Drought, water theft, food insecurity

More than a decade back  (2008-2011) when I was a  junior parliamentarian, I was made aware of how landowners (not small ones but big ones) had made it their SOP to steal water from the canals on the River Indus, with the result that by the time the water reached the Indus delta creek (Arabian sea) there really wasn’t very much left as per the legal allocations for the smallholder famers. They plunged in poverty and the circus continued. It was an inter-provincial mess of the highest order. I remember catching water theft with TV cameras; wading in the middle of the night in fields. I remember raising the issue in parliamentary sub-committees. I managed to get small fish arrested. However, the big fish got away. And the might of the mighty prevailed and probably is still prevailing to this day.

Today as I was going through Le Monde I found two articles:

1- La France sous la menace d’une secheresse encore plus importante qu’en 2022.

2-En Andalousie, 26 personnes arrêtées pour vol d’eau afin d’irriguer avocatiers et manguiers. Près de 26 millions de mètres cubes d’eau auraient été volés dans quelque 250 puits illégaux dans l’Axarquia, région agricole du sud de l’Espagne où le niveau des réserves est déjà préoccupant à la veille de l’été.

It reminded me of the global problem that SOTF and SDGs must tackle with equitable processes. Point being this is a reality of climate change, drought, la secheresse. Systems of regulating through law, water theft; water’s equitable distribution needs to be implemented so that food security is not impacted negatively.