UN calls for urgent action to avoid water crisis in the world

The WMO (World Meteorological Organization), a specialized agency of ONU (United Nations), is calling for urgent action to improve the management of water services and “increase investment in this precious commodity”.  

The Agency launched, this Tuesday (5), the report “The State of Climate Services 2021: Water”. According to the document, climate change has increasingly caused events at opposite extremes: floods and droughts.

Since 2000, for example, there has been a 134% increase in disasters linked to flooding, while the duration of droughts has increased by 29%. According to the WMO, the number of people suffering from these situations is only increasing, while management, weather forecasting and warning systems are still inadequate. 

Petteri Taalas, secretary general of the WMO, stated that rising temperatures are causing changes in rainfall patterns and agricultural seasons. With this, he pointed out that the impact on food security and human health is very large. Taalas also recalled that extreme climate events linked to water, such as excessive flooding in Japan, China, Indonesia and Nepal, have been increasingly constant. 

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Europe and Africa

The executive also highlighted that in Europe, “catastrophic” floods caused many deaths and property destruction. “At the same time, water shortages continue to be a huge problem in many countries, particularly in Africa.” 

In total, more than 2 billion people in the world suffer from a lack of access to drinking water and adequate sanitation. Therefore, he was emphatic in stating that the world needs to wake up to the imminent water resources crisis. Data from the report shows that in 2018, 3,6 billion people faced inadequate access to water for at least one month of the year. But by 2050, the expectation is that 5 billion will be affected. 

Clean water and sanitation

Over the last 20 years, the territorial water reserve, that is, the amount obtained from moisture in soil, ice and snow, has decreased by around 1 cm per year. According to the study, the main losses occurred in Antarctica and Greenland.  

The WMO reveals that the situation is even worse, as only 0,5% of the water on Earth is fresh and ready for consumption. As a result, the world is far behind the deadline to achieve UN SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) 6, which provides access to water resources and sanitation for all.