SUNS4369 Monday 8 February 1999

Environment: UNESCO, WMO call to safeguard freshwater resources



Geneva, Feb 5 (Someshwar Singh) -- Around 20% of the world's population could be affected by water-scarcity by the middle of the next century -- with catastrophic consequences for the poorer communities in
developing countries, according to estimates provided by the WMO and UNESCO.

UNESCO and WMO, under whose joint auspices the fifth International Conference on Hydrology is meeting here 8-12 Feb, have pointed out that while Africa and parts of western Asia appear particularly vulnerable
to increasing water scarcity, the list of potentially affected regions include north-western China, western and southern India, large parts of Pakistan and Mexico, and the western coasts of United States and South America.

Currently, some 29 countries suffer from moderate to severe water scarcity. Using UN population projections and assuming that the renewable water resources will remain unchanged, about 34 countries are projected to face water stress by the year 2025. It is projected that the number of people in water-scarce countries will rise from 132 million in 1990 to between 653 million (with the lower population growth projection) and 904 million (with the high population growth projection).

By the year 2050, the population projected to be living in water-scarce countries will rise to between 1.06 billion and 2.43 billion, representing roughly 13% to 20 % of the projected global population.

"The need for a greater global synergy to overcome the serious problems of freshwater shortages caused by a combination of climatic variability, contamination of clean water resources, demographic growth and environmentally harmful human activities," says Prof. G.O.P. Obasi, Secretary-General of the WMO.

Mr. Federico Mayor, Director General of UNESCO, has called for a "strong public and political support for the safeguarding of our planet's freshwater resources," adding "it is only when there is a general awareness and widely based understanding of this issue that we will be able to implement successful strategies, because the way in which we use water is deeply rooted in our every day behaviour and attitudes to natural resources."

The chiefs of the two organisations will participate in the five-day conference which will review the results since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), held in Rio in June1992, and also consider medium and long-term planning in their relevantprogrammes. The two agencies of the UN system seek the advice of their member States on their future plans with a view to ensuring a greater focus of their work, over the next five to six years, on the critical problems facing these countries.

A scientific session will also be held on Tuesday Feb. 9, when invited lecturers will address topics related to the water crisis, hydrological knowledge bases, urban water issues and climate, and the El Nino/Southern Oscillation phenomenon. Recommendations and proposals from the conference will be considered by the WMO Congress in Geneva in May 1999 and by the next General Conference of UNESCO in Paris in November 1999.