Ed Dowding

I remember my geography teacher saying that the next world war would be about water. There have been a few issues already, but as Egypt rejects Nile water agreement I think we can probably see this a key moment in history.

Switzerland, which has the largest reserves of fresh water, must be getting nervous. And it makes Spain’s investment in renewable energies and solar technology look even more sensible, since they’ll be able to use it for desalination and pumping.

Make no mistake, if you thought people have kicked up quite a fuss over ideologies and economics over the past century, you might wonder what they’ll do when the very staples of their lives are threatened.

This, in part, is the reason why I can see no more important purpose in the (my) world than growing food sustainably, and community building.

Update 15/05/10: Salt killing crops, driving migration in storm-hit southern Bangladesh – Worsening sea water storm surges and overuse of irrigation have left fields, wells and ponds in parts of southern Bangladesh too salty to grow crops, leading to a growing exodus of farmers from the region. Last year Singh got a ton of rice from his land. This year he may get less than a tenth of that amount. “I am very much worried how I will feed my family members this year,” he said. Thousands of farmers are becoming landless and migrating elsewhere within or outside of Bangladesh, residents said. Many farmers tell of neighbours who have left for Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, or for neighbouring India over the last six months to a year.