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CONTENTS:

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK:

1. World
2. Africa
3. Americas
4. Asia Pacific
5. Europe
6. Middle East
7. South Asia
8. Cyberterrorism and Information Warfare
9. Finance
10 Human Rights
11. Law and Legal Issues
12. Transportation
13. Weapons of Mass Destruction
14. Recently Published

FEATURE ARTICLE:
Water and Disasters: World Water Day 2004

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK

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1. World

Transparency International issued their Global Corruption Report 2004 looking at "plundering politicians and bribing multinationals undermine economic development". TI names Mohamed Suharto (Indonesia) as the number one embezzler, with $15-30 billion to his discredit, followed by Ferdinand Marcos (Philippines), Mobutu Sese Seko (Zaire), Sani Abacha (Nigeria), Slobodan Milosevic (Yugoslavia), Jean-Claude Duvalier (Haiti), Alberto Fujimori (Peru), Pavlo Lazarenko (Ukraine), Arnoldo Aleman (Nicaragua), and Joseph Estrada (Philippines). http://www.transparency.org/pressreleases_archive/2004/2004.03.25.gcr_relaunch.html

The US Census Bureau reports the rate of world population growth is slower due to women having fewer children as well as a population decline in Africa due to HIV/AIDS.

The UN Security Council restructured the Counter-Terrorism Committee. http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/sc8041.doc.htm

Chinese mediation has encouraged North Korea to agree to join a third round of international talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons programs.

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2. Africa

West Africa was the topic of a recent report to the UN Security Council calling for peacekeepers to stay in place long enough to ensure that good local governance is established, providing a key solution to cross-border problems. http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=S/2004/200
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=10198&Cr=west&Cr1=africa
The West African economic bloc, ECOWAS, has begun to develop plans for recovering some eight million illegal weapons and small arms estimated to be proliferating in the region.

Burundi's government and rebels of the Forces for National Liberation (FNL) continue fighting, threatening the peace deal between the government and the main rebel Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD). With the mandate of an African peacekeeping force running out on April 2, the UN Security Council is considering sending a peacekeeping mission as soon as possible.

Democratic Republic of Congo has asked for help to control access to uranium mine where they found 6,000 illegal miners extracting a variety of minerals, without even basic safeguards in place. The UN has stepped up efforts to control black market weapons. http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=s/res/1533(2004)
In eastern DRC, Mayi Mayi tribal leaders report that Rwandan Interahamwe militias have killed a dozen farmers who refused to give up their cows. The incident is being investigated.
Today, there have been attacks against military camps, airports and other key facilities in an apparent attempted coup. The government says it is under control. Fifteen men have been detained.

Ivory Coast's security forces are on patrol after violence broke out when the government stopped a banned protest from proceeding. President Gbagbo called the opposition protest an armed revolt and in the violence that followed up to 42 were killed. Rebels and opposition parties suspended their participation in the power-sharing government to protest the violence and the conflation of civilian demonstrations with enemy combat, and called for Gbagbo to resign. Gbagbo's offer of talks has been rejected. UN peacekeepers are being deployed and have made clear their determination to implement the 2003 peace agreement. Meanwhile, protests and sporadic violence continue.

Kenya's constitutional court has ruled there must be a referendum on the new constitution to ensure it is representative of all Kenyans. The draft will be discussed again in parliament next week and President Kibaki has called for calm as political tensions rise, rooted in the government's desire to maintain strong executive power rather than strengthening parliament.

Liberian rebels of the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) attacked civilians in the city of Buchanan, leading to one death and widespread looting. UN peacekeeping troops took control of the situation, but the disarmament program has been delayed.

Libya took another step to rejoin the international community when British Prime Minister Tony Blair met with Colonial Muammer Gadaffi. They agreed to cooperate against terrorism, including sharing intelligence on al Qaeda suspects. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons completed its inventory of Libya's chemical weapons and confirmed it matched the submitted declaration, including 23 tons of mustard gas.

