The “lifeblood” of humanity – thewater – is an increasingly endangered resource worldwide due to “vampiric overconsumption and overdevelopment”. Those are the words used by United Nations in a report published within hours of the first major meeting on water resources.
The world is “blindly treading a dangerous path” as “unsustainable water use, pollution and unchecked global warming are draining humanity’s lifeblood,” said the UN secretary-general Anthony Guterres in the preface to the report.
Richard Connor, lead author of the report, explained the impact of the “global water crisis”. “If nothing is done, the scenario will be that 40-50% of the world‘s population will continue to lack access to sanitation and approximately 20-25% of the world‘s population will not have access to safe drinking water.” Thanks to the progressive increase of the world population.
Governments but also public and private sector actors are invited to the United Nations conference.
The last high-level conference on this issue, which lacks a global treaty or a dedicated UN agency, was held in 1977 in Mar del Plata, Argentina.