In this Science Talk, Ms. Mehreen Shami will examine the contemporary era of water bankruptcy as a manifestation of deep structural injustice, where communities least responsible for climate breakdown are often those bearing its most severe consequences.
The talk frames water and resource scarcity not only as environmental and governance challenges, but also as profound psychosocial burdens shaped by climate debt. Ms. Shami will discuss how chronic insecurity and environmental catastrophes shape everyday life in vulnerable communities through anxiety, time poverty, displacement, grief, and an ongoing shift from living to survival.
She will further reflect on the ethical and intergenerational dimensions of ecological overshoot, highlighting how those who have contributed least to environmental degradation are disproportionately affected through deteriorating social conditions, reduced well-being, and constrained futures for coming generations. The discussion also addresses the systemic exclusion of Indigenous peoples and frontline communities, despite their deep knowledge of land, water, and ecological limits.
Finally, the talk will consider how water justice frameworks may be reshaped by Indigenous knowledge systems and by the lived experiences of communities hit first and worst, and what this means for more equitable and resilient futures in the Global South and beyond.
Speaker
Mehreen Shami
Junior Policy Fellow, Community Engagement and Empowerment
