Blue Gold

Out Of The Borders

by Clara Rodier

Climate change has an impact on people’s lives in some parts of the world, they are facing the early effects of climate change. The second part of the 6th IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report, published on Monday 28 February, exposes the reality of an ongoing climate change, the consequences of which are already measurable on humans and ecosystems including the water availability which is an essential human need. A part of our ecosystem is already permanently damaged. This is the case for example with corals or glaciers.

From space, we can notice that the planet looks more blue than green. According to Cieu (a center of information about water), “the water covers 72% of the world’s surface,” and at the same time in some parts of the world half of the population is enduring an extreme water

crisis without being able to drink clean water. According to the sustainable and development goals created by the United Nations in 2016 the point is to “achieve a better and more sustainable future for all”., “1 in 4 health care facilities lacks basic water services.” In the video, on youtube published by Our Changing Climate we learned that current estimates predict that “by 2040, up to 20 more countries could be experiencing water shortages.”

Two women walking to find water.

@ Unicef/UN0199521/Noorani

In fact, 97.2% of earth liquid is salty water. Freshwater accounts for 2.8% of the world’s total water. Within this small percentage, polar ice represents 2.1% and available freshwater 0.7%. The percentage of freshwater is only around 3% for what we expect 9 billion people on earth by 2050. The problem that occurs is the way we consume water.

As we know, climate change is a vicious circle, it expects to make freshwater scarcity even worse for the next decade and it’s already happening in some parts of the world and impacting lives.

Also, we learned in the series documentary called “Explained” on Netflix in the episode about “World’s Water Crisis” In partnership with Vox Media Studios and Vox. It show that agriculture (70%) and industry (22%) consume and waste a lot of freshwater”. We need to rethink our way to consume water to manage in a better way the water crisis which has already start.

In 2019 the New York Times published an article written by two journalists Somini Sengupta and Weiyi Cai. According to researchers at the World Resources Institute. “The world is heading for a major water shortage, by 2030, an estimated 470 million people will face water scarcity, with consequent public health and social impacts.”

World Ressources institute Date

@NYTimes

WaterAid

@ WaterAid/Abir Abdullah

In the report published on the 6th of August 2019, the “World Resources Institute” warned us about water scarcity. Currently, around the world, “seventeen countries are in a situation of extremely high baseline severe water stress,” which means that they are consuming almost all the water available to them.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are the most water-stressed regions on the planet with 12 of the top 17 most water-stressed countries. Including Qatar, Israel, Lebanon etc…. They are consuming on average over 80 percent of their total water resources per year. According to UNICEF, “Four billion people (almost two-thirds of the world’s population) experience severe water scarcity for at least one month each year.” And “Some 700 million people could be displaced by intense water scarcity by 2030.”

According to the article Women and water by water.org, the water crisis will affect harder women. Women are the ones in charge of bringing the water for their families in order to

survive. UNICEF said that “200 million hours women and girls spend every day collecting water.”

Water is a human’s right and a human’s need. We all need water in order to stay alive. But what happens if water becomes rare? It became the new gold, a blue gold. Water scarcity is leading to a water conflict. It’s the case for a water conflict between India and Pakistan that happened in the past and continues to happen.

We have already started lacking water in some parts of the world. It influences some decisions for families to leave their countries, their homes, because of the insecurity that climate change brings with extreme weather, floods, and drought. The tension over water increases all over the globe. On December 7, 2020, water was listed on the Chicago Stock Exchange, it was the first time ever that water went to trade. Water will become the new petrol, the new gold. The water crisis will bring conflict, injustice, and discrimination all over the world. What we need is to learn how to consume less water worldwide.