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To: E. Charters who wrote (75152)	8/17/2001 3:14:36 AM
From: c.hinton	Respond to of 116922

Interesting statement,I live in italy,so me not living in america makes america a worse place.Thank you! g.

To: E. Charters who wrote (75152)	8/17/2001 6:26:10 AM
From: Moominoid	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116922

The Aussie Dollar has gone up about 0.5 US cent in the last ten minutes on Globex! Now at .5335. Wonder what is up?

To: E. Charters who wrote (75152)	8/17/2001 8:03:21 AM
From: long-gone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116922

World Water Shortage May Cause Unprecedented Global Crisis PlanetRice.net 8-15-1 A worldwide water shortage is likely to worsen severely over the next 25 years, affecting billions of people in an unprecedented global crisis involving the earth's most precious natural resource, reports the UK's Independent. This an other international news reports were summarized in the World Bank's Development News Digest on Aug. 14. The reports come as scientists, agriculturalists, and environmentalists from around the world gather at the Stockholm Water Symposium this week. Predictions on freshwater availability portray a bleak future for the children of today. As many as 2.7 billion people, almost one-third of the world's population, will live in regions facing severe water scarcity by 2025, the UK's Financial Times reported. Figures issued by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), based in Sri Lanka, show that Asia and sub-Saharan Africa will be the most severely affected regions, with the shortage likely to extend well beyond semi-arid and arid regions. "Urban centers will experience severe water shortages, but the rural poor will suffer the most serious consequences," the Independent quoted IWMI Director General Frank Rijsberman as saying. "Many already lack access to potable water and to the quantity and quality of water needed to grow food and generate income." Increasing demand for water from both industry and agriculture is the leading cause of the threatened shortage, the FT noted. Environmentalists have also warned that water usage must be reduced to protect rivers, lakes, and wetlands. But weighing the needs of agriculture against those of the environment is a complex matter, symposium organizers said. William Cosgrove, vice-president of the World Water Council, said, "In developing countries, irrigation today accounts for more than 80% of the water consumed, so that the debate on how to manage water for agriculture is of paramount importance to the very poor." Meanwhile, Paul Simon of Southern Illinois University, United States, and a former Democratic senator from Illinois noted in the New York Times that nations go to war over oil, but there are substitutes for oil. How much more intractable might wars be that are fought over water, an even scarcer commodity for which there is no substitute? Nowhere is this more true than in the Middle East, Simon said. Even in the unlikely event that the current conflict between Israelis and Arabs is resolved tomorrow, in 10 years or less the area is likely to explode over water--unless regional and long-range planning begins soon. Every continent has places where painful shortages are coming. China, for example, has 7% of the world's fresh water and 22% of its population; 300 large cities there already have serious water shortages. The World Bank reports that 300 million people live today in areas of serious to severe water shortage and that in 25 years the number will be 3 billion. As aquifers continue to decline and rivers shrink, problems over water will inevitably increase, Simon said. Some type of international system of assessing water flows and aquifers, a highly technical task, is needed. It must be backed by an international water court, something akin to what a few of the United States' western states now have. The problems with water are too technical for a court at The Hague to handle. The United States should take the lead in bringing countries together to establish these protections, Simon said. planetrice.net