If you have been living in cave perhaps you don't realize that global water issues could lead to increasing tensions and perhaps even conflict. This one-pager by Jan Eliasson, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, is a concise summary of some of the issues. It recently appeared in Nature.
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Read the article online and comment if you like.
I love this:
Still, it would be a mistake to get caught up in ‘water-war’ rhetoric. Certainly, as freshwater shortages become increasingly acute, the threat of violence over water is a real one. But we must not lose sight of the opportunities that water offers as a source of cooperation. Tensions over water resources have historically led to more collaboration than conflict. Shared water has brought states together; the 1960 Indus Water Treaty between India and Pakistan survived three wars and remains in force today.
Sounds like my colleague Aaron Wolf!
This section does, too:
All this to say that hydro-diplomacy is a reality. The potential for shared management of water as a means to achieve regional cooperation and conflict prevention is vital. In 2015 and beyond, through efforts in diplomacy, economics and scientific research, we need to focus on water as a source of cooperation, rather than as a source of conflict.
And how about this:
One billion people in 22 countries still defecate in the open. Two and a half billion people do not have adequate sewage disposal. That is why I launched the 2013 Call to Action on Sanitation on behalf of the United Nations Secretary-General. We want to break the silence and taboo surrounding toilets and open defecation. These words must be natural elements of the diplomatic discourse on development.
Awesome!
Even if you've heard all this before, read this article and pass it to a friend.
"All this to say that hydro-diplomacy is a reality. The potential for shared management of water as a means to achieve regional cooperation and conflict prevention is vital. In 2015 and beyond, through efforts in diplomacy, economics and scientific research, we need to focus on water as a source of cooperation, rather than as a source of conflict." - Jan Eliasson, from the article.
With more and more of us on this rock each day, our diminishing water resources' are being stretched even further.
The worsening effects of climate change make the problem larger than is really evident.
Whilst we must leave the question of supply in the hands of our political masters, each of us must do our best to contain our usage.
Government must also help with the question of demand, as shown in this cartoon . . . .
https://cartoonmick.wordpress.com/editorial-political/#jp-carousel-910
Cheers
Mick
Posted by: Mick | Monday, 23 February 2015 at 07:29 PM
One more attempt in good wording present an old problem. Thank to the author for writing and host to posting this article. The question: is any kind of diplomacy successful?
Posted by: Boris | Tuesday, 06 January 2015 at 07:09 PM