Water For Peace- World Water Day 2024

Coming up this month, on March 22, people around the planet will recognize World Water Day! World Water Day is about taking action to tackle the water crisis. Today, there are over 663 million people living without a safe water supply close to home, spending countless hours queuing or trekking to distant sources, and coping with the health impacts of using contaminated water. (http://www.worldwaterday.org/)

This year’s theme is ‘Water for Peace’, which focuses on the critical role water plays in the stability and prosperity of the world.  When water is scarce or polluted, or when people have unequal or no access, tensions can rise between communities and countries.  More than 3 billion people worldwide depend on water that crosses national borders. Yet, out of 153 countries that share rivers, lakes and aquifers with their neighbors, only 24 countries report having cooperation agreements for all their shared water. 

As climate change impacts increase, and the global population grows, we must unite around protecting and conserving our most precious resource.  By working together to balance everyone’s human rights and needs, water can be a stabilizing force and a catalyst for sustainable development. World Water Day is a United Nations (UN) observance coordinated by UN-Water. Every year, it raises awareness of a major water-related issue and inspires action to tackle the water and sanitation crisis. 

Did You Know?

• Only 0.5% of water on Earth is useable and available freshwater – and climate change is dangerously affecting that supply. Over the past 20 years, terrestrial water storage – including soil moisture, snow and ice – has dropped at a rate of 1 cm per year, with major ramifications for water security. (WMO, 2021)
  
  
• By 2050, the number of people at risk of floods will increase from its current level of 1.2 billion to 1.6 billion. In the early to mid-2010s, 1.9 billion people, or 27% of the global population, lived in potential severely water-scarce areas. In 2050, this number will increase to 2.7 to 3.2 billion people. (United Nations, 2020)
  
  
• Over a fifth of the world’s basins have recently experienced either rapid increases in their surface water area indicative of flooding, a growth in reservoirs and newly inundated land; or rapid declines in surface water area indicating drying up of lakes, reservoirs, wetlands, floodplains and seasonal water bodies. (UN-Water, 2021)
  
  
• The ambition of new climate change mitigation pledges for 2030 need to be four times higher to limit global warming to 2°C and seven times higher to get on track to limit global warming to 1.5°C. (UNEP, 2021) 
  
  
• The current Arctic sea-ice cover (both annual and late summer) is at its lowest level since at least 1850 and is projected to reach practically ice-free conditions at its summer minimum at least once before 2050. (IPCC, 2021) 

​Learn more at www.unwater.org

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