As President Obama is set to announce a new road map on climate change tomorrow, some concerns expressed in a recent event we covered for the Asia Society -Texas are important to consider. As global temperatures rise, populations grow, and energy demands increase, the pressure upon governments to assure water for themselves and other nations will become an increasingly related issue. One that can spur great conflict or great collaboration.
Water Shortages Around the World Could Spell Peril for Economies, Says Chellaney
Lloyd Jacobson, HOUmanitarian
“Water incites great passion.” said Dr. Brahma Chellaney in his opening remarks at Asia Society Texas Center. Speaking in a forum, with University of St. Thomas environmental studies professor, Dr. William Harris, on Thursday, Dr. Chellaney pointed time and again to the central role water plays in our everyday lives. And the complex role it will increasingly play in a future of growing scarcity.
Speaking about his new book, Water, Peace and War: Confronting the Global Water Crisis, Chellaney outlined how expanding global fresh water consumption, through over-use of river systems and underground aquifers, has already led water to become a commercial commodity, with a retail bottled price higher than the international spot price for oil. And he outlined how this will likely lead to economic and political problems, particularly for Asia, in the coming decades.
“Water is so essential for every economic activity,” said Chellaney. “It’s essential to produce virtually all the goods we find in the marketplace. It’s also a necessity to refine oil-gas, and mine uranium and coal. You can’t have economic development without water.” he emphasized.
“So when you are faced with water scarcity you begin to wonder if Asia can continue to spearhead global economic growth. Asia is [now] the economic locomotive. But it has risen so fast, and its resource base is so limited, that Asian economies are increasingly running into water shortages.”
According to Chellaney, much like battles over water and arable land have exacerbated ethnic and international tensions in parts of the Middle East and Africa, Asia is poised to have its own water feuds as reliance on stocks of river surface water are naturally decreasing, and being increasingly controlled by upstream nations.
In his book and talk Chellaney points out that for most Asia’s most populace nations water is sourced in the Himalayas, where snow melt feeds vast river systems that serve 12 nations, from China and India, all the way down into Southeast Asian peninsula nations such as Vietnam. Yet two factors are of concern here. First of all warmer climates make those mountain glaciers smaller, potentially reducing their ability to naturally recharge those rivers. And secondly, nation’s near the source, most notably China, increasingly build more and more dams along those rivers for hydro-electricity and agriculture.
But, Chellaney added, the challenges of dams has not merely been a threat to relationships between upstream and downstream nations. China has built over 26,000 large dams since its revolution, leading to massive internal displacement and tensions within that nation as villages and homes become reservoirs and lakes.
Dr. Harris bought the discussion around to our own drought experience in Texas, citing our state’s own water use concerns of large industrial usage versus agricultural and urban residential use.
Chellaney, said was eager to discuss this in Houston, because “Texas symbolizes the global water challenges.” The shale oil boom, and its use of hydraulic fracturing has become a new area of concern both due to the shear volumes of water it uses, and the potential it has to release pollution into fresh water sources. For this Chellaney emphasized the need for strong environmental rules and incentives to wean industry from unsafe practices, like shipping waste-water off-site into waste wells. Instead he believes producers need to filter and reused water for their operations on-site.
While Chellaney’s prescription of better water management, mitigation and conservation were central themes, he also offered positive thoughts on the future of desalination. With the vast majority of the globe’s population living near oceans, he foresees a time soon where large scale commercial desalination will be both necessary and technologically practical.
And for some of the far downstream nations of Asia, this could be a necessity.
This article also appeared on the Asia Society Texas Blog
