War and Water Crises in the Future of the World.
According to research by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission, the consequences of climate change mixed with an ever-increasing population will lead to fierce competition for scarce resources. Social upheaval and regional instability may result from this.
The study identified a number of regions where "hydro-political concerns" are more likely to manifest themselves. These are regions where a "transboundary" to water exists and where access to fresh water is problematic. This indicates that a lake or river or some other body of water is shared by the locals. Therefore, when there is a shortage of water due to natural conditions and a growing population, tensions arise.
The report specifically mentions the Nile, Ganges-Brahmaputra, Indus, Tigris-Euphrates, and Colorado rivers as five of the most vulnerable areas.
If the battles of this century were fought over oil, the conflicts of the next century will be fought over water, according to a quote from former World Bank vice president Dr. Ismail Serageldin from 1995, unless we alter how we manage this priceless and essential resource. It's debatable how much our methods for managing water have evolved.
How likely is it that there will be water wars? These possibilities are estimated to be 75 to 95% in the next 50 to 100 years by the researchers. Of course, how horrible they will be is still unknown.
So, when you don't have access to water, you essentially have two choices: migrate to an area with more water, or battle over what is already there.
One of the most significant battles about access to water began in the Sudanese Darfur region. Fighting broke out in the early 2000s between pastoralists and farmers who were vying for control of water and land; the resulting bloodshed resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people as well as the displacement of many more.
The Results of the Water Crises (The Number of Migrants) in the World.
- 771 million people lack access to safe water
- 1.7 billion people lack access to improved sanitation
- Women and girls spend 266 million hours every day collecting water
- 1 million people die each year from water, sanitation, and hygiene-related diseases
- Every 2 minutes a child dies from a water-related disease
- 3rd leading cause of child death is diarrhea which is caused by the lack of safe water
- 1 in 3 schools lacks access to basic water and sanitation
- $260 billion is lost globally each year due to a lack of basic water and sanitation
- Universal access to basic water and sanitation would result in $18.5 billion in economic benefits each year from avoided deaths alone.
- Climate change is expected to cause 50% of the world's population to live in waterstressed regions by 2025, with low-income families suffering the brunt of this catastrophe.
- Today, there are more than 1 billion migrants worldwide, and 10% of the increase in migration is attributed to water shortages. According to the World Bank's recently issued flagship water book, a scarcity of water rather than an abundance has a stronger effect on migration.
- Migration, Water, and Development analyze how migration is related to water and what it means for economic development. It is based on an examination of the largest internal migration data set ever compiled, which includes information on approximately 500 million people in 64 countries between 1960 and 2015.
- Water-induced migration is being accelerated by climate change as a result of rainfall variability, which pushes people to relocate in quest of better opportunities. 25 percent of the world's population lives in seventeen of the world's countries, which are already under severe water stress.
- Where we live has always been influenced by water. The constant increase in global population requires a thoughtful reaction in order to transform the water issue into an opportunity today as climate change intensifies the problem.
- More than ever, access to clean water is essential for the health of families around the world as we battle the COVID-19 pandemic.