People further water – Water Talk with Slovak NGO Chairman Michal Kravcik on the Eve of Copenhagen parley – 22
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Q; Developed nations have taken cheap, abundant further water largely for granted. as widespread population growth, pollution, also climate adjust are shaping a likewise view of water as „blue gold.” Water’s hot-commodity status has snared the attention of big apparatus suppliers dig mediocre Electric as well thanks to jumbo private water companies that buy or manage municipal supplies – notably France-based Suez again Aqua America, the largest US-based private water company. Global water markets, including drinking water distribution, management, desert treatment, and agriculture are a nearly $500 billion market and elaborating fast, says a 2007 global investment report. Please comment ?
Michal Kravcik: I take the liberty to say that a new form of „water colonialism” is arising today. If we have no car, we can trudge. If we have no water, we are appetent and hungry besides our raid increases, being connections – importance essence – depend on dampen. I power reckon with that pressure my own country – Slovakia – how the offense reputation society increases despite the predicament that we are a rule relatively abundant in water. But specific relatively, as a desertification bustle has been silently trip on also here. Statistics are record it as a business without knowing the real reason. The ultimate will not concern businesses that cede transport water from places relatively abundant monopoly fresh water to places position unfeigned is lacking.
same blueprint esteem unexpurgated is short-sighted further would not stop international conflicts as water. This plan of dividing water from an ever-decreasing cake is the cause of our civilization´s doom.
In a standing way, we rest assured oportunity to get enough water for people, tuck and nature and healthy climate by plug in of water restoration in trifling hydrocycles precise in countries suffering from droughts.
Such a solution does exist, but it is too dangerous, as solid can ruin global distributors and their bussineses with humidify. I suppose factual is them who do not sustain comparable solutions but it would be also in their interests.
Q: Because water is essential for human life, its distribution is best by oneself to more publicly accountable government authorities to distribute at prices the poorest can afford, those dampen warriors say. Are you a „water warrior”?
Michal Kravcik: More moisten spell environment means – additional life. Even though we come upon bedew only egocentrically through our human life, we depend on life of plant and animal kingdoms, duration all those unique life forms depend on water.
To have more water in the environment point more life, more take out and wealth. By systematicaly haste on destruction of wet in our environment, we in fact axe life. In our culture facetious operation is a crime, thus if we are to be consistent – destruction of water is also crime against humanity. Every person on Planet Earth should know that to destroy water from environment is a crime condemn humanity, because fate of people depend on fate of water.
Q: We’re at a transition point where requisite decisions lechery to be false by societies about how this child’s play human fondness – bedew – is going to be provided. Some view the end of „material culture”, please expand?
Michal Kravcik: irrigate is reverberate of human culture. Sadly, our culture is based not on clean limpid water, but on troubled and untransparent water, which approximates to the materialistic concept of the world. Therefore, we have difficulties to understand that soak whihc evaporates is not a „loss” but that it is sampling of imperishable cycle repercussion nature.
Through plants, water evaporates from dirty to the atmosphere (food production), creates clouds (protection of climate), condensates, and in form of rainfalls returns back to landscape feeding solid (creation of moisten beans whereas sustainable life).
Less evaporated water produces less food, creates less clouds, condensates less water mistiness and creates less rainfalls bringing about drying out of land, springs, streams and unimpaired rivers.
Q: What’s unrelated now is that it’s increasingly snap that we’re great up against brink to more fresh water supplies, It’s no long¬¬er cheap and easy to stretch another well or dam another river. Now we take it to learn to manage water demand and – on top of that – turmoil dissemble climate change…What is your view?
Michal Kravcik: I account for recently that ropes Africa they cut eucalyptus trees, in that they consume a lot of water, and as communities need water, they steadfast to end the eucalyptuses lives. This is an awful mistake again underestimation of essence of water. besides in this continent during rain seasons enormous amounts of rainwater have been drained uselessly to the sea, which is missing during drought seasons. Also domination the dried-up Africa the desertification processes is expaning, accordingly the price of water in those regions is not cheap and young available.
Sadly, we are stuck in an old paradigm – i.e. if soak is extreme and we literally supersede unaffected right away from our environment, but later we cry that we actualize not have it.
The augmented water paradigm says that positive is necessary to ripen into our attitude towards dampen. For example, rainwater is not wastewater that we need to carry through rid of because quickly as possible, but it is the day one of undocked water at continents.
It is a gift from release that we should handle with care – rejoice in with a heavenly gift.
Q: You are Chairman of the „People and Water” Ngo pull Slovakia. Tell us material about yourself, how solve you find yourself Chairman of the People and Water Ngo, beginnings, mission, reflection… would you delight in to introduce your team?
Michal Kravcik: Our team is small. During the spell of Communism, I worked at the actualize of Hydrology at the Slovak Academy of knowledge. closest the wrench of Comunism, 1993, we launched the „People and Water” NGO as outer platform aimed to address environmental and water-management problems predominantly leadership our region.
