You can’t talk about global water issues without discussing ethics and justice. So says Cameron Fioret, who studies the topic as a PhD candidate working with Prof. Monique Deveaux in U of G’s Department of Philosophy.   

This month, he contributed to a report called Migration and Water: A Global Overview, published by the United Nations University (UNU) Institute for Water, Environment and Health, based in Hamilton, Ont. As a co-author, he wrote about the contents and shortcomings of water-related migration agreements and policies, including the 2016 New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, and the 2018 UN Global Compact on migration.   

The report is part of a series written for academics and policy makers on how water issues affect millions of people worldwide. This was the first contribution to the report for Fioret, who first worked on water and peace topics as an intern in 2018 at the UNU institute in Hamilton.  

From water-related migration to privatization and commodification of water resources, he said: “Large water projects need people working not just in sciences but in the humanities, too.”  

Headquartered in Japan, the UNU is a global think tank and post–graduate teaching organization that works with leading universities and research institutes in UN member states to address pressing global problems of human survival, development and welfare.