“Vampire” humanity is depleting the planet’s water resources, the UN warned Wednesday before the start of a conference that seeks to meet the needs of billions of people at risk of an imminent global water crisis.
“Vampiric overconsumption and overdevelopment, the unsustainable exploitation of water resources, pollution and uncontrolled global warming are depleting, drop by drop, this source of life for humanity”, warned the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, foreword to a published report. a few hours before the 2023 United Nations Water Conference,
“Humanity blindly embarked on a dangerous path and we all suffer the consequences.“, highlighted the Portuguese diplomat.
Insufficient water in some places, too much in others where floods or contaminated water increase: the report by UN-Water and UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), published this Tuesday, highlights the “imminent risk of a global water crisis“.
“How many people will be affected by this global water crisis is a question of framework,” its main author, Richard Connor, stressed to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“If nothing is done, between 40 and 50% of the population will continue without access to sanitation services and between 20 and 25% to drinking water,” he stressed, noting that even if the percentages do not change, the world population grows. , as well as the number of people affected by these problems.
In an attempt to reverse the trend and with the hope of guaranteeing everyone’s access to drinking water or a bathroom by 2030, targets defined in 2015, some 6,500 participants, including around a hundred ministers and a dozen heads of state and Government, meet until Friday in New York, called to reach concrete commitments.
But some observers are already concerned about achieving these commitments and the availability of the necessary funds to implement them.
However, “There is a lot to do and time is not on our side”highlighted Gilbert Houngbo, president of UN-Water, the platform that coordinates the work of the United Nations, which does not have an agency dedicated to the issue.
No conference of this magnitude had been organized since 1977 on this vital but long ignored issue.
In the world, in the last 40 years, freshwater use has increased by almost 1% per year The report of the UN-Water highlights that the scarcity of water “tends to worsen” and worsens as the impact of global warming, warning that it will soon reach the currently populated regions, such as eastern Asia or South America .
Thus, approximately 10% of the world population lives in a country where water stress has reached a high or critical level.
And according to the report of the UN climate experts (IPCC) published this Monday, “about half of the world’s population” suffers from “serious” water shortages for at least part of the year.
This article also highlights inequalities: “Wherever you are, if you are rich enough, you can get water,” observed Richard Connor.
The problem is not only the lack of water, but the contamination of the available water, due to the absence or deficiency of sanitation systems.
At least two billion people drink water contaminated with feces, exposing them to cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio.
TO water is still affected by contamination by pharmaceuticals, chemicals, pesticidesmicroplastics or nanomaterials.
To guarantee access to clean water for all by 2030, current investment levels must be multiplied by at least three, estimates UN-Water.
This UN conference will be chaired by the Netherlands and Tajikistan, with the theme “Water for sustainable development”.
Source: Observadora
