Water heads list of top 10 global risks
By Randall Hackley, Bloomberg
International conflict and water crises lead the list of top 10 global risks, according to a survey by the World Economic Forum ahead of this week’s meeting in Davos.
The 2015 report published last week highlighted the most significant threats expected over the next decade, according to almost 900 WEF members surveyed from July to September. Deemed the likeliest risk was interstate conflict followed by extreme weather events; the top global risk as ranked by impact was water crises, then infectious diseases.
With almost 2 billion of Earth’s 7 billion people lacking access to clean drinking water, about 14 percent of the population still defecating outdoors and a child dying every 20 seconds due to poor sanitation, water was also eighth on the likelihood list. Conflict was fourth on the impact ranking followed by failure to adapt to climate change. Joblessness or underemployment was fifth for likelihood, ninth on impact.
Water….oh so precious a thing. Is access to clean water a right or a privilege?
The answer is economic growth in poor countries to sustain their populations. This country has made a disaster out of billions of lost and stolen foreign aid and then importing and inviting through refugee status millions of third world people into this country without any ability to have them find tax paying employment and as the number of our own tax payers decline every year and government dependence increases every year, this is a disaster that will become more evident soon. Forget about lack of clean water for the third world because with an open border many of them are illegally entering this country if not they are being flown in. People should start thinking about the growing massive welfare entitlement system crashing the economy from the burden of it not being sustainable. This is slowly eliminating the middle class who must be taxed ever higher to support it. All of the Bummer’s new proposed taxes on the “rich” whoever they want that to be, will always be passed on through job cuts or price increases passed on to consumers.
We have been warned for decades. Ironically this article adds fuel to the fire (NPI) here in Tahoe and the whole southwest. We have been blessed with an unusual wet period for the last few hundred years but science proves these dry conditions are the norm now. Water may be the new gold.
Ah Just@ass, still selling the fear. Did it ever occur to you that Refugees from say Iraq might be killed because they helped the wrong side of a Civil War… of course not. It is easier to just try to scare people with: third world, disaster, illegal, massive welfare, crashing economy blah blah blah.
Sure dude, let’s “forget about lack of clean water” even here in California. I am surprised you didn’t include those Ebola Zombies raising gas prices too… LOL!
Justanass. Your paranoia rants just aint working on anyone here.
Here’s a Primer on Water – for all who think that “population” (of course, not ours), or legislation of some kind (although the minute passed, some will immediately disagree), or that a “technology” will come along to save the day (like Mighty Mouse !):
Man has access to only 3/4 of 1 percent of available fresh water, as that is all there is – most of which is encased in the ice sheets (both Arctic & Antarctic) – there is no more…
Acidification of the ocean and its’ saltiness as a sequestration device will not help the fresh water scenario, but will keep contributing to both ‘dead zones’ (now up to 12) and the destruction of the coral reefs (most are in peril). . .and still there is no more fresh water to have.
Water is fundamental to “life-as-we-know it” as is DNA & Energy (not as petroleum, but all the way down to mitochondrial (cellular) – that’s what makes this a “Global Risk”. . .
The inevitability of international conflict is the subject of the Pentagon report on global warming. What conflicts will we see in the near future and which will imperil US interests?
Garry-
Are you hitting the red wine too much? Unlike most of your posts, this one doesn’t really track. Try again, and connect the dots for us.