In Nigeria, ethnic fighting is occurring in advance of local elections. Clashes between Lantang and Hausa in Plateau state killed 17 civilians and two soldiers. In Warri, in the Niger Delta, clashes between government supporters and opponents killed at least ten.

Niger's army engaged in three fights against Islamic militants of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC), in the north near the border with Chad. Government reports claim 43 militants were killed and five taken prisoner, while three Chadian soldiers died and 18 were wounded, and there were no casualties among Niger forces. GSPC fled Algeria following government efforts to dismantle the group.

Sudan's peace process is threatened by the continued deterioration in Darfur. The bilateral agreements between the government and rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Army made progress over most major issues but are deadlocked on the issue of the oil-rich regions. Meanwhile, government attacks against rebels in Darfur have generated the most serious humanitarian disaster in the world at present, extending Sudan's massive military operations even across the border.

Swaziland has replaced Botswana as the country with the highest HIV infection rate in the world, with 38.6 per cent prevalence.

Uganda's army reports fighting against Lord's Resistance Army last weekend killed more than 60 rebels.

In Zanzibar, unknown assailants launched a series of bomb attacks, targeting a government minister, a religious leader, and a tourist hotel. Dozens of suspects have been arrested and the attacks are believed to be politically motivated, but local Muslim activists have denied involvement.

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3. Americas

Antigua has a new prime minister, Baldwin Spencer, ending 50-years of rule by the family of former prime minister Lester Bird. Spencer won on his anti-corruption promise.

Argentina is converting a naval school that had been a torture center into a museum for victims of the "Dirty War" of 1976-1983. President Kirchner signed the plan at a ceremony marking the 28th anniversary of the last military coup.

El Salvador's ruling Arena party won the presidential election, when US-backed rightist Tony Saca defeated former rebel leader Schafik Handal of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, now a legitimate political party.

Peru's intelligence agency has been dissolved following repeated corruption scandals. A commission is studying how best to structure a new organization.

The Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the 9-11 Commission) held its eighth round of hearings. Testimony was heard from Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Secretary Madeleine Albright, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, CIA director George Tenet, former national security advisor Samuel Berger, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and other staff. Testimony of former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke has drawn fierce reaction from the White House that strongly disputed his claims that they did not take his warnings of al Qaeda seriously, were distracted by Iraq, and that in waging war in Iraq have hurt counter-terrorism efforts. Clarke also apologized to families of the September 11 victims. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, criticized for speaking to the press but refusing to testify, has now requested an appearance at the hearing. http://www.9-11commission.gov/hearings/hearing8.htm

The US General Accounting Office (GAO) reviewed the Homeland Security Advisory System, recommending that "Risk Communication Principles May Assist in Refinement"
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO=04-538T The Department of Homeland Security has declared a hiring freeze at Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement because of a $1.2 billion budget shortfall. Citizenship and Immigration has also frozen hiring in response to lower than anticipated fee income.

Venezuela's Human Rights Defender, German Mundarin, has accused government forces of disproportionate use of force and torture of some of those detained at anti-government demonstrations. In recent unrest, at least nine have died, some 200 were injured, and 500 arrested.

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4. Asia Pacific

Australia's opposition Labor Party has suggested pulling its forces out of Iraq in order to reduce the incentive for terrorist attacks. Australia has carried out a 5-day counter-terrorism exercise, "Mercury 04", including a simulated oil rig hijacking, simultaneous regional drills, and testing of WMD equipment.

China and Japan are at odds over the disputed island of Uotsuri-Jima, largest of the Senkaku or Daioyu Islands, which are also claimed by Taiwan. Seven Chinese activists landed on the island and have been detained by Japanese officials, leading to anti-Japanese demonstrations in China.

