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January 24, 2008
UN Chief Calls for Water Priority at the World Economic Forum
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland today, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the world to put the coming water shortages to be the primary focus of the global agenda, and to prevent conflicts over scarce supplies of water.
"Too often, where we need water we find guns instead," Ban said.
"Population growth will make the problem worse. So will climate change. As the global economy grows, so will its thirst. Many more conflicts lie just over the horizon."
We need to adapt to this reality, just as we do to climate change," he said. "There is still enough water for all of us - but only so long as we can keep it clean, use it more wisely, and share it fairly,"Ban said.
"We must mobilize world opinion and focus political will,"he said. "What we did for climate change last year, we want to do for water and development in 2008."
"Water is today's issue," said Andrew Liveris, chairman and CEO of Dow Chemical Co. (DOW), the world's second-largest chemical company. "It is the oil of this century, not a question."
E. Neville Isdell, chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Co. (KO), said "this is an issue which ranks next to climate change. ... However, water has got lost as part of the climate change debate."
Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, chairman and CEO of Nestle SA (NSRGY), the world's largest food and drink company, said "time is still on our side but time is running out, just like water is running out," as reported by the Associated Press, and published by CNN Money.com
Posted by Stephen Betheil at January 24, 2008 05:24 PM
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