The Truth behind problems
Overconsumption, pollution, hunger, droughts: that's all fake-problems, isn't it? The source of all these hassles resides in people's mentality, attitudes and habits. Food and hungers, richs and poors, politics and wars: essentially our own creations.
I'll restrain myself to one example: pessimistic studies shows that we're producing today enought food for 15 billion souls. We're 6 billions. Then why so many hungers? Waste, mismanagement, social unawareness, etc..
Have you ever tried to figure out how much food is trashed daily by restaurants? Worse: they're usually not giving excesses to local social-help groups!
Fake-problems are easy to solve.. just as long as people wants to work them out!
How's that related to water scarcity?
Well.. it's closely related. If we really want thirst to end, we first need to stop our thirst for egocentrism!! In Niamey, a town in Niger, 3, 27 and 70% of the population uses respectively 500, 80, 20 liters per citizen daily (Bechler-Carmaux & al., 1999, 13). There's plenty of possible solutions. Somehow, people tend to react only when their own condition becomes unsustainable. Changes are easier to implement earlier than later, before too much harm is done and some consequences becomes irreversible.
Aral blues.. a systemic example
Here's the Aral Sea.. or rather, what's left of it!! : ) It has lost 50% of its area and has dropped 15 meters in the last few decades (Kindler et al, 1998, 4), mainly caused by overpumping.
Figure 1: Boat in the Aral Sea (Time.com)
Figure 2: Boats in the Aral Sea (Time.com)
Overpumping: are they wrong? Are they behaving stupidly? Maybe not! They mainly use that water to grow food... would you rather see them starve? Sometimes, farmers misuse/abuse water resources for economical motivations or bold survival reasons. You must undertand this: everything is linked. In order to understand water scarcity, you need a basic understanding of «the Big Picture».
A tree that falls makes more noises then a forest that grows!
Drops of numbers
In order to «look» professional or scientific, I guess I should drown you in numbers, right? We can justify anything with statistics: sometimes it's not the numbers that matters but the truth behind those numbers!
Figure 3: Human Development Indicator (www.monde-diplomatique.fr)
The previous picture shows a «Human Development Indicator». This HDI is based on three variables: life expectancy, education (scholarship & literacy) and income per inhabitant, corrected for <buying power>. As Bechler-Carmaux & al., 1999 (12) stated, water resources are of premium relevance in sustainable development. 70% to 90% of human-used water is employed in irrigation. Many countries are tightly dependant on their agricultural activities. Combined with climate uncertainties (e.g. floods, drought), international goods value fluctuations, World Trade Organization & World Bank imperatives, general environment degradation, population expansion, generalized deforestation, etc., you get more challenges that you may wish for!
Figure 4: National Gross Product dependancy on agriculture (World in figures, 1999, 8)
Developping curiosity
What do we really know about the world's water? We know a great deal! But reality is an infinity beyond a «great deal». Sometimes, a farmer need better crops to make a living, this may imply jeopardizing his own future productivity. Let's illustrate this impoverishment spiral and resources degradation: a coffee plantation owner sees coffee prices dropping, he then cut down trees to extend his plantation. But less vegetation means more erosion and less water retention in soils, in the end, it cuts down productivity itself. Seeing his productivity ailing again, the coffee plantation owner needs to extend further his plantation, if possible, needing additionnal work to take care of his extended crops. It's obviously not that simple. But you can appreciate other resources degradation and impoverishment spirals with chemical fertilizers for example.
Some droughts go on for 6 to 8 years (Raharijoana-Raharison, 1997, 15). Some countries have learned to live with harsh climatic conditions. 85% of Algeria, 55% of Morocco and 38% of Tunisia are arid (Kassah, 1998, 13).
Humid optimism!
Believe it or not, I'm still an optimist!! Sure, I could blame and complain, but not much would be served. Changing the world starts with changing ourselves. The incredible human mind has beautiful ways of finding solutions to the craziest challenges.
This picture shows crop circles in a northern Sahara desert (Kassah, 1998, 13). A 300 m mechanical arm sprinkle water on a heavily fertilized soil. It isn't really efficient yet, but is still one of many possible part of the solution puzzle!! (and it can definetly fit in an X-File plot!)
Reality is often more amazing than fiction!
Shoot the moon. If you miss, you'll land among the stars!