Water shortages

Each year since 1985, the editors of THE FUTURIST have selected the most thought-provoking ideas and forecasts appearing in the magazine to go into our annual Outlook report. Over the years, Outlook has spotlighted the emergence of such epochal developments as the Internet, virtual reality, and the end of the Cold War. Here are the editors' top 10 forecasts from Outlook 2008:

A struggle by nations to secure sources of clean water will be "potent fuel" for war, the first Asia-Pacific Water Summit heard yesterday. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, told delegates from across the region that the planet faced a water crisis that was especially troubling for Asia.

Water shortages are no longer the exclusive concern of poor desert countries, and unless we change course dramatically, the entire world could go to war over water. This was the message of Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, in Montreal Monday night as part of a national tour for her new book, Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water.