鈥淲e are draining humanity鈥檚 lifeblood through vampiric overconsumption and unsustainable use, and evaporating it through global heating,鈥 remarked United Nations secretary general Ant贸nio Guterres at the UN 2023 Water Conference. According to the UN, a quarter of the world’s population does not have access to safe drinking water, whilst half lacks basic sanitation. If one goes looking for statistics, there are plenty more to be found 鈥 the average sea level has risen over eight inches since 1880; 80% of waste dumped into fresh water sources is untreated, resulting in serious illnesses and death; ice caps and glaciers are melting at such a rate that cities and low-lying countries can be easily inundated; and as only 3% of the world鈥檚 water is fresh water, by 2025, two-thirds of the world鈥檚 population will . Even if we don鈥檛 consider the macrocosmic ramifications of a world that, at its worst, might run out of clean water to sustain life, and, at its most catastrophic, faces the risk of being annihilated by the rising sea levels, we only need to look inward 鈥 human beings are composed of 60% water, and at best can survive for seven days without it. These facts show us that water is an essential 鈥 yet finite 鈥 commodity.
Magnum photojournalist Ian Berry鈥檚 photo-book Water (2023) is a timely visual documentation of humanity鈥檚 complex relationship with water, one that鈥檚 threatened by climate change. The idea for Water came to Berry whilst on assignment, reporting on Greenland鈥檚 melting glaciers for the non-profit organisation The Climate Group. For the next 15 years, he travelled the globe covering 鈥渨ildfires, droughts, floods, pollution, deforestation and the many other areas of life where man was working to his own profit without consideration of what that work might mean in the long run.鈥 Comprising 172 black and white images, with a foreword by Berry鈥檚 wife, journalist Kathie Webber, Water documents 鈥渕an鈥檚 neglect and greedy usage of the natural resources of our planet.鈥 In the , Berry said that Water is not a 鈥済loomy book, full of man鈥檚 failures鈥. Neither is it a 鈥減olitical work鈥 nor can it explain the 鈥渟cience behind what is happening throughout the world鈥 or 鈥渟upply the answers鈥. Instead, it comprises images he found 鈥渕ost memorable when on assignment for stories that illustrate how water shapes our lives.”
Indian women protesting the construction of the Narmada dam. Cambodian children playing under the stilts of their house in the Tonle Sap river, which is prone to annual floods. Ethiopian women affected by famine waiting for aid. Children drinking from a polluted stream in Cape Province in South Africa. Ghanaian women and children attempting to draw water from an unclean well. The bulk of the book comprises images that hone in on the lives of people and children disproportionately affected by climate change. What鈥檚 not accounted for in these pictures is the actual loss of lives and livelihood. But as the eye rests on each image 鈥 including a mother and baby who have no choice but to consume water contaminated with arsenic 鈥 we are nonetheless confronted with stark truths.
The images of human suffering are offset by shots of sublime natural beauty including The Nelchina Glacier in the US, and New Zealand’s Fox Glacier. Yet these awe-inspiring landscapes shouldn鈥檛 lull the reader into complacency. Considering the speed at which glaciers are melting has , the subtext of these particular images is that catastrophe is waiting to happen, unless we mend our ways. In recent times, image-makers like and have documented people鈥檚 experience of water shortage in the face of climate change, whilst LaToya Ruby Frazier spent five years documenting the in Michigan. To add to the growing list, Berry鈥檚 Water, despite not being a political work, is a necessary nudge to rethink our relationship with our planet.聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽
Words: Shyama Laxman
Image Credits:
1. Near Palmer, Alaska, United States 漏 Ian Berry / Magnum Photos. The Nelchina Glacier in the Chugach Mountains near Little Nelchina on the Glenn Highway.
2. Varanasi (Benares), Uttar Pradesh, India 漏 Ian Berry / Magnum Photos. Dawn is the time when devout Hindus come down to the holy river Ganges to wash themselves as part of the religious ritual and pray.
3. Northern Transvaal, South Africa 漏 Ian Berry / Magnum Photos. Drought turns farming areas into dust bowls where nothing can grow well. The winds sweep the dust away, leaving bedrock and subsoil behind.
