Published May 2002
LGVN Environment - Drought

World Water Shortage Looms

THE United Nations has recently issued a warning that world water resources are diminishing, leaving 1/6 of humanity without clean running supplies.

With global population steadily rising, the best efforts of UN agencies and enlightened governments to stem the increase has become an impossible task. The UN Environment Program, based in Nairobi, say that the supply of life-sustaining fresh water already is stretched to the limit. UNEP say that urban governments need to do more to confront and resolve the water crisis. In Delhi, India, water pollution has increased. A ban on the use of chemical fertilizers in agriculture over the past five years has proved ineffectual, and farmers sprinkle their fields liberally with pesticides. Other areas on the planet have already exceeded human carrying capacity. But overpopulation of some famine affected areas is not necessarily the main cause of famine. The present situation is caused by drought.

Looking-Glass Comments... (update)
Three years without rainfall in Ethiopia took it's toll in 2001 with thousands dying daily and over 8 million lives still at grave risk. Usually unreported, war and political imbalance have contributed greatly to the plight of Ethiopia's population. Resources and external aid are used in bolstering offensives along its war stricken borders.
As global media concern on the effects of the drought in the Horn of Africa periodically reawakens, a natural smoke screen is also created blurring its political agenda. This shift in focus disguises those countries governments gross negligence towards the health of its own people... political deception is rife. A government more in favour of ploughing its resources into political quarrels and war with its neigbours, rather than serving its own population with ways to eat and ways to develop a self-sustaining democracy. If something drastic is not done to refocus the global community attention towards prevention rather than aid (which is too late for the majority), then this situation will repeat itself again and again.

In May / June 2000 a further 50 million people in areas of India were suffering the worst drought in 100 years. In this case the blame points to over-exploitation of the water table. We continue to wait and see how the country's politics and the effects of land poisoning by an uneducated farming community (see above) resolve this situation before the inevitable happens.

For discussion on solutions to drought problems see GGL's at VeggieGlobal.com

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