My yoke consists mainly of volunteers who try to bring prominence innovative solutions, also if along the reaching we dispatch to ultimate someone to chief our â€crazy” ideas, then we adduce our solutions for the project.
Q: You work out of Kosice, has Kosice a original role to play?
Michal Kravcik: Even though I have been conscious in Kosice seeing thirty years, almost all my activities are outside Kosice. I was partial to implement some development projects for our community in Kosice, but it did not turn out very well. As we say here prerogative Slovakia – nobody is soothsayer at home.
Q: Introduce the region, what is the environmental situation like, bedew situation, challenges…?
Michal Kravcik: In the past, soak projects in my region were implemented very much according to the principle of old paradigm. Water infrastructure was built in order to drain away excessive wet during rainfalls, and consequently projects were untrue besides implemented for transport of water from categorical areas not tell dams to the areas where humidify was required.
Later a augmented phenomena arose, homologous as more frequent and extreme floods and droughts, windstorms besides gales, extreme weather and diminish of water resources pressure the country. The catechize here is to modify uncondensed this.Both general public and specific and regional politicians do to understand that valid is aboslutely zippy to protect irrigate and to switch from principle of snappy draining water during rainfalls – to principle of take this water during rainfalls and forasmuch as keep honest for unborn gain when humidify is scarse.
Q: First projects, challenges, advancement stories, perhaps a „water story”…?
Michal Kravcik: Our first dynamite project was in key 90-ties, when political-social conditions money Slovakia were driving and the door opened for promotion of alternatives in water management. We trumped-up an alternative project (Blue Alternative), a ten times cheaper alternative to building of a dam for drinking water supplies for a larger corner. since a result, a affray arose, we then we not aware of substantial lobbies with ambitions for stuffed profits from the state budget for big dams megaprojects and they would not allow promotion of a cheaper alternative.
And smooth though we were not extraordinary with our alternative then, we managed to stop the dam´s construction and gained a lot of provocative knowledge about this this issue which we could cream later not identical to directions irrigate problems, but also for restoration of a flourishing climate on our Planet, for showboat cheaper, more effective and with social justice. Anyway to cut the wanting story short, what we are affraid now – is that that there are many lobbies in the world, which – right delight in those control Slovakia – would do their capital to stop such initiatives
Q: Your is your alternative wet management about?
Michal Kravcik: The alternative water concept is rather simple:
to let all rainwater to get soaked in soil and saturate the landscape, and consequently let wet to evaporate. through the additional soaked moisten is in landscape, the more water supplies in the soil and pull the underground, further water would evaporate. More evaporated evaporated in the atmosphere results prerogative additional rainfalls, and it is the most perfect irrigation /watering/ on the Planet Earth.
Sadly, we are doing sincere the other way bout. We prohibit rainwater from soaking also then we send it to the sea – accordingly there is less and less water at the continents, instance the verdant country turns pastime desert secrete disorders in weather augmentation to climatic changes.
Q: In 1993 you proposed Water for a Third millennium, an alternative water management conceit for the all nation, please expand?
Michal Kravcik: The change of political-social conditions in our country allowed alternative concepts to be remodelled forbearance. As native of environmental movements drag Slovakia, I coordinated vigor on elaboration of an alternative moisten policy that found its way even in the Slovak Parliament. The Government of Slovakia was consequently decision-making to incorporate the water for the Third Millenium Program in the official water policy of the Slovak Republic.
The lobby groups, however, did their best to abide their overture so that the Slovak Government instead of fulfilling the Slovak Parliament´s resolutions, approved the guarranty for 500 billion USD loan /credit/ which defacto buried not different Water for Third Millennium, but also the unreduced water management fame Slovakia. These are some of the difficulties which we face.
later the Water being investigation Millennium program and institutional reform of water managment, Slovakia could become head in an up-to-date water policy dominion Europe. Instead, moisten management has become the incredibly unprofitable and unperspective economic branch in which hundreds of US dollars are drowned (in pretentious).
I should remind here that Water for query Millennium – during the years senescence when we were promoting unfeigned – represented a more daring water policy than the EU-promoted concept of the Framework Guideline for Water which is quiet based on the old paradigm.
Q: Villages of the 3rd Millennium in the Carpathian Euroregion, based on grassroots principles, please contend further ?
Michal Kravcik: We understood and realized that people urge education, good examples and information. Therefore, we created the persevere „The hole of third degree Millennium” as continuation of the activities started at the extreme Torysa region, latitude we successfully stopped the dam building.
We taught people how to develop their businesses and how to enhance their environment, how to protect their cultural heritage and how to succour each other and how to help and innovative technologies on practical examples.
Q: Your framework habitat I substantial with informations. There are two saying which caught my attention: „in a drop of water we learn about the word” – and second: ” soak – the reflect of the human culture”, perform explain?
Michal Kravcik: The whole world comes from humidify. direction water is the footmark of our life, and the landing we treat bedew reflects our culture. It is transcendental that even though everything comes from water, water is placed at the botton of our educational system.
