Feb
1
International Water Issues: Overview and U.S. Response
February 1, 2009 | Posted by Michael "Aquadoc" Campana
Leave a Comment
Dr. Aaron Salzberg is Special Coordinator for Water Resources at the State Department. You probably didn’t know there was such a person, right?
At our AWRA Board of Directors meeting a few weeks ago, Aaron visited us and gave the following presentation, which he granted me permission to post as a pdf:
Download Salzberg – Int. Water Issues
Here’s why water matters to State (from his presentation):
- Basic human need
- Economic growth/poverty reduction
- Conflict prevention
- Build trust and promote cooperation
- Democracy building
Take a look at slide 19 – correlation between rainfall and GDP in Zimbabwe (I believe he said that agriculture was about 20% of Zimbabwe’s GDP):
The thin blue line is the rainfall variability (meters) and the beige area is the real GDP growth (%). You can access a larger version in the pdf.
Interesting, right?
I was impressed with Aaron – Jim Thebaut also thinks very highly of him, especially his efforts to get the Sen. Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act up and running. Nice to know savvy water people are at the State Department.
“To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds.” – President Barack Obama, 20 January 2009
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Comments
Subscribe
