United Future
Since: Aug 2007
Posts: 314

BLOG: Water- our most pressing future issue

Posted in Discussion Forum at 06:39AM, 6 Aug 2012 ∞ Permalink

Since the Club of Rome's publishing of the "Limits to Growth" in 1970 and subsequent ratification of its key findings from international researchers in 2010, water has inexorably climbed up the pressing global issues ladder until the point where, as many futurists have previously forecast it is now a major issue here in New Zealand.
Water is more than just another resource like oil, wheat, or sugar- it is described rightly as the elixir of life! Thus politicians would be foolish to treat it in the same way as a tradeable commodity like any other their country may own.
The total amount of water in the world we inhabit is constant, and we do not as human beings have any finite control over whether it deigns to fall on our land or into our oceans, as those experiencing the effects of flooding on any day know full well.
All we are able to do is harness the quantity of water in a catchment area and water system, and allocate its use before it flows back into the seas or atmosphere!... Read the full text of this blog post.

QuentinTodd
Since: Sep 2008
Posts: 44

Posted at 06:39AM, 6 Aug 2012 ∞ Permalink

For the few to politicize water to their own self-interest is an eye-opener in itself. To not fully understand the nature of water as a key ingredient for our very survival, more than a Big Mac, is numbingly shocking. In my opinion any policy development ought to have just three perimeters to consider:

1. Catchment - are our catchments of water clean? Who gets water, where and how?

2. Ownership - no one has a sole right to water. The commercialisation of water to one advantage is a complex issue and the solution to this is urgent.

3. Recreational Benefit - New Zealanders love water, be it the sea, rivers, waterfalls or their backyard swimming pool. Promoting this is to understand who we are as a nation. This third aspect of a future policy development is key, as it says finally, we respect water (and land for that matter) because it is in the national interest to protect it for future generations of New Zealanders and our visitors here.

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