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The World Resources Institute (WRI) has just released a report saying that about half of the world's population is facing high water stress for at least one month a year. Water shortages are expected to get worse.
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The World Resources Institute, a research group focused on natural resources and environmental issues, has collaborated with Aqueduct, a program supported by a coalition of research centers, universities, governments, and businesses, to release maps showing current and future water shortages. According to WRI and Aqueduct’s analysis, based on data from 1979 to 2019, the proportion of the population affected could increase to nearly 60% by 2050.
“High stress” means that at least 60% of available water resources have been used, leading to local competition between different users. Twenty-five countries are currently facing “extremely high” levels of water stress, meaning that the imbalance between their water use and their water reserves is at least 80%. Some countries, such as Bahrain, Cyprus, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Chile, and others, are facing the most severe situations. An additional 1 billion people are expected to live in extremely high water stress conditions by mid-century. “Our analysis only shows long-term trends and averages,” cautions Samantha Kuzma, data management and geostatistics specialist for Aqueduct and WRI. “It does not account for peaks that can have worse, more localized consequences.”
WRI’s water allocation forecast map also highlights the threat to food security, with 60% of irrigated crops threatened by extremely high water stress.
According to WRI, about 31% of the world's GDP could be subject to high or very high water stress by 2050, compared with 24% in 2010.
Globally, water demand has been increasing steadily (doubling since 1960) due to the boom in irrigated agriculture, growing demand for energy production, industry and population growth.
In fact, the rate of increase in water demand is even faster than the rate of global population growth, especially in developing countries.
According to researchers, the natural water cycle is changing, causing extreme rainfall and drought. As a resource, water is becoming increasingly scarce as humans and most living things in nature demand more water as heat waves become more intense.
As a result, WRI asserts that the world is facing an unprecedented water crisis, exacerbated by climate change. The report’s authors argue that mitigating the impact of the water crisis would not cost much, provided water management is improved. They estimate that the budget needed is around 1% of global GDP to overcome chronic underinvestment in infrastructure, change irrigation patterns, focus on developing nature-based solutions, etc.
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