Earth is on the brink of a global WATER CRISIS: 2 billion people still lack access to safe drinking water – and urgent action is needed, experts say
- Earth is on the brink of a global water crisis, warns a new UNESCO report
- Worldwide, two billion people do not have access to safe drinking water
- Almost half of the population has no access to safely managed sanitation facilities
Earth is on the brink of a global water crisis, warns a new UNESCO report.
Globally, two billion people — a quarter of the population — lack access to safe drinking water, while nearly half of the population (46 percent) lack access to safely managed sanitation, the report said.
Worryingly, experts say that without urgent action, things will get much worse.
“There is an urgent need for strong international mechanisms to prevent the global water crisis from spiraling out of control,” said UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay.
‘Water is our common future and it is essential to act together to distribute it fairly and manage it sustainably.’
Earth is on the brink of a global water crisis, new UNESCO report warns (stock image)
Globally, two billion people — a quarter of the population — lack access to safe drinking water, while nearly half of the population (46 percent) lack access to safely managed sanitation, the report said.
The report was published by UNESCO on World Water Day on behalf of UN-Water.
It shows that between two and three billion people are short of water for at least one month a year.
This poses a serious risk to their livelihoods, both through food security and access to electricity.
The authors say that water scarcity is the result of a combination of two main factors: the local impact of physical water stress, coupled with the acceleration and spread of freshwater pollution.
And worryingly, it could get worse thanks to climate change.
Due to climate change, seasonal water scarcity will increase in regions where it is currently abundant – such as Central Africa, East Asia and parts of South America – and worsen in regions where water is already scarce – such as the Middle East. East and the Sahel in Africa,” the report reveals.
According to the report, both low- and high-income countries are showing signs of risk related to water quality.
“Poor water quality in low-income countries is often linked to low levels of wastewater treatment,” it explained.
“While in higher-income countries, agricultural runoff is a more serious problem.”
Looking ahead, the report predicts that up to 2.4 billion people in urban areas could experience water scarcity by 2050 – more than double the number in 2016.
Based on the findings, the authors call on governments to take immediate action to improve access to safe water.
“There is much to do and time is not on our side,” said Gilbert F. Houngbo, president of UN-Water and director-general of the International Labor Organization.
“This report shows our ambition and we must now come together and take action.
“This is our moment to make a difference.”
HOW DO DIFFERENT COUNTRIES BALANCE RESOURCES WITH A ‘GOOD LIFE’?
No country on earth currently meets the needs of its citizens at a sustainable level of resource use, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of Leeds.
To conduct the study, the researchers analyzed how the 150 countries fared on 11 social indicators and seven environmental indicators used to measure the attainment of basic needs within the planet’s boundaries.
The study mapped each country’s resource use against planetary boundaries that, if continuously exceeded, could lead to catastrophic changes.
The mapping showed that no country performed well on both the planetary and social thresholds because, in general, the more social goals a country achieves, the more likely it is to cross planetary boundaries.
Of the approximately 150 countries studied, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands provide their citizens with all 11 items on the list.
Denmark, Australia, Belgium, Finland, France, Japan and Sweden provide 10 of the 11 and the United States and Canada provide nine.
But none can do that sustainably and they all only meet a few of the seven environmental requirements.
The US meets none.
The country with the best balance is Vietnam, the researchers say.
Vietnam meets six of its eleven social goals, but all but one sustainability goal
Thirty-five of the 150 countries meet only one or none of the 11 basic needs for a good life.
Each country’s resource use and welfare performance is available as one website built by the academics involved in the research, allowing users to compare and contrast resource use in each country.
The mapping showed that no country performed well on both the planetary and social thresholds because, in general, the more social goals a country achieves, the more likely it is to cross planetary boundaries. Shown on the left are Sweden’s social and environmental indicator levels, compared to those of Tanzania, on the right
The seven environmental indicators were:
- Co2 emissions: How much carbon dioxide is emitted from the combustion of fossil fuels.
- Phosphorus: Used as an industrial and commercial raw material.
- Nitrogen: Source and by-product of fuel combustion.
- Use of blue water: Fresh surface and groundwater, i.e. the water in freshwater lakes, rivers and aquifers.
- eHANPP: eHANPP (embodied human appropriation of net primary production) measures the amount of biomass harvested through agriculture and forestry, as well as biomass killed during harvest but not used, and biomass lost due to land use change.
- Ecological footprint: Measure how much nature we have and how much nature we use. It measures the supply and demand of nature.
- Material footprintT: Material footprint (MF) is the allocation of global material extraction to a country’s final domestic demand.
The 11 social performance indicators and their thresholds were:
- Employment opportunities: 94% employed (6% unemployment).
- Equivalence: 70 on a scale of 0–100 (GINI index of 0.30).
- Democratic quality: 0.80 (estimated value US/UK)
- Social support: 90% of people have friends or family they can rely on.
- Education: 95% high school enrollment.
- Access to energy: 95% of the people have access to electricity.
- Income: 95% of people earn more than $1.90 per day.
- Sanitation: 95% of people have access to improved sanitation.
- Power supply: 2,700 calories per person per day.
- Healthy life expectancy: 65 years.
- Life satisfaction: 6.5 on the 0-10 Cantril ladder scale.
The researchers divided seven planetary boundaries among nations based on their share of the world’s population, then compared these boundaries to national resource consumption. The study also scored countries on 11 social goals. Pictured on the left are the UK’s social and environmental indicator levels, compared to those of India, on the right
