Global Warming and Water.

While tens of thousands of people marched in 33 countries yesterday to express their concern over the environment, most media did not even report it - let's get our priorities straight, this is time for Christmas shopping after all - and so Mr Bush continues to be as short-sighted as ever. Meanwhile, the UN Climate Conference is looking more like a non-event.

On this Sunday philophical or spiritual rest, here's another cause for reflection on the dramatic effect of global warming: water - or the ever increasing lack of it!

The region mostly affected by the current climate change cause by global warming will undeniably be Africa. Higher temperatures, climate change along with population increase will take their tolls on natural resources, especially water, in a continent already plagued by desertification and human-related disasters. This process has already begun.

This illustration speaks better than words:

This picture was found on U.N.E.P. (United Nations Environment Program) which has an excellent website with all sorts of interesting information. According to their reports, the potential impact includes the disappearance of many species, the spread of infectious disease, malnutrition and famines.

Does this mean that water could ever become as precious as oil? Are we going to see conflicts over water some day? This may be a dramatic, but no doubt it will add yet another reason for tension in some areas of the world.

An estimated third of the world's population currently lives in water-stressed countries. This is set to increase to two-thirds within 25 years. Africa and Asia are already hard-hit by water stress. (BBC)

Here's another interesting illustration:

And last but not least, this which shows water consumption in the world should help us put our own situation into prespective a little bit more (not that we don't know already!):