Musings

I have blogged in the past about the prospect for global food and water shortages escalating into pitched battles between countries to secure these vital resources. Today, I read a UPI report that the stage is being set for this conflict scenario by the Gulf Arab States.

According to the report, they are engaged in using their oil profits to acquire vast tracts of arable land around the world that have associated water resources. The idea is that by this means they will become self-sufficient in food production by cultivating these land holdings and directly ship the produce home, thus avoiding the global commodities markets and their associated price structures.

These land grabs are occurring in countries that presently can't afford to feed their own populations, and they don't bode well for the future for all concerned.

Why?

Because in the host countries, political pressure to feed a starving populace will cause the rulers or elected officials to nationalize these holdings, regardless of the moral or economic rules that govern global commerce.

This in turn, will present the prospect of those Gulf countries involved using gunboat diplomacy to protect their interests. And, in as much as the weapons suppliers both in the East and the West have greedily supplied these countries with the latest high technology military products, such enforcement actions become much more plausible.

Now, I suggest that the Arabic countries involved in this escapade rethink their strategy.

In point of fact, it is quite possible that food and water self-sufficiency can be achieved on your own soil, irrespective of the fact that most of it consists of barren, sandy, wastelands that are presently the homelands of scattered migrant tribesmen.

New technological developments have occurred in the last few years that allow economical solar-powered water extraction from the desert air. Although it seldom rains in these regions, the air above the desert has sufficient humidity to allow the production of sufficient water to engage in industrial-scale hydroponic farming. And with global warming, the humidity in the air will increase.

Hydroponics have been demonstrated to produce far more infestation-free crops per square meter than an equivalent area of rich farmland, and such systems can be set up as closed loop irrigation systems with little water loss. I'm sure your engineers are aware of these developments.

And that, my friends, is where you should be investing your oil dollars. Let's face it; your oil resources are running out, and you have only one shot at getting this right. I know that Western countries will be falling all over themselves to provide the technology and technicians to help make this happen, and in the long run, you might avoid the turf wars that flare up in more developed regions of the world, as a growing population chases growing scarcity of these vital resources.

For my readers who are unfamiliar with these advances, here are several examples of what I am talking about:

Water Extraction Schematic

Hydroponics

Aquaponics