World water problems on tap at Brazil conference

Author: AFP

BRASILIA: Brazil, the country with the world’s greatest fresh water reserves, hosts an international conference next week on growing fears over the fragility of drinking water supplies in a heating planet.

Under the slogan “sharing water,” the 8th World Water Forum will bring together 15 heads of state and government, 300 mayors and dozens of experts in the Brazilian capital Brasilia from Sunday to March 23.

An estimated 40,000 people are expected to attend, organizers say.

Participants will meet against the backdrop of the drama in Cape Town, which until earlier this month was projected to run out of water as early as July, forcing the closing of household taps and extreme rationing.

That crisis has now eased, with the local government saying that a campaign to bring 60 percent reduction in consumption has done enough to avert the shut-off.

But the drama is a reminder that many of the world’s biggest fresh water systems are under pressure from pollution, overuse, dams and climate change.

“There are more reservoirs, more cars, more industry and more people. Counter measures to protect supplies remain very slim compared to the impacts we’re seeing,” Ney Maranhao, head of Brazil’s National Water Agency, told AFP.

Ricardo Medeiros, director of the forum, which is put out by the World Water Council every three years, said the issue must be seen as more than a purely environmental problem.

“Water has always been seen as something important for all activities, but it has not been the first priority. The important thing not to talk about water just as something vital to life, but as something which creates economic development,” he told AFP.

Share
Leave a Comment

Recent Posts

  • Business

Pakistan-Romania business delegation meets Presidential Advisor to boost trade

A delegation from the Pakistan Romania Business Council (PRBC) met with Legal Affairs Advisor to…

6 hours ago
  • Business

Pakistan joins fossil-fuel non-proliferation coalition to embrace a renewable energy future

Pakistan has joined a coalition of climate-vulnerable countries advocating for a global fossil-fuel non-proliferation treaty,…

6 hours ago
  • Business

High remittances flow crucial in financing deficit, debt repayments

The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s (FPCCI) Businessmen Panel (BMP) has said…

6 hours ago
  • Business

Small industry needs govt special focus to generate employment: APBF

The All Pakistan Business Forum (APBF) has said that the value-added small industry should be…

6 hours ago
  • Business

PITB team visits SCCI

A team of Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) visited Business Facilitation Centre (BFC), and Sialkot…

6 hours ago
  • Business

China, Pakistan share latest non-wood forestry findings

Chinese and Pakistani academic achievements in resistant rootstocks for economic forests and grafted and fodder…

6 hours ago