“The more water becomes scarce, the more it will become a vital security issue between States”
[ad_1]
UA map drawn by Leonardo da Vinci, kept at the Royal Castle of Windsor (United Kingdom), represents a plan for diverting the waters of the Italian river Arno. In 1503, the painter and inventor had put his genius at the service of Machiavelli, who wanted to deprive Pisa of it in favor of its rival, Florence. The canal project was abandoned, but the mere prospect of a “water war” between the two Tuscan cities shows that the precious resource was already a formidable weapon and a strategic target. There are countless examples, from Antiquity to the present day, of the use of “blue gold” as a means of weakening an enemy or border country.
Despite the enormous mass of water present on the planet, a tiny quantity (0.07%) is directly usable by humans. Three-quarters of the countries must share it with one or more neighbours, multiplying the sources of tension. Population growth, industrialization and urbanization will lead to an increase in demand of approximately 30% by 2050. Water will be even more poorly distributed, half of the 9.7 billion human beings will suffer from greater water stress. or less severe and 700 million risk having to flee their parched lands by the end of this decade, warns the UN.
The drought that has been raging since spring in the northern hemisphere, sometimes interspersed with devastating rains, has woken up Europeans, amazed that they are no longer spared. Now they realize that part of their Old Continent is heading towards a semi-arid climate, including France, and that the resource is not unlimited. Emerging countries are no longer alone in being affected by a 20% to 50% drop in harvests. Investors can no longer underestimate this risk for the value of their assets, as they have done for CO₂ emissions.
The “Diagonal of Thirst”
Looking at a map of the world is nothing fun. Large hydrographic basins, which are also living areas for tens or hundreds of millions of inhabitants, are threatened. It will not be good to live in what Franck Galland, associate researcher at the Foundation for Strategic Research, calls the “diagonal of thirst”, which runs from Morocco to northeast China through the Middle East, Central Asia and India. No more than in Brazil, Australia or the southwestern United States.
Poor water management, nearly three quarters of which are (poorly) used for agriculture, is no longer the only cause. Recent climatic upheavals have changed the situation.
You have 54.29% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.
[ad_2]
Source link
