Humans of Late Capitalism (HOLC) is a social media account that plays on the massively popular Humans of New York (HONY) phenomenon to starkly highlight the reality of what it is like to live on our planet today. Its darkly humorous images serve as an ironic critique of our society and, particularly, our economic system.
Over the last few weeks, Australia has produced two symbolic images that fit well into the HOLC narrative: a massive fish kill in Menindee lakes on the Darling River and Walgett, the town with two rivers and no water.
Water is critical to life on this planet. And yet clean water supplies are dwindling due to the impact of human activity, while demand continues to increase. The United Nations has estimated that 'by 2050, at least one-in-four people is likely to live in countries affected by chronic or recurring shortages of freshwater'.
It is certainly true that population growth and drought (partly caused by climate change) have contributed to this problem, but there is actually plenty of water to meet all of our needs. The main issues we have are systematic inequality of access and a (related) pattern of terrible regulation.
Poor regulation of water has long been an issue, but in the 1990s there was a strong global push for water governance reform through liberalisation. Australia introduced market-based water governance reforms in 1994, when the Council of Australian Governments agreed to unbundle water rights from land in order to enable them to be traded separately on the market. The stated theory behind this approach was that the market would enable water to be valued 'appropriately' and this would increase efficiency and reduce water waste.
A key benefit asserted to justify treating water as an economic good is that the market will encourage 'high-value' water use to be prioritised. But, as the fish of the Darling River and the people of Walgett are experiencing this summer, the problem with commodifying water is that its social and environment values are not naturally reflected in the market. While industry may place a high economic value on water and be willing (and able) to pay for it, the rest of us (including the fish and the river itself) cannot compete.
Chile was a pioneer in these water governance reforms and introduced water markets in the early 1980s. In a 2006 review of the effects, UNDP found these reforms 'predictably gave rise to speculation and water monopolies' and that as a result 'water rights have become more concentrated in the hands of large commercial farmers and urban water traders'.
"Water markets were never intended to ensure sustainability or equity. The commodification of water has always been designed to enable the 'deserving' to accumulate water rights at the expense of everyone else."
They found a similar problem with the environment, as 'water scarcity prices did not reflect the costs of environmental damage related to overuse for a familiar reason: environmental externalities are not adequately priced in free markets'.
Research has found a similar pattern in Australia, with water trading widening the gap between small- and large-scale farmers and resulting in less water being allocated to the environment.
The results experienced in Australia and Chile are often described as 'market distortions', but closer examination reveals that the market is largely operating as intended. David Harvey calls this process 'accumulation by dispossession' and that is an accurate description of what has happened to water in Australia.
When asked about the recent fish deaths in Menindee lakes, Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud blamed the drought. But the Darling River and Walgett's Barwon River have not run dry due to drought alone. Excessive upstream diversions have been a major factor. And where does this diverted water go? 'High value' uses such as massive corporate cotton farms.
When it was put to Minister Littleproud that these irrigators have been diverting too much water, he responded, 'No one is taking more than they deserve.'
And there you have it. Water markets were never intended to ensure sustainability or equity. The commodification of water has always been designed to enable the (economically) 'deserving' to accumulate water rights at the expense of everyone else — including the environment. And now we humans of late capitalism are reaping what our political masters have sown: a world without water.
I wonder what kind of ironic images we can post to Instagram about this?
Dr Cristy Clark is a lecturer at the Southern Cross University School of Law and Justice. Her research focuses on the intersection of human rights, neoliberalism, activism and the environment, and particularly on the human right to water.