Water rights and water fights: preventing and resolving conflicts before they boil over.

摘要

Scarcity of freshwater is an increasingly critical public health problem in many parts of the world. World leaders, including United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, have urged that this issue be given high priority. Inadequate access to safe freshwater contributes to waterbome disease, malnutrition, poverty, economic and political instability, and conflict-potentially violent conflict-between countries or groups within countries.Approximately 97.5% of all water is either salt water or water that has become polluted. Of the remaining 2.5%, nearly 70% is frozen in glaciers and the polar ice caps. Less than 0.01% of all water worldwide is available for human use in lakes, rivers, reservoirs, and easily accessible aquifers.