If not mitigated fast, the growing global water crisis could impact international peace and security, says a new book ‘Water, Peace and War’.
“Retail prices of bottled water in most countries are higher than the international spot price of oil. In other words, today water is dearer than oil,” said Brahma Chellaney, the author of the book, which was released here on Monday by the Vice-President of India, Hamid Ansari.
Chellaney said many investors were viewing water as the new oil. “The dramatic rise of the bottled water industry since the 1990s attests to the increasing commoditisation of the world’s most critical resource,” he said.
In the book, published by Oxford University Press, Chellaney, an international affairs geo-strategist, suggests various ways of mitigating the crisis, such as adopting some unconventional options to tap this finite natural source.
Ansari called for the need to reach out to every individual in the country in order to raise awareness about conserving water. “In future, we also need to look at means of desalinating water,” he added.
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.