According to the latest report from the Institute of Water Resources at the United Nations University, the UN warns that humanity is entering a period of "global water bankruptcy." The study indicates that about 75% of the Earth's population, approximately 6.1 billion people, live in areas with unstable or severely limited freshwater supplies.
Every year, nearly 4 billion people face severe water shortages for at least one month.
Since the early 1990s, water levels in half of the world's largest lakes have been declining, 70% of major aquifers are experiencing prolonged depletion, and more than 40% of water used for irrigation is sourced from depleting resources. Over the last fifty years, the area of wetlands has shrunk by nearly 410 million hectares, and glaciers in several regions have decreased by more than 30%.
The issues surrounding the water crisis are diverse: in the Middle East and North Africa, they are exacerbated by climate vulnerability and low agricultural productivity; in South Asia, by intensive irrigation use and rapid urbanization; and in the southwestern United States, there is a chronic water deficit in the Colorado River basin.
The UN emphasizes that the main problem lies not only in the lack of water but also in the inefficient management of resources. Experts are calling for the water crisis to become a central issue in political decision-making, to create a global monitoring system, and to cancel projects that worsen the condition of water ecosystems.
