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The UN designated the decade 2005-2015 as the International Decade
for Action - Water for Life. The move was initiated at the third
World Water Forum in Kyoto, 2003, and it could prove the most
significant and effective outcome of the triennial series of World
Water For a yet. Its major aims are: (1) to promote efforts to
fulfil recent international commitments, especially in the
Millennium Goals, (2) to advance towards a truly integrated, int-
national approach to sustainable water management, and (3) to put
special emphasis on the role of women in these efforts. Even so, it
faces tremendous and, as I write, increasing obstacles. The intense
season of hurricanes and tropical storms in 2008 illustrated yet
again not only the power of nature, but also the vulnerability of
the poorer nations, like Haiti and Jamaica. New Orleans and Texas
fared better, not because of the efforts of the International
Decade for Natural Disasters (1990-2000) to increase preparedness,
but more because the USA had learnt from its own experiences in
Hurricane Katrina. The biggest obstacle of all is the burgeoning
world population. It took off last century, but it is predicted to
reach unimaginable heights this century: at least 10 billion by
2050, maybe 20 billion by 2100. Governments are powerless to halt
it, even the Chinese. Achieving water security globally against
this backdrop will be a Herculean task.
The UN designated the decade 2005-2015 as the International Decade
for Action - Water for Life. The move was initiated at the third
World Water Forum in Kyoto, 2003, and it could prove the most
significant and effective outcome of the triennial series of World
Water For a yet. Its major aims are: (1) to promote efforts to
fulfil recent international commitments, especially in the
Millennium Goals, (2) to advance towards a truly integrated, int-
national approach to sustainable water management, and (3) to put
special emphasis on the role of women in these efforts. Even so, it
faces tremendous and, as I write, increasing obstacles. The intense
season of hurricanes and tropical storms in 2008 illustrated yet
again not only the power of nature, but also the vulnerability of
the poorer nations, like Haiti and Jamaica. New Orleans and Texas
fared better, not because of the efforts of the International
Decade for Natural Disasters (1990-2000) to increase preparedness,
but more because the USA had learnt from its own experiences in
Hurricane Katrina. The biggest obstacle of all is the burgeoning
world population. It took off last century, but it is predicted to
reach unimaginable heights this century: at least 10 billion by
2050, maybe 20 billion by 2100. Governments are powerless to halt
it, even the Chinese. Achieving water security globally against
this backdrop will be a Herculean task.
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