Water is essential for life, both for people and for ecological systems, which give life to all species. We all have a duty to safeguard the water both on and beneath the Earth's surface, and in the process protect the rights of the people in the communities of Maine, and the rights of the ecosystems of which we are a part.
The Maine Green Independent Party is dedicated to the principle that access to clean water is a human right. All water is held in the public trust as a common resource to be used for the benefit of the people of Maine and for the benefit of the natural ecosystems.
The Maine Green Independent Party opposes the commodification and corporatization of water supplies. We believe that privatization of water and large-scale extraction of ground water resources for corporate profit should be prohibited, especially when it causes damage to natural communities and ecosystems.
We recognize that multinational corporations are interested in controlling Maine's abundant water resources because they are positioning to capitalize on the emerging crisis of global water scarcity.
The Maine Green Independent Party believes that corporations should not be allowed to usurp our rights by asserting that they have the same civil and political rights that people have. Corporations should not be allowed to block our local authority and democratic processes in order to profit from our water resources, which are held for the common good. Therefore, the MGIP believes that corporations should be prohibited from holding the rights of personhood under the law.
Water rights activists in Maine have organized very effective opposition to these attempts at corporate exploitation of water resources by passing ordinances that protect local home rule.
Local communities and indigenous peoples must at all times have local democratic control over decision-making regarding water issues. We recognize the stake that future generations have in those critical decisions.
We depend on a finite supply of fresh water. We recognize the importance of prioritizing the availability of affordable drinking water and water supply needed for agriculture over industrial uses.
We must protect the diversity of plant and animal life that depends on long-enduring ecosystems, and recognize the necessity of water systems to all life.
The threats to our waters are many, from depleted aquifers, to pollution of surface waters, to the degradation of oceanic waters that have been treated as international waste dumps.
We support efforts to protect watersheds, outlaw pollution, promote conservation, protect local control, and integrate sustainable land use with water supply.
