The
British risk consultancy firm Maplecroft recently released an index
evaluating clean water supplies in 165 countries, in an effort to help
support responsible business stewardship when investing in water-scarce
areas.
The report cited the most vulnerable nations as being in the
continents of Africa and Asia, with Somalia, Mauritania, Sudan, Niger
and Iraq among the most resource-depleted.
However, the
Australia, the United States and even countries in Europe such as
Bulgaria, Belgium and Spain were also cited as showing signs of water
stress. The report highlighted the pressures of population growth and
worsening climate change leading to shifts in rainfall and drying
reservoirs and rivers, which aggravates existing water shortages and
affects farming, industry and household activities.
In addition,
tensions could arise over decisions about water being allocated from
dams and upstream rivers in water-scarce areas, with regions such as
Pakistan, Egypt and Uzbekistan already seeing related internal and
cross-border conflicts. American journalist Steven Solomon, author of
“Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power and Civilization,” has
observed that the resource continues to be used wastefully even as the
world’s supplies are diminishing.
He estimates that within 15
years, 3.5 billion people will be living in countries unable to feed
themselves mainly because of water. Leading water expert and former
advisor to the European Commission Dr. Riccardo Petrella has also
cautioned of this threat. The Lisbon Group on Institutions and Public
Policy founder and author of “The Water Manifesto” shared his thoughts
about water as a shared resource.
Dr. Riccardo Petrella – President of the International Committee
for a World Water Contract, former European Commission and UNESCO
advisor (M): In the past, our societies are civilized because we
accepted the idea that water was a public good, a common good. There are
265 major water basins in the world. 263 are trans-national. So if you
want to have access to water, if you want to benefit agriculture,
industry, tourism, your own wellbeing, and last but not least,
particularly life; to drink, to have your own sanitation system, etc.,
water is a common good.
VOICE: Dr. Petrella went on to express
his wish that these essential resources of the planet would be sustained
in the public interest, managed by communities with international rules
to protect water resources from exploitation and pollution.
Dr. Riccardo Petrella (M): Water is
natural, belonging to everybody, it’s an heritage of life. Amongst the
rights, I include as well the right of the Earth. Water is part of the
life on the Earth. We have not produced the life on the Earth. We don’t
produce forests. So when you destroy a primary forest tree, you cannot
reconstruct it. You cannot reconstruct the biodiversity. Once you have
destroyed biodiversity, you have destroyed it, full stop. So water is
life, is belonging to the human social rights to life. And therefore,
the public authorities should act coherently with this principle.
VOICE:
Our appreciation Dr. Petrella and the Maplecroft organization for
helping us to understand our growing vulnerability due to water
scarcity. May people across the planet unite in sustainable lifestyles
that conserve this precious resource for a safe and peaceful world. Ever
concerned for humanity, Supreme Master Ching Hai has often suggested
the actions needed to prevent water and related crises, as during a
video message for a June 2009 climate change conference in Mexico.
Supreme Master Ching Hai : We can
stop water shortage. While droughts are plaguing more populations, we
cannot afford to waste water. Meat production uses massive amounts of
water, as you know.
So, if we want to stop water shortage and to
preserve precious water we have to stop animal products.
Adopting a
plant-based diet can halt as much as 80% of global warming, eradicate
world hunger, stop war, promote peace, and it will free up the Earth’s
water as well as many other precious resources, offering a lifeline for
the planet and for humanity. In short, it will very quickly halt many of
the global problems facing us right now.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/article517055.ece/Africa-rsquo-s-water-most-precarioushttp://www.maplecroft.com/about/news/water-security.html
http://www.economist.com/node/16136302 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/25/river-water-disputes-tension-shortages