Water is one of our basic needs. It is impossible to imagine life without it. In view of the importance of water, the United Nations celebrates World Water Day on March 22 every year. This time on the occasion of World Water Day, the organization says that climate change has created an increasing risk of conflict over water resources.
It should be noted that the world experts have always feared that due to the rapid deterioration of the environment in the 21st century, almost half of the wars will be over the occupation of water or in an attempt to grab or divide it.
In its recently released report on water, non-governmental aid organization Oxfom accused global corporations of grabbing water from poor countries to increase their profits.
Declaring this year’s theme ‘Water for Peace’, the United Nations warned that when water is scarce, or contaminated, or when people have unequal or no access to water, communities and countries Tensions can rise between.
A United Nations report on World Water Day warned Friday that the world needs to use its freshwater resources better, but that using new technologies to solve these problems poses serious problems. can create
The United Nations says that more than three billion people around the world depend on water that comes from across national borders, but only 24 countries have water-sharing cooperation agreements.
The organization says that in a situation where the effects of climate change are increasing and the population is growing at the same time, it is important to unite within and between countries to protect and preserve our most precious resources. is urgently needed
Worsening climate change is causing water bodies to dry up not only in South Africa but also in many other parts of the world, scientists say.
It should be noted that the water taps in South Africa’s largest city, Johannesburg, have been dry for several weeks, affecting millions of people.
On the outskirts of Soweto, thousands of people can be seen queuing to get water in bottles and buckets from tankers that bring water from outside the city.
The United Nations estimates that 2.2 billion people in the world live without safe drinking water.
About half of the world’s population faces severe water shortages at least part of the year, say scientists at the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. And the poor countries of the Global South are badly affected.
In its report published on Thursday, Oxfom accused big global corporations of grabbing vital water resources, saying that the private sector is grabbing and polluting these resources for profit at the expense of local populations. This further increases inequality
Oxfom has accused rich countries and multinational corporations of shifting water scarcity to poorer regions by importing products from regions that require more water, such as fruits and vegetables. , meat, flowers and bottled water etc.
Quentin Gasker, an expert on agriculture and food at Oxfom France, says that of the 350 corporations analyzed by the database, which control half of the world’s agricultural income, four Only one appears to declare that it is reducing water use and pollution.
Oxfom’s report recommends stricter regulations and calls for greater funding and universal access to water in developing countries.
According to the report of the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO on the water crisis, almost half of the world’s population is facing severe water shortages, and climate change-related droughts will kill 1.4 billion people between 2002 and 2021. Affected more than
The report added that by 2022, more than two billion people lacked access to clean drinking water, while three and a half billion people lacked adequate sanitation.
And on top of that, pharmaceuticals, hormones and industrial chemicals are being added to rivers around the world.
A report by the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO states that there are a number of technologies available to improve the quality and extension of water supply, efficient water use and wastewater services, but many emerging technologies are rapidly developing. They use a lot of water and if they are not monitored, they can cause serious problems in the near future.
The report states that artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to improve management of river systems, emergency response, and the operation and maintenance of water supply and wastewater treatment plants.
But artificial intelligence or AI and related technologies require large amounts of water for computer cooling systems, while their devices require large amounts of energy (often derived from large amounts of water) to operate. .
The report said that although record rainfall and severe drought events are predicted in the coming years due to climate change, solutions to these problems are also consuming too much water.
One such technique, called ‘carbon capture and storage’, captures carbon dioxide from emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants and factories in heavy industries such as steel and cement to reduce the planet’s carbon pollution. Does it
But carbon capture and storage systems use enormous amounts of energy and water, the report says.
According to the report, 10 to 15 percent of the water withdrawn globally is used to produce the energy used to extract fossil fuels and to cool thermal and nuclear power stations.
Although wind, solar and geothermal energy systems use less water, they require lithium batteries to store the energy they produce, and lithium is a very precious and scarce metal.
Then extracting lithium and other key minerals from the ground for solar panels typically requires a lot of water, which in turn poses significant risks to water, especially groundwater quality, ecosystems and local populations.
