Study 3: Ecodestruction and the Right to Food: The Cases of Water ...

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Starving the Future Study 3 Human pressure on water supplies are not the same everywhere. Some regions are more particularly affected and threatened by scarcity than others, unfortunately those regions are often the ones experiencing fast population growth or are already dry areas. Projections estimate that water scarcity will concern half of the population in the world by 2025. River basins such as the ones of the Volta, Nile and Narmada rivers will be among the most affected by water stress. 11 Population growth is not the only threat to water quantity. Modern schemes of agricultural production imply a huge use of water especially for irrigation purposes. Industry is also a great consumer of freshwater. Freshwater systems and water cycles are affected by human activities such as canalization and dams. River flows are slowed down through fragmentation (by dams and other facilities) and overextraction of water to such an extent that several big world rivers do not reach the sea any longer during the dry season. Dams and their reservoirs have a further negative impact on freshwater systems since they strongly affect soil fertility by preventing sediments to be carried and disseminated downstream. Today, free-flowing rivers have become rare and the world major rivers are canalized, diverted from their original wetlands or floodplains, fragmented in reservoirs. All this has a very negative impact on the balance and cycles of freshwater systems as well as on other ecosystems and entire landscapes. As far as groundwater is concerned, excessive pumping from the aquifers leads to loss of storage capacity, of renewal and filtration capacities. The damage on aquifers can even have consequences on the soil layer above them by creating serious terrain alterations. iii. Threats to water quality In industrialized countries, surface water quality has improved during the last decades thanks to recycling and pollution control facilities. Nonetheless, water contamination due to nitrate and pesticide persists. Chemical contamination and water quality degradation are a common feature to all regions in the world. Inorganic and organic compounds, (sometimes pathogens) attack water quality, menacing human and wildlife health. Groundwater contamination is due to the human use of contaminants such as oil, road salts and chemicals. These contaminants get into the groundwater, which becomes unsafe for human consumption. Diseases due to poor water quality spread. iv. Threats to food production As we have seen, inland fisheries are essential to a great part of the world population to feed themselves. Following demographic growth, food needs increase and overcatching becomes acute danger. Harvests have increased significantly in recent decades and are estimated to continue developing. According to FAO data in 1997, more than 7.7 million tonnes of fish were caught in lakes, rivers, swamps, marshes, water reservoirs and ponds, which represents some 6% of the total world fish production. Catches are especially high in China, where the production amounts to some 1.8 million tonnes. 12 Freshwater ecosystems already face such severe attacks that their ability to support wild fish stocks is strongly reduced. In order to cope with the problem of a growing demand and a limited and more and more threatened supply, aquaculture is booming. v. Habitat degradation: Threats on freshwater biodiversity Damage suffered by freshwater systems are threats for species living in and depending on these systems. In addition to the general alteration and overuse of water supplies, overharvesting and the introduction of nonnative species belong to the great menace. The following figures illustrate this dramatic erosion of biodiversity that is already taking place. More than 20% of the world’s 10.000 freshwater fish species have become extinct, or threatened. In the USA, 37% of freshwater fish species, 67% of mussels, 51% of crayfish and 40% of amphibians are affected. 13 vi. Conversion of wetlands Conversion particularly affects wetlands which have been drained and converted to farmland, filled for human settlements and economic activities. Wetlands also experience heavy pollution and overuse of FIAN International 106 June 2002
Starving the Future Study 3 their waste processing capacity. There is a lack of data on the original surface covered by wetlands but a consensus seems to exist on the alarming extent of their disappearance. It is also clear that conversion through drainage, deep alteration of surface and groundwater, added to fragmentation and diversion of rivers have greatly affected the ability of wetlands to provide their fundamental services and goods such as agricultural land and water filtration. References: • (2000) UNDP, UNEP, World Bank and World Resources Institute, World Resources 2000-2001 : People and ecosystems: The fraying web of life, World Resources Institute 2000, Washington DC • (1997), Shiklomanov I. A., Comprehensive Assessment of the freshwater resources of the world: Assessment of water resources and water availability in the world. Stockholm, Sweden:WMO and Stockholm Environment Institute. • (1997), World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), Comprehensive Assessment of the Freshwater Resources of the World. Geneva. • (1998), International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD), World Register of Dams 1998, Paris. • (1990), L´vovich M.I. and White G. F., Use and transformation of terrestrial water systems. Pp:235- 252 in The Earth as Transformed by Human Action:Global and Regional Changes in the Biosphere over the past 300 years. Turner B. L., Clark W. C., Kateset R. W. al, eds. Cambridge University Press. • (1996), Abramovitz J. N., Imperiled Water, Impoverished future: The decline of freshwater ecosystems. WorldWatch Paper 128. Washington, D. C.: Worldwatch Institute. • (1990), Dahl T. E., Wetland losses in the United States 1780 to 1980s, Washington D. C.:U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service. • (1999), Europeen Environment Agency (EEA), Environment in the European Union at the turn of the century, Environmental Assessment Report No. 2. Copenhagen. • (1997), Myers N., The rich diversity of biodiverstiy issues. Pp: 125-138 in Biodiversity II. Understanding and Protecting our Biological Resources. Reaka-Kudla M. L., Wilson D. E. and Wilson E. O., eds. Washington D.C.:Joseph Henry Press • (2000), Brunner J. et al. Water Scarcity, Water Resources Management and Hydrological Monitoring (Draft). Unpublished Report. Washington D.C.:World Resources Institute • Wetlands: Several definitions: http://h2osparc.wq.ncsu.edu/info/wetlands/definit.html • Issues-Freshwater, United Nation Sustainable Development: www.un.org/esa/sustdev • US Energy Information Agency, www.eia.doe.gov / International Energy Outlook 2001 • WaterWebs. Watersheds, lakes, rivers, streams: www.eco-pros.com/waterwebs.htm • Economic Benefits of Wetlands: www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/facts/fact4.html • Policy paper for the Bonn International Conference on Freshwater 2001, Forum Umwelt und Entwicklung: www.foumue.de/forumaktuell/positionspapiere/0000001e.html • FAO Fisheries database www.fao.org/fi FIAN International 107 June 2002
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