‘2/3rd of world to face water scarcity by 2025’

The Asian Age , Saturday, February 07, 2009
Correspondent : —PTI
New York, Feb. 6: The United Nations warned that two-thirds of the world’s population will face a lack of water in less than 20 years if current trends in climate change, population growth, rural to urban migration and consumption continue.

Speaking at a high-level symposium on water security here on Thursday, UN deputy secretary-general Asha-Rose Migiro stressed that "if present trends continue, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with water scarcity by 2025, and two-thirds of the world population could be subject to water stress."

"The lack of safe water and sanitation is inextricably linked with poverty and malnutrition, particularly among the world’s poor," Ms Migiro said at the two-day meeting organised by the World Water Organisation (WWO).

"It limits girls’ school attendance and exacerbates maternal mortality. Yet today about 900 million people still rely on unimproved drinking-water supplies, and 2.5 billion people remain without improved sanitation facilities," she added. Unless urgent action is taken the conflict between water supply and demand is set to get worse, Ms Migiro told the symposium’s participants, comprising of experts from the UN, member states, as well as corporate, medical, scientific, academic and non-government organisations.

Ms Migiro noted that agriculture consumes roughly three quarters of the world’s fresh water supplies and in Africa the proportion is closer to ninety per cent. "More than 1.4 billion people live in river basins where their use of water exceeds minimum recharge levels, leading to desiccation of rivers and the depletion of groundwater," she said. The deputy secretary-general stressed that achieving water security would mean more effective water management, including enhancing food security through more equitable allocation of water for agriculture and food production. "It means ensuring the integrity of ecosystems, and it means promoting peaceful collaboration in the sharing of water resources, particularly in the case of boundary and trans-boundary water resources."

"In establishing the Millennium Development Goal of reducing by one half, by 2015, the number of people without access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation, the United Nations has challenged the international community to work together to improve such conditions," she said. The symposium aims to identify specific threats and vulnerabilities to global water security and propose practical solutions for the protection and preservation of water supplies.

 
SOURCE : Saturday, February 07, 2009
 


Back to pevious page



The NetworkAbout Us  |  Our Partners  |  Concepts   
Resources :  Databases  |  Publications  |  Media Guide  |  Suggested Links
Happenings :  News  |  Events  |  Opinion Polls  |  Case Studies
Contact :  Guest Book  |  FAQs |  Email Us