Fresh water life itself, has never come easy in the Middle East. Ever since the Old Testament(旧约圣经) God punished man with 40 days and 40 nights of rain, water supplies here have been dwindling. The rainfall only comes in winter, Inshallah Good willing and drains quickly through the semiarid land, leaving the soil to bake and to thirst for next November.
The regions accelerating population, expanding agriculture, industrialization, and higher living standards demand more fresh water. Drought and pollution limit its availability. War and mismanagement squander it. Says Joyce Starr of the Global Water Summit Initiative, based in Washington, D.C. Nations like Israel and Jordan are swiftly sliding into that zone where they are suing all the water resources available to them. They have only 15 to 20 years left before their agriculture, and ultimately their food security, is threatened.
I came here to examine this crisis in the making, to investigate fears that water wars are imminent, that water has replaced oil as the regions most contentious commodity. For more than two months I traveled through three river valleys and seven nations from southern Turkey down the Euphrates River Syria, Iraq, and on to Kuwait; to Israel and Jordan, neighbors across the valley of the Jordan; to the timeless Egyptian Nile.
Even amid the scarcity there are haves and have notes. Compared with the United States, which in 1990 had a freshwater potential of 10000 cubic meters(2.6 million galloons) a year for each citizen, Iraq had 5 500, Turkey had 4 000, and Syria had more than 2 800. Egypts potential was only 1 100. Israel had 460, Jordan a meager 260. But these are not firm figures, because upstream use of river water can dramatically alter the potential downstream.
Scarcity is only one element of the crisis. Inefficiency is another, as is the reluctance of some water poor nations to change priorities from agriculture to less water intensive enterprises. Some experts suggest that if nations would share both water technology and resources, they could satisfy the regions population, currently 159 million. But in this patchwork of ethnic and religious rivalries, water seldom stands alone as an issue. It is entangled in the politics that keep people from trusting and seeking help from one another. Here, where water, like truth, is precious, each nation tends to find its own water and supply its own truth.
As Israeli hydrology professor Uri Shamir told me : If there is political will for peace, water will not be a hindrance. If you want reasons to fight, water will not e a hindrance. If you want reasons to fight, water will give you ample opportunities.
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 65:Not a baby
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 109:A good idea
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 83:Going on holiday
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 105:Full of mistakes
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 87:A car crash
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 101:A card from Jimmy
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 39:Don’t drop it
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 73:The way to King Street
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 85:Pairs in the spring
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 119:A true story
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 51:A pleasant climate
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 113:Small change
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 77:Terrible toothache
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 57:An unusual day
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 59:Is that all
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 121:The man in the hat
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 129:Seventy miles an hour
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 125:Tea for two
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 117: Tommy’s breakfast
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 123: A trip to Australia
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 133:Sensational news
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 93:Our new neighbour
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 111:The most expensive model
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 97:A small blue case
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 53:An interesting climate
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 75:Uncomfortable shoes
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 71:He’s awful
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 107:It’s too small
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 135: The latest report
新概念英语第一册 Lesson 49:At the butcher’s
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