17 million people in the region have a problem with water

edregion of Latin America and the Caribbean 17 million people, 3% of populationhave limited basic access to water or consume it from inappropriate sources, while more than 160 million do not have access to safe water, data from Water daywhich this year has as its motto ‘Water for peace’.

According to CAF data, Development Bank of Latin Americaof the region’s population of nearly 650 million people spread over 33 countries, more than 430 million lack access to safe sanitation, a right included in the list of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2015-2030. United Nations.

Likewise, 300 million people in cities do not have sewage, and more than ten million defecate in the open, which poses a very high and serious risk to people’s health and safety.

Although Latin America has 31 percent of fresh water sources and there is progress in the provision of water services, there remains a gap between the provision of safely managed water in rural areas (53%) compared to urban areas (81%), according to data from the Joint Program World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)organizations dependent on the United Nations.

He climate changes and the influence of the meteorological phenomenon El Niño have caused an increase in water scarcity in the region, with longer droughts, such as the one that has been affecting southern Latin America for about four years, in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, where thousands of hectares of soybean or corn crops have not thrived.

The same thing happens in almost everyone Central Americawith serious economic consequences and causing the migration of hundreds of thousands of people from across the region to the global north, creating social and political conflicts with countries such as Mexico and the United States upon his arrival.

According to data from the world bankafter pandemic, in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean It is the one that has grown the least since 2020, a reduction in growth under the influence of climate change, whose impacts represent 1.7 points of regional growth Gross domestic product (GDP) yearly.

Influence of climate changes and the lack of water in the region has also affected the Panama Canal, where the flow of water is so reduced that it does not accumulate enough to fill the locks for the passage of cargo ships passing through the infrastructure.

Contamination of water sources by legal and illegal mining is another problem serious problems, as in Argentina and Bolivia with the extraction of lithium, one of the most used components in technology for renewable energy sources and electric vehicles. The production of one ton of lithium requires 2.2 million liters of water, according to data from a UNESCO report published this week.

Experts point out that it is climate finance and multilateralism are key to overcoming water problems Latin America and the Caribbean.