Problems and Progress in Land, Water and Resources Rights, at the beginning of the Third Millennium

The University of Milan’s SHuS (Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Sustainability and Human Security: Co-operation and Governance agendas) offers a collection of 22 high standard interdisciplinary contributions and 5 testimonies of good practice, preceded by a foreword by the editor, analyzing the complex subjects of access to rights and resources worldwide. This to a world looking to the future and projecting its goals of sustainable development. The thirty three contributors took part in the Milan University sessions of the International Conference dedicated to Land, Water and Resources Rights, organized by the Editor under the auspices of the EU-Joint Research Centre Expo 2015 and the City of Milan Scientific Committee for Expo 2015. With no claims to being exhaustive, the multi-disciplinary approach and the inter-disciplinary perspectives adopted to the topics are enforced by suggestions for political and legal approaches that a regional structure like the EU should be adopting to prevent legitimization leading to severe forms of injustice against communities and individuals. SHuS has chosen open access to this e-book in order to create a seamless connection between scientific communities and the wider civil society. Thus it underscores one of the priorities of the Centre by ensuring the greatest possible impact of much needed multifaceted scientific approaches to society and the problems afflicting it. Although inspired by the Conference on " Land, Water and Resources Rights" (6 to 9 July 2015) part of the initiative taken by the EU Expo 2015 Taskforce, which asked the Universities of the venue of Expo2015 for advice to correct the imbalances of the EU actions on the matter, where huge investments to harmonise spots of the World are overwhelmed by bad practices carried on by a wild market masked by legal treaties. As the Conference has been an attempt to satisfy in a supportive way such a demand, this e-book represents the continued discourse engaged by the selection of participants who agreed on the need to put on paper some strategical lines useful both for the European Union and the younger generations who attend our universities. The E-book has been published thanks to a financial contribute on behalf of the JRC_EU task-force led by Julia Beile, Deputy Director of the EU Pavilion and of the EU Expo 2015.