This most precious of resources is having a decade dedicated to it by the United Nations as the international organization seeks to rally its member countries to address a problem that threatens to worsen the lives of billions.
In a speech made during the general assembly of the international organization in New York in September, Miroslav Lajčák, the assembly’s new president, called for more to help mitigate this challenge.

Scarcity of water – exacerbated by climate change or humanitarian disasters – can cause tensions between people, communities and countries», he told a meeting of the High Level Panel on Water. «As we have seen, these tensions can quickly escalate into violence.
The Panel, which consists of 11 sitting heads of state and government and a special adviser, is coordinating the search for ways to develop and manage water resources. In a bid to boost awareness and rally support for its campaign, the Panel is overseeing what has been declared the International Decade for Action, “Water for Sustainable Development”, beginning next year.

The campaign aims to help the international community meet one of the goals set under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: water and sanitation for all.
«We will need more than action from governments to achieve (this goal)», he said. «Strengthening water infrastructures and systems costs money. And we will need a lot more of it, from different sources. We also need to create environments in which innovation and entrepreneurship can flourish».

Given the global scale of the challenge, Lajčák said the U.N. would need help from all fronts: civil society, the private sector, financial institutions and national and regional authorities.

The Economic Impact of the Water Scarcity Problem in the World
The water scarcity problem is one of the most serious risks facing the world at every level: social, economic, political and environmental. It is becoming acute as climate change exasperates efforts to provide water to a growing population. It is already manifesting itself as a problem in parts of the world, emphasizing the need to manage the natural resource in a sustainable way with the appropriate infrastructure.
Although water covers 71% of the Earth’s surface, only 4% is freshwater and only 0.5% of this water is suitable for human consumption, according to the U.N. More than 2.1 billion people still lack access to safely managed drinking water and about 40% of the global population face water scarcity.

The 2016 Water Scarcity & Drought Summit in Australia
Regions faced with drought could see their gross domestic product (GDP) declined by as much as 6% by 2050, according to estimates presented at the 2016 Water Scarcity & Drought Summit in Australia. Those able to manage their water resources, meanwhile,
could see their GDP grow by 6% during that period. Less availability of freshwater and the greater use of it could reduce the amount available to cities by as much as two-thirds by 2050. And with an expected 50% increase in food production, by 2030, demand for water could rise by 40-50%. The increasingly intensive use of water will cause a decline of two thirds of available water in cities by 2050. With the production of food by 50% by 2030 the correlated demand for water will rise 40-50%.

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