The division between ethnic Taiwanese, with their own local dialect and history, and the official Chinese culture of the ruling minority, has contributed to the growing rift on the island. After election officials confirmed the reelection of Chen Shui-bian, protestors took to the streets and stormed the election commission. The margin of the election was less than 0.2 per cent. China does not recognize the elections and has said they will not let the situation get out of control, including the possibility of ethnic conflict.

Malaysia's National Front government party won a significant elections over the Parti Islam, giving Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badqi a decisive victory and pushing back prior gains of the fundamentalist Islamic opposition.

In South Korea, avian influenza has reappeared after six weeks after nearly half a million chickens had been culled.

The Philippines truce between the government and separatists of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will begin next month. International observers have begun to arrive. Malaysia will mediate the peace talks also scheduled for April.

In Thailand, martial law was introduced in the south, where at the beginning of the week a bomb injured a woman and a second attempt was successfully defused. A policeman was shot dead in another incident. On Saturday a motorcycle bomb sent off outside a bar and injured about 30 people. The upsurge on violence has been blamed on Islamic radicals, including Jemaah Islamiah, but without firm evidence.

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5. Europe

EU ministers have agreed to appoint an anti-terrorism coordinator and to improve intelligence sharing but decided not to create an EU-wide intelligence agency.

Cyprus' reunification reaches a crucial stage in talks this weekend in advance of a referendum scheduled for April, before Cyprus' accession tothe EU on May 1. Greek and Turkish officials will also participate, but a successful outcome is by no means certain.

French police have arrested three suspects in connection with a series of threats against rail lines issued by a group calling itself AZF and demanding ransom in exchange of information on the location of the bombs. Two explosive devices have been found and made safe.

Georgian President Saakashvili has revoked Aslan Abashidze's passport, as well as 500 other officials of the breakaway region of Ajaria.

In Kosovo the fifth anniversary of NATO's intervention gave little to celebrate after the simmering ethnic conflict boiled over again last week. In that violence, 28 people were killed and more than 600 injured after three ethnic Albanian children were drowned. More than 3,000 people, mostly ethnic Serbs and Roma, fled, more than 300 homes were burnt down, and at least 30 religious sites, mostly churches, were destroyed. The area was calm over the weekend but gunmen on Tuesday killed two UN peacekeepers. NATO will increase its presence, but the status of Kosovo remains unresolved, as does the underlying ethnic conflict. Serbian Prime Minister Kostunica believes that an ethnic division, with separate regions for Albanians and Serbs, is the only way to stop violence in Kosovo.

Spain's investigations into the Madrid bombings continue to uncover more details of the long tentacles of militant Islamic networks. There are connections between the Moroccans under investigation in Spain and other suspects in Germany, France, Norway and Indonesia, to name only a few. At least 18 suspects have been detained. After further forensic investigation, Spanish authorities lowered the death toll from 202 to 190. Basque separatist group ETA's attempts to have talks with the incoming Socialist government while still maintaining their right to fight has been rejected.

In the Ukraine, violence between Crimean Tartars and Ukrainians led to two men stabbed, a number of arrests, and protests by Tartars who want greater rights.

In the UK, the Metropolitan Police, City of London Police and Transport for London have launched a new anti-terrorism drive that urges people to call a hotline to report suspicious behavior. http://www.met.police.uk/campaigns/anti_terrorism/march.htm

The Bloody Sunday inquiry into the events of 1972 requested details of previously confidential notes and correspondence from the legal teams, government, police, and intelligence. If the material is provided, it could further delay the tribunal's report.

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6. Middle East

In Bahrain more than a hundred Islamist youths invaded a restaurant that was serving alcohol, threatening the diners (who numbered about 40), and damaged several cars outside by throwing gasoline bombs.

