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UN Chronicle - Volume 50, Issue 1, 2013
Volume 50, Issue 1, 2013
A must-read for every concerned world citizen, the United Nations Chronicle is a quarterly, easy-to-read report on the work of the United Nations and its agencies. Produced by the United Nations Department of Public Information, every issue covers a wide range of United Nations related activities: from fighting the drug war to fighting racial discrimination, from relief and development to nuclear disarmament, terrorism, and the worldwide environmental crisis.
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The sustainable exploitation of the ocean’s minerals and resources
Author: Peter ThomsonIn contributing to the theme of the International Year of Water Cooperation, this article provides a perspective from a Pacific Small Island Developing State. In the context of the large body of water that surrounds Fiji and other Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS), a vital and long-standing concern has been the sustainable exploitation of the ocean’s living resources and, more recently, the non-living or mineral resources.
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Towards the International Year of Water Cooperation, 2013
Author: Sirodjiddin AslovMankind is currently faced with several global challenges including poverty, hunger and climate change. Meanwhile, the fast pace of urbanization and population growth accelerates any global processes, impacting water resources. As a result, the issues of water scarcity and the deterioration of water quality are becoming increasingly urgent. In the modern world, water has become the key element for addressing food security, energy security and environmental sustainability. Given the above, the world cannot achieve today’s global development goals without establishing global water governance.
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Women and agricultural water resource management: A pathway towards obtaining gender equality
Authors: Ndey-Isatou Njie and Tacko NdiayeWomen are important stakeholders in agriculture water management—they play a key role in water and land conservation, rainwater harvesting, and watershed management. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that 925 million people are undernourished and food production would have to increase by 70 per cent to feed a population of 9 billion people by 2050. Of the 1.5 billion hectares of cropland worldwide, a mere 277 million hectares is irrigated land, with the remaining 82 per cent being rain-fed land. Women play an important role in both irrigated and non-irrigated agriculture, and a larger number of women than men are engaged in rain-fed agriculture producing two thirds of the food in most developing countries. According to the latest FAO estimates, women account for an average of 43 per cent of the agricultural labour force in developing countries but in spite of this, water policies related to agriculture continue to wrongly assume that farmers are men, thus marginalizing women in water resource management.
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Water cooperation to cope with twenty-first century challenges
Authors: Blanca Jiménez-Cisneros, Siegfried Demuth and Anil MishraThe twenty-first century, referred to as the Anthropocene, will leave us with tremendous environmental changes. Unprecedented population growth, a changing climate, rapid urbanization, expansion of infrastructure, migration, land conversion and pollution translate into changes in the fluxes, pathways and stores of water—from rapidly melting glaciers to the decline of groundwater due to overexploitation. Population density and per capita resource use have increased dramatically over the past century, and watersheds, aquifers and the associated ecosystems have undergone significant modifications that affect the vitality, quality and availability of the resource. Current United Nations predictions estimate that the world population will reach 9 billion in 2050. The exponential growth in population and the more intensive use of water per capita are among the leading key drivers behind hydrologic change and its impact. It is a huge challenge on an already resource-limited planet to meet the various needs of the people, especially of those who already lack access to clean water.1 The variability, vulnerability and uncertainty of global water resources will be further exacerbated by increasingly erratic weather events, including droughts, floods and storms. Such disasters seriously impede efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals. Water scarcity due to drought, land degradation and desertification already affects 1.5 billion people in the world and is closely associated with poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition.
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Empowering people through integrated water resource management practices
Author: Akiko YamamotoApproximately 64 per cent of Africa’s land surface lies within its 63 transboundary river basins as compared to 47 per cent globally. For the southern Africa region, defined by the boundaries of member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), 16 transboundary basins provide nearly 80 per cent of the region’s available water resources. All but one continental SADC state has over 50 per cent of their land mass in transboundary river basins. Some countries rely on more than 50 per cent of their water needs flowing from outside of their borders. In this context, water cooperation has been a serious matter for many African countries throughout their history and is increasingly so as their economies grow and become increasingly integrated.
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Impacts of climate change on coral reefs and the marine environment
Author: Marcia CrearyIt is estimated that 70 per cent of the Earth’s surface area is made up of oceans,1 the most productive habitat, comprising 75 per cent of all known species. This unique environment, which remains generally unexplored and hidden from the world, plays an important role in regulating global temperature and is the primary producer of oxygen. Coral reefs, which comprise only about 0.5 per cent of the ocean floor, are complex three-dimensional structures built up over thousands of years as a result of the deposition of calcium carbonate skeletons of the reef building coral species. These reefs are often referred to as the “rainforest of the sea”. This allegory underestimates the complexity of coral reefs, which have a greater diversity of animal and plant life than rainforests, circulate nutrients through the intricate food web and provide food at all levels of the food chain.
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Waetr brings people together to create a better planet
Author: Walter StavelozA report from the 2030 Water Resources Group (November 2009), Charting Our Water Future: Economic Frameworks to Inform Decision-making, suggests that by 2030, in some developing regions of the world, water demand will exceed supply by 50 per cent. This is an alarming figure and shows the importance of access to this essential resource. Quick, evidence-based decision-making by national and international policymakers is required to avoid dramatic consequences for the planet and its population. However, policy decisions are not always forthcoming. Fortunately, there are some interesting shifts that may change this picture soon. One of the most important is the new vision that significant parts of the scientific community are developing to define its role in the decision-making process, as well as the growing consciousness of global citizens who want to be part of the process. The way forward for evidence-based decision-making is the creation of a triangular relationship among scientists, policymakers and an informed citizenship. Science centres and museums worldwide have the capacity and the willingness to help create that new relationship.
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Collective action: The private sector’s interest and role in collaborating to address water challenges in urban and rural areas
Authors: Jason Morrison and Peter SchulteAs many of us are aware, water poses as one of the most critical sustainable development challenges of the twenty-first century. Overall demand for water worldwide has increased steadily over the last century and is expected to continue to do so. Increasing water demand, limited supplies, pollution, inadequate infrastructure and lack of management capacity have led to water scarcity in many regions. Overallocation of surface water has led to insufficient instream flows and therefore damage to important riparian habitats and aquatic systems. Growing cities struggle to build infrastructure that keeps pace with population growth, while those in rural communities do not have enough water to fuel their livelihoods or must travel many miles to access clean water, exposing them to harm and hindering their economic productivity.
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Cooperation on water research and education among the universities from the Black Sea region
Author: Eden MamutThe Danube-Mediterranean-Black Sea region is defined in terms of a macrosystem that incorporates water and wildlife dynamics, anthropogenic pressures, socioeconomic patterns and transport and industrial chains.
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The Mediterranean Sea: Cradle of civilization
Author: Gülsün SağlamerThe Mediterranean Basin has been the cradle of world civilization since the first settlements in Jericho in 9000 BC. Known in English and the romance languages as the sea “between the lands”, the Mediterranean goes and has gone by many names: Our Sea, for the Romans, the White Sea (Akdeniz) for the Turks, the Great Sea (Yam Gadol) for the Jews, the Middle Sea (Mittelmeer) for the Germans and more doubtfully the Great Green for the ancient Egyptians.1 Our Sea played a major role in the communication of the peoples around it and prevented clashes between people with different interests from different parts of the Basin. No other such basin exists in the world. The world map shows what a unique location the Mediterranean Sea has in the world—it is big enough to house all of us but at the same time, with its unique shape, with its islands, bays and straits, it creates the means to connect the people around it. It looks as if it is a closed sea, but it offers the main transportation routes between east and west.
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