Read at : Google Alert – desertification
IoS letters, emails & online postings (21 March 2009)
At last we’re beginning to grasp the true dimensions of the apocalyptic crisis we have generated and now have to confront (“Water scarcity now bigger threat than financial crisis“, 15 March). I work in Nicaragua alongside people who’ve been working for years to combat the devastating effects of our “developed” countries’ practices. To sustain the unsustainable, this small should-be paradise has been systematically stripped of its phenomenal natural wealth and human potential. Among its remaining treasures is one of the world’s largest deposits of fresh water. Given the vicious history of the US and European imperial powers towards Latin America, Nicaraguans are increasingly nervous that the industrialised nations will invade for water just as surely as they did for oil. Wars over water will make wars over oil look like children’s games.
Once again, little Nicaragua offers a beautiful example of a co-operative, intelligent and sustainable way forward. To complement the wonderful low-tech grass-roots projects to capture rainwater, filter and reuse grey water and roll back desertification, Ecos del Silencio (Echoes of Silence), a network of artist/ activists, is launching “Water not War”. Water not War calls on the world’s governments to rededicate at least 1 per cent of all military budgets to providing fresh water to every person on earth.
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Anthony Baker
