On the need to include water management in the climate narrative
- Water is one of the major crises on planet Earth. More specifically, the fresh water crisis. In one of them, the drought and the following day the floods are accumulating over other consequences that threaten the survival of mankind. Rural areas are drying up today by reducing food production capacity and biodiversity, and the erosion caused by rains quickly drags the living layers of the earth’s crust into the sea. The streets that drew yesterday in the cities – and everyone is becoming a city – today are altered by uncontrolled floods.
Despite the fact that the main narrative on climate craziness is focused on global warming and the need and impossibility to control greenhouse gases, more and more experts are addressing the importance of poor management of rainwater in the full picture of climate deterioration. They call for a new paradigm of water to replace what has been established in recent decades: to try to keep the water from the rain instead of sending it as soon and away as possible after us, to help get into the soil, to prolong the time that this fresh water remains on land… and to revitalize life on the soils so that plants, hedges, attract more rain from the seas to land.
We're seeing every day the applications of the new paradigm. In rural areas, land cultivation models are under discussion and major changes are under way, landless agriculture, the retention of covered soils, etc. They have started to spread among small farmers in agroecology who cultivate large fields. In cities, there are planners who have been implementing new practices for years: accumulation of rainwater on site, minimal waterproofing of soils, ‘sponge city’, fresh water recycling, authorities that have begun to talk about the need to implement the ‘zero artificialization’ rule in the use of soils…
French engineer Daniel Hofnung offers in these pages a summary of current reflections and research on the water cycle. Daniel Hofnung, an engineer of studies and trades, portrayed today, is president of the social organization Coordination Eau IDF of the Ile de France region (Paris Metropolitano). ARGIA published in March 2023 'Flying Rivers', key players in the global climate.
The article translated into Basque for LARRUN Hofnungi was published on the website of the alterglobalist movement Attac in December 2022. Distinguish changement climatique et réchauffement climatique, Comment le cycle de l’eau et le cycle du carbone se complètent. How carbon and water cycles are complemented) with the title. Since the author complements his articles and lectures with a rich bibliography, the reader will find in the LARRUN Internet version links with the sources mentioned in the paper.
Author: Daniel Hofnung
Translation: Home Pello Zubiria
Kamino: Joseba Larratxe Josevisky
