World enters the era of global ‘water bankruptcy,’ UN scientists warn

Water flows through dozens of the world’s major rivers so densely that they often dry up before reaching the sea. More than half of the great lakes are shrinking, and many of the world’s major aquifers are irreversibly diminishing as agricultural pumping drains water that took centuries or even millennia to accumulate.

In a report published this week, UN scientists warn that the world is entering a new era of “global water bankruptcy”; The term underscores the urgency of the efforts needed to preserve what remains.

“We have been living beyond our hydrological means for too long,” said lead author Kaveh Madani, director of the Institute for Water, Environment and Health at UN University.

The report, based on extensive research, says that more and more parts of the world are actually overspending their water accounts and running low on water reserves. The term “water crisis” is often used locally and globally, but scientists said it refers to a temporary emergency from which a region can recover, whereas many parts of the world are depleting water beyond safe limits and are now bankrupt or nearing bankruptcy.

The report notes that many rivers, lakes, groundwater tables and wetlands have passed their “tipping point” and will not be able to return.

“Millions of farmers are trying to grow more food from dwindling, polluted or vanishing water supplies,” Madani said.

Approximately 70 percent of water worldwide is used for agriculture. Depletion of water resources can mean collapse of economies, displacement and conflict. report It says that approximately 3 billion people and more than half of global food production are concentrated in regions where water resources are decreasing.

More than half of the world’s large lakes have shrunk since the 1990s, scientists said. About 35% of the planet’s natural wetlands – almost the size of the European Union in total – have disappeared since the 1970s.

Overpumping of groundwater has led to long-term declines in approximately 70% of the world’s major groundwater resources, and in many regions these declines are causing land sinking. Land subsidence associated with groundwater overpumping is occurring in more than 2.3 million square miles, about 5% of global land area, according to the report. This permanently reduces the amount aquifers can hold and also worsens the risk of flooding.

Approximately 4 billion people experience severe water scarcity for at least one month every year.

Madani said water bankruptcy is not just a problem in arid parts of the world. “Like financial bankruptcy, it’s not about how rich or poor you are. It’s about how you manage your budget.”

And in many regions, the water people use consistently exceeds supply every year, effectively eating into the budget.

The report points to the Colorado River and its depleted reservoirs, on which California and other western states depend, as symbols of overpromised water. Other hotspots of chronic overuse include parts of South Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa.

“We must prioritize preventing further damage to our remaining savings,” Madani said. “By accepting the reality of water bankruptcy, we can finally make the hard choices that will protect people, economies and ecosystems. The longer we delay, the deeper the deficit becomes.”

Water bankruptcy is also caused by deforestation, loss of wetlands and pollution, the researchers said. These problems are compounded by climate change, which is upending the water cycle and leading to more severe droughts and floods.

report was released a while ago UN water conference In the United Arab Emirates in December.

Madani is also the author of a peer-reviewed article. article Providing a definition of water bankruptcy this week, he says the term is a diagnosis “to convey the seriousness of the problem and the urgency of a transformative new beginning.”

He said the banking analogy used throughout the report points to solutions similar to managing financial insolvency: preserving remaining capital while reducing spending.

Madani said solutions to deal with depleted water supplies will vary by region and must take into account the fact that “taking water away from farmers can mean unemployment, immediate tension, chaotic situations” and that farmers and others need help to adapt and use less water.

a related one to work In the report published last year, scientists analyzed more than two decades of satellite data and found that large areas of the world were losing freshwater and drying out.

recently World Bank reportGlobal water use “increased by 25 percent from 2000 to 2019, with approximately one-third of this increase occurring in regions that are already drying out,” the researchers said.

Jay Famiglietti, a hydrologist and professor at Arizona State University, said adopting the term water bankruptcy is “a great way to express that water resources are mismanaged, overused, and no longer available for current and future generations.”

He said water experts have struggled to find the right “hook” to convey the seriousness and urgency of the problem, and the name water bankruptcy promises to stick.