Could water shortages be the cause of the next major international conflict? With around 1.8 billion people estimated to be living in water scarcity by 2025, water charity Just A Drop is posing just this question.
Some of the world’s most established and emerging economies- including parts of America, China, the Middle East and India – are already suffering chronic water shortages.
Respected BBC journalist and presenter of BBC current affairs programme HARDtalk Stephen Sackur will ask if worsening water shortages could lead to future international conflict.
Just A Drop Patron Sackur will quiz leading international authority on climate change and Senior Advisor to Prince Charles’s Rainforest Project Andrew Mitchell and legendary explorer Colonel John Blashford-Snell on the impact worldwide water shortages could have on the political landscape.
Just A Drop founder and Chairman Fiona Jeffery said: ‘Water is such a significant resource and plays such a crucial role in many aspects of our lives.
‘This importance could unfortunately lead to major international conflicts as countries battle to secure water supply in the same way oil has lead to international friction.
‘The lecture aims to explore the issues while educating people of the importance of water and explore how we can all contribute to its effective use and at the same time help transform people’s lives.’
Just A Drop’s Is Water The New Oil? lecture – sponsored by Simpson Millar Solicitors LLP – takes place on Wednesday 29 April 2009 at the Royal Geographical Society, London SW7.
Simpson Millar Solicitors LLP Partner Jacqui Parker said: ‘Simpson Millar LLP is delighted to be sponsoring the Just A Drop Lecture, which will increase the awareness of water management problems facing the whole world. The lecture will help to raise valuable funds to help Just A Drop continue to alleviate water shortages in the areas that are most deeply affected.’
Just A Drop
Polluted water is the world’s biggest killer of children under five. Just a Drop raises money to build wells, install hand pumps and carry out health and sanitation programmes to give them and their families clean, accessible water.
This means children are well enough to go to school, mothers needn’t trek miles in search for clean water, and fathers are healthy enough to work. The cycle of sickness and poverty is broken and the future is immediately brighter.
Andrew Mitchell
Director of the Global Canopy Programme, Andrew Mitchell is a leading international authority on forests and climate change. An impassioned advocate of forest conservation for more than 30 years, Andrew acts as an advisor to governments and international institutions and is Senior Advisor to the Prince of Wales’ Rainforest Project. Andrew also co-founded the UK Corporate Environment Responsibility Group and has advised on environmental policy for companies such as McDonalds, Barclays and British Airways.
Colonel John Blashford-Snell
Colonel John Blashford-Snell is one of the world’s most seasoned and legendary explorers having led more than seventy expeditions to remote corners of the globe. In 1968, John led a 60-strong party on the famous Blue Nile Expedition and has since organised and led more than 100 expeditions with strong environmental, medical and scientific objectives. His own interest in conservation has driven him to support numerous charities and helped to set up Just a Drop, of which he is now honorary president.
