A burgeoning global population and growing economies call for more food, more power and more industry, but the driver behind all of this is water, which is becoming less and less available due to global warming and climate change.
We are already utilising an average of 70% of the world’s fresh water for agriculture and around 40% for energy production, so where is the water going to come from when demands for these products rise even more?
Between 80%-90% of freshwater is already being used in regions where water is scarce, according to the World Water Council. We are extracting such high levels of water from freshwater ecosystems that it is simply and literally unsustainable.
It seems that corporations and governments have failed us, so it is now up to communities all over the world to take control and create a “water economy†where water really is everyone’s business. Citizens need to get involved in the use, control and quality of their local freshwater and hold their respective governments to promises made as well as creating cooperatives with Big Business.
This year’s Stockholm Water Prize Winner Rajendra Singh has some great ideas and has been mobilising communities all over India to build water security and resilience using traditional rainwater-harvesting techniques. Singh has not just left it to the communities however, but has also had many discussions with world experts and leaders of international organisations.
The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21 or CMP 11 will be held in Paris, from November 30 to December 11. According to various reports though, the issue of fresh water is absent from the agenda. This is unconscionable – how can they ignore the fact that there is a water crisis in many regions in the world and thousands are dying daily from the lack of access to a Basic Human Right?
We can only hope that the rumours are wrong and that a new water economy agenda is on the table and can soon be set into motion or humanity is in real trouble!
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