book, or will we manage to envision new courses that could get us to a better world?
In a series of fictional stories, Mooney describes what will most likely happen if society stays the course and keep on tracking the downward trend line of economic and environmental degradation.
What could different scenarios look like? How will life be in 30 years when one of these other scenarios come true? Follow Pat Mooney on different paths and decide for yourself what world you will live for.
The German edition of the book, Next BANG! Wie das riskante Spiel mit Megatechnologien unsere Existenz bedroht, will be published in September by oekom.
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News from the Foundation | |
Reclaiming our future!
In two weeks, our 30th Anniversary Conference with the title CHANGINGcourse, reclaiming our future! will commence in Bonn, Germany. About 80 laureates will be attending. We are very much looking forward to this special event and hope that some of you will attend the public part! See the detailed program here.
If you want to participate in the online community discussions during the conference, please register at www.reclaiming-our-future.org
Nominations
This year we had a very high amount of nominations: 116 from 45 countries. A new record!
In September, the Right Livelihood Award Jury will convene in Bonn to choose the four recipients of the 2010 Award, and on the 30th of September the new laureates will be announced!
Internship
We have just welcomed our new intern, Thijs Moonen. He will support the communications work.
For the spring period we are looking for a research intern. If you are interested in applying, you can find the ad here.
