UN warns of global water crisis
Two billion people lack access to safe supply, says Guterres
NEW YORK: Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on World Water Day that over two billion people lack access to safe water.
The UN chief told diplomats and activists at Thursday’s launch of the International Decade for Action on Water for Sustainable Development that “water is a matter of life and death”, stressing that humans, cities, industries and agriculture depend on it.
“But growing demands for water, coupled with poor water management, have increased water stress in many parts of the world,” Guterres said.
“Climate change is adding to the pressure – and it is running faster than we are.”
He said more than 4.5 billion people lack adequate sanitation, 80% of waste-water is discharged into the environment without being treated, “and more than 90% of disasters are water-related”.
“The growing water crisis should be much higher on the world’s radar,” Guterres stressed.
He said he has prepared an action plan to achieve UN goals for 2030 which include providing clean water and sanitation, protecting the environment, promoting economic development and achieving “zero hunger”.
According to the UN World Water Development Report released this week, “the global demand for water has been increasing at a rate of 1% per year as a function of population growth, economic development and changing consumption patterns, among other factors – and it will continue to grow significantly over the next two decades”.
In a statement at the launch, the 23 countries in the Group of Friends on Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought said a third of the planet’s land “is severely degraded, and fertile soil is being lost at the rate of 24 billion tonnes a year”.
The group mainly contributed those problems to water shortages.
“Three-quarters of the Earth is covered with water,” it said.
“Yet, only 2.5% is fresh water, and of this, less than 1% is available to sustain all terrestrial life and ecosystems.”
General Assembly president Miroslav Lajcak said competition for water is also growing.
“And so is the risk that this competition could turn violent, and result in conflict – and therefore more human suffering,” he said.
He called for greater cooperation, investment and innovation and said all governments must make water and sanitation priorities.
On the innovation front, Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon hosted a forum on Thursday to present the latest water solutions from the country’s public and private sector, which he said are used in more than 100 countries around the world.
Among the technologies presented were innovations that generate water from air and a device that produces pure drinking water from contaminated sources in difficult conditions.