What Will 7.8 Billion People Do Now?
How often does a speaker ignite questions that stir your soul?
Josette Sheeran, executive director, United Nations World Food Programme, Rome, Italy, was the guest speaker to 70 people at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s headquarters in Seattle on June 19, 2007.
Bill Gates, Sr. served as the host and moderator of this event, sponsored by the Initiative for Global Development and the Gates Foundation.
As one of the attendees, I had the honor of sitting in the front row, far right.
After Mr. Gates welcomed the group, he introduced Ms. Sheeran, and she delivered her prepared remarks .
As an unplanned comment during her speech, Ms. Sheeran mentioned that WFP wasn’t allowed, by UN Charter, to distribute water along with food to people in need around our planet.
It caught my attention because of a personal experience being with my mom during her last few weeks of life as she struggled with advanced Alzheimer’s disease in January 2005.?Mom was in a coma and didn’t eat any food during the last 10 days.?She was given fluids, primarily water, though, per her Advance Directive.
After finishing formal remarks, Ms. Sheeran was asked several questions by Mr. Gates. Upon which, he opened it up to questions from the audience.
I politely raised my hand.?Mr. Gates recognized me first.?As I stood, I thanked Ms. Sheeran for her eloquent and thoughtful remarks along with expressed appreciation for WFP's work and her service.
At this point, I revealed that I had three short questions.
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“First, how long can a human being live without food?”?Ms. Sheeran stated, “It’s been determined to be 30-45 days.”?An older gentleman in the back spoke up by saying, “When I was in the Korean War, they told us we could live up to 60 days without food.”
“Second, how long can a person live without water?”?Immediately, the physician responsible for the Gates Foundation’s water programs internationally jumped up and stated, “It’s a proven fact medically that it’s only 2-3 days.”
“Finally, if water is more important than food for human survival, why can’t the UN’s World Food Programme distribute water, too?”?Ms. Sheeran responded very clearly and matter-a-factly, “Our Charter doesn’t allow us to distribute water.?In order for our UN agency to enter a country, it requires an emergency and the head of state, e.g., president, prime minister, king, queen, or another leader, must invite us to perform humanitarian food relief in their country.?Even the United States is eligible. For example, President George W. Bush could have asked the World Food Programme to offer food to people along the Gulf Coast impacted by Hurricane Katrina.?However, he didn’t.?Water has become a political football between countries, nongovernmental organizations, and corporations.?It may lead to major conflicts between them.?In my opinion, the lack of clean safe water will be the singular biggest problem facing our world this century.”
It’s now almost 15 years later.?
Given droughts, pollution, forest fires, population growth, and a host of over issues, water is definitely a weighty problem.?It’s reaching a crisis point in many places around the world. For example in the southwestern United States, the Colorado River is experiencing a record decline in water flow, which is impacting more than 40 million U.S. citizens, plus more people in Mexico, too.
What are your ideas for addressing this critical urgent problem in the Colorado River Basin??
What about possible solutions for other states and countries that face similar lack of water challenges now?
In the coming years and decades, what will 7.8B plus people do to ensure abundant, potable, and affordable water for everyone?
It's a basic need, just like air, for each person. And a human right.
Your thoughts?
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2 年Thank you for sharing this thought-provoking article. I believe water and access to water is the single most important issue facing our time and will increasingly become the cause of much human suffering and violence as it continues to become more scarce. As you pointed out we cannot survive without it and thus it is a basic human right. It feels to me like something that should never be privatized, though it increasingly is a luxury item. No one should be able to make a profit off of what we all need to live while folks still do not have basic access to clean water sources. It is very much a social and racial justice issue as well due to urban planning and lack of infrastructure upgrades in certain neighborhoods. I'm thinking of lead in Detroit water and lack of access in the global south, etc. Agricultural and manufacturing practices are a huge source of water waste. All of these things to me are a huge opportunity. There is inspiring work being done in these areas, especially by businesses like B Corps. There are many creative ways we can make this better going forward, for example larger organizations working with vendors and suppliers to reduce waste in production.