Amid global warming and exacerbating water shortages, the world’s poor will be facing the most risk. The UK-based charity, Christian Aid has reported that big cities around the world including London, Beijing, and New Delhi will have to face escalating drought risk amid climate change. Evidently, without any concrete and immediate action, London will run out of water within the next 25 years, while other regions will bear the brunt of same fate.
The charity also indicated that this shortage will affect the poor people in cities such as Harare, Zimbabwe and Kabul, Afghanistan the most. Water scarcity is not the only problem these regions would endure. Food insecurity is one of the many impacts of climate change.
Out of the 3 percent of the world’s potable water, only 0.01 percent is easily available. However, the persistent human population growth has put immense pressure on the global water supply. Over half the world’s populace live in cities – with the number expected to increase to 68 percent by 2050 – and many are already experiencing the strain of water shortage.
Image: Gareth Fuller/PA
According to Nushrat Rahman Chowdhury, of Christian Aid, co-author of the report;
Drought is not new but its intensity and frequency have increased over the last 30 years due to global warming. It is a real danger; it threatens lives and livelihoods of some of the poorest people in the world. These are communities which have done the least to cause the climate crisis. This is the reality known as loss and damage. To address this injustice, we not only need emissions cut but also provide financial support for those losses which cannot be adapted to.
In 2018, after an extended drought, South Africa’s Cape Town became the first major city in the world to run out of water. The people in New Delhi have been standing in lines to receive water amid scorching heatwaves for many years now.
London’s annual rainfall amount has plummeted and reached about half the amount of rainfall New York City receives. Climate change will further increase the regularity and intensity of droughts in the region.
The report examined the future for water supplies for drinking, washing and agriculture, and indicated that without any action to curb carbon emissions to halt climate-related drought, the poor of the world will be the worst hit. Christian Aid said that the lower-income city dwellers will end up having to pay much for water from private vendors, making the cities in poorer countries more vulnerable as they have limited resources for climate adaptation.
Well, it isn’t no news that the world is grappling with water shortages. However, the only course of action that can save the world’s water reservoirs is to act against climate change.
Via: Bloomberg