75% of the world’s population is “water insecure”: UN

The world faces an irreversible water “bankruptcy,” with billions of people struggling to cope with the consequences of decades of overuse, as well as declining reserves of lakes, rivers, glaciers and wetlands, United Nations (UN) researchers said yesterday.

Nearly three-quarters of the world’s population lives in countries classified as “water insecure” or “critically water insecure,” and 4 billion people face severe water shortages at least one month a year, the UN warned in a report.

“Many regions are living beyond their hydrological means, and many critical water systems are already bankrupt,” said Kaveh Madani, lead author of the study. “By recognizing the reality of water bankruptcy, we can finally make the difficult decisions that will protect people, economies and ecosystems.”

More than 170 million hectares of irrigated cropland are under “high” or “very high” water stress, and economic damages from soil degradation, groundwater depletion and climate change amount to more than $300 billion annually worldwide, according to the report.

Some 3 billion people and more than half of global food production are concentrated in areas already facing unstable or declining levels of water storage, while salinization has also degraded more than 100 million hectares of cropland, according to the report.

The researchers said the current approach to solving water problems is no longer adequate, and that the priority is not “getting back to normal,” but a new “global water agenda” designed to minimize damage.