Shortages of Freshwater

The World is facing a freshwater crisis. Only 23 years from now the global urban population will reach sixty per cent, placing enormous pressure on the available clean water supplies, which already are very limited. By 2020, the average water supply per person worldwide is expected to be a third smaller than today. Phil Dickie, the author of the report, “Making Water” of the WWF’s Global Freshwater Programme, estimated that 1.1 billion people are at the moment living without adequate water supply, and twice that number without adequate sanitation. The warning also came from 23 United Nations’ agencies working together at the World Water Assessment Programme based in UNESCO headquarters in Paris, that the water crisis is so severe it could take almost 30 years to eradicate hunger and that the “availability of clean water supply” is an issue that can threaten the world’s social stability. We have to create awareness around the world to stop wasteful water consumption. By 2025, The United Nations Environment Programme predicts that the amount of freshwater wasted by different sectors will rise to 1000 for agriculture, 1100 for domestic use and 500 cubic km for industry. Second only to global warming, scientists worldwide said that water shortages are most worrying problems for the new Millennium. Good news is that on 15 August 2007, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development launched a very useful
“Global Water Tool” at the World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden, showing where water risks are in the World to guide future action. We need to know the water situation and problem locally in order to manage water supply globally for the survival of all of living beings in this World.

Filed under Environment, United Nations, World Affairs |