Planet Earth International 2009

Sustainabilit
bottles. Bulk trading has been the At the G8 summit in Evian in 2003,
saviour of many islands and isolated world leaders produced a Water Action
city-states like Malta and Gibraltar. Plan, which included improving access
Israel has signed an agreement to to ﬁ nancial resources to give high
import water from Turkey, although priority in ofﬁ cial development aid to
it has yet to use it. Bottled water environmentally and socially sound
is now a vital and universal tool in proposals as a catalyst to mobilise
emergency aid programmes, like other monetary sources; to encourage
the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, investment from international ﬁ nancial
y
but commercial companies do not institutions like the World Bank and
always show due consideration for IMF; and to promote public-private
environment or society. In a number partnerships (PPPs). We have heard
of cases, companies have bought little on water from the G8 since, and
farmland to access groundwater, the current ﬁ nancial climate does not
proceeded to drain it nearly dry, bode well. During the IMF’s multiple bail
impoverishing farms over a wide out of countries like Iceland, Hungary,
area, and then moved out. Serbia and the Ukraine in 2008, the
Foreign companies are buying British government expressed the fear
vast tracts of wilderness in South that even the IMF’s wealth may not be
America for future development. enough to support all the needs of the
Coca-Cola was blamed for damaging faltering global economy: small hope
the livelihood of farms in Kerala, through Libya’s Great Man-made River – for many water projects.
overpumping. Even in well-watered
unsustainability on a grand scale.
Financing projects through PPPs has
British Columbia, water systems dried been far from an unmitigated success,
up and orchards were damaged over a
wide area in the Tillicum Valley after the
»The international
with companies often taking the proﬁ ts
and leaving the debts to the public purse.
Canadian Beverage Corporation mined the
community is ﬁ nally
The credit crunch and global recession are
groundwater.
realising the perilous
reducing the amount of money available for
Trade in virtual water has expanded
even more. Virtual water is what is used
state of many water
new projects. Even established water ﬁ rms
may ﬁ nd it difﬁ cult when loans come up for
in creating a product, be it food or goods.
resources.
reﬁ nancing. One month before the crash in
Again, this can be both good and bad. At the ﬁ nancial markets in September 2008,
best, earnings help raise the living standards world can be traced back to production Water UK announced a proposed £27 billion
of exporters. Kenya proﬁ ts from being the for export to consumers elsewhere in the spend to replace century-old pipework and
prime exporter of cut ﬂ owers to the EU. world”. Even so, he sees opportunities other infrastructure between 2010 and
In an ideal world, producing goods where for enhancing water efﬁ ciency globally, if 2015. It remains to be seen whether such
they can be produced most efﬁ ciently could nations can make use of their comparative plans, or the more vital plans for Third
save water in less well endowed countries advantages to produce and trade the goods World developments, will come to fruition
or where more water may be required to that are most effective for them. in the foreseeable future, yet all the while
produce them, e.g. where evaporation there are more mouths to feed – perhaps
losses are greater; in Russia a tonne of The prospects 50% more by 2050.
wheat uses 2,375 cubic metres of water The international community and countless Climate change is generally viewed as
to produce compared with only 849 in the individual nations are ﬁ nally realising the aggravating the problems. It is certainly true
USA, though largely because of wasteful perilous state of many water resources. that most of the current regions of water
methods. Virtual water imports, especially Access to adequate supplies of clean water stress have worse to come, but the warmer
as agricultural products, are helping many and sanitation is a fundamental human ocean will create more rainfall and increase
Middle Eastern countries to survive and right and the starting point for wellbeing global water resources by perhaps 5% to 6%
they release precious water resources for and a civilised life. The UN Millennium Goals from 2050. It is the distribution that is the
other needy causes. include the aim of halving the number of problem, but all this is as nothing compared
In other cases, however, the proﬁ t people without access to safe water by with a 50% reduction in per capita global
incentive can lead companies and states to 2015. Unfortunately, we are already halfway water resources due to population growth.■
over-exploit their resources to the detriment to that time and very short on the numbers.
of others. Arjen Hoekstra, Director of the International aid to developing countries Tony Jones is Professor of Geography
UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education has fallen well short of the promises and the and Earth Sciences, University of Wales,
in the Netherlands, estimates that, “between prospects seem bleaker following the ‘credit UK, and chairs IGU’s Water Sustainability
15% and 20% of the water problems in the crunch’ of 2008. Commission.
www.yearofplanetearth.org PLANET EARTH 107
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