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    Cotización del agua en la bolsa de valores de Wall Street : riesgos potenciales provocados por el “mercado de futuros” hacia el derecho humano al agua
    (Universidad EAFIT, 2025-11-10) Giraldo Castrillón, Anyelo; Vallejo Piedrahita, Catalina
    Over the years, water—an essential resource for human life and many other species—has been recognized as a fundamental human right. The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights defines it as “the right of everyone to have access to sufficient, safe, acceptable, accessible, and affordable water for personal or domestic use” (United Nations, Economic and Social Council, 2002, General Comment No. 15). However, global water scarcity, worsened by climate change, population growth, and the excessive exploitation of natural resources, has led governments and market actors to seek mechanisms to manage water from an economic perspective. In this context, between 2012 and 2016, the state of California, United States, faced one of the most severe droughts in its recent history, which caused a drastic water shortage and significant environmental deterioration (Hanak, Mount & Chappelle, 2016). As a result of this crisis, debates emerged on the need to strengthen the resilience of the water system through new management tools. Thus, in December 2020, water began trading on the futures market under the Nasdaq Veles California Water Index, with an initial value of $499.83 (Nasdaq Veles California Water Index NQH20, 2024). This event set a precedent by bringing water—recognized as a human right—into the realm of financial speculation. Futures markets are financial instruments that allow people to negotiate today the price of an asset that will be exchanged on a specified future date through standardized contracts (Baixauli, Ruiz & Serna, 2007). In principle, their function is to mitigate risks against price volatility. However, when the traded asset is a resource essential for life, such as water, questions arise about the ethical, social, and legal consequences of its inclusion in these markets. Although this type of pricing has initially been limited to the state of California, international concern has grown over the possibility that this model could expand to other contexts, generating negative effects on equitable access to water. Various experts and UN special rapporteurs have warned that this dynamic could promote a progressive privatization of the resource and deepen inequalities in access, especially for vulnerable populations.