Social activist and author Maude Barlow to give public lecture at UPEI on March 4

Maude Barlow, national chairperson of the Council of Canadians, will give a public lecture called 'The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Fight for the Right to Water' on Wednesday, March 4, in the UPEI Duffy Science Centre's amphitheatre (Room 135), from 2:30 to 4 p.m.

Barlow is co-founder of the Blue Planet Project, which works internationally for the right to water. 'The world is running out of clean water,' she says. 'This growing water shortage is perhaps the greatest ecological and human threat of our time and will affect two thirds of the planet by 2050.'

She will explain the impact of the crisis, especially on women, and give a recipe for a water-secure future and for hope. She will also discuss what she calls 'Canada's shameful position against the right to water for the world's poor.'

Barlow serves on the boards of the International Forum on Globalization, and Food and Water Watch, as well as a councilor on the Hamburg-based World Future Council. She is the recipient of six honorary doctorates, the 2005-2006 Lannan Cultural Freedom Fellowship Award, and the 2005 Right Livelihood Award, known as the 'Alternative Nobel,' for her global water justice work. She is also the best-selling author or co-author of 16 books, including Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop Corporate Theft of the World's Water and the recently released Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water.

For more information, please contact Emily Gorman, UPEI Internationalization Office, at (902) 566-0576 or edeighan@upei.ca.