As Year 2011 begins – with the best of wishes to you from everyone at the LNA Team – water governance is emerging more than ever as a crucial geostrategic issue. The chemicals industry, which is a source of both major problems and innovative solutions, is expected to a play a predominant part.
> Global consensus on the increasingly-critical situation in China:
- The conclusion regarding the state of hydric resources in China – “the world’s factory and grainstore”, both on quantity and on quality, is one of alarm, in the NGOs, the scientific community, the national authorities and the international community.
With its very limited and unevenly-distributed water resources, furthermore threatened by extremely high pollution, China now sees water as a significant diplomatic weapon. Multi-national corporations, which are sources of both pollution and remediation, are also some of the largest users of the resource as they work to anchor their operations into the future. The problem can further be seen illustrated in the regulatory measures that deal increasingly severe penalties to pollutants, as well as in the growing number of scientific studies and consulting firm reports on the issues*.
As relayed by many foreign sources, the China Daily made mention, in late-December, of the Chinese government’s intention to dedicate nearly 200 billion yuan (or approximately $30 billion) to water conservation projects in 2011, or one-tenth more than in 2010, with the specific aim of guaranteeing food safety and, in particular, increasing grain production in those countries.
Map drawn up by the China Water Resources and Hydropower Scientific Research Institute (IWHR and published online, on an environmentalist Canadian blog following the worrisome statements made by Chinese Minister of Water Resources, regarding the country’s resources, at an October 2009 conference.
- According to the report published in Issues For Responsible Investors: Water In China, in February 2010 by the Asia Water Project (AWP), 2/3 of the 660 foremost cities in China suffer from a water shortage, 110 of them severely so. Water pollution is said to be responsible for 190 million cases of disease in China and 60,000 premature deaths per year.
- Of note is also the December 2010 publication of "The Dirty Secret Behind Jeans". For 6 months, Greenpeace observed, through such means as satellite imaging, manufacturing conditions in Xintang, “the world’s jeans-manufacturing capital” (more than 260 million pairs of jeans per year, supplying approximately 40% of the American consumer market), and in Gu Rao, the “capital of sexy wear” (with over 200 million bras yearly). The NGO reports having identified very high heavy metal rates in the water and sediment samples taken in the two cities, further geolocating waterways saturated with artificial colouring agents, from the run-off originating in factories. Also emphasising the fact that children who attend school by day also work in the factories at night and on weekends, Greenpeace is thus calling for action from the public authorities, to inspect the facilities and put an end to the use of hazardous materials.
* see two recent studies for illustration:
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