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Qabil Ashirov

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Inequality, and scarcity of natural resources have been one of the important issues which mankind has been trying to solve for a long. The issue got more importance, especially after the Industrial Revolution in Europe. Following the Revolution, then-philosophers and intelligentsia focused on the issue that resulted in the bloody coups-de-eta and revolutions in the World. Despite all promises, the left movement could not bring equality in the world.

As for the scarcity of national resources, the world has been drumming up for warning. The population ramps up thanks to the invention of new medicaments and the development of healthcare. The number of population has increased several times in the last century which has never happened throughout history.

The XI Global Baku Form also discussed the issue and tried to find the resolution, whether the scarce of national resources meet the demands of population in the future.

Speaking to Azernews on the issue, Dr. Frank Musmar noted that inequality as a term emerges to become problematic once people start feeling the unfair distribution of power, resources, the rights they can exercise, and the opportunities they can access. He said that in the last century, a new form of inequality emerged and started limiting people's freedom according to different factors, including but not limited to gender, age, origin, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, class, and religion.

“Official estimates suggested that 91.4 million people across the EU (around a fifth of the population), of whom 17.9 million were children, are at risk of poverty or social exclusion (defined as living with severe material deprivation or chronic underemployment), with inequality levels static or worsening since the 2008-9 financial crisis. Inequalities of opportunity due to power abuse cause a lack of access to justice and affect a person's life expectancy and access to essential services such as healthcare, education, water, and sanitation. Inequality is crucial in any society; it can alter people's trust, participation, attitudes, and happiness,” Musmar said.

He pointed out that Azerbaijan is one of the unique countries in terms of diversity and human and natural resources and historically, the country has given many examples of fairness and equality. Dr Frank Musmar emphasized that on May 28, 1918, Azerbaijan created the first parliament with 11 parties and factions, including two Armenian factions within the parliament; Second, Azerbaijan gave parity to women to receive the right to vote in Baku before most European and American countries.

“After the second independence, Azerbaijan restored and preserved many religious monuments equally, such as the Kish church temple (the first Albanian-Christian temple in the caucuses) in the Sheki region of Azerbaijan, the Albanian churches in Gabala, and the Shamakhi Juma Mosque. Today, Azerbaijan enjoys the freedom of religion. Muslims, Jews, and Christians can all worship openly and freely,” the professor added.

As for scarcity of national resources, he underscored that Azerbaijan has a wealth of natural resources, such as the gas field of Garadagh, the Caspian Sea's shelf zone, and the Baku and Absheron archipelago. He said that the wealth spread to iron, titanium, gold, silver, copper, cobalt, chromite, polymetals, and molybdenum ore deposits. Most importantly, water. Azerbaijan's government built 780 kilometers of drinking water pipelines this year to combat the reduction of water resources. Also, the population was given two reservoirs and 480 springs for use.

“We are already using 2 to 3 times more of the Earth's natural resources than what is sustainable. If we do not act now, we will see the consequences of depletion of natural resources – and it won't be pretty. For example, only 2.5% of the world's water is fresh. Our water resource depletion is more severe than the current oil depletion. There are substitutes for oil, but nothing can replace our drinking water. Drinking water shortage, food shortage, famine, less transportation, smaller economies, and higher prices. Drought will cause soil erosion, global warming, species extinction, and biodiversity loss,” the US pundit concluded.

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Qabil Ashirov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @g_Ashirov

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