Investing in Water: The Hottest Commodity of the 21st Century

COMMENTARY - ProspectingJournal.com - People are seldom aware that on a daily basis we share the privilege of showering in wealth, quite literally. March 22nd, 2012, was world water day, and the occasion prompted US intelligence services to issue a startling warning. According to their report we are potentially only 10 years away from witnessing water-based conflicts. The report noted, a combination of water scarcity and water pollution, amongst poverty and poor infrastructure, “will likely increase the risk of instability and state failure, exacerbate regional tensions, and distract countries from working with the United States on important policy objectives”. It is somewhat alarming to think that we already live on the brink of an era in which water itself can dictate conflict. It is a tough pill to swallow. But it exemplifies a scarcity of an altogether different type. On the one hand, so scarce that it can provoke conflict. On the other, so undervalued and under-priced that its scarcity is hard to imagine. Water is amongst our most undervalued commodities, and it is this very point that will make it the hottest commodity of the 21st century. Read the full article on the Prospecting Journal.

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