In the Gaza Strip, Hamas co-founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin (1938-2004), was killed when Israeli Defense forces launched a missile attack against him. He was blown apart in his wheelchair. Three missiles struck him, his entourage, and bystanders, killing at least seven and wounding 15. The assassination of this popular figure drew international condemnation and warnings of increased violence. The US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning the extrajudicial killing. Veteran militant Abdel Aziz Rantisi has been appointed the new leader of Hamas, who has sworn vengeance for the attack. Note these Special Reports from the Guardian, including an interactive presentation of the action, and Haaretz http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/0,2759,377264,00.html http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/407495.html

This was not the only violence in the Gaza Strip. Following the late Sunday night killing of two armed Palestinians near a crossing point, an Israeli operation on Monday killed a member of Hamas, his wife, two other Hamas members and a bystander. A second incident killed a 13-year-old boy. On Tuesday, a Palestinian attempting to infiltrate a settlement was shot dead. Thursday saw three more would-be infiltrators shot dead.

Iran has accepted the return of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors; the first of whom have already begun their work.

Attacks in Iraq this week included:
a roadside bomb that killed a US soldier and interpreter;
shooting dead two Finnish businessmen,
a number of rocket attacks that killed two soldiers and four civilians,
a series of gun attacks that killed 13 Iraqi security forces and civilians,
ambushes that killed three Iraqis and four US troops,
a firefight with insurgents that killed five militants and three US troops,
and additional gun battles that killed 16, including one US marine.

A BBC Panorama program "Saddam on the run" looks at how he evaded capture for so long and who finally gave him away. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/3546081.stm

Lebanese Hezbollah fired rockets and mortars at Israeli troops in the Shebaa Farms area. Israel Defense Forces later attacked Palestinians in southern Lebanon accused of rocket launches.

In the West Bank, the capture of a teenage suicide bomber captured worldwide media attention. The 16-year-old boy was developmentally disabled. As he approached the checkpoint he was ordered to remove his sweater, revealing an explosive vest. The military sent a robot with cutters to remove the vest that was later detonated in a controlled explosion. The boy is being questioned by security forces and may be prosecuted. At the end of the week, a 6-year-old Palestinian boy was shot dead as Israelis and Palestinians exchanged fire.

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7. South Asia

Afghanistan's elections have been postponed at least until September. For a current review of the situation, see the latest report to the UN Security Council http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=S/2004/230
Last week's assassination of civil aviation minister Mirwais Sadiq, the son of Herat governor Ismail Khan, prompted factional fighting that killed up to a hundred people. Additional troops have arrived to maintain calm and some 200 people have been arrested in connection with Sadiq's death and the subsequent violence.

Assam, India, had at least three attacks by suspected Kuki tribal militants against rival Karbi tribal villagers, killing 27 Karbi. In Andhra Pradesh, rebels of the People's War Group are suspected in the shooting death of two members of the ruling Telugu Desam party.

Indian-administered Kashmir authorities and moderate separatist of the All Party Hurriyat plan to hold more peace talks. Meanwhile separatist militants are suspected in the shooting death of a Janata Dal United politician, Mukhtar Ahmed Bhat.

Nepalese authorities claim to have killed 24 Maoist rebels. The Prime Minister has announced measures to prevent illegal detention and disappearances after international human rights criticisms.

Pakistan continues its offensive against suspected al Qaeda and Pashtun tribesman. They have arrested more than a hundred militants and killed dozens. An audiotape purportedly from Ayman al-Zawahiri of al Qaeda has called Pakistan's actions un-Islamic and called for the overthrow of the government.

Sri Lankan rebel Tamil Tigers have threatened to kill Colonel Karuna, who split from the group earlier this month.

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8. Cyberterrorism and Information Warfare

The Witty Worm spread rapidly last weekend, taking advantage of a Microsoft Windows port vulnerability in ICQ parsing. It was short-lived but destructive, affecting some 30,000 computers. More than a thousand of webhosting.net customers were shut down for most of the weekend. Repair required complete rebuilding of the infected machines.
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.witty.worm.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15760-2004Mar22.html

The Recording Industry Association of America, targeted by MyDoom.F, was down for several days and recently has been sporadically available.

