The American magazine Fortune claims that in the 21st century water will be what oil has been in the 20th century: the most valuable asset that determines the wealth of nations.
The 28 July 2010, the UN declared through a Resolution that "drinking water and for hygienic use, in addition to being a right of every man, more than other human rights, concerns the dignity of the person, is essential to the full enjoyment of life is fundamental to all other human rights ".
The greatest geopolitical conflict of the 21st century is expected to be centered precisely on this theme. It is estimated that within 2025 the demand for this resource, which is indispensable for human life, will be 56% higher than that of the offer.
The conflict, essentially, is already among those who believe that water should be considered a negotiable asset (such as wheat and coffee) and those that claim it is a social good, just like the right to life.
The data suggest that the planet is facing an increasingly serious water shortage, even if the problem is not the lack of fresh drinking water but rather the mismanagement and distribution of resources.
Over 2,2 millions of people in developing countries, especially children, die every year from diseases associated with lack of drinking water, adequate sanitation and hygiene. Furthermore, almost half of the inhabitants of developing countries suffer from diseases directly or indirectly from the consumption of food or water contaminated with pathogenic organisms.
With an adequate supply of drinking water and adequate sanitation, the incidence of certain diseases and death could be reduced to 75%.
In recent years, multinationals have gained control of the asset in much of the world and it has been assumed that in the coming years, some multinational corporations will possess the monopolistic control of almost 75% of this vital resource for our planet.
One of the largest aquifers in the world is located in South America, known as the Guarani Aquifer System, this large reserve of pure water extends from the north of the Pantanal to Brazil, occupies a part of Paraguay and Uruguay and ends up in Argentina. The total volume of stored water is enormous, between the 40 and the 80 cubic kilometers, a figure equivalent to four times the total annual demand of Argentina.
The SAG researches were carried out by the University of Santa Fe and Buenos Aires, and by the University of Uruguay and several Brazilian public universities, until the end of the nineties, after it itself became part of a project financed by the Bank World.
In Argentina, the State Department and some rumors that there would be terrorist organizations to control the destination of the Guarani Aquifer System (SAG), almost a "Quantum of Solace" already widely described in the well-known trilogy of agent 007, James Bond. An ocean of underground drinking water, indispensable to the whole world and which, like all precious goods to the wealth of nations, will be the object of conflicts between them in the coming years.
Source: ecojoven
