World’s cities face serious drought risk due to climate change
Cities around the world from London to Beijing and New Delhi face growing risks from drought driven by climate change, according to a report from Christian Aid.
The charity warns the toll of water shortages will be felt most by poor people in cities including Harare, Zimbabwe and Kabul, Afghanistan. It is calling for an international fund to pay for loss and damage from climate impacts.
The report highlights that less than 3 per cent of the world’s water is suitable for drinking, and most of that is locked up in glaciers and ice caps.
Only 0.01 per cent of the world’s water is easily available for human use in lakes, rivers, reservoirs and aquifers, but global water use grew at more than twice the rate of population increases over the 20th century, the charity said.
More than half the world’s population live in cities – with the figure expected to rise to 68 per cent by 2050 – and many are already feeling the strain of water shortages.
Cape Town in South Africa came within days of becoming the first major city in the world to run out of water after extended drought in 2018, and people have been queuing for water in New Delhi amid a scorching heatwave.
Even London and the south-east of England, in the “famously rainy UK”, could run out of water within 25 years according to experts, the report warns, with a severe drought costing the capital’s economy £330 million a day.
London already receives about half the amount of rain that falls in New York City, and climate change will increase the frequency and intensity of droughts in the region. With a growing population, this could put serious stress on the city’s ageing water supply system, the report said.
It examines the future for water supplies for drinking, washing and growing crops to provide food for ten major cities worldwide, and warns that without action to cut greenhouse gas emissions and curb the rising risk of climaterelated drought, the poor will be worst hit.
Lower-income city dwellers may have to pay much more for their water from private vendors, cities are more vulnerable in poorer countries as they have fewer resources to adapt to climate change, and water shortages can drive conflict, Christian Aid said.