The US General Accounting Office (GAO) published two reports regarding information security in federal agencies, that is considered a high-risk issue in which a large majority continue not to meet the requirements of the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA). As well as their report on current FISMA compliance efforts, GAO studied cybersecurity technologies for access control; system integrity; cryptography; audit and monitoring; and configuration management and assurance, including 18 technologies within these categories. They also point to effective cybersecurity requiring:
"* implementing technologies through a layered, defense-in-depth strategy;
* considering the agency's unique information technology infrastructure when selecting technologies;
* utilizing results of independent testing when assessing the technologies' capabilities;
* training staff on the secure implementation and utilization of these technologies; and
* ensuring that the technologies are securely configured."
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO=04-467
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO=04-483T

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9. Finance

Global Witness published "Time for Transparency: Coming clean on oil, mining and gas revenues" that considers the examples of Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Nauru and Republic of Congo to review the need for transparency of revenues from natural resources to ensure funds are not misappropriated and mismanaged. http://www.globalwitness.org/reports/show.php/en.00049.html

The British Treasury has "instructed the Bank of England, as agent for Her Majesty's Treasury, to direct financial institutions that any funds which they hold for or on behalf of five senior members of Hamas must be frozen. The individuals are; Musa Abu Marzouk, Imad Khalil Al-Alami, Usama Hamdan, Khalid Mishaal and Abdel Aziz Rantisi.
"This action has been taken because the Treasury have reasonable grounds for suspecting that four of the individuals are, or may be, persons who facilitate or participate in the commission of acts of terrorism and one, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, is or may be a person who commits, facilitates or participates in such acts.
"In addition, the Chancellor has instructed the Bank of England to add to its list of individuals and terrorist groups subject to an asset freeze the names "Kadek" and "Kongra-Gel" as aliases of the terrorist Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), which is already subject to such a freeze."
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/newsroom_and_speeches/press/2004/press_31_04.cfm

The US House Committee on International Relations heard testimony that sanctions against Burma have not achieved their aims but instead have been counterproductive and in need to a new strategy of engagement with the military junta. http://wwwc.house.gov/international_relations/aphear108.htm

Antigua and Barbados has won an appeal to the World Trade Organization that found US policies prohibiting online gambling violate international law.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reviewed harmful tax practices, including issues surrounding lack of transparency and lack of information exchange. Bank secrecy practices in Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland are likely to come under increased pressure. http://www.oecd.org/document/3/0,2340,en_2649_201185_30901123_1_1_1_1,00.html

US Treasury testified before congress on Saudi Arabia and terrorist financing
http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/js1257.htm

GAO reviewed US efforts to recover Iraqi assets in
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO=04-579T

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10. Human Rights

The UN Special Rapporteur on racism and related issues called for a red alert to warm of a resurgence of racism and xenophobia combined with new discrimination against refugees and immigrants. http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/F9316C4083BD7542C1256E5F00577FF8?opendocument

The senior representative for Cuba reported on an "unprecedented wave of oppression" in Cuba. http://www.unog.ch/news2/documents/newsen/cn04021e.htm

Judge Noriyoshi Katano ordered more than $800,000 compensation be paid to the Chinese people forced to work in the Niigata port during World War II.

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11. Law and Legal Issues

Radoslav Brdjanin faces charges of crimes against humanity, violations of the laws or customs of war, and breaches of the Geneva Convention. He had been acquitted of one crime of genocide last year but the Appeals Chamber for the war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has now reinstated this charge for the former government minister.

Usman Choudhary, Omar Ijaz, Madasser al Hussan and Arshad Farid, had been detained in Britain on varius terrorism charges since December. These charges have been dropped although investigations continue.

David Courtailler, Ahmed Laidouni and Mohamed Baadache are on trial in Paris for allegedly recruiting for al Qaeda. They deny the charges. Courtailler has been linked with Jamal Zougam, a key suspect in the Madrid bombings.

