The blue gold of the planet

World Water Day last March 22nd confirmed to us that in 2024 around a quarter of humanity will not have access to drinking water and almost half will not have toilets. These two data are enough to outline a scandalous inequality.

Africa is the part of the planet where the situation is most difficult. About 250 million people do not have access to drinking water and drink from unsafe sources, or use surface water, without any safety and control. This, combined with the scarcity of safe sanitation, poses high risks for the spread of infections. In particular, sub-Saharan Africa is the area of the world where people face the most serious shortage of drinking water. Even if no one officially declares it, many tensions on the planet are generated by water scarcity, which in turn is the cause and effect of desertification and creates social tensions and migrations. For example, on the African continent, these factors combined with ethnic rivalries can lead to real conflicts. The Pacific Institute in its Water Conflicts Chronology lists 116 cases of tension over the possession or destruction of water sources during 2023. Also due to climate change which has hit the Sahel and Horn of Africa hard, the fight is escalating.

A potential and dangerous conflict that could upset East Africa is that determined by the Great Renaissance Dam on the Nile built by Ethiopia to finally have the quantity of electricity necessary to achieve medium industrialization and ensure the regular functioning of services (such as in hospitals). It has not started so far, but Sudan and Egypt have strong reasons for concern as they use the Nile waters for agricultural purposes. When the dam reaches full capacity, the water will drastically reduce in the two countries.

Above all, Ethiopia and Egypt are facing each other and 5 years ago Cairo even threatened to bomb the building. Also in Ethiopia there are tensions over water both in the so-called Somali Region and in Oromia. And in nearby Somalia, torn apart by thirty years of civil war and climate changes that have caused prolonged droughts with totally dry seasons, the jihadist terrorists of al Shabaab often target wells and springs to scare away the thirsty populations, generating chaos and insecurity.

Throughout the African continent, the struggle for the possession of water has always involved farmers and shepherds who very often, instead of reaching an agreement, ignite hostilities and hide them behind political, ethnic or religious reasons. The same strategy is used in the Sahel by terrorists affiliated with the Islamic State who attack villages to expel populations who do not want to submit to their authority.

The attack to make the exodus irreversible does not spare water sources. In this context of tensions, the only alternative seems once again to be to cooperate on an equal basis, sharing technology and the knowledge of our associations, our universities and our scholars to find water and not waste it. It is the way to help these populations find peace, learning to share what has become the blue gold of the planet.


Paolo Lambruschi
NP April 2024