Tap opens in debate on the future of water
Güncelleme Tarihi:
AFP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mart 16, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - Politicians, corporate executives, engineers and greens gathered in Istanbul today for a week-long forum aimed at tackling the planet's fast-growing water crisis.
Around 20,000 people are expected for the 5th World Water Forum, where a charged agenda awaits them.
Access to clean water and sanitation, river pollution, madcap extraction of aquifers, jockeying for water rights and the impact of climate change have turned the stuff of life into a fiercely contentious issue.
The forum, held only every three years, has been foreshadowed by a report issued by a constellation of UN agencies.
In 348 pages, the document, published last Thursday, warned of a triple whammy in which supplies of freshwater were being viciously squeezed by demographic pressure, waste and drought.
The document spoke of a "global water crisis" with plenty of potential for instability and conflict.
Loic Fauchon, head of the World Water Council, which organized the forum, said the facts amounted to a glaring message that times have changed. "The era of easy water is over. We have to embark on policies for regulating demand," Fauchon said in Paris last week.
Water scarcity has the potential to stoke unrest, frictions within countries and conflicts between states, according to the UN document, the Third World Water Development Report.
One objective of the Istanbul meeting is to develop ways of avoiding these feared "water wars" by encouraging agreements on sharing the use of rivers, lakes and aquifers that straddle boundaries.
Sources close to the conference expect the announcement of a three-way deal between Turkey, Iraq and Syria over the sharing of waters of the Tigris and Euphrates.
The conference will kick off with a mini-summit, gathering around 14 countries, before splitting up into debates on six themes on water management and conservation.
Access to clean water and sanitation, river pollution, madcap extraction of aquifers, jockeying for water rights and the impact of climate change have turned the stuff of life into a fiercely contentious issue.
The forum, held only every three years, has been foreshadowed by a report issued by a constellation of UN agencies.
In 348 pages, the document, published last Thursday, warned of a triple whammy in which supplies of freshwater were being viciously squeezed by demographic pressure, waste and drought.
The document spoke of a "global water crisis" with plenty of potential for instability and conflict.
Loic Fauchon, head of the World Water Council, which organized the forum, said the facts amounted to a glaring message that times have changed. "The era of easy water is over. We have to embark on policies for regulating demand," Fauchon said in Paris last week.
Water scarcity has the potential to stoke unrest, frictions within countries and conflicts between states, according to the UN document, the Third World Water Development Report.
One objective of the Istanbul meeting is to develop ways of avoiding these feared "water wars" by encouraging agreements on sharing the use of rivers, lakes and aquifers that straddle boundaries.
Sources close to the conference expect the announcement of a three-way deal between Turkey, Iraq and Syria over the sharing of waters of the Tigris and Euphrates.
The conference will kick off with a mini-summit, gathering around 14 countries, before splitting up into debates on six themes on water management and conservation.