WATER CRISIS

Dreadful Threat Looming Over

The World Meteorological Organization(WMO) a specialized agency of the United Nations(UN) in its new report "The State of Climate Services 2021 : Water," warns of water crisis as 3.6 billion people globally had inadequate access to water at least one month per year in 2018 and by 2050 this number is expected to exceed over 5 billion. The climate change is expected to increase water level hazards such as droughts and floods while the number of people living with water stress is expected to soar due to growing scarcity and population growth.

                                                        Global water resource management is 'fragmented and inadequate.' Despite some recent advances it found that 107 countries remain off track for a target of sustainably managed their water resources by 2030. Increasing temperatures are resulting in global and regional precipitation changes leading to shifts in rainfall patterns and agricultural patterns with a major impact on agriculture food security and human health and well-being.  Water level events caused millions of people migrated and killed across Asia and Africa. Overall more than 300 thousand people have been killed by floods and more than 700,000 by droughts and their impact on food production. 

                         countries need to increase investment in integrated water resources management and in drought flood early warning system and to co-develop and operationalize climate services with information users to better support in the water sector. It's time to urgently adopt reforms to ramp up financing and corporations ahead of a looming crisis. Corrective measures and right planning can save us from this menace. It's better to mend the things on time before it is too late.