Text2: Water Scarcity – Real and Virtual Kết quả thực tế và ảo

Implications World Water day 2007, held Ngày nước sạch thế
on March 22nd 2007, was marked by giới được tổ chức vào
rallies in India, press ngày 22 tháng 3 năm
conferences                                2007 đã gây tiếng vang
(đổi thành chủ động) qua những  sự kiện
and marches in Zimbabwe, seminars in lớn: các buổi mít tinh
Bangladesh, support walks in Columbia, tại Ấn Độ cũng như 
exhibitions in Bangkok, and other events sự kiện họp báo và
around tuần hành tại
the world. Yet only months later, searches Zimbabwe,  hội thảo ở
for Bangladesh và các
water-related news stories in major cuộc đi bộ tại
newspapers yield little results, while the Columbia, các cuộc
problem triển lãm ở Bangkok
associated with access to water have not và các sự kiện khác
disappeared. The UN estimates that one trên toàn thế giới
billion nhằm quảng bá chiến
people in the world still lack sufficient dịch này. Chỉ một vài
access to tháng sau, mặc dù các
clean drinking water. Despite the fact that kết quả tìm kiếm về
70% những sự kiện liên
of the earth’s surface is covered by water, quan đến nước sạch
only trên các tờ báo uy tín
one percent is freshwater that is available gần như không được
in đề cập trong khi  vấn
easily accessible lakes and rivers. Most of đề liên quan đến việc
the thiếu nước vẫn còn tồn
world’s fresh water sources lie beneath tại. Liên hợp quốc ước
Antarctic tính vẫn còn 1 tỷ
glaciers and approximately one-quarter of người trên thế giới
the không có đủ khả năng
world’s supply is located in Lake Baikal tiếp cận đến nguồn
in nước sach . Mặc dù
Siberia, Russia. 70% bề mặt trái đất là
nước nhưng chỉ có 1%
While many consider water to be là nước sạch mà con
renewable người có thể lấy từ
resource, there is only finite amount sông hồ. Phần lớn
available nguồn nước sạch của
at any given period of time. In a constant thế giới nằm dưới các
cycle, tảng băng ở Nam cực
water flows through land into the oceans, và chỉ xấp xỉ ¼ nguồn
evaporates to form clouds, and then cung cấp trên thế giới
returns to đến từ hồ Baikai ở
land as rainfall. This water must supply vùng Siberia, Nga. 
the daily
drinking, agriculture, manufacturing, and
other Trong khi nhiều người
needs for the world population, which has vẫn nghĩ nước là một
exploded from 1.6 billion people at the nguồn tài nguyên có
beginning thể tái tạo được nhưng
thật ra chỉ có một
of the 20th century to 6.5 billion people at
present. lượng nước giới hạn có
thể cung cấp ở bất kì
Water Inequality khoảng thời gian nào.
In aggregate, there is an adequate amount Ở chu kì liên tục, nước
of chảy xuyên qua các
water to support the world population. vùng đất trong đại
Nevertheless, there is a significant range dương, bốc hơi để
in per hình thành nên những
capita resource distribution. Canada đám mây, và sau đó
contains trở về vùng đất khi
90,000 cubic meters of water per person. nước mưa rơi xuống.
In Lượng nước này phải
contrast, the Middle East represents the cung cấp cho các nhu
most cầu như: nước uống
water-scarce region in the world. Yemen hàng ngày, nông
averages less than 200 cubic meters per nghiệp, sản xuất và
person, các nhu cầu các cho sự
9 bùng nổ dẫn số trên
and its population is expected to double thế giới từ 1.6 tỉ người
by 2025. vào đầu thế kỉ 20 cho
In Asia, most of the region receives 90% đến 6,5 tỉ người hiện
of its nay. 
rainfall in less than 100 hours per year
because of
the monsoon climate.
Water availability and pollution
represents
a significant obstacle for countries such as
China.
Industrial and economic growth,
particularly in
Northern China, has led to the depletion
of the
Yangtze River. China is currently
undertaking a
$40-60 billion project to divert water from
the
Yangtze’s glacier headwaters in Tibet to
the
northern provinces. The water transfer of
40
billion cubic meters of water per year will
be
equivalent to the annual flow of China’s
second
longest river, the Yellow River.
