About 2.3 billion people live in water - scarce countries, including India and Pakistan,according to the latest UN water crisis report. Globally, a child under the age of five dies every two minutes from water-borne disease.For collecting water ,women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa spend about 40 billion hours a year.
Climate Services Status 2021: A report in collaboration with the WMO, international organizations, development agencies and scientific institutions, estimates that the number of people with inadequate access to water will exceed 5 billion by 2050 from 3.6 billion in 2018. Climate change is reported to be causing heavy rainfall in some areas where they do not have the capacity to store water for later use.. Due to unexpected rains, India and Pakistan were among the countries hit hardest floods in 2020-21.
Floods affected regions of South and Southeast Asia badly in 2020. In India, floods were responsible for the third deadliest event of the year, claiming 1,922 lives. The situation in Pakistan was just as bad. China also experienced four summer floods across the country that killed killed 397 people, affected 14.3 million people, and caused $21.8 billion losses in economic.
Over the past year, torrential rains across the subcontinent have caused massive flooding in Nepal, Pakistan and India. Millions were displaced and hundreds were killed. "Global and regional rainfall changes as a result of rising temperatures, leading to changes in rainfall patterns and agricultural seasons,with significant impacts on food security and human health and well-being,” Another report put India and Pakistan as the 17 countries with the highest water shortages. Both India and Central Asia 80%, South Asia 78% and West Asia 60% suffer from high water pressure, according to UN water stress figures.
Central Asia is one of the sub-regions with the highest global water pressure. Water scarcity is a major concern for many countries, especially in Africa. The WMO said, In total, the floods have killed more than 300,000 people and the drought has killed more than 700,000 and affecting their food production.
No comments: