BLOG
March 16th, 2009
Via The Detroit Free Press, an article discussing a recent United Nations report that suggests the growing shortage of clean water across the globe may lead to conflict and war, and endanger economic development. As the report notes:
“…Climate change, a growing population and an increased demand for water from agriculture and industry are combining with insufficient investment in wastewater treatment to threaten economic development, pitting communities and interests against one another as they vie for scarce resources, the United Nations said in a report.
“…Local water crises may worsen, converging into a global water crisis and leading to political insecurity and conflict at various levels,” the report said. “Action is required now. Lives and livelihoods depend on water for development. After decades of inaction, the problems are enormous. And they will worsen if left unattended.”
Unlike the energy crisis, for which alternatives to conventional fuels exist, there is “a continuously increasing demand for finite water resources, for which there are no substitutes,” the report said.
…Investing in water will pay a peace dividend, the report said.
“The rapid restoration of viable water services is often a crucial ingredient of nation building” in fragile and war-torn areas, the report said.”
The Independent offered a similar a report noting that the Middle East, Haiti, Sri Lanka, Colombia and other countries are at high risk:
“Humanity is facing “water bankruptcy” as a result of a crisis even greater than the financial meltdown now destabilising the global economy, two authoritative new reports show. They add that it is already beginning to take effect, and there will be no way of bailing the earth out of water scarcity.
The two reports – one by the world’s foremost international economic forum and the other by 24 United Nations agencies – presage the opening tomorrow of the most important conference on the looming crisis for three years. The World Water Forum, which will be attended by 20,000 people in Istanbul, will hear stark warnings of how half the world’s population will be affected by water shortages in just 20 years’ time, with millions dying and increasing conflicts over dwindling resources.
…Water use has been growing far faster than the number of people. During the 20th century the world population increased fourfold, but the amount of freshwater that it used increased nine times over. Already 2.8 billion people live in areas of high water stress, the report calculates, and this will rise to 3.9 billion – more than half the expected population of the world – by 2030. By that time, water scarcity could cut world harvests by 30 per cent – equivalent to all the grain grown in the US and India – even as human numbers and appetites increase.
Some 60 per cent of China’s 669 cities are already short of water. The huge Yellow River is now left with only 10 per cent of its natural flow, sometimes failing to reach the sea altogether. And the glaciers of the Himalayas, which act as gigantic water banks supplying two billion people in Asia, are melting ever faster as global warming accelerates. Meanwhile devastating droughts are crippling Australia and Texas.
The World Water Development Report, compiled by 24 UN agencies under the auspices of Unesco, adds that shortages are already beginning to constrain economic growth in areas as diverse and California, China, Australia, India and Indonesia. The report, which will be published tomorrow, also expects water conflicts to break out in the Middle East, Haiti, Sri Lanka, Colombia and other countries.
“Conflicts about water can occur at all scales,” it warns. “Hydrological shocks” brought about by climate change are likely to “increase the risk of major national and international security threats”.