In many water-scarce regions, technology
and
capability in rainwater harvesting – the
capture and collection of rainwater – is
being
developed and enhanced. Regions that are
building their capacity for rainwater
harvesting
include Australia, India, and the
southwestern
United States.
Improving irrigation efficiency is another
method for the alleviation of water
scarcity.
Worldwide variations in water efficiency
illustrate the potential for technology to
play a
role in reducing water stress. In
California, one
ton of water is required to produce 1.3 kg
of
wheat; in Pakistan, the same amount of
water
usage yields less than the amount. France
produces twice the amount of maize as
China
with the same amount of water. China
produces
twice the amount of rice as India with the
same
amount of water.
Irrigation technology is focused on
increasing
the “crop per drop” ratio. Drip
technology
aims to deliver water directly to the root
zone
of crops. Drip technology, however, is at a
development stage, and is used on only
one
percent of irrigated lands worldwide.
Ninety
percent of such land is located in wealthy
countries.
10
Another water technology development
focuses
on desalination to convert seawater into
freshwater. High energy costs associated
with
the desalination process, however, have
generally limited such application to areas
in the
Middle East and coastal cities. Israel has,
through
reserve osmosis technology, reduced costs
of
desalination to the level of conventional
water
utilities.
Virtual Water Trade
Agriculture is the most significant
consumer of
water, accounting for 70% of water usage
in the
world. Agriculture averages 80% of the
water
usage in developing countries and
represents as
high as 95% of water used in some
countries
where agricultural export is the
predominant
economic activity. The UN estimates that
two
to three litres of water are required for
personal
drinking purposes, and 20-30 liters of
water for
domestic needs. A person’s daily diet,
however,
requires between 2,000 to 3,000 liters of
water in
agriculture and production.
Despite the significant geographic
inequalities,
it is often difficult or impossible to
transport or
divert volumes of water to water-stressed
regions. Nevertheless, “virtual water”, or
water
used in the agricultural process, moves
between
countries and regions as a result of the
international food trade. 16% of water
usage in
the world is the result of goods produced
for
export instead of for domestic
consumption.
A Virtual Water Import Strategy is
visible with many water-stressed
countries.
Jordan, for example, is between 80-90%
dependent on virtual water imports.
Relative
water efficiency is also a key factor
determining
the types of crops or livestock produced
by a
country. The virtual water trade also
motivates
the study of western consumption
patterns
and the impact of globalization on water
supplies
around the world. As people become more
affluent, higher meat consumption and
industrial
11
goods usage will lead to greater demands
on
existing global water supply. On average,
1,000
liters of water is required to grow one
kilogram
of wheat. Between five and ten times more
water
results in one kilogram of meat. As a
result, one
hamburger requires up to 11,000 liters of
water to
produce.
All told, a typical US meat diet consumes
5.4
cubic meters of water per day. In
contrast, a
vegetarian diet represents 2.6 cubic
meters and a
diet for minimal survival requires one
cubic
meter of water per day. If the entire world
adopted the average Western diet, there
would
be a 75% instant increase in global water
needs.
Western consumption habits and the
patterns
of trade therefore have significant
implications
for water-stressed countries that export
agricultural commodities. Global
warming
resulting in rapid glacial melt also
represents a
considerable consequence for water
supply.
The water that flows from the glaciers of
the
Himalayas and Tibet in turn feed two
billion
people. In the Central Asia region, the
Aral Sea
has already shrunk to a quarter of its
1960
original size. Melting glaciers will
continue to
result in a significant decline of the
region’s
water supply.
The world population is expected to grow
to 8.9
billion people by 2050. At the same time,
globalization and international trade will
likely
heighten rather than alleviate situations of
water
stress. Both real conservation efforts and
a focus
on virtual trade considerations are
required to
manage the world’s water supply if it is to
meet
rising global demands for this life-
sustaining
resource.
(From World Water Council Report 2007
http://www.globalization101.org/water-
scarcityreal-and-virtual-implications-2/)