UN: “Water scarcity is becoming an endemic problem”

As reported byThis Wednesday (22nd) we celebrate World Water Day, a date proposed during the first United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held here in Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro (ECO-92) and made official in February 1993.

Since then, meetings have been held every year in this period to discuss the various points related to this natural heritage of fundamental importance for the planet.

These meetings are guided each year by a different theme, defined by the UN according to the current and future challenges related to the theme. For 2023 the theme chosen was and the congress will be held in New York City, USA.

A document released by the organization before the opening ceremony of the event carries a worrying alarm: our planet is at imminent risk of water shortage. In the report, the UN says the population is following a dangerous path of “vampiric consumption” of water.

According to the document, water scarcity is becoming an endemic problem, due to three factors: pollution, excessive demand and climate change.

Also according to the report, 3.5 billion people – or almost half of the world’s population – already face water-stressed conditions during part of the year.

In 2020 nearly two billion people lacked access to clean water, some 3.6 billion lacked basic sanitation and 2.3 billion could not even wash their hands at home – at a time when this habit , more than ever, if necessary, with Covid-19 begins to spread around the world.

According to estimates by the United Nations, the number of people facing water scarcity in cities could reach 2.5 billion by 2050.

The UN post: “Water scarcity is becoming an endemic problem” first appeared on Olhar Digital.

Source: Olhar Digital