Not a Drop to Drink

by Gerard Emershaw

According to UNICEF, 768 million people on the planet lack access to safe, clean drinking water. That means that over 10% of all human beings on this planet lack access to the most basic and most necessary resource to sustain life. In seven nations, over half of all people lack access to potable water—Niger, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia, Mozambique, Madagascar, and Papua New Guinea.

Why are so many individuals in these nations suffering? Why do they not have access to potable water? Six of the seven nations are arid nations in Central Africa. However, is this a reason why half of the people should lack proper water to drink? People in the desert regions of the American Southwest live in arid regions but have plenty of water to drink. Potable water is also not a problem in most of the Middle East and the Outback of Australia.

A more plausible answer is that so many people are thirsty in these nations due to economic factors. Each of these nations routinely rank among the poorest nations on the planet. For many, the inquiry ends there. These nations are poor. End of story. But why are these nations poor?

Is it a lack of natural resources? Niger has uranium, phosphates, coal, iron, limestone, and gypsum. The Democratic Republic of  the Congo has the world’s largest supply of cobalt and also has ample supplies of diamonds and copper. Ethiopia produces more coffee than any other African nation. It is the 10^th largest producer of livestock in the world. It also produces khat, gold, leather products, and oilseeds. Somalia exports fish, charcoal and bananas and produces sugar, sorghum and corn. Mozambique has large supplies of aluminum, beryllium, and tantalum. In addition, in 2012, a large reservoir of natural gas was found in the nation. Madagascar has an eye opening amount of resources. It is among the world’s biggest suppliers of vanilla, cloves, and ylang-ylang. It produces coffee, lychees, and shrimp. It has abundant minerals and currently supplies half the world’s sapphires. As if that were not enough, this island nation also has large amounts of ilmenite, chromite, coal, iron, cobalt, copper, and nickel. Papua New Guinea has gold, oil, and copper. It is also produces palm oil, coconut oil, cocoa, tea, and rubber. In addition, each of these nations have wilderness areas which are beautiful. Therefore, tourism remains a strong possibility in each of these nations as an area of future economic growth.

So why are these nations so poor if they have such ample natural resources? With such resources, it seems plausible that these nations should be able to afford irrigation or desalinization projects to hydrate their thirsty people. The answer is freedom. Or in these cases, lack thereof. According to Heritage, none of these nations have free economies. Of 178 ranked nations, Niger ranks #127, the Democratic Republic of the Congo ranks #172, Ethiopia ranks #137, Mozambique ranks #128, Madagascar ranks #79, and Papua New Guinea ranks #132. Needless to say, the nations with the freest economies—Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Switzerland, New Zealand, Canada, Chile, Mauritius, Ireland, and Denmark—do not lack potable water. At this point there is so much evidence that economic freedom leads to prosperity that those nations which do not have free economies are essentially tyrants who are willingly causing their citizens to suffer.

Unsurprisingly, these seven nations are also not politically free. According to Freedom House, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, and Somalia are considered “not free” and Niger, Mozambique, Madagascar, and Papua New Guinea are considered only “partly free.” Freedom hydrates people and puts food in their bellies. Tyranny leads to dehydration, starvation, and anguish. Despite these obvious facts, so many elitists and dictators around the world continue to insist that statism and strong government intervention is the key to human flourishing. Such individuals are either liars or idiots.