Domino effect: Far away and very close

What do we care!?

Indian women carry water in jars

We're sitting comfortably in front of the TV, nibbling on chips, it's raining outside and the news is on in the first: water shortage in Syria, famine in the Middle East, record drought in Australia... - "Oh my," we think, "the poor people in these countries . It's a good thing we're far away.” - Not so ...!

When masses of rain, slush and floods reach their peak here in Europe, we wish for nothing more than sunny, dry days with summer temperatures. What we do not suspect, however: Elsewhere, it's just the opposite, perhaps even dramatic, and our water surplus would be welcome there. While we are trying to master the water masses here, winter wheat is supposed to grow and flourish in the southern hemisphere - for us and the entire northern hemisphere a food on which we are more dependent than we think!

But what if the #climatechange beyond the equator is causing extreme #drought, persistent droughts and #water shortages again? The consequences of this have changed all our lives not so long ago!

Climate change hits Australia's agriculture
Climate change has been affecting Australia's agriculture for years and is constantly causing new temperature records, which also affect us enormously

Experts refer to this as the butterfly or #domino effect: Events in one part of the world have an immediate impact on another.

In the above case, water shortages and a long-lasting drought in Australia and parts of Asia ensured that reduced or even non-existent winter wheat deliveries severely limited the supply on the world market. Due to the high demand for wheat, world market prices rose and stock market speculators took advantage of the moment and upped the ante by further shortages. Prices skyrocketed...

Suddenly hardly anyone in the Middle East and Northern Africa could afford bread, suddenly #Hunger found its way into the already stricken regions, suddenly people became desperate... and millions of people fled from their homeland... to us in Europe.

This #refugee wave, mainly caused by lack of water, presented and presents us with a task that spans generations and has an impact on all of our lives. But not only that! A political shift to the right suddenly went through the countries of the world, the fear of #mass immigration paved the way for right-wing parties in Europe, "America first" and politicians like Donald Trump and even #Brexit can be traced back to it.

#Farming leaves the biggest fingerprint on the map of global #water availability. But almost half of the water used in agriculture comes from the #groundwater reserves, which have already reached a critical limit due to overpumping and pollution or have even exceeded it in some cases. The #water is running out.

However, this lack of water threatens the world's ability to feed its rapidly growing #worldpopulation and increases the risk of global upheaval that one doesn't even want to imagine.

But it is to be expected that the next #watercrisis is just around the corner - and more dramatically than we have experienced. China, India, Pakistan and Mexico are promising candidates. But even Europe and Germany are not that far away from #watercollapse with the worst #summerdroughts in over 2,000 years (!). So what?

In our global, interconnected world, no one can afford to ignore #waterproblems of any kind. Water concerns us all. Therefore: Let's tackle it together - side by side we can overcome the water crisis!

Flow of refugees
Millions of refugees seek refuge with usin Europe

Author: Uwe S. Meschede

References (content)

More links on the water crisis:

 

Would you like to learn more about water, water problems and solutions in the context of the #climatecrisis? Then register here!