A Thirsty World (2012) - full transcript

French Agency for Developpement (AFD)
is the proud partner of this film.

All my life, I have been fascinated
by water

I saw men floating in the clouds,

I saw waterfalls shaping the forest,

and sculpting landscapes.

I saw life blossoming in the water,

I saw men living in the rivers

I was a passionate observer of water.

And then I discovered that
I was connected to it

in a completely unexpected way.

In Paris, I, who thought
I used some tens



of litres of water per day,

learned that in fact I consumed almost
5,000 litres,

and that this water came from all over
the world!

But where is this water hidden?

This is the water needed to produce
everything that I consume.

Just think, it takes 3 litres of water
to produce 1.5 litre of mineral water!

40 litres to grow a salad!

140 litres for a cup of coffee!

185 litres for a kilo of tomatoes!

330 litres for a loaf of bread!

960 litres for a litre of wine!

1,000 litres for a kilo of apples!

1,100 litres for a litre of milk!

1,900 litres for a kilo of pasta!



3,400 litres for a kilo of rice!

11,000 litres for a pair of jeans!

15,000 litres for a kilo of beef!

This water has been used to produce
cereals

that have fed the beef that I eat...

a European family of four consumes
140,000 litres of water every week!

This is what we call "virtual water"

these figures are almost unbelievable.

Our lifestyles, our travels,
our hobbies,

all continuously combine to increase
our water requirements.

They are growing so fast

that they sometimes exceed what nature
can provide.

But water is also desperately lacking

for more than one billion people.

I have never drunk clean drinking water

90% of polluted water goes back

into nature without being treated.

It was forbidden to sell our fish.

They said it was poisoned

Contaminated water still kills more

than 4,000 children every day.

I am always afraid for the lives of my
children...

Enough water to feed humanity is still
lacking.

I did not even have enough to feed
myself,

I had to buy rice to supplement my diet.

Water is the source of conflicts in
many countries.

I have killed many men,

I had to kill them for my safety.

In South Sudan,

This incredible machine, as
high as a 5-storey building,

should have dug a canal,

started a war that lasted for 30 years.

To find solutions to these vital issues,

men and women did not wait for the
policy makers.

They have solutions and they work.

Vandana Shiva, an impassioned Indian,

is fighting for a new agriculture:

We must move towards more calorific

crops that use less water.

G�rard Roso has drilled over 4,000
wells throughout Africa:

I feel that when I leave a village,

after having brought them water,

it is important.

Catarina de Albuquerque
who argued the case

to the United Nations for the right

to clean water and sanitation for all.

We have to talk about "shit",

we must face things head on,
there are solutions.

But also ordinary citizens whose lives
are at stake,

like Annete,

the toilet lady in a slum in Kenya,

who has made hygiene
her personal crusade.

I am proud to work in
the public toilets.

Or Ek Sonn Chann,

an incorruptible Cambodian,

who works miracles in Phnom Penh:

I have a dream: to supply potable water
to all Cambodians

- A THIRSTY WORLD -

A film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Directed by Thierry Piantanida and
Baptiste Rouget-Luchaire

Original music by Armand Amar

In space, water is rarer than gold.

And the little water found there is
always frozen...

Always? No!

Our blue planet has gaseous, solid and
liquid water!

It is this miracle that has allowed
life on Earth.

If the Earth was only 5% closer to the
sun,

it would be a scorching, waterless
desert, like Venus.

If the earth was only 3% futher away
from the sun,

it would be a frozen desert, like Mars.

Water has made Earth a living planet.

Our Earth has 1,4 billion km3 of water.

Remove from that the salt water,
which we cannot use.

Remove the water at the north
and south poles

and water that is deep underground,

which is inaccessible to mankind.

What is left?

0,02% of all water on earth.

No more than the amount held by Lake
Baikal, in Russia! The world's largest lake.

That is the amount of water that nature
gives us every year.

No more than that!

Are these mountain-climbers on the
summit of Mont Blanc

aware of being on the first link in the
great chain of water?

The high mountain is one of our large
water reservoirs.

Snow is transformed into ice and
accumulates there, year after year.

It will supply billions of people and
countless living species.

The sun is slowly melting

the frozen water stored on the summits.

Once released,

the water starts its great journey
towards the ocean.

It makes its way down,

growing from a cascade into a torrent.

It feeds the forests whose roots absorb
its vital energy.

Water is an irrestible force.

It shatters rock, and takes everything
with it.

When it picks up speed, its destructive
power increases.

Then it finally deposits
its sediment load,

and creates plains and deltas,

the most fertile land on the planet.

Water is an artist that reveals itself
to me from the sky.

In Kenya, Lake Magadi was once
inhabited by hippopotamus,

crocodiles and fish.

Little by little it has dried up.

Today, it reminds me
of an unknown planet.

Minerals from hot springs have
accumulated on the lake-bed,

forming an incredible
palette of colours.

One of the few species that survives
here is apink flamingo.

It feeds on the micro-organisms that
thrive in these warm waters.

The marshes are incredibly rich,

because they provide a multitude of
habitats and abundant food.

They swell like a sponge
during the floods

and restore the water during
periods of drought.

This strange mosaic
that I filmed in Congo

is what remains of
ancient agricultural practices,

the memory of which has been retained
by the marsh.

For four and a half billion years, the
same water

has circulated endlessly through all
living species.

I drink the water that has refreshed
dinosaurs!

We owe the boldest relief landscapes on
Earth to water.

It took millions of years to carve the
Grand Canyon in the United States.

When it seeps into the earth, water
supplies the underground water tables.

These valuable reserves were formed
over thousands

and sometimes millions of years.

They do not regenerate very much.

Along with glaciers, underground water
is our main water reserve.

But water is not evenly distributed
across the globe.

Some regions receive a hundred times
more rain than others.

Water is sometimes so scarce that men
are willing to kill for it!

In northern Kenya,
a country I know so well,

it has not rained for over a year.

Two tribes of nomadic shepherds,

the Dassanech and the Turkana,

compete with each other to capture the
last oasis of greenery.

I have killed many men,

I had to kill them for my safety.

We live side by side with our enemies

and are permanently at war
with each other.

There is no respite or moment of rest.

Even sat here we are probably
being watched.

These men

risk their lives every day
to find water.

This war dance is celebrating
the safe return

of the shepherds and their flocks to
the village.

A week after our filmshoot,

thirteen people among those we filmed
were killed...

Dying for water...

I am often worried when my children

take our animals out to graze and drink.

We are never sure if they will come
back or not.

It is only in the evening
when I see them

that I am sure they are still alive.

I am afraid of our enemies.

Like them, we are waiting for rain,

but it has not rained
for more than a year.

We came back here because it is the
only place

where any pasture remains for our
animals.

Hundreds of families, terrorized by the
water war,

gave up everything to take refuge in
this makeshift camp.

When I was young, there was plenty of
food,

and then there was famine.

I went to Todenyang to find food.

But our life has become hell,

people began to die.

Now, I am in Lorenyang,

because the Dassanetch chased me off my
land.

Even going to fetch water, you could
hear gunshots

and could be killed from one moment to
the next...

I will kill the enemy because they
killed my parents, my mother, my sister.

All these people died before my eyes.

They also killed some of my flock of
cows and goats,

for that too I will kill them.

Without the drought that forced us to
migrate,

the father of my children would not
have gone to Todenyang,

he would have kept his cattle and would
not have been killed.

A lack of water�!

This is the obsession of millions and
millions

of humans on the planet.

And what if one day our taps suddenly
stopped running?

That is what happened in Spain!

Barcelona, Spring 2008.

Following a prolonged drought,

this great european city wakes up
without water.

For the residents, it is a nightmare!

Water-tankers re-supply the stricken
city.

Yet the people of Barcelona are among
the lowest consumers of water in Europe.

How did it get to this point?

The city's population reached
5 million inhabitants,

and more and more
tourists come to admire

the incredible unfinished
cathedral designed by Gaudi.

Irrigated agriculture has become
standard in Catalonia.

Several years of drought have resulted
in reserves being emptied.

While Barcelona was parched of water,

the two rivers from which the city
draws most of its water

continued to be used to irrigate crops
in the surrounding area.

The affair caused a scandal!

Why not dig a canal to bring water from
the Ebro,

Spain's largest river,
which flows 200km further south?

It's not so easy!

The Ebro delta is one of the richest
natural reserves in Europe.

Fifty thousand rice farmers,

market gardeners, fishermen and salt-
workers

live in this corner of the world.

Although Barcelona is a very thirsty
city,

it is out of the question that they
divert some of their water!

The city finally opts for a seawater
desalination plant,

despite the high cost and salty waste
it produces.

This offers a respite, but not a
sustainable solution,

because the plant supplies only a
million people...

It's unthinkable!

Water may now be lacking in regions
rich in abundant resources.

Today, it is Barcelona, although it is
supplied by the Pyrenees.

And tomorrow, who will be next?

We humans have always settled near sources
of water, along rivers and by lakes.

Where food can be found.

Thanks to water, we were able to leave
the nomadic life

to found the first villages and invent
agriculture.

The powerful attraction of water is
just as strong today.

Water is vital!

In South Sudan,

the fisher people live as they did five
thousand years ago!

They settled in the middle of the marshes,
as close as possible to their food.

Here, the only spaces available are the
old termite mounds!

The clay from which they are made

is used to build houses and even to
create tiny gardens.

Here, the only source of protein is
fish that is dried in the sun.

For these people, who live almost
completely self-sufficiently,

it is their only trading
currency with the outside world,

if by chance a boat passes by.

Water was also the first line of
communication between men.

Even today, in Central Africa,

there are not many roads or railways.

It is the Congo river that still plays
this vital role

by linking together hundreds of
villages along its banks.

Here, an incredible means of transportation
in lieu of trucks and trains are the barges

on which are piled families and goods.

Everything is bought there, everything
is sold there.

They supply a population that is far
away from everything.

This barge, or rather raft,

is made up of an assemblage of trunks on
which merchandise has been laid any-old-how.

Upon arrival, the timber will be sold
along with everything else...

The mighty Congo is therefore a huge
asset for Africa,

whose population is going to double in
size.

Rivers have played a major role in the
development of our species.

In Mali, the city of Djenn� was created

between the arms of a
tributary of the Niger,

on the edge of the Sahara.

The city took advantage of its unique
situation:

it has become a major hub of commerce,
a stop for camel caravans.

But not everyone is based near a water
source...

Imagine it!

Walking for hours each day to go and
fetch water...

I so often saw women, and even children,

exhaust themselves carrying buckets of
30 litres on their heads.

