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 11 October 2008 09:23 BST

Water worries at Davos

Saturday, 26 Jan 2008 18:38
Many conflicts will have water at their heart
Water scarcity and the increased risk of conflict it poses dominated the agenda on the final day of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Panellists heard economic growth, national security, health, safety and human rights were all affected by increasing competition for water resources across the globe.

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon told the conference in Switzerland he took the problem very seriously, pointing out the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region began because of water shortages.

"Our experiences tell us that environmental stress, due to lack of water, may lead to conflict, and would be greater in poor nations," he 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 added.

Others said the complexity of the problem presented as great a challenge as climate change.

"Unless we put caps on the global warming pollution we're throwing up into atmosphere, we're walking into a hell for water shortages," US-based Environmental Defense's president Fred Krupp warned.

Hope that a market-based cap-and-trade approach was expressed by many, while the panel agreed there was also grounds for optimism through political will, innovative technology and collaborative approaches.End of story


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