Humanity is overconsuming water at ‘vampiric’ levels, UN head warns
Global News
The United Nations' first conference on water security in almost half a century aims to establish voluntary commitments and create "political momentum."
The United Nations opened its first conference on water security in almost half a century on Wednesday with a plea to governments to better manage one of humanity’s shared resources.
A quarter of the world’s population relies on unsafe drinking water while half lacks basic sanitation, the U.N. said. Meanwhile, nearly three quarters of recent disasters have been related to water.
“We are draining humanity’s lifeblood through vampiric overconsumption and unsustainable use, and evaporating it through global heating,” said U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
Ensuring access to clean drinking water and sanitation is part of the 17-point to-do list the U.N. has set for sustainable development, alongside ending hunger and poverty, achieving gender equality, and taking action on climate change.
The three-day conference beginning on Wednesday in New York is not intended to produce the kind of binding accord that emerged from climate meetings in Paris in 2015, or on nature protection in Montreal in 2022. But Guterres said it must “result in a bold Water Action Agenda that gives our world’s lifeblood the commitment it deserves.”
That agenda aims to establish voluntary commitments from countries and sector representatives, and create “political momentum.”
Guterres said governments needed plans that would “ensure equitable water access for all people while conserving this precious resource,” and work with their neighbors to manage it.