COMMENT
T
Living in a
fractured world
his year is shaping up to be an
important year for the environment,
especially for South Africa, where
Cape Town is expected to be the first
major city in the world to run out of water,
possibly within the first quarter of the year
if further efforts to conserve water do not
bear fruit.
Against this backdrop, January saw the World
Economic Forum’s 48th Annual Meeting taking
place in Davos, Switzerland, with the theme
“Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World”.
Environmental sustainability was a big focus at
the meeting, with the potential consequences of
climate change in the spotlight.
But one of the major takeaways from the
conference, tying in with this year’s theme, was
that no country can address the challenges we
are facing in isolation. To address the issues,
countries need to work together, even as the
backlash against globalisation is growing in
crisis. It is clear that public pronouncements
from government, and even policy shifts, are
not sufficient to address this and similar crises.
And let’s not even discuss the constant finger
pointing and blame apportioning. We need
public buy-in and action.
When it comes to climate change, the
challenge is simple: we all share the same world.
We cannot hope to have an effect if we operate
individually, or in our own, isolated areas. Just
like the tourists from other areas of South
Africa and abroad cannot ignore Cape Town’s
crisis because it does not affect them directly,
we cannot wait until it has a notable effect on
ourselves, our cities, or our countries (more than
it already has, at least) before we act.
By then it will be far too late. ■
Robyn Grimsley – Editor
Plant Equipment & Hire
some quarters.
The 2018 Global Risks Report, released the
week before Davos, showed that environmental
concerns now dominate the most dangerous
risks facing the world — something that Cape
Town is experiencing first hand.
And the response to this threat is lacking.
Despite calls from all sectors for people
to manage water in the face of dwindling
reserves, in January, a video showing water
ostensibly being wasted on washing a long
line of taxis, cars, and bakkies raised an uproar.
At the same time, it is far too common to hear
people referring to the city’s ‘supposed’ water
www.equipmentandhire.co.za
MARCH 2018
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