ABSTRACT
Water grabbing refers to situations where powerful actors are able to take control of or divert valuable water resources and watersheds for their own benefit, depriving local communities whose livelihoods often depend on these resources and ecosystems. The new dimension of contemporary water grabbing is that the mechanisms for appropriating and converting water resources into private goods are much more advanced and increasingly globalized, subject to international laws on foreign investment and trade. Water grabbing is an expression of an economic model of development in which capital accumulation is linked to increasing control over abundant and cheap supplies of natural resources, including food, water and energy. Appropriating land and water for food production in other countries is therefore seen as a strategy for economic stabilization and a way to hedge against future inflation. Land and water grabbing are also related in that both involve a model of water use characterized by exploitation, exclusion, and profiteering.
