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- Herausgeber: tredition
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
Water is such a matter of course that people, especially in the rich countries of the North, do not give any thought to the fact that water is the most valuable commodity on earth. Water itself is abundant on earth thanks to the oceans, but drinking water is a scarce commodity – even in the so-called rich countries. Developments over the last 200 years, particularly in Europe, America and Asia, show that as prosperity increases, humans not only consume more and more drinking water, but also waste and pollute it. Humans have still not learned to make do with this scarce resource. Climate change, the fact that approximately 3.5 billion people have no direct access to drinking water, and the fact that the quality of drinking water is significantly inadequate in most developing countries and emerging powers have still not changed behaviour. The fact that migration caused by climate change, the increase in deserts and uninhabitable areas of the earth solely due to the lack of drinking water highlights the scale of the current problem and the future challenges facing humanity. Since white people, and Europeans and Americans in particular, still show no consideration for the world's drinking water, they should not be surprised if, in the face of massive refugee movements, Western populations no longer feel safe in their oases of prosperity. This also applies to Germany, and above all to Germany. Water is a human right. There is no life on earth without water. Nothing, absolutely nothing, has changed in this principle since time immemorial. And more than that: water is a global power that influences everything that happens in the world and determines the survival of humanity.
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Seitenzahl: 616
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2026
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Content
Dedication
Title
Copywright
About the author: Michael Ghanem
1. Foreword
2. Water is life
3. Is water a world power?
4. Water as a human right
4.1 Justification for a human right to water
4.2 Right to clean water
4.3 Water is a human right – UNICEF's perspective
4.4 We must do more!
5. Threat from deserts
5.1 Preliminary remark
5.2 Desert
5.3 Africa's Green Wall in the Sahel
5.4 List of deserts in Africa
5.5 List of deserts in Asia
5.6 List of deserts in Australia and Oceania
5.7 List of deserts in North America
5.8 List of deserts in South America
6. Challenge: Population growth
6.1 Population
6.2 Population density
6.3 Population policy
6.4 Age structure
6.5 World population
6.6 Population development
6.7 Overpopulation
6.8 Facts and figures
6.9 Today 7 billion people – soon 11 billion
7. Water and drinking water
7.1 Water
7.2 Importance of water for life
7.3 Water distribution on Earth
7.4 Water balance
7.5 Drinking water
8. Water resources on Earth
8.1 Water availability
8.2 Water distribution
9. Problems with and caused by water – an overview
9.1 Drought
9.2 Precipitation
9.3 Low water
9.4 Water reservoirs
9.5 Groundwater
9.6 Aquifer
9.7 Climate classification
9.8 Water supply
9.9 Harvest
9.10 Shipping
9.11 Electricity supply
9.12 Thermal power station
9.13 Forest fire
9.14 Soil erosion
10. Water consumption
10.1 Water consumption
10.2 Water consumption for irrigation
10.3 Water consumption worldwide
10.4 Water consumption in rich countries
10.5 Water consumption in poor countries
10.6 Water consumption over time
10.7 Water consumption in a global comparison
10.8 Water footprint
10.9 Virtual water
10.10 Virtual water: Tour of a home
10.11 Average water consumption: an overview of one- to four-person households
10.12 Water footprint
10.13 Water and industrial products
11. Water consumption as an indicator of wealth
12. Needs and resources of countries
12.1 Preliminary remark
12.2 Needs and resources by country
13. Water scarcity
13.1 These countries will suffer most from water scarcity in 2040
13.2 Water problems and climate change in Africa
13.3 Water scarcity around the world
13.4 Water crises
13.5 3.6 billion people are affected by water scarcity
14. Water supply
15. Water treatment
16. What role does human intervention in nature play?
16.1 Preliminary remark
16.2 Dams
17. Commercialisation of water
17.1 Nestlé's machinations
17.2 Summary
18. Wars over water?
19. Water waste
20. Water pollution – quo vadis?
21. Water problems in Germany
22. Water for fisheries
23. Water as an energy source
24. Water for industry
25. Irrigation
26. Drinking water
27. Water in the household
28. Water and disease
29. Disease vectors in water
30. Water for food
31. Expropriations for water
32. Transport and leisure
33. Water pollution
34. Damaged waterways
35. Water at what price?
36. Water management
37. Threatened environment
38. Development goals
39. International and national treaties
40. Wastewater disposal
41. What can be done?
42. Incompetent elites are destroying our livelihoods
43. Conclusion
44. Epilogue
45. Bibliography
45.1 Deserts
45.2 Africa in general
45.3 Water
45.4 Climate change/environment
45.5 Population
Dedication
This book is dedicated to all those who warn and cry out in isolation, who care deeply about the well-being of our society.
Every critical mind is lonely and belongs to a minority.
However, today's minority may be tomorrow's majority.
This book is also dedicated to my wife Marlene for her critical and wise advice. She accompanies me in my life and is always a good advisor to me.
Bonn, February 2026
Title
Michael Ghanem
"Thoughts are free"
World power
Water
Part 1:
Overview and review
2026
Copywright
© 2026 Michael Ghanem
Website: https://michael-ghanem.de/
Printing and distribution on behalf of the author:
tredition GmbH, Heinz-Beusen-Stieg 5, 22926 Ahrensburg, Germany
The work, including its parts, is protected by copyright. The author is responsible for the content. Any use without his consent is prohibited. Publication and distribution are carried out on behalf of the author, who can be contacted at the following address: tredition GmbH, "Impressumservice" department, Heinz-Beusen-Stieg 5, 22926 Ahrensburg, Germany.Contact address in accordance with the European Product Safety Regulation:
ISBN:
Softcover978-3-384-85118-5
Hardcover978-3-384-85119-2
E-Book978-3-384-85120-8
The statistics used are licensed from Statista
The cover image drop-of-water-4339625_960_720 is a simplified Pixabay licence, free for commercial use
About the author: Michael Ghanem
https://michael-ghanem.de/
https://die-gedanken-sind-frei.org/
Born in 1949, he grew up in France and graduated from a prestigious French engineering school with a degree in economics. After moving to Germany, he studied economics, sociology, political science, philosophy and ethics.
Bonn, February 2026
In the field of philosophy, he was greatly influenced by the philosophy and teachings of Zarathustra, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius, Rabelais, Michel de Montaigne, Baruch Spinoza, Thomas Aquinas, Ibn Khaldun, Niccolo Machiavelli, René Descartes, Blaise Pascal, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, Gottfried W. Leibniz, Auguste Comte, Arthur Schopenhauer, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Karl Marx, Henri Bergson, Karl Popper, Karl Jaspers and Erich Fromm. The Frankfurt School, with its professors Jürgen Habermas and Adorno, had a strong influence on him, as did Michael Schmidt-Salomon, Claude Lévi-Strauss, the Dalai Lama, Luc Ferry, Peter Sloterdijk, Werner Lachmann, Amartya Sen, Oswald Nell-Brauning and Niklas Luhmann.
In sociology, he draws heavily on the Cologne School with its professors René König and Erwin K. Scheuch, as well as Gustave Lebon. In political science, he also draws on the Cologne School and the Cologne-Mannheim School.
In economics, he was strongly influenced by post-Keynesians and behavioural economists. He is highly critical of the teachings of Milton Friedman, the Chicago Boys, the Freiburg School and Friedrich A. Hayek. He feels very close to Joseph Stiglitz, Paul Krugman, James K. Galbraith, Daniel Kahneman, Thomas Piketty and the Club of Rome.
His professional career first took him to an international organisation, where he worked for five years as a project controller for major water projects, mainly in Africa, which enabled him to discover many countries and their leaders. He then worked for many years in a European organisation and in several international consulting firms as a consultant for the modernisation of various industries and companies.
He considers himself a critic of current globalisation and has been strongly committed to water management issues since 1974.
These experiences have given him a deep understanding of geopolitical issues and enable him to assess current political developments, particularly in the context of economic interdependencies.
Since his retirement, he has lived in seclusion in Bonn and works as a writer. In his publications, he focuses primarily on the pressing social, economic and political issues of our time, as well as water management.
To date, he has published numerous works on politics and geopolitics, society and economics. He is the author of more than 100 books. In the political arena, he takes a critical look at Germany in particular. He also addresses topics such as health, identity, racism, the environment, migration, water management, Africa, demographic change and alternative economic systems such as anti-fragility economics. He has also published several stories and tales.
Here is an excerpt from his publications to date:
Specialised works Politics, economics, society
Geopolitics
"The dizzying fall of the West and the bitter tears of Europe, part 1 – Introduction – Critical assessment of the West 1949-2025"
"The Deep Fall of the West and the Bitter Tears of Europe, Part 2: The Deep Fall of the Army, Constituent Elements of Geopolitics, the Changing World Order, and Potential Conflicts"
"The Deep Fall of the West and the Bitter Tears of Europe, Part 3: The Foundations of Military Potential – The End of Hegemony"
"The Deep Fall of the West and the Bitter Tears of Europe, Part 4: Country Profiles - Multiple System Failures - Accidents of History - Water and Global Famine - Climate and Energy Catastrophe - BRICS vs. G7"
"The precipitous fall of the West and the bitter tears of Europe, part 5: problems: population explosion, migration, integration, poverty and famine, raw materials"
"The precipitous fall of the West and Europe's bitter tears, part 6: the sins of the West, global trade, the bazaar economy, corruption, taboo subjects inflation, deflation, public debt"
The precipitous fall of the West and the bitter tears of Europe, part 7: changing financial and monetary markets, financial crises, the dollar crisis
Alternatives to the global monetary system, the deep fall of the Western financial system
Africa between curse and blessing, part 1: water
Water, a global power – Part 1: overview and assessment for 2021
The situation in Germany
Germany's deep fall, volume 1A Health
Germany's Deep Fall, Volume 1B Health
"2005-2021: Germany's 16 lost years – The legacy of Angela Merkel and her successors in the Chancellery"
"2005-2018: Germany's 13 lost years, part 1: Angela Merkel and her successors – An interim assessment"
"2005-2018: Germany's 13 lost years, part 2: the political system – Quo vadis?"
"2005-2018: Germany's 13 lost years, part 3: society – assessment and prospects"
"2005-2018: Germany's 13 lost years, part 4: The German economy – Quo vadis?"
"2005-2018: Germany's 13 lost years, part 5: Internal security – quo vadis?"
"2005-2018: Germany's 13 lost years, part 6: Justice – Quo vadis?"
"2005-2018: Germany's 13 lost years, part 7: Health – Quo vadis? Volume A"
2005–2018: Germany's 13 lost years, part 7: Health – Quo vadis? Volume B
2005-2018: Germany's 13 lost years, part 7: Health – Quo vadis? Volume C
"2005-2018: Germany's 13 lost years, part 8: poverty, old age, care – Quo vadis?"
"2005-2018: Germany's 13 lost years, part 9: Building and renting in Germany – No thanks"
"2005-2018: Germany's 13 lost years, part 10: education in Germany"
2005–2018: Germany's 13 lost years, part 11: The decline of the media
2005–2018: Germany's 13 lost years, part 12: Literature – Quo vadis – part A
2005–2018: Germany's 13 lost years, part 13: Development policy – Quo vadis – part A
German politics
German identity – Quo vadis?
German identity and homeland – Quo vadis?
"I know we can! An opportunity for Germany"
"The Germans – a cursed people?
"The Greens or the Feminist Club – 10 Reasons NOT to Vote for the Greens"
"AKK – No thanks!"
"A chance for democracy"
"Non-voters are voters too"
"The German Titanic – The Republic of Berlin"
"In the grip of political parties, part 1"
"Lord, do not forgive them! For they know what they are doing!"
"The symptoms of Germany's decline – Must we accept it?"
"Is Germany built on sand?"
"Four million Germans deprived of their rights"
"The German issue in 2025 – Can we still trust the Germans?"
"Germany: An ineptocracy and a kakistocracy? What kind of democracy should we defend: a partisan octopus? A party autocracy?"
Economy and finance
"Approaches to an anti-fragile economy"
"In the grip of the financial sector, part 1"
"In the grip of public debt, part 1"
"Under the grip of public debt, part 2"
Population, migration, integration
"Under the grip of migration and integration"
"Under the influence of the population explosion, poverty and food"
Racism
"Under the influence of racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, right-wing extremism, fascism, part 1"
"Theses on racial equality"
"Assessment, decline and fear of the white man, part 1: fundamental principles"
Man and society
"The Power of Words"
"The New Horsemen of the Apocalypse"
"Crises in the Age of Coronavirus, Part 1"
"Coronavirus 2021 – Waiting for Godot"
"Time – An Underestimated Global Power" Volume 1 of the series "Man and Society"
"Courage – Rise Up"
Stories
"Adventure Germany – Confessions about this country – An assessment –"
“A Little Prince and a Little Blue Mermaid”
"I often think... of Doctor Gustave Rioblanc Street – The sunken island of tolerance"
"Stories of a man in the shadows"
"21 days in a clinic full of madmen"
"Proverbs and wisdom"
"Leonidas the Great – I am a human being"
"50 years of life in Germany – A mistake? A destiny"
"A Street Without a Soul"
"The Devil's Pond – a fairy tale"
"The Legend of the House by the Lake"
"If I were God"
"To love is..."
"Thank you, Professor"
"The Legend of the Spring"
"The Legend of Annette - The Dream of an Impossible Love"
"Peace and freedom: I wanted to plant an olive tree - I wanted to plant an orange tree"
"The world is so beautiful"
"The Old Boat - A Tribute to Old Scrap Metal"
"If only you could read, you, the little lady who is so brave in my eyes"
"I will never stop loving you. Fond memories of 50 years together"
"The forgotten strand of hair"
"The lilac"
1. Foreword
Water is such a matter of course that people, especially in the rich countries of the North, do not give any thought to the fact that water is the most valuable commodity on earth. Even though water is abundant on earth in the oceans alone, drinking water is a scarce commodity – even in the so-called rich countries. There is no life on Earth without water, and this principle has remained unchanged since time immemorial.
Looking at developments over the last 200 years, particularly in Europe, America and Asia, it is clear that as prosperity increases, people are not only consuming more and more drinking water, but also wasting it. In view of climate change, the fact that approximately 3.5 billion people have no direct access to drinking water, and the fact that the quality of drinking water is significantly inadequate in most developing countries and emerging powers, it must be concluded that humans have still not learned to make do with this scarce resource.
The fact that migration caused by climate change, the increase in deserts and uninhabitable areas of the earth is caused solely by the lack of drinking water highlights the scale of the current problem and the future challenges facing humanity. The humane consumption of water per capita per day of 60 litres, as established by the UN in the 1970s, is currently only achieved in 40 of the 200 countries in the world.
If wars over water and associated migration movements take place in Africa in the medium term, or if wars break out in Southeast Asia due to scarce water resources, it is to be feared that the instability of the world will increase considerably.
It should be noted, however, that drinking water consumption can be significantly reduced, especially in developed and wealthy countries. To achieve this, however, people still lack awareness of the value of water in all aspects of life, in food, clothing, industrial processes and transport as a whole.
Governments, particularly in holiday destinations, face considerable logistical problems in procuring drinking water.
Water is also one of the few objective measures of poverty and wealth. While, for example, a Hartz IV recipient in Germany manages on average with just under 45 litres per day per capita, the wealthy consume up to ten times that amount, or just under 500 litres per day per capita. This waste of water cannot be sustained in the long term, even in Germany. Even now, groundwater in Germany is already seriously endangered by manure and sewage, so that cleaning the extracted groundwater, rivers and lakes requires considerable effort. In view of the high nitrate levels and residues of medicines from animal and human excretion, municipal utilities face considerable problems in ensuring the supply of clean water to the population.
However, water is also a human right. This has been established by the UN, as every human being has the right to physical integrity and thus also to essential goods. Since human life is not possible without water, water is a human right.
And more than that: water is a global force that influences everything that happens in the world and determines the survival of humanity.
The author assures us that in writing this book, he has not drawn on experience and knowledge from his previous activities, but only on publicly available information.
2. Water is life
Without water, there is no life. Even the procreation of humans and animals requires fluids and therefore water. Life originated from water; without water, there is no food. Water is a basic human need; humans cannot live without water.
However, it should be noted that despite this knowledge, no single commodity is wasted as much as water worldwide. Although there is theoretically enough water on Earth, as the largest area of the Earth is covered with water, this does not prevent the proportion of drinking water for humans from being limited and the distribution of water worldwide from being very uneven.
It should be noted that there are geographical, geopolitical and social reasons for the inequality in water supply. Water is one of the best indicators of poverty and wealth. While water consumption among the poorer sections of the population is well below the required minimum per capita consumption of 50-60 litres per day, and in many African and Asian countries is only between 10 and 15 litres, water consumption among the wealthy sections of the population is between 350 and 500 litres per capita per day. Even in Germany, there are significant differences in water consumption between Hartz IV recipients and the upper class.
Since human beings have a right to physical integrity and the right to life, and since human life is not possible without water, water was declared a human right by the UN in 2010. This established a right that can be enforced in all countries of the world.
However, as the necessary water supply and distribution systems require considerable investment, the implementation of this right remains inadequate. But if water is a human right, it should not normally be commercialised. However, water has been commercialised by large food companies such as Nestlé, and considerable money is being made from water. Neoliberal economic policy propagated and enforced the privatisation of many water suppliers in the 1990s and up to 2018 due to uneconomical water management.
However, this did not work out, because water is also a political weapon, and this led to social unrest, which ultimately drove the political basis for neoliberal economic policy out of office. As the price of water was socialised again, the returns became unattractive and many private suppliers withdrew from the water business. In addition, in some geographical parts of the world, water is used for geopolitical purposes.
3. Is water a world power?
When people talk about world powers, they usually think of states. However, they forget that the Earth and Mother Nature are stronger than all states and heads of state combined. This is because humans cannot live without water.
No political force can leave people without water. Since drinking water is essential for the survival of human nature, fauna and flora, life without water is not possible. Water also serves as the basis for all hygiene and thus the prevention of disease.
If humans have a human right to life, then water is also a human right, even if this is not implemented everywhere. The human right to water takes precedence over freedom and democracy.
The commercialisation of water was, is and remains a fundamental mistake of neoliberal economic policy, because no profit can be made from water. Both sociological and political minefields determine the price of water. Since water is the basis of food, it is also the basis of all social life.
Even in the history of dictatorships, no attempt was ever made to tamper with the water supply, because they knew that no one would follow them without water. However, it is also clear that in many wars in the past and until the early 1970s, wells were poisoned with human and animal carcasses (especially during the Katanga civil war and the Biafra war).
Despite these negative prospects, the author remains optimistic about a steady improvement in the supply of drinking water to the world's population and the implementation of a "fair" distribution of water resources. After all, the alternative would be war.
4. Water as a human right
Water is a human right! is the name of a European citizens' initiative that calls on the European Commission to enshrine the right to water and basic sanitation as human rights in law, in accordance with the United Nations resolution (see Right to Access to Clean Water, 2010), and to promote a functioning water and wastewater management system as a public service that secures the livelihoods of all people. Water management should be excluded from the EU-wide liberalisation agenda. The initiative was registered on 10 May 2012 and collected a total of 1,659,543 valid signatures by the end of October 2013, sponsored by the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) in the European Trade Union Confederation.
The initiative was significantly supported by ver.di. The German Bundestag rejected corresponding requests from several parliamentary groups as early as February 2013 (225th session of 28 February 2013, agenda item 9, ZP 7 Privatisation of water supply).
On 19 March 2014, the European Commission determined that this was the first European citizens' initiative to meet the requirements of the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the citizens' initiative. The minimum number of supporting signatures was reached in 13 Member States. The organisers were received by the Commission on 17 February 2014 and given the opportunity to present their initiative at a public hearing in the European Parliament. However, the Commission did not decide to submit a new European legislative proposal as requested, but only to launch general consultations to improve access to high-quality water in the EU.
Source: Page "Water is a human right!" In: Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopaedia. Edited: 8 November 2018, 05:34 UTC. URL: https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wasser_ist_ein_Menschenrecht!&oldid=182560765 (Retrieved: 28 January 2019, 16:48 UTC)
4.1 Justification for a human right to water
663 million people worldwide do not have access to clean drinking water. In contrast, every German consumes over 5,000 litres of water every day. Is this just a regrettable injustice or is it wrong? Is there a human right to water?
Some live in abundance...
According to estimates by UNICEF and the World Health Organisation (WHO), 663 million people worldwide still have no access to clean drinking water. 2.4 billion people continue to live without toilets or latrines. "Despite progress in water supply, 10,000 people still die every day from diseases caused by contaminated water," Caritas wrote on World Water Day 2014. In sub-Saharan Africa, the average journey to a water source takes more than 30 minutes. It is usually girls and women who have to make this journey, which means they lose time for education and paid work and expose themselves to dangers such as rape.
But the need is not the same everywhere. We Germans consume an average of 5,288 litres per day. However, this high figure does not only reflect our direct water consumption. It also takes into account what is known as virtual water. This is the water that evaporates, is consumed or polluted in the production of goods or services: 140 litres for every cup of coffee, 1,000 litres for every litre of milk, 15,500 litres for every kilo of beef. About half of the water that Germans use directly or indirectly is imported via foreign products. Brazil, for example, is particularly important for our coffee imports, even though its agriculture is a major cause of water pollution. Is this merely a regrettable injustice, an inequality with deadly consequences for millions? Or is it an injustice that we contribute to through our way of life? Would it just be nice of us to reduce our water consumption and advocate for clean drinking water and hygienic wastewater disposal everywhere in the world? Or is this a duty we owe to others? On 28 July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly answered this question by a large majority in the latter sense: it "recognises the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights". Sanitation should be inclusive, and drinking water should be safe, clean, accessible and affordable. The Federal Republic of Germany also voted in favour of this resolution. Although it is not legally binding, it is an important political signal.
Three contexts for justifying human rights
What does it mean to justify the right to drinking water and sanitation as a human right? Three contexts of such justification can be distinguished: a political, a legal and a moral one.
Firstly, human rights are responses to experiences of injustice and threats to human dignity. They are primarily directed at political leaders, who must also regulate the actions of third parties, such as private economic actors, if they want to fulfil their human rights responsibilities. Political activists prefer to invoke the human right to water in order to highlight the dangers of commercialisation – the necessary access for all is not compatible with treating water as an ordinary commodity. The language of human rights is intended to make it clear that everyone, including the poorest, is dependent on clean drinking water and sanitation. Water must therefore be considered a public good to which everyone is entitled.
Secondly, political conflicts over water bring lawyers into the picture. They try to show that the human right to water is already enshrined in existing legal provisions. Not all states have yet recognised this right in treaties or through regular practice. However, the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN Social Covenant for short) contains statements that suggest water is a human right: Article 11, Section 1 refers to the right to an adequate standard of living; Article 12, Section 1 refers to the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. These two articles in particular support the most important international legal document on the human right to water: General Comment No. 15 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Its core statement is: "The human right to water entitles everyone to sufficient, safe, secure, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic use." However, whether this statement follows from the UN Social Covenant is legally controversial, as its wording does not actually grant a human right to water.
Thirdly, moral arguments are therefore decisive for the existence of human rights. It makes sense to justify human rights with fundamental interests: in life, in well-being, in personal self-determination and political participation. We want to be able to confidently demand what we need in order to survive, live in dignity, have an equal say and realise our own ideas of what is good. The concept of human rights as interests forms a bridge between human physical needs and morally authenticated claims. It is therefore particularly well suited to justifying water as a human right. After all, without water, humans can neither survive nor develop their abilities.
However, rights also entail obligations, and human rights in particular entail obligations that states can and should fulfil. We must be able to state clearly enough how we want to measure the actions and omissions of governments and the functioning of the basic social orders for which they are responsible. This is where objections to social human rights such as the right to water could come into play. Such objections have by no means been silenced. Not all governments are convinced of the right to water ( ); the USA, for example, abstained from voting in the General Assembly on 28 July 2010.
For more details, see: Ladwig, Bernd (2007): Kann es ein Menschenrecht auf Wasser geben? In: Beate Rudolf (ed.), Menschenrecht Wasser? Frankfurt am Main: 45-58.
See http://www.bpb.de/internationales/weltweit/menschenrechte/38745/menschenrecht-wasser?p=all
4.2 Right to clean water
Access to clean water is a human right.
On 28 July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly recognised the right to water as a human right in Resolution 64/292. The resolution was adopted with 122 member votes. 41 states abstained.
The rejection was justified on the grounds that an "international right to water" does not exist and that the resolution is too vague and imprecise. The resolution was also rejected for financial reasons, as many countries lack the funds to implement the resolution's goal of improving water supply.
In contrast, proponents derive the human right to water from Article 11, Paragraph 1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The right to sanitation and clean water is part of an adequate standard of living. Furthermore, other human rights are inconceivable without the right to water:
for example, the right to life is not possible without water, and
the right to food and protection from hunger naturally includes water, and last but not least
the right to health and physical integrity and adequate medical care is (almost) impossible to achieve without clean water and sanitation facilities.
Making this human right accessible to all people requires not only financial resources, but also technical knowledge and mutual help and support from all states. The human right to water is violated when existing resources are not used to ensure basic water supply and external support is prohibited.
Right to access to clean water
The right to access clean water was recognised as a human right by the United Nations General Assembly on 28 July 2010. Bolivia and 33 other states introduced Resolution 64/292 to the General Assembly. However, it is not legally binding and cannot be enforced in court. Nevertheless, the establishment of the human right to water is of great political importance. Some commentators also derive a human right to water from Article 11.1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Voting results
122 states voted in favour of the resolution, 29 states were not present at the meeting, and 41 abstained, including Canada and the USA. In their statement, they said that the resolution was ambiguous and that there was no "international right" to water. Germany supported the resolution but would have liked to see clearer responsibilities.
Legal status
Unlike resolutions of the UN Security Council, those of the General Assembly are not legally binding. The status of the "right to access to clean water" as part of customary international law is unclear, at best; there is little evidence of the consuetudo and opinio iuris required for this. Deriving it from Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is also questionable, at the very least, as the wording of the provision does not mention water. There are therefore strong arguments for not considering the "right to access clean water" to be legally binding.
Content of the resolution
The resolution stipulates that states and international companies should provide financial support for the development and expansion of water infrastructure systems, particularly in Third World countries. Around 884 million people have no access to clean water and a total of 2.6 billion people have no access to sanitation facilities. The United Nations Millennium Development Goals stipulate that the number of people without access to clean water should be halved by 2015. Achieving this goal will require around 10 billion US dollars annually – less than half of what is spent on expensive bottled water in industrialised countries.
Global situation
Around 1.5 million people die every year from contaminated water. One reason for this is the rubbish that is not disposed of in developing countries but ends up untreated in lakes and rivers. Added to this are a lack of sanitary facilities and agricultural waste, which contaminates the water cycle without being treated. Water pipes, sewage treatment plants and sewerage systems are often non-existent in Third World countries. Where such infrastructure does exist, it is usually dilapidated or unable to cope with increasing population growth. Nevertheless, a positive trend can be seen: in 1990, 77% of the world's population had access to safe drinking water sources. Twelve years later, this figure had risen to 83%. In South Asia, the connection rate rose from 71% to 84%. Progress has not been as rapid in sub-Saharan Africa: 49% of people had access to clean water in 1990, compared to 58% in 2002. Given the rapid population growth in these regions, these growth rates represent a significant achievement. In the East African country of Tanzania, the proportion of the population with access to clean drinking water rose from 38% to 73%.
Financing the human right to water
In many countries, the right to water enshrined in international law is not being implemented. In most cases, these states shy away from high financial commitments. However, the resolution primarily aims to create conditions and national regulations for water and sanitation infrastructure that enable access to clean water. The economic benefits are enormous: every US dollar invested in water supply prevents economic damage of US$8. Germany is calling for intensive efforts under international law to implement the human right to water globally.
To this end, the following must be in place:
the political will of a state to achieve this must be present and strengthened – laws, regulations and framework conditions must be created.
the respective states must ensure that the country's water supply is guaranteed. The participation of private companies with appropriate tariffs is not excluded.
A comprehensive and intact water and wastewater infrastructure brings a country:
economic advantages: growth and prosperity develop when basic human needs are met.
Fewer deaths: Every year, around 1.5 million people die as a result of contaminated water.
More time for work, education and childcare. The World Health Organisation estimates that a person without access to sanitation facilities spends 30 minutes a day relieving themselves. The time saved by having sanitation facilities would give a family of six 21 hours a week. Extrapolated, this amounts to 100 billion US dollars a year generated when people have access to clean water.
Lower healthcare costs.
In most countries that do not have access to clean water, achieving the international goal is virtually impossible: there is a lack of money and technological knowledge to set up water and sewage systems. The EU, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund therefore want to achieve the goals of the resolution with the help of the private sector. Public-private partnership models, joint ventures and direct investment from industrialised countries are intended to minimise risks and offer investment security. This requires the privatisation or partial privatisation of existing public utilities.
Forms of financing
Politically, water is considered a "public good", but economically it is a limited resource (and therefore at least a common good). Countries are free to choose whether water and sewage systems are managed publicly or by companies. According to a study on the privatisation of water supply in Manila, water supply and wastewater disposal in the country is better than before privatisation. When water infrastructure systems were publicly managed, the state did not supply water to illegal settlements. With private management by Ondeo/Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux, this distinction disappeared: the non-governmental company also supplies illegal settlements. Within the first five years, 1 million people were supplied with water connections. Positive effects: The human right to access clean water is being realised. In addition, water prices fall with each new water connection. People no longer have to buy overpriced water from a dealer, and corruption is being curbed. Although many people now have access to clean water, it has not been possible over a long period of time to match the high rate of water connections to the rapid population growth. The study also shows that, with the exception of a few pilot projects, the targets for the sewage situation have not been met.
The population growth in Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, is rising disproportionately fast. The region around Dhaka is particularly affected by environmental pollution and an inadequate water supply. In addition, the country's groundwater is contaminated with arsenic for geological reasons, endangering the lives of around 35 million people. Water is therefore a particularly precious commodity in Bangladesh: a litre costs around 15 euro cents there. Around 150 taka are needed to supply a family of four with water. , the average daily income of a Bengali is around 200 taka (approx. 1.80 euros). Grameen Bank and the French environmental services company Veolia have launched a social business project there with the aim of providing a town with 25,000 inhabitants with access to clean water. A water treatment plant converts dirty river water into clean drinking water. Veolia sells ten litres of water for 1 taka (approx. 1 euro cent). The plant can produce up to 10,000 litres of water per hour. Both companies operate the project on a cost-covering basis, with neither profit nor costs to be incurred.
The disadvantages of state-controlled management of water infrastructure are insufficient cost recovery, little flexibility, no competition and no control structures to prevent corruption. In addition, state structures are less efficient and have insufficient knowledge of business and financial management.
However, experience shows that privatisation cannot eliminate corruption. On the contrary, there are well-documented cases where the privatisation of water infrastructure or its operation was only achieved through corruption, mostly by local officials (for example, in the city of Grenoble). The argument that private supply is more efficient is only valid in special cases, for example, where there is blatant mismanagement by the public sector. Normally, private operators add the profits to be made and any financing costs for the purchase of the facility or entry as an operator to the costs of purely operating the public facility. Water Makes Money illustrates this impressively. Several model cities have now reversed privatisation, partly for cost reasons. These include Paris, Berlin and Grenoble. See also the book Remunicipalisation by Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), March 2012, available on the Internet.
Obligations of state and non-state actors
In order to implement the human right to water, both the responsible states and non-state actors must observe certain principles.
States should fulfil, respect and protect the human right to water.
States should respect the human right to water in other countries and not interfere with their fulfilment of this obligation.
International cooperation should support other countries in implementing the human right to water.
Similarly, non-governmental companies, private individuals and international organisations should respect the human right to water and contribute to its implementation within the scope of their capabilities.
A state violates the human right to water if it does not use the available resources to ensure basic water supply and sanitation. Water infrastructure systems must offer a sustainable and fair tariff system . However, a state may not prohibit efforts by individuals, groups, companies or other non-governmental actors.
Source: Page "Right to access to clean water". In: Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopaedia. Last edited: 29 December 2018, 08:29 UTC. URL: https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Recht_auf_Zugang_zu_sauberem_Wasser&oldid=184156320 (Retrieved: 4 February 2019, 16:09 UTC)
4.3 Water is a human right – UNICEF's perspective
Water is not only a fundamental part of life – it is a human right. This makes the global situation all the more alarming: millions of people suffer from water shortages and poor hygiene. What are the consequences, especially for children?
For World Water Week 2018, we should be aware of these 10 things.
Access to clean water and hygiene is essential for survival and development – especially for young children. "Water and sanitation for all" is therefore the sixth of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). But we are still a long way from achieving this. It is high time to take a look at a few things relating to water.
1. The water crisis is happening now!
2.1 billion people worldwide have no access to clean water. An inconceivable number. Around 884 million people do not even have basic water supplies. Those affected are mainly people or families in the poorer regions of the world – and especially in rural areas.
More than two-thirds of the earth is covered by water, but only 0.3 per cent of it is drinkable. And this drinking water is also very unevenly distributed. In many places, particularly in Africa, Latin America and Asia, there is a dramatic shortage of water.
There is currently no improvement in sight. According to the latest UN World Water Report, half of the world's population could be affected by a lack of clean water by 2050. The report calls for "green" solutions – such as natural water cycles that should be used for water supply. When will a real change in thinking take place?
2. Water must not only be clean, it must also be "safe".
Here at UNICEF, we talk about "safe" water when it is accessible to people near their homes, available when needed and, of course, free from contamination.
Only then can families be confident that their health is not at risk. What good is it if there is water nearby, but it comes from a polluted river and is full of pathogens?
This is the situation for Baraka from South Sudan. The 5-year-old lives with his mother and siblings on the outskirts of the capital Juba. During the civil war, water sources and wells were deliberately damaged and destroyed. The only alternative for the family is to fetch water from a nearby river. This water is polluted, contaminated with germs and bacteria, and can cause disease.
3. Without water and hygiene, diseases spread particularly quickly.
Contaminated water from rivers is one problem – another is poor hygiene. 4.5 billion people do not have access to safe sanitation facilities. These include toilets that prevent people from coming into contact with excrement and a system that disposes of excrement safely.
Otherwise, diseases can spread quickly – a deadly danger for young children. Here, too, South Sudan is a cautionary example: a cholera outbreak there has claimed over 400 lives since the summer of 2016.
Further outbreaks are likely during the rainy season: flooding contaminates water sources, and many sanitation facilities are in poor condition – or do not exist at all. That is why we are campaigning to keep the number of cholera cases at zero with our "Keep it zero!" campaign.
4. Open defecation is more widespread than you might think.
Practically unthinkable in this country, but everyday life in many regions of the world: over 892 million people practise open defecation. They do not even have a simple toilet, but relieve themselves at the roadside, in fields or in bushes.
How can this be changed? Among other things, through education: UNICEF, for example, not only takes care of the expansion and maintenance of water systems or the construction of latrines in rural village communities, but also trains so-called "water committees".
The members of these committees then inform other villagers about simple hygiene practices or the risk of disease, for example. Or they check the quality of the available drinking water.
5. As always, children are most at risk.
Lack of clean water and hygiene are still among the most common causes of death in children under five. Every day, more than 700 children in the Philippines die from preventable diseases such as diarrhoea caused by contaminated water or poor hygiene.
Yet hygiene is one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to prevent life-threatening diseases. After the major typhoon in 2013, children in the Philippines learned to sing "Happy Birthday" twice while washing their hands with soap – this is exactly the right amount of time to eliminate dangerous pathogens. This is an important tip, because in some of the poorest regions of the world, hand washing is not a matter of course.
6. Countless babies are born in unhygienic conditions.
Around 35% of hospitals and health centres worldwide do not have running water and soap for hand washing. 19% do not have basic toilets. Under such circumstances, safe births are hardly possible. And hygiene is vital around the time of birth. If, for example, the umbilical cord is cut with a non-sterile object, the baby may be at risk of contracting a life-threatening disease such as tetanus.
The situation is particularly dramatic in emergency situations: when two severe earthquakes shook Nepal in 2015, for example, many hospitals and birth centres were destroyed – in some regions, around 70 per cent of birth centres. UNICEF set up health stations and emergency shelters where mothers could give birth to their babies safely and in hygienic conditions.
7. Water shortages prevent school education.
When children have to walk long distances every day to fetch water for their families, they often miss out on the chance to go to school. For children in particular, this is valuable time in which they cannot be children and cannot learn. This is the case for Aysha from Ethiopia, for example. This is a day in her life...
What's more, if schools don't have safe drinking water and toilets, children cannot learn in an appropriate environment. And girls often prefer to stay at home during their periods.
Globally, only about 69% of schools have basic access to drinking water, and only 66% have sanitation facilities. Around 900 million children have no access to hygiene facilities at their school. Sub-Saharan African countries are particularly affected.
8. Climate change is making it even worse.
The changing climate is causing even more water sources to dry up or become polluted. By 2040, 600 million children will be living in areas affected by extreme drought – unless we act soon!
In recent years, the global weather phenomenon El Niño has shown us the effects that climate change can have. The countries of eastern and southern Africa have been particularly hard hit, with extreme drought alternating with torrential rainfall.
9. In conflicts and crises, children are twice as likely to have no access to water.
Around 117 million people worldwide are in urgent need of clean water in emergency situations. A particularly striking example is the civil war in Syria. Years of fighting have left deep scars there: the water supply has collapsed in many places, affecting millions of people.
UNICEF is combating the water shortage in Syria with emergency deliveries by truck and the construction and repair of wells and infrastructure. Every day, our colleagues provide children in destroyed cities and refugee shelters with clean water. A particular concern is the restoration of a permanent water supply to schools.
See https://www.unicef.de/informieren/aktuelles/blog/weltwasserwoche-2018-zehn-fakten-ueber-wasser/172968
4.4 We must do more!
The facts and figures make it clear that the world is not yet on track to achieve the sixth of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals: "Water and sanitation for all".
UNICEF is already working at the highest political level, calling on governments to honour and reaffirm their commitments to improving access to water and sanitation. In addition, cooperation between governments and national statistical offices should be strengthened to improve the collection, analysis and dissemination of data.
Technical developments and innovations could also help, as this example from Malawi shows: in a village near the city of Blantyre, UNICEF has installed a solar-powered pump that helps the community prepare for future emergencies.
The solar pump reaches deeper into the ground than a hand pump. This means that people have access to water even during a drought, when the water table drops. In addition, the pump requires little maintenance, and solar power is cheaper, more environmentally friendly and more sustainable than expensive diesel generators.
See https://www.unicef.de/informieren/aktuelles/blog/weltwasserwoche-2018-zehn-fakten-ueber-wasser/172968
5. Threat from deserts
5.1 Preliminary remark
When talking about deserts, most people think of Africa. However, deserts are not limited to Africa; there are also significant deserts in China, including the Gobi Desert, which is one of the worst deserts in the world. There are also deserts in the USA, Chile, Australia, India, Pakistan and the Arabian Peninsula.
Deserts are increasingly displacing fertile and water-rich soils. This development threatens the water supply for humanity and forces the inhabitants of the affected areas to migrate.
5.2 Desert
Dry climates on Earth:
___ Desert climate __ Savannah climate __ Tundra climate ___ Ice climate
Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Trockenklimate.png
Deserts are areas of the Earth with little or no vegetation. Deserts are caused either by a lack of heat (cold deserts, ice deserts) in the subpolar and subnival regions, overgrazing or water shortages (arid deserts, hot deserts). Deserts belong to the anecumene.
Sand desert
The sand desert is called erg in Arabic, and Edeyen in the western Sahara and the Libyan Desert. A sand desert is a desert with a surface consisting mainly of quartz sand, which was created by soil erosion in a gravel desert or blown in from other regions. Although sand deserts are widely and incorrectly regarded as synonymous with the phenomenon of desert, they only account for about 20% of the desert areas on Earth and also in the Sahara.
Living conditions in sand deserts are harsher than in other types of desert. They exist with and without dunes, which can be relatively stable and consolidated in their lower part, as in the southern sand sea, where they form so-called gassis, or, as in the northern sand sea of Egypt – around Farafra, for example – occur as shifting dunes in the form of transverse, longitudinal, star or crescent dunes (depending on the prevailing wind direction). The highest sand dunes are found in Algeria, the longest being Abu Muharek at approximately 600 km. Only consolidated sand plains are easily navigable; otherwise, dune fields such as the Erg of Bilma are difficult to traverse, even with off-road vehicles. The world's largest sand desert is the Rub al-Chali in Arabia, and the second largest is the Taklamakan.
Gravel desert
Gravel deserts are called reg in the Western Sahara and serir in the Central Sahara. Gravel deserts are formed after the erosion of stone or rock deserts (accumulation of coarser grain sizes due to the blowing away of finer grain sizes) or by the deposition of gravel in front of glaciers. Another cause is a physical effect that can also be found in freeze-dried coffee, where, if you shake the container long enough, larger and larger particles accumulate on the surface because the smaller ones slide down much more easily, except that this process is significantly slower in the desert, where moisture, wind and temperature differences cause the sand grains to move. Wheel tracks remain visible here for a particularly long time. Gravel deserts are easy to traverse.
Stone or rock desert
Stone or rock deserts are also called hammada. The surface of this type of desert is littered with dense, angular rubble or rock material, accumulated as a result of physical weathering and the blowing away of fine material. These are mostly plateaus covered with scree. They are hardly passable by car, except on old caravan routes, which, as in other types of desert, can usually be recognised by the alamat (small stone pyramids as signposts) and the camel skeletons that line them. Desert varnish is increasingly found on the surface of the rocks.
Salt desert
Salt deserts are called schott in Algeria and Tunisia, sebkha in the central and eastern Sahara, and grara in Libya. Salt deserts usually form in arid, drainage-free sedimentary basins due to strong evaporation. Many deserts of this type are found in Iran and Central Asia. They are difficult to traverse and should be avoided if possible due to the pools and swampy areas under the salt crust. However, the salt in these schotts is not the remains of an ancient sea, but comes from the washout of deposits washed down from the surrounding mountainous regions, which often contain abundant salt, whereby it naturally accumulates in drainage-free depressions such as the Qattara Depression, naturally accumulating and creating thick, highly salt-enriched clay and loam areas, known as salt clay plains or alkali flats. After rainfall, these turned into salt lakes or salt marshes, consisting of a muddy mixture of clay, salt and sand. The names of the Wadi El-Natrun in northern Egypt, which runs parallel to the Cairo-Alexandria road, the Libyan town of El Atrun in Cyrenaica and the north-western Sudanese oasis of El-Atrun are indicative of this situation.
Ice desert
The geomorphological type of ice desert corresponds to the climatic term cold desert (see below).
Classification according to climatic origin
The deserts of the earth can be classified climatically into five types, depending on the cause of their aridity.
1. Subtropical desert: Humidity is blown away by the wind, e.g. in the Kalahari in Namibia
2. Cold coastal desert: Located on cold water and therefore bone dry and mostly sterile, such as the Atacama Desert in Cobija (Chile)
3. Rain shadow desert: Shielded by mountains, there is hardly any rainfall in the Mojave Desert in the USA
4. Inland desert: Further away from the sea than anything else, almost in the centre of the Eurasian continent, lies the Taklamakan Desert in China
5. Polar desert: The McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica are so dry that there is not even ice on the permafrost soil over large areas.
Subtropical desert
Subtropical deserts, also known as trade wind deserts or tropic deserts, are located in two broad bands that span almost the entire globe, at a geographical latitude of up to about 30° on either side of the equator. Examples include most of the Sahara and the Kalahari.
In both the northern and southern hemispheres, air masses coming from the trade winds are forced to descend by the high-pressure areas that frequently occur there. This warms them up, reducing the relative humidity and creating dry, cloudless climatic conditions.
The high-pressure areas are caused by the intertropical convergence zone, or ITC for short. Due to the strong solar radiation over a large angle, the Earth is particularly warm in the equatorial region. A lot of water also evaporates. Since there is an inversion layer in the tropopause, the air masses cannot rise any further. They are deflected to the north and south. The condensation of water vapour causes rain to fall. In the tropic region, the cooled air, which no longer contains any moisture, begins to sink. Descending air masses always cause clouds to dissipate. Near the ground, the air flows back into the equatorial region. The Coriolis deflection causes the trade winds.
Cold coastal desert
The cold coastal desert is in many ways a special form of subtropical desert. Trade winds and special ocean currents intensify its dryness. The cold rising water of the sea cools the air masses above it. The moisture contained in these air masses condenses, causing the relative humidity to rise and clouds to form. However, the clouds have lost so much temperature that they can no longer rise – a stable stratification develops, resulting in fog. When these air masses enter the desert, they are heated and lose a great deal of relative humidity, causing the clouds to dissipate. Alexander von Humboldt once described the coastal desert of the Atacama as "so close to water and yet so poor in water".
There are three well-developed examples of this type of desert worldwide: the Namib on the coast of South West Africa, the Atacama on the Chilean and Peruvian coast, and the desert on the Pacific coast of Baja California in Mexico. There are a few borderline cases on the north-west coast of Africa, on the easternmost of the Canary Islands, on the north-west coast of Australia and possibly on the coast of Somalia.
Rain shadow desert
Rain shadow deserts are caused by the shape of the Earth's surface and are therefore also called relief deserts. They occur in the interior of continents, especially in high mountain ranges or in basins. In such regions, there is little precipitation because they lie in the rain shadow on the leeward side of peripheral mountains.
The moist air masses are forced to rise in front of the mountains. At the top of the mountain range, the air is cooler and therefore cannot hold as much water: the moist, cold air masses are forced to rain. On the other side of the mountain range, the air warms up overall (due to moist adiabatic cooling and dry adiabatic warming) and the warm, dry air masses sink. Deserts form at the bottom due to the heat and dryness. A typical rain shadow desert is the Judean Desert.
Inland desert
Inland deserts are located south of the southern tropic or north of the northern tropic. The best known are the Gobi Desert, the Taklamakan Desert and the Great Basin.
Some researchers classify continental inland deserts and rain shadow deserts as extratropical deserts.
Polar desert
The polar regions are deserts. They receive very little precipitation and most of the moisture is in frozen form, which means that the water is not available for plants. Due to the extremely low temperatures, the ground is frozen and the air is very dry. A well-known example are the hyperarid McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica, which are among the driest areas on Earth.
Other types of desert
Wind deserts
Wind deserts are found on sub-Antarctic islands in the South Atlantic, south of the 50th parallel south. In this area of constant westerly winds, accompanied by drizzle and fog throughout the year, no trees can thrive due to the lack of wind protection. Only mosses, ferns and lichens are found here.
Semi-desert
The semi-desert is a landscape zone that is slightly more humid than the true desert, but still drier than the thorn savannah. It is usually located on the edge (in the transition zone) of such a "full desert" – see also Sahel zone.
Edaphic desert
Extensive areas without vegetation due to edaphic (soil-related) reasons or soil erosion are often referred to as "deserts" in common parlance. In edaphic (soil-related) deserts, precipitation is quickly drained away in the highly permeable soil. Water cannot be stored in the soil, or only with great difficulty, and there is not enough for plant growth ( ). Thus, despite considerable amounts of precipitation and meltwater, the huge gravel plains in the Icelandic highlands form a desert landscape.
The desert-like appearance is particularly true of sandy habitats such as coastal dunes. The dune landscape of Brazil's Lençóis Maranhenses is often referred to as a desert. However, most definitions of desert do not include these regions, as the lack of vegetation here is not due to a lack of water (the Lençóis Maranhenses, for example, receive around 2000 millimetres of rainfall per year).
Ecology
Survival in desert areas, with their special environmental conditions characterised by water scarcity, forces plants and animals, but also humans, to make very specific adaptations. Rain showers are rare, but when it does rain, it is usually very heavy. Afterwards, the desert blossoms: colourful desert plants grow, but due to the lack of water, they have a short life cycle. Nevertheless, these short vegetation periods, among other things, ensure an often astonishingly rich animal life.
Flora and vegetation
Deserts are characterised by sparse vegetation or even a complete lack of vegetation; only about a quarter of all desert areas are covered with vegetation. The existing vegetation (xerophytes, halophytes) consists of shrubs, grasses and certain deep-rooted trees (e.g. acacias in the Kalahari) that are adapted to drought or increased salt tolerance. They differ in water-saving, water-storing, underground perennial plants and plants with a short growing season. For example, in the fog zone of the Namib Desert, the shrub Arthraerua leubnitziae (a foxtail plant) is the most common representative of permanent vegetation, as it can utilise the high humidity of the fog. Plants such as this are able to maintain their water balance even during extreme and prolonged periods of drought (in the case of Arthraerua leubnitziae, several thousand years).
Fauna
Despite the seemingly hostile conditions, numerous animal species can be found in many of the world's deserts. For example, the Gobi is home to large animals such as the goitered gazelle and the steppe polecat, and snow leopards and wolves are also occasionally found there. Even more numerous than mammals in arid areas are reptiles and, above all, the extremely adaptable arthropods (e.g. insects and scorpions).
