Water Rights Activists Awarded Alternative Nobel Prize

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - December 9 - Today, the Swedish Parliament will award the Right Livelihood Award--better known as the 'Alternative Nobel Prize'--to Canadian social justice and water rights leaders Tony Clarke and Maude Barlow. Problems of water shortage and scarcity loom large on the horizon as corporations increasingly seek to control the world's water supplies. Clarke and Barlow have become world-renowned for their studies of global water shortage and scarcity, and for their work to protect this precious resource as a fundamental human right.

"We are proud to celebrate with Tony Clarke and Maude Barlow as they are recognized for their work toward justice," says Corporate Accountability International Executive Director Kathryn Mulvey. "Ensuring that access to clean, safe water is protected as a fundamental human right is one of the most pressing issues of our time."

The Right Livelihood Award honors people who offer "practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today." In 2002, Clarke and Barlow teamed up to write, Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop Corporate Theft of the World's Water. Their book chronicles the corporate role in the impending water crisis and suggests important building blocks to safeguarding water as a common resource and human right.

Tony Clarke is the Director of the Polaris Institute and Maude Barlow is the National Chair of The Council of Canadians. Corporate Accountability International is currently working with the Polaris Institute, the Council of Canadians and other allies around the world to help secure the human right to water, and people's access to water.