A Brief History of Water: A Priceless Source of Life for Thousands of Years

The work clearly shows how humans interact with nature over time and affirms: “Water is not only the source of life, but also the foundation that shapes human history.” The Wall Street Journal newspaper rated the book as “a captivating epic about the formation and development of civilization.”

Water and human relations

Spanning millennia across continents, humanity's relationship with water has a special history and needs attention more than ever as the blue planet we humans live on faces one of the most important stories of our time: water is running out!

Dr. Giulio Boccaletti's A Brief History of Water begins by going back in history to the early ancient civilizations on the banks of the Nile (Egypt), Tigris (Iraq) or Euphrates (West Asia). Water from rivers played an important role in promoting cultivation, mixed farming, agricultural production, creating the premise for the explosion of residential areas and indigenous communities.

Water also contributed to the formation of the first social institutions, promoting the division of labor, specialization and social stratification. The author carefully analyzes how water is managed through irrigation systems in conjunction with social institutions, democracy, tax systems, history, culture and environment... with specific examples from ancient Rome and Greece. In the modern world , the development of water infrastructure has a clear legal basis.

Preserving the source of life

With his passionate and persuasive writing style, wide-ranging research, and in-depth analysis, Dr. Boccaletti helps readers understand the fascinating history of human water use over the years. Next, he raises painful questions about the future of the most basic material on earth, water.

Author Giulio Boccaletti.

Indeed, in the context of a constantly increasing population (the world population in 2025 is estimated to exceed 8.2 billion people), increasingly complex climate change creating more sources of natural disasters from storms, floods to forest fires, and the current unstable geopolitical situation, our dependence on precious resources such as water is even more fraught with risks that need to be addressed at the global level.

A Brief History of Water demonstrates why understanding the past of water is important in the fight against climate change or even in economic exchanges between nations. “The story of water does not end here,” the author writes (page 355), because today “more than ever, societies are bound by expectations of water security.” The world is still building with the movement of water, through landscape modifications such as the construction of sewers, canals, and hydroelectric dams from China to the Middle East, from Panama to Egypt…

Dr. Giulio Boccaletti - a world-renowned expert on natural resource security and sustainable environmental development - sent a message that states and governments around the world must clearly recognize that "water is a public asset that needs to be secured" and that everyone needs to respect this invaluable common resource because it affects the survival of each of us.

Buu Long

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/dong-nai-cuoi-tuan/202507/luoc-su-nuoc-nguon-song-vo-gia-ngan-nam-2f2369d/