Planck Foundation




GLOBAL FUTURE ANALYSIS


WATER | CRISIS


The Water Crisis was concentrated in Africa and in the Middle East. This has changed. Russia, Southern Europe, China, India, the Caribbean and Midwest USA are moved from green lights to orange lights on water supply and South Russia and Spain has already faced the red light on water supply. The Water Crisis has four faces: 1) Pollution (just making loads of good fresh water unusable: like in the Great Lakes between Canada en the USA). 2) Less supply due to climate and -more and more- climate change (without going into the causes discussion of climate change). 3) More demand (more people, more prosperity, more irrigated agriculture). 4) Less conservation technologies (there is so much to gain with so easy to implant not very high tech or expensive basic technologies). The Water Crisis is about higher water costs and higher food costs, so about repressing prosperity levels (stagflation influence). The Water Crisis (when not addressed) can result in severe regional conflicts (and regional conflicts in a globalized world often get global effects as seen in the last 100 years). The strong nations will fight for reinsuring their watersupply, the inhabitants of the poor nations will leave their habitats and start drifting and will not be welcome anywhere, causing huge human suffering and also will increase geopolitical tension (with an it's possible consequences). In the more extended Global Resources Analysis report the potential of water based conflicts is more deeper/wider described.


Author: Gijs Graafland


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