Maude Victoria Barlow (born May 24, 1947) is a Canadian author and activist. She is a founding member and former board chair of the Council of Canadians, a citizens' advocacy organization with members and chapters across Canada. She is also the co-founder of the Blue Planet Project, which works internationally for the human right to water. Barlow chairs the board of Washington-based Food & Water Watch, serves on the Board of Advisors to the Global Alliance on the Rights of Nature, was a founding member of the San Francisco–based International Forum on Globalization, and was a Councillor with the Hamburg-based World Future Council. She is the Chancellor of Brescia University College at Western University. In 2008/2009, was Senior Advisor on Water to the 63rd President of the United Nations General Assembly. She has authored and co-authored 20 books, including ''Whose Water is it Anyway? Taking water protection into public hands and Still Hopeful, Lessons From a Lifetime of Activism''.

Water policy

Barlow proposes the remunicipalization of the water and sanitation services because "the public and communities lose control as local government officials abdicate control over a vital public service, private water companies are accountable to their shareholders, not to the people they serve and often restrict public access to information about their operations Because they have to make a profit, they have to cut corners, raise water rates or lay off workers - often all three."

Film

Barlow is in the feature documentary film Blue Gold: World Water Wars by Sam Bozzo. Barlow is featured in two other recent documentaries about water rights issues: Irena Salina's documentary Flow: For Love of Water, and Liz Marshall's Water on the Table. Barlow also contributes to a blog associated with Water on the Table. Barlow is the subject of a National Film Board of Canada documentary Democracy à la Maude as well as a CBC TV Life and Times biography.

Published works

Books: Principal author or co-author

Books: contributing author

Reports