800 million people do not drink clean
water.

What could be better than bringing them
water?

Freeing them from this gruelling chore?

The Kayes region, in south-west Mali,

is one of the hottest places on the
planet.

From here to the river is very far and
very tiring,

I have to cross three ponds.

I make this journey 3, 4, 5 times in
the morning

and sometimes even in the afternoon.

The trip to go and fetch water is very
hard.

Leeches cling to our feet,

sometimes on the way back from the river
you fall but you have to go back there.

The river water is not good,

but we have no other source of water.

I drink it against my will.

I often worry that this water will make
my children ill

and that they will die, but I have no
other choice.

I have never drunk clean drinking water.

I cannot say what drinking water tastes
like.

Every time you arrive somewhere
it's a challenge.

Every time you arrive somewhere you
have doubts.

Every time you arrive in a village you
hope.

G�rard Roso is probably the person

who has dug the most wells in the world:

nearly 4,000 in all of Africa!

He has adapetd oil-industry drilling-
techniques to find water.

For the past two years he has worked
here in Mali

as a volunteer for the Clear Water
association

I look for fracture zones, that is to
say,

faults that are likely to release the
most water.

I also position myself according to the
alignments of trees

from endemic species that are
interesting indicators

for determining the greatest areas of
water passage.

And according to these criteria, I
position my drill.

We are essentially capturing rainwater.

This is water that has drained into the
ground.

This groundwater is constantly being
supplied,

which means that once
we have found water,

it is unlikely that the
borehole will run dry one day.

When you drill in regions like this,
you do have setbacks.

Weak faults that can be found in the
earth can be blocked,

so in some areas we can have a failure
rate of up to 80%.

I have been waiting for this day with
great joy.

We live in the bush,

so the time I save will be used to work
on my garden and in the fields.

I can4t wait to have drinking water.

I have waited for this day such a long
time.

I am appalled by some of the things I
see.

I saw villages where there were five
boreholes

and a village a litte further on

where there was not one single one.

There are so many boreholes that are
out of action.

There is no one to repair them. The
spare parts cannot be found.

So the pumps fail and new programmes
are put

in place with new boreholes and pumps
are reinstalled.

What would be smarter would
be to rehabilitate wells

that are already in existence.

I feel that when I leave a village
after bringing it water, it is important.

And what these people have given me, I
have given something back to them too.

As the village storyteller,

I am going to ask all the village women
to take good care of this water bore,

because we suffered a lot before we had
clean drinking water.

I am urging them therefore to take care
of it because it is precious.

In Cambodia,

you can live on one of the largest
lakes in Asia

and not have clean drinking water!

800 million people worldwide are in the
same situation!

It is a deadly threat that hangs over
the most vulnerable populations.

The Tonl� Sap great lake has been the pantry
of one in three Cambodians for a long time.

It has always supplied the population
with water.

Today, urbanization and
industry have polluted the water,

which is no longer drinkable.

But the inhabitants do not know this...

They have drunk this water for
generations.

Here, the fishermen catch eels, with
curious bamboo traps planted in the mud.

- Hey, Hello!

- How much have you caught?

- Three... barely half a kilo!

- You don't bring anything
with you to drink?

- I drink this water here!

- Oh, really? And you are not sick?

- Sometimes. But what can I do?

- But this water stinks, and it is
completely filthy!

Currently, the population living on the
lake is growing

and year after year is becoming
increasingly poor...

Here, everything costs more.

Most of the inhabitants drink water
directly from the lake,

which poses health problems.

In 2010, two villages
near here fell victim to

an infectious epidemic
which left more than 40 dead.

Vuth, I am giving you a filter. From
now on,

I ask you to stop using water from the
lake directly.

It must be filtered before drinking it.

Using earthenware filters, it really is
the simplest and cheapest means

of having drinking water here.

After studying in France, Chay Lo, a
young engineer,

founded the association 1001 Fountains

which installs inexpensive water
purification stations in rural Cambodia.

The system is very efficient:

each unit is financially independent,

and most importantly, creates jobs.

Here, people use water from the pond or
river,

and especially rainwater.

Furthermore, it does not keep well.

It is stored in open jars where
mosquitoes lay their eggs.

So, they have to boil the water,

but it's expensive because you have
to buy wood or coal for the fire.

The water treatment process used by
1001 Fountains is very simple.

We filter the water several times, and
then sterilize it using ultra-violet.

We started in 2005

and have already installed 47 stations

that provide daily drinking
water to 40,000 people.

We set up a station at this school to
provide free water to students.

Not everyone realizes the importance of
drinking clean water,

a lot of educational work must be done
to convince them to change their habits.

That will take time...

Is this water clean?

No!

That's right, it is full of microbes.

And if you drink it,

you will get stomach ache and you will
vomit...

Supplying drinking water in major cities

is an even greater challenge.

I have a dream.

To provide water to all Cambodians!

Honesty pays!

In Phnom Penh, Ek Sonn Chan, an
incorruptible public servant,

has inspired confidence in
international aid organizations

to rebuild the entire drinking water
system in the Cambodian capital.

I have suffered personally, as has my
family, from a lack of water.

The Khmer Rouge converted this school
into a prison, called S21.

Here, thousands of people were murdered.

On 17 April 1975, the Khmer Rouge
entered Phnom Penh.

The inhabitants were forced to leave
the city.

I was one of those people.

I was commandeered to build canals and
seawalls, to produce more rice.

I worked very hard.

That is how I survived.

The 7th January 1979 marks the day of
liberation of our people.

I returned to Phnom Penh.

We found the city completely destroyed.
No more houses or roads...

We knew we were going to have to
rebuild our country for the good of all.

In September 1993, I was asked by the
Governor of Phnom Penh

to become the head of the water
services department.

Even if I did'nt know
anything about it,

I knew very well that water
is an essential service.

But the network in Phnom Penh was worse
than anywhere else:

Only 20% of the population was served,
and only then for 8 to 10 hours per day.

The water was undrinkable.

Barely half of consumers were paying
their water bill.

The majority of employees were at their
posts only three hours per day

That's what condition water
distribution was in at that time�!

We started to change people's attitudes.

Employees had to work in the interest
of the company

and no longer for personal gain.

We convinced customers to pay their
bill,

starting with the richest and going
right along to the poorest.

We devoted all our efforts to improving
access to water.

We went from connecting 20% of people
in 1993 to more than 90% today!

In fact, our service is not only aimed
at the rich.

We connect everyone, even the most
disadvantaged families,

by giving them grants of 30, 50, 70 and
even 100%.

With international assistance, and
notably the French Development Agency,

Phnom Penh now has one of the best
water systems in the world.

In Rio, Soweto, Lagos...

800 million people now live in slums;

makeshift neighbourhoods, built
illegally, where destitution is rife.

Their number will have doubled by 2050.

The world is urbanizing so quickly,

that providing water and
sanitation at this rate

is almost mission
impossible with the resources

currently being allocated.

Why are water-related diseases so
common in developing cities?

Because most people do not have toilets!

2,5 billion people have no toilets.

Unaware of the danger,

the population itself contaminates the
water it drinks with its own excrement.

Infected water kills more than 4000
children around the world, every day.

In Kenya, in Nairobi, Kibera is the
largest slum in Africa.

I have rarely seen such difficult
living conditions.

Here, my heroine is Annete the toilet
lady, who is educating the population!

I am proud to work in public toilets,

because I know it is important to
encourage people to be hygienic.

My children get sick because of our
poor living conditions.

You can see, my house is not healthy at
all.

A sewer runs right past my door, the
toilets are discharged into it.

Flies come into the house.

There are also mosquitoes that bite the
children.

That's how they get sick.

The children from Kibera who come here
mainly suffer from diarrhoea.

There is excrement everywhere in Kibera
because people have no toilets.

Children play in filth. They put their
hands in their mouths.

They eat foods that have not been
washed, so they get diseases.

And it can become very serious because they
do not always have access to medical care.

Many children die from dehydration
caused by diarrhoea and vomiting.

I am always afraid of my children
falling sick

and getting diarrhoea

because when it persist, they get
dehydrated and lose blood.

This is why I am so afraid of this
disease...

This also has an impact on family
budgets. When a child has diarrhoea,

the parents must spend a lot of money
on medical care,

when they are already lacking in
everything.

And when a child is sick,

one of the parents cannot go to work
and earns nothing during that time.

Sometimes it is the eldest child that
misses school to look after the patient.

Before, in Kibera, people used
"flying toilets",

that is to say they were
defecating into a plastic bag,

that they threw onto the rooftops!

That is why we have built public toilets,
so that our neighbourhood is cleaner.

If I catch someone using mobile
toilets, I will encourage them to change,

I will tell them that if they
cannot pay the 3 shillings,

they can use the
public toilets for free.

Not everyone reasons like me, but I am
committed to serving the community.

We started with 13 people, now more
than 150 use the toilets,

this is an improvement.

Toilets, this is good.

Treating the waste water is even better.

I admire the resourcefulness
shown by the poor,

to transform a problem into a solution.

Calcutta, with its 16 million
inhabitants, is built on the Ganges Delta.

The third largest city in India is, so
to speak, bathed in water.

But in the poor neighbourhoods,

daily life is regulated by taps that
only run for several hours per day.

The city has worked out how best to use
this water that is everywhere:

it has entrusted the care of processing
sewage water to the fish!

The canal system that irrigates the
city carries the excrement of inhabitants

to a marsh area of 8000 hectares, on
the outskirts of the city.

It's an industry
that supports thousands of people!

My name is Shyam, I work on a fish farm.

We are 18 fishermen, starting at 7 in
the morning in the harvesting team.

We leave on board fishing boats and
fish with nets.

Then we bring the fish to shore.

Human waste is broken down by bacteria.

Plankton feeds on it, grows quickly and
in turn feeds the fish.

Once the pollution has been digested, the
water, now purified, can return to nature.

Production is much greater here than
elsewhere, which is why there are more jobs.

Fish is also much cheaper here than in
town!

This incredible water treatment plant
is an economical and ecological solution

that supports over 100,000 people!

Nearly a quarter of humanity

still lacks access to water and
sanitation worthy of the name!

But the United Nations recognized this
fundamental right in July 2010

and installation of these essential services
is underway in many countries, like Senegal.

Recognition of such an important right owes
much to the commitment of a great woman,

Catarina de Albuquerque.

I found her in a poor neighbourhood of
Dakar, where she has already worked.

I'm happy to see you again. How are you?
- I'm OK!

- I've come back. I so loved being here.

Ultimately, this international right to
water, what is it?

It's the first time in history

that all the United Nations member
states have agreed to say:

water is a right.

Everyone on earth should have a minimum
amount of water

for domestic and personal purposes.

This resolution changes the balance of
power

and requires States to take measures to
ensure that those who do not have power

can have access to water and sanitation.

It gives the opportunity for people to go
to court, as I saw happen in Costa Rica;

the people of a small village stopped
the construction of a canal

that would take their water to golf
camps and hotels...

We are seven billion people on this
Earth.

With the problem of drinking water and
sanitation, are we not losing this fight?

Yes, we are losing the battle, particularly
because the population is growing,

the numbers are increasing.

A billion people defecate in the open
air.

Sanitation must not be
treated as a taboo matter,

because no one wants
to talk about "shit",

we must talk about "shit", issues must
be faced openly.

Measures must be taken to resolve the
problem.

There are solutions. It is a matter of
political will.

It is a very profitable investment.

For every euro or dollar invested, there
is a gain of nine, fifteen, thirty dollars.

- How come?

- Because less money is spent on
health, people go to school and to work.

Water is an extraordinary vehicle to
lead people and countries out of poverty.

It can be achieved.

Bringing water, sanitation, dignity to
everyone.

It can be done!

It's a question of will.

Making things change faster than they
have done until now.

Providing clean water to the most
vulnerable, it's great.

But clean water, on our planet, does
not stay clean for long,

because we have picked up the very bad habit
of throwing our dirty water out into nature.

85% of our wastewater is not treated.

Not only is this water unusable and
lost!

But it contaminates our drinking water
resources:

rivers, lakes, underground water...

We are poisoning ourselves!

France, which practises intensive
agriculture, is the European country whose

underground water reserves
are the most polluted.

Brittany reminds us of this every
summer,

when the beaches are covered with green
algae.

Today, the region has 14 million pigs!

And this village has more pigs than
people.

Is that reasonable?

Their nitrate-rich excrements are used
as fertilizer in the fields.

Nitrates seep into the soil and get
into the rivers

and then reach the ocean.

Algae feed on them and thrive...

Algae are not toxic.

These horses out training are not at risk,
no more than the mussel farm in the bay:

on the other hand,

the gas released as they decompose on
the beaches can be fatal.

This pollution, repeated year after year,
demonstrates our inability to change things.

Politicians, farmers, consumers: we are
all responsible.

While waiting for a solution, the
villages of the C�tes d'Armor

have found out how to recycle pig
manure, they convert it into biogas,

which heats 4,500 homes.

In China, on the other hand, pollution
is of an entirely different magnitude.

This country, which produces most of
the objects that surround us,

retains the pollution of its thousands
of factories.

China is polluting for us!

300 million Chinese no longer have
clean drinking water.

No one drinks tap water in the cities
any more.

Crops are contaminated by polluted
irrigation water.

The rivers are dying...

Look at this beautiful little river:

it has been poisoned by a tannery that
has reduced the fishermen to destitution.

But things are beginning to change,
thanks to the courage of a commited lawyer.

There was one of those layers of
polluted mud on the riverbed.

It was forbidden to sell our fish.

They said it was poisoned and that it
could not be eaten, either.

So we were forced to throw it away.

We could not make a living any more.

It was very hard!

It was very hard for them, but this
lawyer agreed to defend them.

Wang Canfa created the
first Chinese association

for defending victims of pollution.

He obtained the equivalent of 100,000
euros in damages for the fishermen.

The victims, these fishermen, are
illiterate and uneducated for the most part,

they are at the bottom
of the social scale,

that is why companies had
no qualms about polluting.

Now, the mud has been removed, the
water is clearer.

Over the last two years, the fish have
started to return

and farming has been able to resume.

We won a victory,

but more importantly, we gave them back
hope and confidence.

They know now that they can protect
their environment and defend their rights.

That is the most important thing!

China is no longer a
lawless zone for

the environment, and things
are changing quickly!

Ma Jun, a former journalist, has created
a website that lists all the companies

in his country that have been convicted
for water pollution.

At the moment, we have
more than 86,000 violations

from 50,000 companies
recorded in our database.

The majority are local Chinese
companies.

But we also have a quite large number
of companies coming from other countries:

America, Europe, Japan, Korea,
Australia and others...

All those big brands come to China to take
advantage of the lower manufacturing costs

and do not care about the environment.

But now, with our list of polluters, we
see that these companies,

who used to pay fines year after year
without solving their pollution problems,

are starting to feel some pressure.

Most attempt to come into
line and do everything they can

to be removed from the list.

In Shanghai, the most polluting
companies

were regrouped in a gigantic park, away
from the city...

But they are not on Ma Jun's list.

Each of them is connected to the only
existing sewage plant,

which processes 25,000 tons of sewage
per day.

Almost as much as all
the Rhone valley's industries.

Discharges are constantly analysed,

to detect and treat all
pollution immediately.

This allows this giant industrial complex
to return clean water to the sea...

Even if our preoccupation
with pollution is recent,

controlling water is an
ambition as old as the world.

Throughout history, great
civilizations have flourished

thanks to the harnessing of water.

Over 1000 years ago, the Khmer,
ancestors of the Cambodians,

thought up an ingenious system of
irrigation canals

that allowed three rice crops per year.

The great city of Angkor Wat is
testament to Khmer power.

It lasted until the collapse of this
ingenious hydraulic system...

In the twentieth century, water
management is practised on a large scale.

Dams, canals and dikes have allowed the
incredible development of our societies.

But are we immune to the disasters of
the past?

In Autumn 2011, Thailand experienced
the largest flood in a century.

The long-awaited monsoon took on the
aspect of a tsunami.

Here, I notice one more time that
climate change

isn't hypothetic, nor theoritical,
but a reality.

Millions of people and 15,000
businesses were affected,

12% of cultivated land flooded.

Some inhabitants, under water for
weeks, had to move onto the rooftops.

A regional disaster, but with global
consequences:

Here is where 60% of the world's
hard drives are manufactured.

The global electronics industry was
paralyzed.

For car manufacturers, the losses are
huge.

Thailand is the world's
largest exporter of rice.

30% of the crop was lost.

The surge in prices has affected the lives
of tens of millions of Asians and Africans.

The temples of Ayutthaya,
the ancient capital,

founded in 1350, were
flooded for the first time.

The canal system that had protected
them up until then, had been abandoned...

As for the dams on the river that runs
through Bangkok,

they were unable to contain the rising
waters.

Man forgot that he could not control
nature...

In China, controlling the rivers has
obsessed leaders for millennia.

Mao developed a passion for the subject.

The country's history is marked
by floods that left millions dead.

The only dikes built along the banks of
the Yellow River over the last fify years

have required more building material
than the Great Wall!

The Chinese have learned
to repel the attacks

from water that have been
repeated hundreds of times.

Filling in the slightest gap.

Standing firm against the invader!

Floods continue to rage.

In 2010, there were more than 3,000
deaths and 15 million affected.

800,000 hectares of crops were lost...

Yet, China has built on its territory
nearly half of the large dams in the world.

Today however, it is above all the lack
of water that is of concern to the chinese.

China has 20% of the world population
but only has 7% of water resources!

The Yellow River, which irrigates the
north of the country,

was pumped out down to the last drop to
supply giant cities,

So much so that one day in 1997, the
river stopped reaching the sea!

The government put in place a river-
water management system,

from its source to the delta, from a
distance at the control station,

operators can open and close the 70
locks that feed the irrigation canals.

Any province that exceeds its quota has
its water cut off by the authorities!

The river is under control, but water
is still lacking.

How can this be fixed?

What if the Yang Tse,
biggest river in China,

would give a little
more to the Yellow River

Mao had the idea first

Today, his wish is coming true.

A huge water-transfer project from the

south to the north of
the country is under way.

It must connect the Yangtze to the

Yellow River by canals, and beyond
that supply the Beijing area.

The Three Gorges Dam, the biggest dam
in the world,

is the centrepiece of this project.

It should allow the northward transfer
of a waterflow equal to half of the Nile.

The Yangtze itself is starting to run
out of water...

Our development has grown as much as
our mad water needs

To meet this demand, 50,000 dams have
been built worldwide.

But today?

Their huge size, the forced displacement
of tens of millions of people,

destruction of aquatic life, everything
puts their legitimacy into question.

We now know how to mitigate their
impact by reducing their size,

and populations displacements cannot be
ignored anymore.

The dams generate electricity using the
power of water.

A clean renewable energy which we can
ill afford to lose in the future.

In the Italian Alps, the autonomous
region of Val d'Aosta is exemplary,

it knew it that water was her first
wealth; and how to value this heritage

by building more dams in it's mountains.

It's electrical production exceed it's
population's needs,

so that it exports the surplus to the
rest of Italy and Switzerland

Dams have also played a major role in
agriculture.

Irrigation has enabled agricultural
yields to be doubled.

They have helped to save millions of people
from starvation, particularly in Asia.

But we will need much more water to
feed the 9 billion people

who will live on the planet in 40 years
time.

Today, irrigation accounts for 40% of
global food production.

From now on, it should use less water
while being more efficient.

Because agricultural demand will
continue to grow strongly,

to feed an ever-increasing population
that is consuming more and more meat.

Now, it takes fifteen times more water

to produce a kilo of beef than it does
a kilo of cereal!

Fifteen times!

Some countries are already short enough
water to feed their people

and are forced to import it.

Not in liquid form of course, but in
virtual form,

hidden in cereals, fruits, vegetables

and meat, aboard ships that are
sailing back and forth across the world.

Virtual water is a ghost river whose
flowrate is twenty times that of the Nile.

It continues to grow as our trade
intensifies,

but also because of the water shortage
in a growing number of countries.

For example in Egypt, one third of water

consumed comes
from another continent,

because the Nile water is not enough to
feed the country's 80 million inhabitants.

When Egypt buys what it needs from the
USA to supplement its wheat production,

it saves on the huge amounts of water
required to grow it.

But virtual water also has unwelcome
effects...

Cotton, a huge consumer of water,

alone accounts for one
quarter of all such exchanges.

Five times the annual rate of flow of
the Nile!

In central Asia, cotton cultivation has
turned into a disaster.

The Soviet regime went as far as
diverting the two great rivers that fed

the Aral Sea in order
to irrigate the desert.

See the result: it lost 90% of its
water in 50 years!

Millions of people reduced to poverty.

A tragedy called by the United Nations:

"the greatest ecological disaster
of the twentieth century".

All this to make our shirts
and our jeans...

Let us not forget that it takes 2,700
litres of water to make a shirt,

11,000 litres to make a pair of jeans!

Here we are drying up a sea.

Elsewhere we are exhausting non-renewable
ancient underground water resources,

as in Jordan.

These fields stopped being cultivated
when the water-drilling ran dry...

Half the world's population depends on

a non-renewable water
resource for its food.

It's a disaster waiting to happen.

India has been successful
in stopping famines

by having massive
recourse to irrigation,

but reserves are depleting

and 175 million farmers
are threatend by hunger.

In Rajasthan, an arid region, the water
tables are dry

and the villages are trying to
replenish them by storing monsoon rains

that fall during only a few weeks of
the year.

These women show incredible courage:

they dig by hand, themselves, - yes, by
hand!- huge basins to store water.

I couldn't believe what I was filming...

We dug the reservoir.
Who else would do it?

I dug it, with the help of others.

There is no harvest when there is
drought.

We have good harvests only when there
is rain.

Rain water is vital.

When there is water in the rivers and
reservoirs then there is water in the wells.

Water in the reservoirs is essential to
supply the wells.

We can irrigate the fields.

In this way, we have something to
harvest.

India depends on the monsoon, but it is
no longer as regular,

probably because of climate change.

Farmers must therefore adapt to survive.

We suffer grievously from the
instability of the monsoon.

When the rains arrive, they fall
randomly.

Either you have no rain when you need
to sow, or it pours down at harvest time

and you lose what little you have
produced.

Vandana Shiva is a world-renowned
activist.

Her fight for a
water-efficient agriculture

that is more resistant to
the vagaries of climate,

has brought more than 500,000 farmers
out of poverty.

When we were using chemical
fertilizers, we needed lots of water,

by using natural fertilizers such as
compost, we need less water.

Cow dung mixed with plant residues is
in fact a very rich fertilizer

that also keeps in soil moisture.

This new agriculture lays on
the selection of natural seeds

that need less water
and are more nutritious.

For millet varieties we do not need
much water.

However, peppers, tomatoes and onions
need more water.

And if it has not rained for a fortnight,
I must irrigate the fields immediately.

Millet, there is nothing better! It is
40 times more nutritious than white rice.

This cereal is our weapon against
hunger!

So if one Indian in four is hungry,

if one in 2 children have been sacrificed in
the last fifteen years of globalization...

we must move towards nutrient-rich
crops that require less water.

Increasing biodiversity is our second
plan of action.

Mixing crops protects the soil.

When you grow a single
species in rows,

the earth is bare and you
lose the little moisture

that there is through evaporation.

With these crops that
cover the whole field,

each drop of moisture
is retained in the soil.

Multi-cropping is a
very effective method to

achieve food security
while conserving water.

Here in this field we have corn,
cucumbers and also beans...

Each farmer that we train shows the
example to a hundred others.

Because during bad years they have a
better harvest

than those who practise chemical
agriculture, and during good years,

they have as good a harvest as they do.

They also have better revenues

because they don't spend money
in seeds and chemical products.

Throughout the world, small farmers are
finding ways of increasing their production

through better management of water.

They are at the forefront in this fight
against hunger.

Rice feeds nearly four billion people.

It's the most commonly grown
cereal in the world.

It is cultivated by hand, mainly by
small producers to feed their families.

But it is very water-intensive
cultivation.

In Cambodia, bold farmers

are trying a new cultivation method that
can double yields while using less water!

It is true that the harvest is much
bigger, it has practically doubled.

With the usual method, I did not even
have enough to feed myself.

I had to buy rice to supplement my diet.

With what I produce now, not only can I
feed my family,

but I can even sell it to the
wholesaler buy other things.

The method is very simple: just replant
the young seedlings

only two or three weeks after the rice
grains have germinated.

They then immediately resume growing
and sprout much faster.

Myself, I could not believe my eyes.

Normally I transplant many
large seedlings at the same time

and that didn't provide any shoots.

Whereas now, with one little seedling,
I get up to 20 shoots.

It is mainly to avoid weeds that rice
is usually planted in water.

But it thrives best when the soil is
not flooded.

The well oxygenated roots grow faster.

In 2010, we were only three using the
new method.

By 2011, we were twenty.

I think that in 2012, 2013, we will be
countless,

since apparently everyone wants to
start doing it.

At first the others laughed.

Now, when they see it, they all come to
congratulate me!

Feeding these populations will depend
on a multitude of local solutions,

adapted to the climate, soil and crop
type.

In the western United States, for the
farmers water is not yet scarce,

but it is coveted by cities that will
do anything to get hold of it.

This semi-arid region is facing
water-sharing difficulties.

Agriculture and cities have grown far
beyond the possibilities offered by nature.

Huge improvements have allowed water to
be brought from distant mountains.

But it's not enough anymore.

But cities are continuing to grow and
still lack water.

They will now look to the countryside,
where it is still available,

and they are willing to pay full price.

Water has become a commodity and the
market will decide its use.

During the conquest of the West, water
rights were distributed

to the first farmers that arrived there.

These rights are passed on from generation
to generation, and can be bought or sold.

Owners have an allocated water quota

that they can draw from the
river or the water table.

It is this quota that they can sell.

I hear two voices in my head.

That of my father who worked so hard to
pass this land on to me

and who said to me: "You
cannot sell this land,

you cannot sell this water".

But I also hear the voice of the market
and my banker who tell me:

"Listen, it's more money than
you can earn perhaps in your entire life.

It's the right choice!"

At night, that's what keeps me awake.

This land probably stopped being
irrigated in the mid 1970s.

The owner decided to rent the water or
sell it, and this is the result...

I practise irrigated agriculture
on the other side of the road

and look at the difference:

every year, I have good corn harvests
thanks to irrigation,

whereas over there are not much more
than weeds.

On my farm, I have two sources of
water: my wells and the river.

I chose to use my wells first

and foremost to rent my surface
water to other farmers

who need it for their crops.

Here, to irrigate, we have good water
that comes from the mountains.

We probably have the oldest water rights
in the country, some even go back to 1860.

But many of these canals have been drained
to meet the pressing needs of cities.

Representatives from certain cities
recently came to my area to buy water rights

and that has raised the price of land.

You really start to wonder

if you will have water for very much
longer...

As the market dictates its laws, water
prices are going to go up more and more,

and more and more people are going to
sell their water rights.

To continue to live off the land, our
cultivation methods will need to change.

We will use less water,

with mobile irrigation systems,
or drip watering systems.

Only by doing it like that will we be
able to save our farming community.

I know a family in which none of the three
daughters wanted to take over the farm.

Therefore they decided to sell and they
made millions of dollars.

You cannot blame them, since this farm
had no future anyway.

If they wanted to sell their farm,

no farmer would have had the means
to buy it with his water rights.

They were able to sell it to the city,
as it has the purchasing power.

So, selling water is easy, but suddenly

the land becomes impossible to
cultivate.

You know, the richest man
in my farming community

is someone who sold his water rights.

He is not considered as someone who failed
but as someone who sold his community.

When a farmer sells his
lands and water rights,

it creates disputes between those
who have and those who do not.

This causes damage in the community, it
creates a division.

It changes the way your school is run,
the way your church is kept...

These transfers of water change many
things.

We love our job and we would
like it to last forever,

but it probably will
not happen like that.

Increasing the price of water as happens
in the United States and elsewhere,

and developing a water market, also
encourages economising it.

But water is not only an economic asset.

And if we let the cities take all the
water from the agricultural sector,

we will not be capable of producing enough
to feed the whole population in the future.

The need for water is so strong that it
creates local conflict,

but it can also unite people with very
different cultures and requirements.

In Africa, the Senegal river
is an example of cooperation

between neighbouring countries.

These women who come to draw water or
do their washing along the riverbanks

show us to what degree populations are
dependent on river water.

In this region affected
by severe droughts,

two million people draw their
supply from it or their daily needs.

Not only mothers, but also fishermen
and livestock farmers...

In 1989, Mauritania and Senegal went to
war over water.

But with Mali and Guinea, they have
learned how to manage the river together.

Today, every decision about irrigation,
energy production and navigation,

is taken unanimously.

Especially with the help of the French
Development Agency,

they even financed the construction of
two dams that they jointly manage.

This is unique in the world!

In the case of shortage, the local
population takes priority.

In the future, an agreement between
states

will be essential to prevent conflict
by sharing the water of large rivers.

To get on together and share, here is
the solution when the resource is scarce.

I absolutely wanted to go to South
Sudan, this brand new country,

the 193rd to be recognized by the
United Nations.

It has one of the largest swamps in the
world.

A natural wonder, born of the Nile
waters and populated by rare species

and millions of migratory birds.

This marsh is a unique natural system,
dating back several million years.

In the wet season, it becomes as large
as Greece.

It moderates the climate
of an even huger area

and regulates the flow
of the great river.

But it is also the domain of a people
with great courage: the Dinka.

They are probably more than a million,
living at one with their cows.

They choose them for
the beauty of their hides

and the elegance of
their immense horns.

They protect them from insects
by covering them with ashes

and by constantly burning dung fires.

The cows are so important to them

that they give their
name to people and places.

In this region, water is as precious as
oil.

When the marsh got threatened, the
Dinka defended their kingdom.

Egypt and Sudan had begun to dig a canal

to prevent water from the Nile going off to
the vast marshes, to vanish into thin air...

They hoped in this way to recover the
equivalent of one tenth of the river flow

without worrying about the consequences
for local people...

But the Dinka rebelled. They took up
arms.

They attacked the site and stopped the
work before the canal was completed.

It is gradually filling with
vegetation, closing an open wound

over a distance of 200 kilometres.

I have long wanted to
see this amazing machine

that the Dinka silenced
thirty years ago.

Even greater than I imagined.

This 2,300 tonne excavator, as high as
a five-storey building,

dug up enough soil every minute to fill
an Olympic swimming pool!

This machine testifies to the tension
that reigns over water resources.

The marsh was spared, but what about
tomorrow?

What issues will hang over the marsh
and these forgotten people,

faced with 250 million thirsty residents of
the Nile, who are demanding ever more water?

87% of the world population today has
access to drinking water.

This is an extraordinary advance in our
century.

But there are still
nearly a billion people

for whom drinking water
is a daily obsession.

Yet since 2010, for the United Nations,

access to clean water has become a
fundamental right for for all humans,

that governments have pledged to
respect.

I would like to end this film with a
reality, a line in a report,

that has been, read, said, repeated too
many times...

4,000 children still die every day
because of unsanitary water.

For the sheperds we filmed in Turkana,

and who have died since in the conflict that
opposed them to another tribe in the region.