Global water cycle in “big trouble”

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UN Secretary-General António Guterres (73) has sounded the alarm about a global water crisis. The world is in big trouble: “We have broken the water cycle, destroyed ecosystems and polluted groundwater,” Guterres said at the start of the UN water conference in New York on Wednesday. Nearly three out of four natural disasters were water-related.

New ways to prepare and save the “elixir of life for humanity” and a global information system to predict water needs in real time are therefore needed. An early warning system against dangerous climate or weather conditions is also needed. “This is more than a conference on water. It is a conference about today’s world from the perspective of the most important resource,” said Guterres. This conference should represent a giant leap forward in the fight against water scarcity

First water conference since 1977

The UN water conference runs until Friday. It is the first major UN meeting since 1977 to exclusively address the theme of water. Halfway through the so-called International Water Action Decade from 2018 to 2028, an interim assessment will be drawn up no later than Friday.

Special attention is paid to the extent to which internationally agreed goals, including the UN sustainable development goal of access for all people to clean water by 2030, can be achieved.

At the start, dozens of ministers and several heads of state and government announced their arrival. A major agreement will not be negotiated at the conference, but a non-binding action document will be voted on. (SDA)

Source: Blick