Water Worries

[August]

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China's Yellow River Delta Blues | celsias°

[August]

'Arab states to face water stress by 2025'

Manama: Severe water stress will hit 17 of the 22 Arab countries within two decades, a new report by environment experts has warned.

This comes amid concerns that sustainable development will not be possible in the Arab region until it becomes an integral part of the Arab conscience.

"With the exception of Egypt, Sudan, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, all Arab countries are projected to experience severe water stress by the year 2025," the report titled, Arab Environment: Future Challenges, said.

The 260-page document, released in Bahrain at the Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) which concluded yesterday, called on the Arab states to adopt policies and programmes that will put an end to the wasteful use of water and pressed for greater efforts to confront desertification, considered the most pressing threat to arable lands.

[Metyu]

Water is so important yet overlooked.

I have heard it said that many of Israel's actions relate to a lack of water within it's territory. There are some that claim it's actions in Lebanon and Palestine have often included destroying water infrastructure so it can claim it for itself.

[Karl]

> U.S., Canada Increasingly at Odds over Water

The United States and Canada have often been uneasy neighbors, perhaps never more so than when Canada included the U.S. on a list of countries that torture inmates .

That flashpoint aside, Canada's recent habit of distancing itself may have less to do with politics and more to do with a perceived extraterritorial expansion of U.S. environmental laws - a state of affairs that wakens Canadian fears of being gobbled up by its larger, stronger and louder neighbor.

For example, in July of this year, the National Academies expressed the opinion that the United States should pass Great Lakes protection laws more closely mirroring the standards sets by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) - standards which Canada had already adopted.

[Metyu]

" Blame Canada! Blame Canadaaaa! It's not even a real country anywaaay!"

[Richard]

Originally Posted by August

The problem with these maps is that a lot depends on how "water stress" is defined. If it's the one I think it is (the one that pretty much everyone uses) then a water stressed country is defined as one that can't sustainably meet it's own needs using only water within the national boundary. The main issue with this is that it totally neglects the fact that water-scarce countries can trade with other countries that have surpluss water. For instance middle eastern countries (water scarce) buy food which is water intensive to grow (e.g. cereals, meat) from countries which have enough surplus water to produce these goods. The "water scarcity" status often neglects this and only says that water scarce countries can't sustainably produce water intensive products using their own resources directly in the process.

When the ability to trade goods is taken into account then the number of genuinely water scarce countries drops dramatically. I've seen some studies which indicate that there is only one or two genuinely water scarce countries in the whole world (somewhere in the middle east) when the ability to trade goods is taken into account.

[August]

Is water the new oil? Juliette Jowit investigates | Environment | The Observer

'The start of sedentary communities is the start of the need to manage fresh water supplies,' says Steven Mithen. 'This is a starting point for our whole modern dilemma. It's gone from the concerns of individual settlements, to cities, to nations, and it's now a global issue.'

[The GreenZine]

When i look at that map, I just imagine the red areas spreading. It's really unfortunate, and action needs to be taken, on a global scale.

[sparky]

Another interesting map here, this time showing groundwater supplies.

[Metyu]

Originally Posted by The GreenZine

When i look at that map, I just imagine the red areas spreading. It's really unfortunate, and action needs to be taken, on a global scale.

How do you propose to take action on a global scale?