Perilous
Times
20 former world leaders discuss looming world water crisis
by Staff Writers
Montreal (AFP) May 31, 2011
Twenty former heads of state, including former US president Bill
Clinton, warned Tuesday of an impending "water crisis" and agreed
to establish a panel that will tackle a worldwide leadership gap
on the issue.
The retired leaders, among them ex-Mexican president Vicente Fox
and former Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda, said the panel
would work to raise the issue's political prominence in order to
avert looming problems with worldwide water supply.
Members of the InterAction Council attending this year's three-day
annual meeting in Quebec City also included former Mexican leader
Ernesto Zedillo and and Gro Brundtland of Norway.
The group urged a new international water ethic and offered 21
recommendations for world water management.
At the top of the list: "placing water at the forefront of the
global political agenda."
Others items included linking climate change research and water
problems, creating a legal right to water, and raising the price
of water to reflect its economic value.
In areas where water is rationed, the priority should be for food
crops and not bio-fuels, said the group, whose co-chairs were
former Canadian prime minister Jean Chretien and one-time Austrian
chancellor Franz Vranitzky.
Although there is a plentiful water supply in Quebec, it is an
especially topical subject after Quebec space tourist Guy
Laliberte, the billionaire founder of Cirque du Soleil, dedicated
his 2009 visit to the International Space Station to raising
awareness of international water issues.