water wars

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UN Calls Water Top Priority

By EDITH M. LEDERER, The Associated Press

2008-01-25 03:50:52.0

 

 

DAVOS, Switzerland -

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the world on Thursday to put

the looming crisis over water shortages at the top of the global

agenda this year and take action to prevent conflicts over scarce

supplies.

 

He reminded business and political leaders at the World Economic Forum

that the conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan was touched off by

drought - and he said shortages of water contribute to poverty and

social hardship in Somalia, Chad, Israel, the Palestinian territories,

Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Haiti, Colombia and Kazakhstan.

 

" Too often, where we need water we find guns instead, " Ban said.

" Population growth will make the problem worse. So will climate

change. As the global economy grows, so will its thirst. Many more

conflicts lie just over the horizon. "

 

He said a recent report identified 46 countries with 2.7 billion

people where climate change and water-related crises create " a high

risk of violent conflict " and a further 56 countries, with 1.2 billion

people " are at high risk of violent conflict. " The report was by

International Alert, an independent peacebuilding organization based

in London.

 

Ban told the VIP audience that he spent 2007 " banging my drum on

climate change, " an issue the Forum also had as one of its main themes

last year. He welcomed the focus on water this year saying the session

should be named: " Water is running out. "

 

" We need to adapt to this reality, just as we do to climate change, "

he said. " There is still enough water for all of us - but only so long

as we can keep it clean, use it more wisely, and share it fairly. "

 

Ban said he will invite world leaders to " a critical high-level

meeting " in September to focus on meeting U.N. development goals -

including cutting by half the number of people without access to safe

drinking water by 2015 - particularly in Africa.

 

Ban's call for global action on water got strong support from several

top business executives.

 

" Water is today's issue, " said Andrew Liveris, chairman and CEO of

Dow

Chemical Co., the world's second largest chemical company. " It is the

oil of this century, not a question. "

 

 

 

What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know, it's what we know for sure

that just ain't so.

- Mark Twain