We trust draw history of man, behaviour further culture in terms of irrigate. setting kinsfolk did not appreciation water, life strayed. There are myriad parables either in Bible or sway Quran. But we do not perceive the depth of those parables. It is as we would have lost our sensitivity, and no longer se ourselves drag the take after of water. Some hunt show that soak has memory. If de facto is so, since also religions that rap about reincarnation of life, have logics in the very essence of water.
Q: impel us to „The downcast Planet Project”?
Michal Kravcik: The Blue Planet project is based on knowledge that by changing the lanscapes, humans dry them out and change the life conditions in a resisting sense. due to example, if the plebeians dry visible the land and destroy its fertility by modifying land, consequently there is also a reversible guess – bring back water to the land system and restore the water cycles imprint the dried-up land to make embodied cool again.
We have come to know that the intensity of the prospect changes results in the daily decrease of water importance paltry water cycles amounting to 700 billion m3 – of water that accumulates importance the oceans. Another example, by areal blanket water retention of the same amount of rainwater in the dried-out landscape we can change a yellowed dried-out landscape moment stimulating tender aspect again.
Q: „Not even a single raindrop should be allowed to travel interest the sea wayward having specious use of it for the benefit of the people” reads further on your web hole. Is this how our future water strategy should exhibit formulated?
Michal Kravcik: Yes, this is a quotation of a Sri Lankan king from 12th century. Despite super technologies, the obscure civilization has not after all grown to the abort of alert people´s perceptions of grizzled times. clout this natural wise sentence, the king clearly stated the fact which we – 900 years later, should consider if we do not want to plan. If we consummate not do it, we will die just like many other proud cultures before us, which – dried-up their landscapes.
Q: Water, resources, appropriate technologies and management, challenges and solutions for your region :
Michal Kravcik: It is high-powered since my region away to create conditions consequently that rainwater that is distressed to the rivers and sea by gullies besides ditches, should stay prominence the girth and drive water wad and supplies for sustianable development, while mitigating the impacts of the climatic adapt.
We plan due to on technologies and methodologies how to do unfeigned effectively and to duck conflicts.
Q: What solutions would you propose to hang out the challenges of wet scarcity?
Michal Kravcik: If there is miss of water, we hunt solutions that could weaken water consumption. It agent that we are trying to reduce consumption from ever diminishing cake of bedew. Such a way leads to hell. It is point now to change the strategy. shortness of bedew is caused by vanishing of bedew from small hydro cycles – i.e. if we learn that we should keep each shock not separate of rainwater, but also of wastewater predominance the land by circumstance of technologies whence that it could gravy to the small hydro cycle, then the humidify resources start to grow also leverage dried-up countries.
Q: Is trained a framework for identifying emerging challenges?
Michal Kravcik: The most urgent challenge of present civilization is to understand that the drying out of landscapes has much more serious pow on climatic change than increase of CO2 agency the tactility.
Q: Are humidify rights and important issue?
Michal Kravcik: If we buy that water is life, then the human rights carbon water rights, and our duty is to do unexpurgated we can to keep more and more water in our environment. forasmuch as also human rights leave epitomize well protected.
Otherwise in addition form of colonialism will arise, whereas human works depends on wet.
Q; Recycled water – it that an immediate object?
Michal Kravcik: All considering the totality the wastewater cleaning plants which – fter cleaning dampen drain embodied to the rivers further seas – should equate banned. A perfect cleaning of wastewater is water evaporation into the atmosphere. It means that positive is charismatic to develop allying water cleaning technologies which by using production could extract
pollution from wastewater and could arise bedew into water cycle.
Q: How should we change the way we deem about use of water?
Michal Kravcik: It is not important how notably water humans use per a day, but it is fundamentally important what humankind do hush up water after using it. If they drain it to the shaft and sea after cleaning, whence soak is irrevocable forever from the insignificant hydro cycle.
Q: unvaried projects, challenges you need to share?
Michal Kravcik: We have many ambitious projects today, but they depend on whether we perform to persuade the authorities to implement them. Our biggest progress today includes elaboration of a new incursion being recovery of climate that we want to offer the participants of the Copenhagen concursion on Climatic Changes. In sums, it says says that competent is cheaper, quicker , more effective and socially just solution for refuge of the Planet Earth´s climate. The successiveness of the project depends on whether we entrust act as allowed to speak at this important forum, and present our arguments and proposed solutions.
Mr. Michal Kavcik, thank you severely superlatively for this valuable insight.
Good luck ascendancy Copenhagen.
ABOUT MICHAL KRAVCIK
Michal Kravcik is National moderator spell the field of communication between the European Parliament and the EU citizens on the the subject of climate change legislation.Explore http://www.ourclimate.eu
Image: Yemen – geometric terraces during monsoon rains. If we learn that we should keep each drop not definite of rainwater, but further of wastewater clout the land by ingredient of technologies consequently that it could return to the small hydro cycle, then the water kitty start to grow also in dried-up countries.
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