DRUM BEATS MARK UN REMEMBRANCE OF SLAVE TRADE
The powerful sounds of musicians,
drummers and steel bands echoed through the United Nations complex in New York
today in a celebration of the world’s common humanity and in commemoration of
the victims of the African slave trade.
“Break the Silence, Beat the Drum”
brought together artists from Brazil, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, the Caribbean and
the United States, as well as students, diplomats and UN officials, to launch a
series of events to mark the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of
Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
Designated by the General Assembly
in 2007, the Day honours the millions of Africans violently removed from their
homelands and cast into slavery.
Read more
WATER RIGHTS ACTIVISTS BLAST WORLD WATER FORUM AS "CORPORATE TRADE SHOW TO
PROMOTE PRIVATIZATION"
Activists from the People's Water
Forum, an alternative formation representing rural poor, the environment and
organized labor, slammed the official event as a non-inclusive, corporate-driven
fraud pushing for water privatization and called for a more open, democratic and
transparent forum. The forum, which is organized every three years by the
French-based World Water Council, is funded in large part by the water industry. Read more
TROUBLED
WATERS HARD TO BRIDGE
The fifth World Water Forum ended with wide-ranging
differences among governments and groups with an interest in water.
The forum
adopted a declaration calling for "new and adequate resources" for the water
sector. It also stressed the need for increased vigilance against corruption,
and for preparedness for climate change.
But the final
declaration by close to 100 ministers made no mention of the hotly contested
issue whether water is a human right or a commodity to be traded like oil, gas
or gold. It only described access to safe drinking water and sanitation as "a
basic human need." Read more
WATER - THE GLOBAL SECURITY FACTOR
Water -- whether saltwater, drinking water or freshwater -- is crucial for
global security because it is essential for the survival of human and other
forms of life. It covers 71 percent of the Earth's surface, mostly in oceans and
other large water bodies. Saltwater oceans hold 97 percent of surface water.
Water plays an important role in the world economy, as it functions as a solvent
for a wide variety of chemical substances and facilitates industrial cooling and
transportation. Approximately 70 percent of freshwater is consumed by
agriculture.
However, in many parts of the world -- especially developing countries -- there
is a water crisis. It is estimated that by 2025 more than half of the world
population will be facing water-based vulnerability. In fact, to meet the
challenge of feeding growing populations and the global hungry, massive
reductions in the amount of food wasted after production are needed. The
Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), the Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
released in August last year, a policy brief Saving Water: From Field to Fork -
Curbing Losses and Wastage in the Food Chain, that calls on governments to
reduce by half, by 2025, the amount of food that is wasted after it is grown and
outlines attainable steps for this be achieved.
The report points out that tremendous quantities of food are discarded in
processing, transport, supermarkets and people's kitchens. This wasted food is
also wasted water. In the U.S., for instance, as much as 30 percent of food,
worth some 48.3 billion dollars, is thrown away. That' like leaving the tap
running and pouring 40 trillion litres of water into the garbage can -- enough
water to meet the household needs of 500 million people. Through international
trade, savings in one country might benefit communities in other parts of the
world.
There is also a potentially explosive dimension to water. While the demand for
water continues to increase, driven by population growth and economic
development, scientists predict the Middle East could be the first region to
cope with a dramatically reduced amount of water. The situation is already
alarming. Salinity is rising in major watercourses such as the Euphrates and
half the population of the region's large cities lacks an adequate drinking
water supply.
But what if the countries in the Middle East had no choice but to get along in
order to share the region's meagre water resources? This is the starting premise
of Jon Martin Trondalen's book Water and Peace for the People, launched this
month at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The book offers a practical guide that
suggests concrete ways to resolve these crises. Analysing what is at stake in
each situation while making public new information, the author examines the
conflicts in the Upper Jordan River between Israel and Syria around the Golan
Heights, between Israel and Lebanon over the Wazzani Spring, and the
longstanding water dispute between Palestinians and Israelis. Challenges
confronting Turkey, Syria and Iraq in sharing water of the Euphrates and Tigris
Rivers are also assessed. - Ramesh Jaura | GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES
