In the wake of recent terror attacks that devastated Paris, we want to affirm that we stand with the people of that great city. Like our own communities, Paris is a river city, and whether you are on the Mississippi or the Seine, we are all connected through our freedoms. Winston Churchill once compared democracy to the Mississippi River, describing liberty as a force that charges on relentlessly like the Mississippi does through our country. We are now more motivated than ever to be in Paris and show our solidarity; we go, however, with a broader mission.
As mayors along the Mississippi River, there are simply a few facts we cannot ignore. River basins generate the majority of the world’s food, and rivers sustain the majority of freshwater withdraws. Of all the food-producing river basins around the planet, the Mississippi ranks first.
Changes in our climate are compromising the ability of our river basins to produce food and provide fresh water. Thus, two of the greatest threats to the world from climate change are a dramatic alteration to our food supply and the decrease of fresh water.
Fifty of our cities use the Mississippi River as a drinking-water source, providing for more than 20 million people. These three economies on the Mississippi deliver $366 billion in annual revenue directly supporting 1.15 million jobs. These economies and our cities depend on a sustainable river ecology which we must preserve.
The worlds’ population is projected to reach 9.6 billion by 2050, meaning we will need to produce more food in the next 35 years than we have in the last 10,000. As demand for food grows exponentially, we will all need to work together to ensure the food producing river basins are resilient to the effects of climate disruption.
After Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Isaac, the 500-year flood events, and the 50-year drought of 2012, mayors along the Mississippi River have insights to share about climate disruption and resilience in regards to river -basin management. That is why four of us who are part of a mayoral delegation representing 68 mayor members of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative are headed to the United Nation’s climate change meeting in Paris.
As the major food-producing river basins of the world become compromised by climate change, Mississippi River mayors are concerned the drop in food output will be compensated for by producing more food in the Mississippi River Valley. If that delta is bridged through conventional agriculture, the result will be devastation to our ecology from the massive amount of inputs used.
Therefore, along with my fellow Mississippi River mayors, we will meet with representatives from food-producing river basins to assemble the beginning of what is hoped to become an international river-sustainability agreement among food-producing basins that works to protect both the water and food security of the world.
We will host talks over two sessions: one to determine the challenges of implementing integrated water management and sustainable agricultural practices and the second to develop solutions on how food and drinking water security may be achieved at an international level. We will unveil the results of the talks at 10:45 a.m. CST Dec. 8 in the U.S. Center in Paris, which can be viewed at www.state.gov/uscenter.
It is a big task, but we take this very seriously. The implications for our river, our nation, and our world are too significant to stand by and watch — and hope — others will be a voice.
Roy D. Buol
mayor of Dubuque
