'World Blindly Travelling A Dangerous Path': UN Report Warns Of Looming Global Water Crisis

A UN report has warned of an impending global water crisis that may lead to an 'imminent risk' of shortages due to overconsumption and climate change.

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A United Nations report has warned of an impending global water crisis that may lead to an “imminent risk” of shortages due to overconsumption and climate change, as reported by BBC. According to the UN report, the world is "blindly travelling a dangerous path" of "vampiric overconsumption and overdevelopment".

The report comes before the first major UN water summit since 1977, which thousands of delegates will attend, BBC reported. The three-day summit in New York will begin on Wednesday. The summit, which will be co-hosted by the governments of the Netherlands and Tajikistan, will see the presence of around 6,500 participants.   

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says water, "humanity's lifeblood", is being drained by "unsustainable water use, pollution, and unchecked global warming", as quoted by BBC.

According to the report published by UN-Water and Unesco, “scarcity is becoming endemic" due to overconsumption and pollution. Global warming will cause an increase in seasonal water shortages in both areas with abundant water and those already strained. The report's lead author, Richard Connor, said around 10% of the global population "currently lives in areas that are high or critical water stress”.

"In our report, we say that up to 3.5 billion people live under conditions of water stress at least one month a year," he told the BBC. Speaking to reporters, Connor said that “uncertainties are increasing” when it comes to the global water supply.

Usha Rao Monari, UN Under Secretary General, the official host of the UN Water Conference, told the BBC that resources would need to be managed more carefully in the future. "There is enough water on the planet if we manage it more effectively than we have managed it over the last few decades," she said, as quoted by BBC.

"I think we will have to find new governance models, new finance models, new models of using water and reusing water than ever before. I think that technology and innovation will play a very large role in looking at how to manage the water sector and the use of water."