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DAM-L Global water crisis by 2025/LS (fwd)
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Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2001 16:49:08 -0700
To: irn-safrica@netvista.net
From: Lori Pottinger <lori@irn.org>
Subject: Global water crisis by 2025/LS
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New Tearfund report: Global water crisis by 2025
Two out of every three people in the world will be facing water shortages by
2025, says a new report launched today, World Water Day (Thursday March
22nd), by Christian relief and development agency Tearfund.
The report, Running on Empty, states that the world's water supply is not
keeping pace with demands being made upon it - consumption rose six-fold
between 1900 and 1995, more than twice the rate of population growth. The
report says that while England and other prosperous areas of the world will
cope with falling water supplies due to efficient water management, poorer
countries will suffer on a massive scale - making it harder for them to
escape poverty.
The magnitude of the crisis is such that Tearfund says the world will
increasingly witness a new phenomenon - 'water refugees' - millions of
people being forced to leave their homes in search of clean water.
The current state of water shortages around the world is already alarming:
?Delhi in India is predicted to run out of groundwater by 2015 at current
usage rates.
?Lake Chad in Africa, which provides water to 20 million people in six
countries, has shrunk by 95% in the past 38 years.
?Two-thirds of China's cities are facing severe water shortages.
As the world's water supplies are stretched to the limit due to escalating
populations, rising agricultural use, poor management and the effects of
global warming, Tearfund says the Department for International Development's
Target Strategy Paper for tackling the water crisis head-on (launched March
22) is encouraging. Tearfund urges other governments and institutions to
take urgent action by:
* Placing water high on the agenda for action at the World Summit on
Sustainable Development in 2002
* Urgently investing in water supply sanitation and water resources,
ensuring that the basic needs of poor and vulnerable communities are met
before the luxury needs of the better off.
* Redoubling efforts to meet commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
by 5% by 2012. Rediscovering traditional methods of water conservation in
poorer countries (water harvesting could significantly help to meet India's
water needs if land was set apart for rainfall collection).
"Water is a basic human right. Without it societies wither and people die.
Yet today we standing on the brink of a global water crisis which could
deprive billions of people access to clean water," says Joanne Green, of
Tearfund.
She continues: "We have successfully harnessed water for energy, industry
and irrigation, but at an increasingly terrible cost. It is crucial that the
international community pulls together so that every human being has access
to a clean sustainable water supply."
At the heart of the crisis lies a threat to food production in many parts of
the world. By 2025 the amount of water needed for food production across the
world will rise by 50%, due to population growth and higher standards of
living. But the amount of available water is declining. Poorer countries
will face difficult choices between dedicating water to crop irrigation or
domestic and industrial use. Many may be forced to risk the vagaries of
international markets by importing food. For the 1.3 billion people who live
on $1 a day or less, high grain prices could quickly become life
threatening.
Near the top of the list of reasons behind the water supply crisis is
developing countries' governments' inability to regulate, manage and invest
in water. And it is often in these countries that populations are rising
fastest, another pressure point. Between now and 2030, the UN predicts that
China's population will increase by 300 million - a rise greater than the
entire population of the United States. Demand for water in China is
expected to increase by 66% over the same period.
Global warming is playing its part. Scientists are predicting decreased
water supplies as deserts expand and evaporation rates increase. Rivers will
dry up as droughts intensify and the melting of the polar ice caps may lead
to the intrusion of salt water into freshwater supplies.
Another cause of shortage is unsustainable use of groundwater. It takes
place in every continent except Antarctica, but it is poorer countries that
are suffering most.
Says Joanne Green of Tearfund: "Even though we face water shortages and
hosepipe bans in the UK, each person still has an average of 150 litres of
water a day at their disposal - enough to wash 15 cars. In some of the
poorest countries people are surviving on a daily ration equal to or less
than a bucket of water. If the international community is serious about
reaching its poverty-elimination targets, united action on the water crisis
is urgently needed."
Ends For a copy of the report, or a colour graphic/map showing countries
facing water shortages, or to arrange interviews contact: Keith Ewing,
Tearfund on +44 208 977 6061 (press office).
Tearfund is one of the UK's largest relief and development agencies, working
in 90 countries.
http://www.tearfund.org/generic/content.asp?idx=220
--
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network <'})))>><
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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