UN holds first conference on the water crisis in decades

Human activity has disrupted the water cycle, and climate change is exacerbating the problem.

This week, the United Nations is holding a conference on the global water crisis, which has received little attention within the organisation. There is no international agreement on the use of water resources and no dedicated agency within the UN. The last high-level UN meeting on the issue was held in 1997 in Argentina.

Drinkable water is unevenly distributed across the planet. In countries like Finland, water is plentiful, but in many countries water is scarce and available water resources are contaminated. The conference has been convened by the Netherlands and Tajikistan.

According to Ovink, humans have disrupted the planet’s natural water cycle.

– We take too much water from the soil and pollute the water that is left, says Ovink.

One suffers from drought, the other from floods

The three-day UN event will be held in New York, USA, from Wednesday to Friday. The organizers hope the event will be a \”Paris moment\” for water use, a reference to the Paris Climate Agreement, where countries agree to limit global warming.

Disturbances in the water cycle have been seen as an increase in extremes in the water situation of different countries. In one place we suffer from withering drought and in another from devastating floods. It is thought that extreme weather phenomena will only increase with climate change.

According to UN estimates, 2.3 billion people live in countries that suffer from some degree of water scarcity. In 2020, two billion people suffered from a lack of drinking water and 3.6 billion did not have a toilet at home. 2.3 billion did not have opportunities to wash their hands at home, leading to the spread of disease.

The numbers speak harshly that the UN is failing in its sustainable development goal, according to which water access should be secured for all people by 2030.