Climate change disrupts the water cycle, and human activity exacerbates the shortage of freshwater. Tensions to control and appropriate this vital resource are increasing. Similar to oil in the 20th century, water is becoming a source of conflicts.
This theme was addressed during the three symposiums in a dialogue between the scientists Karl Matthias Wantzen and Bernard Mossé. It is now being synthesized for younger audiences by Karl Matthias Wantzen.
Unesco Junior - Water is not inexhaustible and is starting to run out
Each of Man's activities involves a consumption of freshwater. With climate change, we understand that water is not inexhaustible and is beginning to run short in many regions of the world, leading to tensions and conflicts. To resolve these tensions, there are three conditions:
- Understand the water cycle and the impact of humans;
- Take into account the climate change in Europe that will resemble that of the Mediterranean, with droughts and floods;
- Build a respectful relationship with nature.
Understanding the water cycle
The water cycle includes evaporation, cloud formation, precipitation, surface or underground flow, and the return of water to the oceans through rivers. However, human activity disrupts this cycle through surface sealing (concrete, asphalt...), dams, and deforestation.
It is necessary for populations that depend on the same river network to communicate with each other.
But with the excessive deforestation of the watersheds, such as in the Amazon, due to the construction of dams, the damage is almost irreversible. We are condemning future generations to live in water scarcity.
Today is the day to act.
The Mediterraneanization of Europe
In Europe, we already have more and more dried-up rivers and warming water leading to diseases. And catastrophic torrential episodes.
We need to organize solidarity between countries because shortages hit much harder in Mediterranean countries.
It is also necessary to consider abandoning certain crops: for example, no longer cultivating strawberries and raspberries in Morocco for Europeans in winter! And no longer consuming them either!
In terms of water management and solidarity, this is absurd.
For the entire Mediterranean region, an exchange of best practices is essential.
A respectful relationship with nature
We must become aware that human beings have a strong impact on water.
For example, in the mountains, such as the Vosges and the Black Forest, we have planted bad tree species that are dying by the thousands because it is too dry; through drainage that leads the water downwards, we have dried up watershed areas that are crucial for the water cycle. On the contrary, it is necessary to restore wetlands, which are the true sponges of the landscape, filling the aquifers and providing water to the rivers.
More generally, we must expand the love for human beings to include love for nature: to be active towards it, knowing that it is our mother who supports us.
In the face of the ecological crisis, it is necessary to build a new relationship that respects nature, based on scientific knowledge and cooperation.
Glossary:
*Watershed : these are the high areas of rivers. They are "sponge" areas that retain water in winter and release it in summer. Furthermore, they purify the water and are biodiversity reserves. They are fragile areas, little known, often diverted by humans through canals and dams.
Biography
Karl Matthias Wantzen studied biology at the University of Constance, completed his doctorate on Brazilian waters at the Max Planck Institute, and obtained his postdoctoral qualification on the theme "Biodiversity and nature conservation of large rivers." For 8 years, he led an international cooperation project on the Pantanal in Brazil, the vast floodplain of the Paraguay River.
Since 2010, he has been a professor at French universities, first in Tours, since 2023 in Strasbourg. In addition to a UNESCO chair "Rivers and Heritage", he also directs an interdisciplinary chair "Water and Sustainability" for the trinational university partnership "EUCOR- The European Campus".
More information at https://ites.unistra.fr/recherche/equipes/bise/karl-matthias-wantzen, https://www.unesco-chair-river-culture.eu/
Bernard Mossé Historian, Research, Education, and Training Manager at the NEEDE Mediterranean association.
Member of the Scientific Council of the Camp des Milles Foundation - Memory and Education, for which he was the scientific director and coordinator of the UNESCO Chair "Education for Citizenship, Human Sciences, and Convergence of Memories" (Aix-Marseille University / Camp des Milles).