” world water crisis can no longer be ignored.” “A transformation of the economy and no one, place, economy or ecosystem will be spared from the restructuring of water governance.” Systemic crisis caused by decades of human mismanagement of waterThe report ‘Turning the tide: a call for collective action’, released today by the Global Commission on Water Economy, offers a serious warning: “The world is at a crossroads and must react now”. Spain will be one of the countries most affected by the food supply.
The report warns of the escalating water crisis. global warming And biodiversity lossso that all three reinforce each other. However, the document also includes actions that must be taken urgently and collectively to stop this crisis.
Criminal human activities: The source of all the planet’s freshwater, rainfall patterns are changing, leading to a shift in supply around the world and worldwide. modification of the global hydrological cycle. Each high temperature adds 7% moisture to the water cycle, overloading and condensing it, causing more and more. extreme weather events.
The study highlights that: More than 2 billion people do not have access to safely managed waterHE 4 billion people experience water shortages for at least one month of the yearAnd Every 80 seconds, a child under the age of 5 dies from diseases caused by contaminated water.. This is why the authors of the report call for developing a new water economy.
Spain is in danger
Spain is not explicitly mentioned in the report, but the water situation and future are reflected in various maps. One of them reveals that Spain will be one of the countries to record the highest percentage reduction in food supply in 2050 due to water stress and heat..
The reduction will be between 12.4% and 14.9%, which will make it one of the most affected countries in Europe. Except for the entire Indochina peninsula with the exception of Burma, only South Asian countries in the lane from Afghanistan to China will exceed this percentage.
However, water is a supranational, global problem. Science has shown that communities and nations are hydrologically intertwined not only with rivers and surface waters, but also with atmospheric moisture flows (‘atmospheric rivers’ as scientists define them). Results: applications in any one region assume effects in recorded precipitation in other regions..
“If left unchecked, the global water crisis will endanger all Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and make them virtually impossible to achieve. It will endanger food and health security, exacerbate poverty and peace within and between nations.“, warns the Commission.
All of this will “disproportionately affect women, vulnerable and marginalized groups in indigenous communities, youth, farmers, workers and small and medium businesses,” he adds.
All countries are already severe food insecurity. And seller, drought, heat wave And Forest fires It’s causing “unprecedented human, economic and ecological costs in nearly every region of the world,” he says.
Collective and urgent actions
“Global population and income growth and changes in per capita consumption of food, feed, fiber, wood and energy, Unprecedented use of land and fresh water in agriculture” retrieves the text.
Blue water withdrawals (from rivers, aquifers, lakes and water reservoirs) have increased from 500 cubic kilometers in 1900 to over 4,000 in 2022. global depletion of groundwater and degradation of coastal environments.
To get out of this stalemate, the authors of the report “collective and urgent actionBold and integrated” that must be implemented before 2030. Actions that must be local, regional, national and global. The authors summarize their recommendations in seven points to achieve a sustainable and equitable water future.
one. Manage the water cycle by: global common good, which must be protected collectively and for the benefit of all. It means realizing water is increasingly intertwined with climate change and the depletion of the planet’s natural capital; why essential for food securitythat it will only be sustainable with justice and equity in every corner of the world.
2. Take a results-oriented, task-oriented approach to water that encompasses all the important roles it plays in human well-being. must be fulfilled human right to drinking water for domestic use; innovation and industrial strategy should be used to solve specific problems; increase water investments and Public Private Partnerships.
Abolish subsidies to agriculture
3. Stop underestimating water. This affordable pricingnext to you support people in needwill ensure a more efficient, fairer and more sustainable use of water. Moreover The non-economic value of water should be taken into account in the decisions taken to ensure the protection of nature.on which the planet and life depend.
4. Phase out subsidies of up to $1 billion (930 million euros) each year for agriculture and wateroften causes excessive consumption and practices harmful to the environment. Water leaks costing billions a year must be drastically reduced and disclosure of water footprints to direct capital and consumer preferences in favor of sustainable practices.
5. To create fair water associations enable investments in access to water in low- and middle-income countries. Attract private companies, banks, institutions and philanthropists as investors. The economic returns of these investments will be much higher than their costs.
6. Strengthen freshwater storage systems, especially dangerously depleted natural assets such as wetlands and groundwater. Is necessary Developing a circular urban water economyThrough industrial and urban wastewater recyclingand turn agriculture into precision irrigation and crops that require less water.
7. reformat multilateral water governance, currently fragmented. Trade policy should be used as a tool for more sustainable use of water by incorporating conservation standards into trade agreements. Farmers, women, youth, indigenous peoples and local communities and consumers at the forefront of water conservation must be empowered.
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Contact address of the environment department: [email protected]