Andrea Casono

The world is in a liminal state, placed in a threshold of an uncertain future at the hands of climate change. Within this threshold, a rising tension is brought about by water scarcity and water related calamities known as the “water wars”. As conditions of water scarcity worsen around the world, an increasing number of countries are confronting their own water crisis, upon which water supplies are scarce to meet the demand for agricultural, industrial and domestic use. The destruction of typhoons have left people no choice but to flee leaving a culture behind. And so, the question of how to adapt to these deadliest calamities without losing cultural retention seems ever more urgent. After typhoon Yolanda had hit the Philippines in 2013, the country was at a standstill. Yolanda had ravaged Leyte, including water infrastructure stations and public wells - a source which sustains many sectors in the Philippines particularly the agricultural sector. Survivors in Tacloban were displaced to the northern resettlement sites, many of which had inadequate access to clean water. Long-term solutions to prevent this rests in economic development, social mobilisation and access to viable safe drinking water and sanitation. This then raises the issue of socio-cultural, political and economic challenges, leading to the “water wars”. Given the current global crisis, designers have come to a realisation that now is the time to “design like you give a damn”.