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Water Shortages Could Affect 5 Billion People By 2050, UNESCO Warns (theguardian.com)
About 3.6 billion people are estimated to be living in areas with a potential for water scarcity for at least one month per year, and this number could rise to as many as 5.7 billion people by 2050, according to a report published by UNESCO [PDF]. From a report: The comprehensive annual study warns of conflict and civilisational threats unless actions are taken to reduce the stress on rivers, lakes, aquifers, wetlands and reservoirs. The World Water Development Report -- released in drought-hit BrasÃlia -- says positive change is possible, particularly in the key agricultural sector, but only if there is a move towards nature-based solutions that rely more on soil and trees than steel and concrete.
"For too long, the world has turned first to human-built, or 'grey', infrastructure to improve water management. In doing so, it has often brushed aside traditional and indigenous knowledge that embraces greener approaches," says Gilbert Houngbo, the chair of UN Water, in the preface of the 100-page assessment. "In the face of accelerated consumption, increasing environmental degradation and the multi-faceted impacts of climate change, we clearly need new ways of manage competing demands on our freshwater resources."
"For too long, the world has turned first to human-built, or 'grey', infrastructure to improve water management. In doing so, it has often brushed aside traditional and indigenous knowledge that embraces greener approaches," says Gilbert Houngbo, the chair of UN Water, in the preface of the 100-page assessment. "In the face of accelerated consumption, increasing environmental degradation and the multi-faceted impacts of climate change, we clearly need new ways of manage competing demands on our freshwater resources."
...Everyone gets to enjoy "Raw Water".
I look forward to the part where we all move back into caves.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Dismissed as bullshit alarmist crap
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
We get more than enough water for all world falling from the sky here. Finally the shite weather proves to be good for something ;)
When the oceans rise due to global warming everyone will have enough water.
What indigenous knowledge is there for managing water? Typically they would just move to another water source if their main one disappeared. Is there some magic tree and soil combination that creates water? My guess is Gilbert Houngbo is one of those African "leaders" who also believes in many crazy things.
so a mass culling. how is this bad?
North coast is better because the water is cold to start. No ice required.
Don't populate shit hole areas that are naturally arid. This goes for parts of California, Dubai, as well as South Africa and other arid areas. These areas rely on man made infrastructure to be livable. If the economy goes to shit and said infrastructure cannot be maintained or even run if it is in good working condition then your shit hole becomes even more of a death trap shit hole.
It will be interesting to see what happens with Dubai once all the oil money dries up. Considering the place attracts some of the ultra wealthy, they'll probably be gone for greener pastures as soon as anything starts going south, then you're going to be left with a wasteland ghost town
1) Can NOBODY out of 7 Billion human brains in the world figure out how to turn sea water into useable water without requiring huge amounts of energy or breaking the bank? 2) Can NOBODY out of 7 Billion human brains in the world figure out how to capture, neutralize or reverse-combust the CO2 that is in Earth's atmosphere? All these scientists, universities, large companies, government laboratories and other R&D capable outfits around the world, and we keep hearing about how these "huge problems" will ruin humanity by 2050 or 2100? Can NOTHING at all be done? Or are we not TRYING HARD ENOUGH to actually solve this shit?
Why did the chicken cross the road? Because Elon Musk put an AI chip in its head.
A lot of commenters seem to not get that, unless you have a handy solar, wind or tidal powered desalination plant lying around and the capital to build one, living on the coast won't help, as the water is not drinkable. Diseases are spread in marshlands too, so being too near the coast can impact your fresh water supply.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
The Earth is constantly changing which means the old "nature based" ways will also become a nonviable answer. Thanks to climate change, we have vastly accelerated many changes which includes the location of available water resources. Our best bet is to work toward reversing the damage done and desalinate water using a water vapor distillation system (aka slingshot). Yes, these systems require energy but Sol provides us with more than enough energy for such systems.
We absolutely could stretch our water supply further but thanks to a tragedy of the commons coupled with capitalism, it simply won't happen without extreme enforcement measures. We already know that our politicians are spineless, so it's better that we assume the worst case scenario and create out own supply of fresh water.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Fix your shit instead of having more kids.
Duh.
TIme to invest into water ETFS?
Don't worry about it. By that time, Nestle will be selling water to your kids. Just get filthy rich and everything will be fine.
In the credits or annotations at the end of "The Big Short" (or here), it is noted that one of the players, Michael Burry or Ben Hockett, is focusing on water futures. At the time I was thinking, here's a guy who manages to see things that only become obvious in retrospect.
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
The solution will be whatever fixes the underlying problem, which is "Too Many People"!
I don't really care if you run out of water, if you are stupid enough to live in a desert and complain you have no water.
Apparently global warming is making our sea levels rise. Why not just make that drinkable? Kill 2 birds with 1 stone
The Guardian got Brasília right, so the 237th 8-bit ASCII character (Latin small letter i with acute) got lost in the copy-pasting.
How quaint. Care to elaborate?
Lower population translates into more resources available per person, but the work capacity of the generation is reduced. If that work capacity is made up by work multipliers from technological innovation, which has consistently occurred every year for the last 70 years, then it can be made to work.
Baby Boomers outnumber Gen X. If you're looking for an example where we shrank a generation.
If you need some guarantees that the economy will be safe, then you will need central planning. Else you can rely on the free market to adapt and individuals making decisions that are mutually beneficial. (nearly any business arrangement is for mutual benefit)