Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis

Throughout history water has confronted humanity with some of its greatest challenges. Water is a source of life and a natural resource that sustains our environments and supports livelihoods but it is also a source of risk and vulnerability. In the early 21st Century, prospects for human development are threatened by a deepening global water crisis. Debunking the myth that the crisis is the result of scarcity, this report argues poverty, power and inequality are at the heart of the problem.

In a world of unprecedented wealth, almost 2 million children die each year for want of a glass of clean water and adequate sanitation. Millions of women and young girls are forced to spend hours collecting and carrying water, restricting their opportunities and their choices. And water-borne infectious diseases are holding back poverty reduction and economic growth in some of the worlds poorest countries.

Beyond the household, competition for water as a productive resource is intensifying. Symptoms of that competition include the collapse of water-based ecological systems, declining river flows and large-scale groundwater depletion. Conflicts over water are intensifying within countries, with the rural poor losing out. The potential for tensions between countries is also growing, though there are large potential human development gains from increased cooperation.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Water
• pollution
• sanitation
• UNDP
• UN
• human
• development
• report
• HDR
• Kenya
• Kibera
• slums
• kevin
• watkins

[jaleyna]

at least some people care. this really does need to end.

[LesbianMeatball]

Eww wait. So, they shit on that hill were the water goes, then they drink it and it makes them have diarrhea so they shit even more and the water supply gets more polluted. Oh man, we just opened up a black hole.

[bunnybooties]

There is water condenser technology that collects water to drink and for home use from the humidity in the air even when the climate is dry desert. There's compost toilets, there's a home called an earthship that uses recyclable materials, old tires, bottles, and cans to create the foundation, recycles dirty water thru plants to create food. There's so much that can be done but those in power want to control us so they obscure this knowledge. Look up earthship home on YouTube and see for yourse

[Lovnpce]

omg

[batmanpronz]

stop having kids

[boots13100]

@flashpoint62 Thats how these so called "3rd world" countries are in the situation their in now, you dont complain when the African continent & other poor countries are being robbed, explioted and miseducated of their raw materials for your convenience, which keeps them underdeveloped. Insted you look at them as less than human, you may feel like that towards them, but if this can happen to them, what makes you think it cant happend to people like you?

[limewolf3]

we r supposed to b using only 20 litres of water per day, but the average person uses about 330L or more....yikes

[DarkKnight00073]

The frustrating thing is that the blacks probably won't appreciate the whites infrastructure if the whites build something for them. What a mess!

[siasabora]

reverse rural-urban migration....cities have limits to what they can deliver; the urban slums rapid growth is politically and economically driven...

[flashpoint62]

the planets pop. will almost DOUBLE by 2025 and if somthing is not done than the earth would go into complete caosa does anyone realize that some countries are not even worth having on this planet what is the purpose of the whole African continent all its people are doing is taking up space on this earth which we could use

[booksbooks]

@zerillimassimo That isn't a bet I can accept because the terms are unbalanced.

[zerillimassimo]

@booksbooks I bet you $5 we will