What would happen if the water supply to largest city in the wealthiest country of the world is suddenly cut off?
Last week’s announcement from UNICEF that we have met the Millennium Development Goal for drinking water has been met with fears that the world may think the water problem has been solved.
Big News On the Global Development Front: Unicef and the WHO announced that humanity has achieved the Millennium Development Goal of cutting half the number of people around the world who do not have access to clean water.
So far, we haven’t seen a international water war. We’ve been able to solve water conflicts through economic and diplomatic solutions. I hope - I really hope - that we can keep that up. But as water gets scarcer, the fights are going to get worse.
The Millennium Development Goals can’t cover everything. It’s not so much a flaw in the goals as an unfortunate fact of life. One thing they don’t cover is irrigation water. In about ten years, we’re going to regret that.
People in the developed world think of diarrhea as a mild nuisance. But for most of the world it can be a death sentence. Sanitation related diseases -- mainly diarrhea -- kills over 4,000 children around the world each day, meaning it kills more children than malaria, HIV/AIDS and TB...combined.
Today is World Water Day, so this is a good opportunity to talk about how it is that people die everyday for lack of a clean glass of water. Here is a useful primer from GOOD.
Actors, Musicians, ambassadors and under-secretaries of state mingled together in the plush Ben Franklin room at State Department Headquarters last night in a reception to honor a Hollywood Star-Washington, D.C. wonk collaboration known as Summit on the Summit. The idea, conceived by Ethiopian-born musician Kenna, brought Hollywood stars, PhD's and DC-based advocates on a trek up Mount Kilimanjaro to raise awareness about global water issues.
As previewed before the weekend, today is the first official World Oceans Day. And as I stressed before, this sounds like the perfect opportunity to push for U.S. ratification of the Law of the Sea treaty. He doesn't call out Washington, but the S-G would certainly agree.
The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) provides the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out, and is the basis for international cooperation on all levels," UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement.
...
"The world must do more to implement this Convention and uphold the rule of law on the seas and oceans," he stressed. [emphasis mine]
A reminder: today is the last day to call or write the White House urging support for this treaty. Take a few minutes, for the oceans' sakes.
UPDATE: IntLawGrrls has more.