Water stress and declining water quality are among the critical issues identified in the fourth Global Environment Outlook (GEO-4), the flagship publication of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The report assesses the current state of the global atmosphere, land, water and biodiversity.

“The escalating burden of water demand will become intolerable in water-scarce countries”, GEO-4 says. By 2025, water use is predicted to rise by 50 per cent in developing countries and by 18 per cent in the developed world. Freshwater stress is one of the priorities for both Asia and the Pacific, and West Asia. Irrigation already takes about 70 per cent of available water, yet food production needs to double by 2050.

Water quality is also declining, polluted by microbial pathogens and excessive nutrients. Globally, contaminated water remains the greatest single cause of human disease and death says GEO-4.

GEO-4 acknowledges that technology can help to reduce people’s vulnerability to environmental stresses, but says there is sometimes a need “to correct the technology-centred development paradigm”. It explores how current trends may unfold by 2050 in four scenarios: markets first; policy first; security first; and sustainability first.

Web site: UNEP - Global Environment Outlook: environment for development (GEO-4). Chapter 4 of GEO.4 is devoted to water

Contact: Global Environment Outlook (GEO) Section, Division of Early Warning and Assessment (DEWA), UNEP, Kenya, geo.head@unep.org, http://www.unep.org/geo

Source: UNEP, 25 Oct 2007

Tags: policies & legislation, water quality, water resources management