Water and Life

• today, 1 in 3 people live without safe drinking water;
• by 2050, up to 5.7 billion people could be living in areas where water is scarce for at least one month a year;
• climate-resilient water supply and sanitation could save the lives of more than 360,000 infants every year;
• if we limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels, we could cut climate-induced water stress by up to 50%;
• extreme weather has caused more than 90% of major disasters over the last decade;
• by 2040, global energy demand is projected to increase by over 25% and water demand is expected to increase by more than 50%.

A critical resource

Clearly, water is a crucial resource, and the future well-being of human society depends on how well we manage our global supply of fresh water. Because of climate change, some regions are increasingly threatened by drought, while others experience catastrophic floods.

Water tables throughout the world are falling, as aquifers are overdrawn. Falling water tables in China were the reason why that country adopted its one-child policy. Because of water shortages, China may soon be unable to feed its own population, but, as Lester R. Brown has pointed out, this will not cause a famine in China, but as China increasingly buys grain on the world market, the price will increase beyond the purchasing power of some of the poorer countries, and it is here that the Chinese water shortages will cause famine.