Charges against Cathal Loughran, Dominic Dynes, Aidan Grew and Gareth O'Connor on membership of the Real IRA have been dropped in Irish court.

Mijailo Mijailovic has been sentenced to live in prison by Swedish court for the murder of Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh.

Najamudeen Umar, member of the Thai parliament, has been accused of involvement in the violent attacks in the south and a warrant has been issued for his arrest as well as eight others charged with treason and theft.

Ian Nisbet, Reza Pankhurst, and Maajid Nawaz, all British, have been sentenced to five years in prison by an Egyptian court for trying to revive the banned Hizb al-Tahrir (Islamic Liberation Party).

Sebastien Nzapali, ("King of the Beasts") former Congolese military officer, is standing trial in Dutch court for violating the 1984 UN Convention Against Torture.

Dr Lets Pretorius, one of the alleged Boeremag leaders, has been granted bail by a South African judge pending his trial on various charges related to violent overthrow of the government. The treason trial of all 22 Boeremag defendants will continue on April 2.

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12. Transportation

The US Transport Security Administration's Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS II) is seriously behind schedule, with delays in system planning, acquisition of customer data, plans for identifying system functionality, and resolution of key issues such as accuracy of data, stress testing, access controls and privacy concerns.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO=04-504T

The US Department of Homeland Security announced new rail and transit security initiatives. http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/press_release/press_release_0376.xml
Among these initiatives is the new Highway Watch program in conjunction with the American Trucking Association to train 400,000 truckers to identify and report possible threats and to coordinate with first responders, law enforcement and intelligence through the Transportation Security Coordination Center. http://www.tsa.gov/public/display?theme=44&content=0900051980093ccf
Customs and Border Protection announced plans to deploy radiation portal monitors
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/press_releases/03222004.xml
Watch for more Feature Articles on these and other critical infrastructure protection issues in the coming weeks.

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13. Weapons of Mass Destruction

The International Nuclear Safety Group has been formed, with experts from 15 countries gathering to provide guidance on safety for nuclear facilities. http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2004/experts_insag.html

The US National Nuclear Security Administration's Inspector General released an audit report on "The Department's Basic Protective Force Training Program". It finds that reduced security training can leave nuclear weapons plants inadequately defended. http://www.ig.doe.gov/pdf/ig-0641.pdf

The World Health Organization released the 2004 Global Tuberculosis Control report http://www.who.int/tb/publications/global_report/en/

Several hundred missiles in the Ukraine are missing. They should have been decommissioned but cannot be found.

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14. Recently Published

Rick Atkinson, "In the Company of Soldiers" A Chronicle of Combat" Henry Holt

Hans Blix, "Disarming Iraq" Pantheon

Richard A. Clarke, "Against All Enemies" Free Press

John Lewis Gaddis, "Surprise, Security, and the American Experience", Harvard University Press

David Horovitz, "Still Life with Bombers: Israel in the Age of Terrorism" Knopf

Helena Kennedy, "Just Law: The Changing Face of Justice - and Why It matters to Us All" Chatto and Windus

Graeme Newman and Ronald V. Clarke, "Superhighway Robbery: Preventing e-commerce crime" Willan Publishing
http://www.willanpublishing.co.uk/superh.html

Brian Rowan, "The Armed Peace" Mainstream http://www.mainstreampublishing.com/mainstream_response.php

James Gustave Speth, "Red Sky At Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment - A Citizen's Agenda for Action" Yale University Press

Dmitri Trenin and Aleksei Malashenko with Anatol Lieven "Russia's Restless Frontier: The Chechnya Factor in Post-Soviet Russia" Brookings
http://www.ceip.org/files/Publications/RussiasRestlessFrontier.asp?from=pubdate

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FEATURE ARTICLE: Water and Disasters: World Water Day 2004

Water is the most precious of all natural resources. In previous articles, we have discussed the linkage between water and conflict, and some of the major risk areas in the world. This article summarizes coverage of World Water Day (March 22) whose theme this year is "Water and Disasters". Next week we will continue this topic with a discussion of key critical infrastructure protection issues related to protecting water supplies.

