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WATER-ACADEMY Nov-15-2005 (670 words) xxxi
Scientists, ethicists say water is essential resource of the future
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- If modern wars are sometimes fought over oil, future conflicts may arise over an even more essential resource: water.
That's the concern of a group of scientists and ethicists who met Nov. 12-14 at the Vatican to discuss "Water and the Environment."
The meeting was the first effort of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences to address an issue that has important environmental, political, economic and health consequences for all humanity.
"In many parts of the world, there is not a real abundance of water. Furthermore, human impact is changing the biosphere and the composition of the atmosphere, which will have repercussions on the availability of water in the future," said Paul Crutzen, a Dutch chemist who won a Nobel Prize in 1995 for his study of the ozone layer of the atmosphere.
Already, experts estimate that more than 1 billion people around the world lack access to adequate drinking water.
Crutzen told Catholic News Service whether that improves or worsens depends largely on population development, but added: "There is a big possibility of political conflicts and maybe even military conflicts. It is a big problem of this century."
The Dutch chemist said the creeping desertification of North Africa is an example of what can happen to populations when water supplies dry up.
Crutzen and others spoke to CNS during a break in the Vatican meeting.
Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe, a Venezuelan-born professor of environmental sciences at Princeton University and a principal organizer of the Vatican conference, said the "fair distribution" of water presents huge scientific and ethical dilemmas.
"Water is an agent of development, both in the material and spiritual sense. It involves the atmosphere, the ecosystem, the human population, the ocean as a hydrologic cycle, and the human being as a serious agent of impact on this cycle," he said.
The problem today is that many uses of water -- for consumption, for culture, for energy -- are in competition with each other, he said.
"We are dealing with a resource that is vital and nevertheless often scarce, because with these multiple uses there is not enough," he said.
Finding a solution will involve "a lot of science on a global level," he said.
Last year, a Vatican document said the lack of clean water in the world's poorest countries is "rapidly becoming a crucial issue for life and, in the broad sense of the concept, a right-to-life issue."
The Vatican document encouraged new laws, international development and foreign investment projects aimed at increasing access to safe water supplies.
But development and technology are not always the answer, Crutzen warned.
"Technology will be useful in some respects. But technology, such as irrigation water pumps, has also led to a lowering of the groundwater, even in America, and that can be a big problem in the long run," he said.
Reza Ardakanian, a former deputy minister for water affairs in Iran, said efficient water distribution depends largely upon peace among neighboring countries in the often-volatile Southwest Asia region.
During his four-year term in office, he said, Iran built 40 large dams in border areas with Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and other countries. He said the country is currently constructing hundreds of miles of underground aqueducts.
The government has given water supply a high priority because 70 percent of Iran's fresh water is located in only 30 percent of the land. The more arid regions risk depopulation unless water is made available, he said.
Arab states, he said, have formed a regional center for water that is run by a governing board of ministers from six countries. They are convinced that "good water leads to regional stability," he said.
In a wider sense, Ardakanian said, safeguarding water supplies helps protect the ancient culture and history of the peoples of the region.
"The major civilizations have always been created around rivers. What was the source of life must not become the source of conflict and death," he said.
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