"Water and Disasters" is a joint effort among the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, the United Nations, and the World Meteorological Organization. They raise the issue of water-related disasters as part of a program to inform and prepare people around the world in which "Information must flow between global and local, between traditional and modern, between the village and the boardroom, between scientists and decision makers".

Water-related disasters occur hundreds of times every day. They include accidents (including release of toxic materials into water), avalanches, cyclones, drought, floods, health, landslides, mudflows, storm surges, and others. Most worrying has been the increasing number of disasters and their crowing impact. The report cites, for example:
"in recent times, 89 per cent of natural disasters are weather and climate related and have been the most pervasive during the last ten years. Drought and famine accounted for 82 percent of all those affected by disasters in Africa, 48 per cent in Oceania and 35 per cent in the Americas, whereas floods accounted for 69 per cent of those affected in Asia.... Similarly the death toll for hydrometeorological disasters has accounted for 71 per cent of all deaths. Over the last 30 years, the number of lives lost to natural disasters has declined and leveled off at about 80,000 per year, but the number of people affected and estimated economic losses have been steadily increasing".

A number of recent reports, including those by the US Pentagon and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, have looked at the impact of climate change and the likely commensurate increase in disastrous events. Although extinction and population relocation are associated with climate change, people have historically been adaptive and developed various survival strategies. This report suggests that it is time to "recognize the essential public value of reducing the cost of natural hazards to health, society, the economy and the environment". To do this, they suggest that "If people are properly informed at all stages of the disaster management cycle, and in language they fully understand, they will be less vulnerable and better able to participate effectively in any mitigation measures".

Efforts to reduce vulnerabilities come first followed by monitoring and early warnings of disasters. Local and regional centers have risen to provide local disaster risk reduction, and have worked with global organizations to review and coordinate efforts. Supporting this effort, the report provides basic information about the various water-related hazards and how to prepare for them. For example, it mentions the use of good early warning systems, physical protection, communication coordination, preventative health measures, protection of hazardous substances, water quality monitoring, water management, and so on.

The relationship between health and water-related disasters is particularly important, while different forms of disaster are associated with different types of injuries and risks. For example, "Education about the risks associated with cleanups, such as contamination from inundated industrial sites, sewage works or refuse dumps, and about ways to reduce exposure to water-borne diseases, is vital". Whereas with drought, "Often there will be mass displacement of people desperate to find food and water, and the length of many droughts can mean it will take people much longer to recover from the effects" which include malnutrition; cholera, typhoid fever, diarrhea and other infectious diseases; depression and trauma. This also highlights the need for sustainable development in the poorest countries prone to some of the worst natural disasters.

The report briefly reviews climate change, pointing to a definite trend towards extreme weather and the need to be prepared for a range of climate-related disasters. Managing risks with awareness, education and planning will help mitigate the threats. The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction offers a framework for risk reduction based on four general areas of vulnerability. These are"
"* Physical, referring mainly to location and to the built-up environment;
* Social, linked to the level of wellbeing of individuals, communities and society. Included are aspects related to literacy and education, peace and security, access to basic human rights, systems of good governance, social equity, positive traditional values, knowledge structures, customs and ideological beliefs, and overall collective organizational systems;
* Economic, as the poor are generally far more vulnerable to risk than the rich, and tend to lose more and recover slower when a disaster strikes. The links between eradicating poverty, the impact of poverty on recovery from natural disasters, and the state of the environmental resource base upon which both depend, are crucial;
* Ecological, covering a broad range of issues, such as the depletion and degradation of natural resources, the loss of resilience in ecological systems and in biodiversity, and the level of exposure to toxic and hazardous pollutants."

Next week... preventing manmade threats to water.

Further Reading: