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	Protecting human rights protects us all by Antonio Guterres UN Secretary-General   UN Secretary-General António Guterres address to the UN Human Rights Council (Extract; 26 Feb. 2024):   Human rights are the bedrock of peace. Today, both are under attack. We meet at a time of turbulence for our world, for people, and for human rights. First and foremost, conflicts are taking a terrible toll as parties to war trample on human rights and humanitarian law.   At the local level and online, many communities are riven with violent rhetoric, discrimination and hate speech. Add to that an information war. A war on the poor. And a war on nature.   All these battles have one thing in common: they are a war on fundamental human rights. And in every case, the path to peace begins with full respect for all human rights – civil, cultural, economic, political and social, and without double standards. Because building a culture of human rights is building a world at peace.   Our world is becoming less safe by the day. After decades of stable power relations, we are transitioning into an era of multipolarity. This creates new opportunities for leadership and justice on the international stage. But multipolarity without strong multilateral institutions is a recipe for chaos. As powers compete, tensions rise.   The rule of law, and the rules of war, are being undermined. From Ukraine to Sudan to Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gaza, parties to conflict are turning a blind eye to international law, the Geneva Conventions and even the United Nations Charter.   The Security Council is often deadlocked, unable to act on the most significant peace and security issues of our time. The Council’s lack of unity on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and on Israel’s military operations in Gaza following the horrific terror attacks by Hamas on 7 October, has severely – perhaps fatally – undermined its authority. The Council needs serious reform to its composition and working methods.   Nothing can justify Hamas’s deliberate killing, injuring, torturing and kidnapping of civilians, the use of sexual violence – or the indiscriminate launching of rockets towards Israel. But nothing justifies the collective punishment of the Palestinian people. I invoked Article 99 for the first time in my mandate, to put the greatest possible pressure on the Council to do everything in its power to end the bloodshed in Gaza and prevent escalation. But it was not enough.   International Humanitarian Law remains under attack. Tens of thousands of civilians, including women and children, have been killed in Gaza. Humanitarian aid is still completely insufficient. Rafah is the core of the humanitarian aid operation, and UNRWA is the backbone of that effort. An all-out Israeli offensive on the city would not only be terrifying for more than a million Palestinian civilians sheltering there; it would put the final nail in the coffin of our aid programmes. I repeat my call for a humanitarian ceasefire and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.   Around the world, violence is increasing, and conflict-related human rights violations are spreading. International human rights and humanitarian law are clear: All parties must distinguish between civilians and combatants at all times. Attacks on civilians or protected infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, are prohibited. Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited.   Attacks where the likelihood of civilian death is disproportionate to the probable military advantage are prohibited. Forced displacement is prohibited. The taking and holding of hostages is prohibited. The use of civilians as human shields is prohibited. Collective punishment is prohibited. The use of sexual violence as a weapon of war is prohibited. And violations by one party do not absolve the other from compliance.   We cannot – we must not – become numb to appalling and repeated violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. All allegations of serious violations and abuses demand urgent investigation and accountability.   The Geneva Conventions, which require the protection of civilians and the humane treatment of people in enemy hands, were not the result of an outbreak of global goodwill. These treaties were agreed because they protect everyone. Around the world, warring parties claim exemptions, asserting that certain people or situations are uniquely dangerous. But flouting international law only feeds insecurity and results in more bloodshed.   Human rights conventions and humanitarian law are based on cold, hard reality: They recognize that terrorizing civilians and depriving them of food, water, and healthcare is a recipe for endless anger, alienation, extremism and conflict.   Today’s warmongers cannot erase the clear lesson of the past. Protecting human rights protects us all. We urgently need a new commitment to all human rights – civil, cultural, economic, political and social – as they apply to peace and security, backed by serious efforts at implementation and accountability.   States have the primary responsibility to protect and promote human rights.. Around the world, governments must step up and commit to working for peace and security rooted in human rights.   Successful peace processes, from Colombia to Northern Ireland, demonstrate that the full spectrum of human rights is indispensable to building peace. Security policies that ignore human rights can divide communities, exacerbate inequalities, and drive people towards extremism.   All military engagement must respect human rights and humanitarian law, and to be backed by political and development strategies. Security policies need to be centred on people, with the full and equal participation of women, and the strong representation of young people.   Human rights need to be at the heart of the governance of new weapons technologies, including artificial intelligence, with a total prohibition of lethal autonomous weapons with the power to kill without human involvement. Human rights and humanitarian law apply in cyberspace.   From the epidemic of violence against women and girls, to the activities of criminal gangs, to rising antisemitism, anti-Muslim bigotry, the persecution of minority Christian communities, and discrimination against minorities of all kinds, many people do not feel safe in their own communities.   Media workers and human rights defenders are frequently targeted—sometimes as part of a strategy to reduce civic space and silence criticism. Decades of progress on women’s and girls’ rights are being challenged and rolled back – including their fundamental right to education and healthcare, and their sexual and reproductive rights.   Governments need to create space in national security policies for civil society, human rights defenders, and those representing vulnerable and marginalized people. Freedom of the media, freedom of expression and an open, inclusive civic space are essential to peaceful, democratic societies.   We need to dismantle and transform power structures that discriminate against women and girls; and take concrete steps to secure women’s full, equal and meaningful participation at all levels of decision-making on peace and security. Young people need to be included as participants in decision-making on peace and security events.   Peaceful communities require an open, secure, accessible digital public space that supports human rights and freedoms.   War is not only waged on the battlefield. Some of today’s economic policies, at both national and global levels, constitute a war on the poor – and on human rights.   Many developing economies are still struggling to recover from the double shock of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Sustainable Development Goals are very far off-track.   The world’s poorest countries are due to pay over $185 billion in debt services costs this year – more than their total public spending on health, education and infrastructure.   The absence of a debt lifeline jeopardises the ability of millions of people to realise their rights to clean drinking water, a nutritious diet, education, healthcare, and jobs.   The global financial architecture is at the heart of this human rights emergency. It is outdated, dysfunctional and unjust, and it must be reformed to provide long-term, low-cost financing and an effective safety net for all countries in need. We need affordable long-term finance for developing countries.   We need reforms to make global financial frameworks more inclusive, equitable and just, so they can support governments in prioritizing social spending, sustainable development and climate action, essential to human rights. We need to focus on ways in which economic policies, including budgets, taxes and subsidies, can reinforce investments in the Sustainable Development Goals and human rights for all.   Our war on nature is a war on the human rights of some of the most vulnerable people in the world: Indigenous People; rural communities; the marginalized and dispossessed.   The crises assaulting our planet – climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution – all have a massive injustice at their core: Those who did least to cause these crises are bearing the brunt of rising hunger and famine, land degradation, forced displacement, contaminated water sources and premature deaths.   The recognition of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment by the Human Rights Council in 2021 and by the General Assembly in 2022 shows that times are changing. Environmental justice and climate justice are rallying cries for ethical, equitable treatment, accountability and human rights.   Climate justice demands that G20 countries lead the progressive phase-out of fossil fuels. It demands that all Nationally Determined Contributions, or national climate plans, align with the 1.5-degree upper limit on global heating. It demands an effective carbon price and an end to fossil fuel subsidies.   It demands the developed countries meet their finance commitments to developing economies. It demands that the Loss and Damage Fund is up and running as soon as possible, with significant contributions.   For many countries of the Global South, economic, environmental and climate justice are the defining human rights challenges of our time. The United Nations stands with them in calling on all countries to assume their responsibilities.   The multiplication of conflicts around the world is causing unprecedented suffering. But human rights are a constant. They are fundamental to our hopes for a world at peace.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2024/03/turks-global-update-human-rights-council http://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/regular-sessions/session55/list-reports Visit the related web page
	Unite to protect and conserve our most precious resource - water by WMO, UN Water, IFRC, Oxfam, agencies   Oct. 2024   Global water crisis leaves half of world food production at risk in next 25 years.   More than half the world’s food production will be at risk of failure within the next 25 years as a rapidly accelerating water crisis grips the planet, unless urgent action is taken to conserve water resources and end the destruction of the ecosystems on which our fresh water depends, experts have warned in a landmark review.   Half the world’s population already faces water scarcity, and that number is set to rise as the climate crisis worsens, according to a report from the Global Commission on the Economics of Water.   Demand for fresh water will outstrip supply by 40% by the end of the decade, because the world’s water systems are being put under “unprecedented stress”, the report found.   The report found that water moves around the world in “atmospheric rivers” which transport moisture from one region to another.   About half the world’s rainfall over land comes from healthy vegetation in ecosystems that transpires water back into the atmosphere and generates clouds that then move downwind.   China and Russia are the main beneficiaries of these “atmospheric river” systems, while India and Brazil are the major exporters, as their landmass supports the flow of green water to other regions. Between 40% and 60% of the source of fresh water rainfall is generated from neighbouring land use.   “The Chinese economy depends on sustainable forest management in Ukraine, Kazakhstan and the Baltic region,” said Prof Johan Rockstrom, the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and one of the co-chairs of the commission. “You can make the same case for Brazil supplying fresh water to Argentina. This interconnectedness just shows that we have to place fresh water in the global economy as a global common good.”   Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the president of Singapore and a co-chair of the commission, said countries must start cooperating on the management of water resources before it was too late.   “We have to think radically about how we are going to preserve the sources of fresh water, how we are going to use it far more efficiently, and how we are going to be able to have access to fresh water available to every community, including the vulnerable – in other words, how we preserve equity between rich and poor,” Shanmugaratnam said.   The Global Commission on the Economics of Water draws on the work of dozens of leading scientists and economists, to form a comprehensive view of the state of global hydrological systems and how they are managed. Its 194-page report is the biggest global study to examine all aspects of the water crisis.   The findings were surprisingly stark, said Rockstrom. “Water is victim number one of the climate crisis, the environmental changes we see now aggregating at the global level, putting the entire stability of earth’s systems at risk,” he told the Guardian.   “The climate crisis manifests itself first and foremost in droughts and floods. When you think of heatwaves and fires, the really hard impacts are via moisture – in the case of fires, global heating first dries out landscapes so that they burn.”   The destruction of nature is also further fuelling the crisis, because cutting down forests and draining wetlands disrupts the hydrological cycle that depends on transpiration from trees and the storage of water in soils.   Harmful subsidies are also distorting the world’s water systems, and must be addressed as a priority, the experts found. More than $700bn of subsidies each year go to agriculture, and a high proportion of these are misdirected, encouraging farmers to use more water than they need for irrigation or in wasteful practices. Industry also benefits – about 80% of the wastewater used by industries around the world is not recycled.   Developing countries must also be given access to the finance they need to overhaul their water systems, provide safe water and sanitation, and halt the destruction of the natural environment, the report found.   Five main takeaways from the report   The world has a water crisis   More than 2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water, and 3.6 billion people – 44% of the population – lack access to safe sanitation. Every day, 1,000 children die from lack of access to safe water. Demand for fresh water is expected to outstrip its supply by 40% by the end of this decade.   This crisis is worsening – without action, by 2050 water problems will shave about 8% off global GDP, with poor countries facing a 15% loss. Over half of the world’s food production comes from areas experiencing unstable trends in water availability.   There is no coordinated global effort to address this crisis   Despite the interconnectedness of global water systems there are no global governance structures for water. The UN has held only one water conference in the past 50 years, and only last month appointed a special envoy for water.   Climate breakdown is intensifying water scarcity   The impacts of the climate crisis are felt first on the world’s hydrological systems, and in some regions those systems are facing severe disruption or even collapse. Drought in the Amazon, floods across Europe and Asia, and glacier melt in mountains, which causes both flooding and droughts downstream, are all examples of the impacts of extreme weather that are likely to get worse in the near future.   People’s overuse of water is also worsening the climate crisis – for instance, by draining carbon-rich peatlands and wetlands that then release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.   Water is artificially cheap for some and too expensive for others   Subsidies to agriculture around the world often have unintended consequences for water, providing perverse incentives for farmers to over-irrigate their crops or use water wastefully. Industries also have their water use subsidised, or their pollution ignored, in many countries.   Meanwhile, poor people in developing countries frequently pay a high price for water, or can only access dirty sources. Realistic pricing for water that removes harmful subsidies but protects the poor must be a priority for governments.   Water is a common good   All of human life depends on water, but it is not recognised for the indispensable resource it is. The authors of the report urge a rethink of how water is regarded – not as an endlessly renewable resource, but as a global common good, with a global water pact by governments to ensure they protect water sources and create a “circular economy” for water in which it is reused and pollution cleaned up.   Developing nations must be given access to finance to help them end the destruction of natural ecosystems that are a key part of the hydrological cycle.   http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/16/global-water-crisis-food-production-at-risk http://watercommission.org/#report http://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/06/climate-crisis-wreaking-havoc-on-earths-water-cycle-report-finds http://www.globalwater.online/globalwater/report/index.html   Oct. 2024   Water must be managed as a common good and made accessible to all. (OHCHR)   Aquatic ecosystems and the water we extract from them must be considered and managed in the public domain, as commons, accessible to all but not appropriable by anyone, an independent UN expert said.   In his report to the 57th UN Human Rights Council session, Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to water and sanitation, argued for differentiating the water necessary to sustain life from water used for economic purposes, setting priorities, and establishing specific management criteria.   “What is the monetary value of the water needed to ensure the health of your families? Is the value of the water needed to grow avocados for export even comparable to the value needed to protect public health?” he asked.   The expert said considering water as a commodity that should be managed according to the logic of the market was wrong. “From this approach, access, use and benefit from water depend on the ability to pay according to supply and demand, and access to information and management are left in the hands of corporations. This is inconsistent with a human rights-based approach to water management."   The Special Rapporteur said water on which populations depend and the aquatic ecosystems from which they draw must be managed with a common, human rights-based approach that guarantees non-discrimination, equal participation, transparency and accountability.   “These ecosystems are common natural heritage, and their sustainability should be ensured for the benefit of everyone, including future generations,” he said.   The Special Rapporteur urged governments to advance towards agreements and institutions that could articulate a shared responsibility at the global level to address the climate crisis and care for the water cycle as a global common good. “It is a democratic challenge that States must take up to realise the human rights to water and sanitation,” he said.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/09/water-must-be-managed-common-good-and-made-accessible-all-un-expert http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/10/addressing-global-water-and-food-crisis-crucial-human-rights-says-special http://www.wri.org/insights/growing-water-risks-food-crops   Oct. 2024   WMO report highlights growing shortfalls and stress in global water resources.   The year 2023 marked the driest year for global rivers in over three decades, according to a new report coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which signaled critical changes in water availability in an era of growing demand.   The last five consecutive years have recorded widespread below-normal conditions for river flows, with reservoir inflows following a similar pattern. This reduces the amount of water available for communities, agriculture and ecosystems, further stressing global water supplies, according to the State of Global Water Resources report.   Glaciers suffered the largest mass loss ever registered in the last five decades. 2023 is the second consecutive year in which all regions in the world with glaciers reported iceloss.   With 2023 being the hottest year on record, elevated temperatures and widespread dry conditions contributed to prolonged droughts. But there were also a significant number of floods around the world. The extreme hydrological events were influenced by naturally occurring climate conditions – the transition from La Nina to El Nino in mid-2023 – as well as human induced climate change.   “Water is the canary in the coalmine of climate change. We receive distress signals in the form of increasingly extreme rainfall, floods and droughts which wreak a heavy toll on lives, ecosystems and economies. Melting ice and glaciers threaten long-term water security for many millions of people. And yet we are not taking the necessary urgent action,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.   “As a result of rising temperatures, the hydrological cycle has accelerated. It has also become more erratic and unpredictable, and we are facing growing problems of either too much or too little water. A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture which is conducive to heavy rainfall. More rapid evaporation and drying of soils worsen drought conditions,” she said.   “And yet, far too little is known about the true state of the world’s freshwater resources. We cannot manage what we do not measure. This report seeks to contribute to improved monitoring, data-sharing, cross-border collaboration and assessments,” said Celeste Saulo. “This is urgently needed.”   The State of Global Water Resources report series offers a comprehensive and consistent overview of water resources worldwide. It is based on input from dozens of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services and other organizations and experts. It seeks to inform decision makers in water-sensitive sectors and disaster risk reduction professionals. It complements WMO’s flagship State of the Global Climate series.   Hydrological extremes   The year 2023 was the hottest year on record. The transition from La Nina to El Nino conditions in mid-2023, as well as the positive phase of the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) influenced extreme weather.   Africa was the most impacted in terms of human casualties. In Libya, two dams collapsed due to a major flood in September 2023, claiming more than 11,000 lives and affecting 22% of the population. Floods also affected the Greater Horn of Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, Mozambique and Malawi.   Southern USA, Central America, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru and Brazil were affected by widespread drought conditions, which led to 3% gross domestic product loss in Argentina and lowest water levels ever observed in Amazon and in Lake Titicaca.   River discharge   The year 2023 was marked by mostly drier-than-normal to normal river discharge conditions compared to the historical period. Similar to 2022 and 2021, over 50% of global catchment areas showed abnormal conditions, with most of them being in deficit. Fewer basins showed above normal conditions.   Large territories of Northern, Central and South America suffered severe drought and reduced river discharge conditions in 2023. The Mississippi and Amazon basins saw record low water levels. In Asia and Oceania, the large Ganges, Brahmaputra and Mekongriver basins experienced lower-than-normal conditions almost over the entire basin territories.   Soil moisture and evapotranspiration   Levels of soil moisture were predominantly below or much below normal across large territories globally, with North America, South America, North Africa, and the Middle East particularly dry during June-August. Central and South America, especially Brazil and Argentina, faced much below-normal actual evapotranspiration in September-October-November. For Mexico, this lasted almost the entire year because of drought conditions.   http://wmo.int/news/media-centre/wmo-report-highlights-growing-shortfalls-and-stress-global-water-resources http://wmo.int/news/media-centre/united-science-reboot-climate-action http://interconnectedrisks.org/tipping-points/groundwater-depletion http://interconnectedrisks.org/tipping-points/mountain-glacier-melting   When water is scarce or polluted, or when people have unequal, or no access, tensions can rise between communities and countries.   More than 3 billion people worldwide depend on water that crosses national borders. Yet, only 24 countries have cooperation agreements for all their shared water.   As climate change impacts increase, and populations grow, there is an urgent need, within and between countries, to unite around protecting and conserving our most precious resource.   Public health and prosperity, food and energy systems, economic productivity and environmental integrity all rely on a well-functioning and equitably managed water cycle.   The theme of World Water Day 2024 is ‘Water for Peace’. When we cooperate on water, we create a positive ripple effect – fostering harmony, generating prosperity and building resilience to shared challenges.   We must act upon the realization that water is not only a resource to be used and competed over – it is a human right, intrinsic to every aspect of life. This World Water Day, we all need to unite around water and use water for peace, laying the foundations of a more stable and prosperous tomorrow.   UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres message for World Water Day:   Action for water is action for peace. And today it is needed more than ever. Our world is in turbulent waters. Conflicts are raging, inequality is rife, pollution and biodiversity loss are rampant, and, as humanity continues to burn fossil fuels, the climate crisis is accelerating with a deadly force – further threatening peace.   Our planet is heating up – seas are rising, rains patterns are changing, and river flows are shrinking. That is resulting in droughts in some regions, and floods and coastal erosion in others. Meanwhile, pollution and overconsumption are imperiling the availability of fresh, clean, accessible water on which all life depends.   Dwindling supplies can increase competition and inflame tensions between people, communities, and countries. That is increasing the risk of conflict.   Water for peace is the theme of this year’s World Water Day. Achieving it relies on far greater cooperation. Today, 153 countries share water resources. Yet only twenty-four have reported cooperation agreements for all their shared water. We must accelerate efforts to work together across borders, and I urge all countries to join and implement the United Nations Water Convention – which promotes managing shared water resources sustainably.   Cooperating to safeguard water can power and sustain peace. Water stewardship can strengthen multilateralism and ties between communities, and build resilience to climate disasters.   It can also drive progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals – which are the foundation of peaceful societies – including by improving health, reducing poverty and inequality, and boosting food and water security. Let’s commit to work together, to make water a force for cooperation, harmony and stability, and so help to create a world of peace and prosperity for all.   Alvaro Lario, UN-Water Chair:   Today, we face a crisis that threatens global wellbeing and stability: 2.2 billion people still live without access to safe water and even more – 3.5 billion people – without safe toilets.   This World Water Day, we must unite around water to make it a tool for peace and a catalyst for progress.   We have just six years left to meet Sustainable Development Goal 6 – water and sanitation for all by 2030. We are dramatically off track.   We must urgently fix the water cycle. Our health and livelihoods, our food and energy, and the very ecosystem we exist within, all depend on it.   Our human rights to water and sanitation are the first line of defence against disease, disaster and destitution. As climate change impacts and populations grow, our cooperation on water will make or break us.   By working together on water, across borders and sectors, we can provide a model for solving all our shared challenges. Water has sustained us since the dawn of life. Now, it can lead us out of crisis. Let us work together to seize the opportunity. We have no time to lose.   http://www.un.org/en/observances/water-day http://www.unwater.org/publications/un-world-water-development-report http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/03/world-water-day http://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/ahrc5432-fulfilling-human-rights-those-living-poverty-and-restoring http://www.wateraid.org/media/World-1.5c-breach-marks-cataclysmic-failure-in-protecting-the-most-vulnerable http://interconnectedrisks.org/tipping-points/groundwater-depletion http://washmatters.wateraid.org/blog http://www.ids.ac.uk/opinions/the-sanitation-circular-economy-rhetoric-vs-reality/ http://www.wri.org/insights/highest-water-stressed-countries http://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/latest-news/increasing-nitrogen-input-could-pollute-water-supply-and-worsen-water-scarcity   Mar. 2024   Water for Peace. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)   Water is a basic human right and an essential element in maintaining our health and well-being. Still, hundreds of millions of people around the world lack access to safe water. On World Water Day, we join the call of those around the world working to ensure that all people have easy access to this essential ingredient to a safe, healthy and peaceful life.   Calamities such as earthquakes, floods, drought, conflict — even extreme cold weather — often put water out of reach for people, and the livestock and crops they rely on to survive.   Meanwhile, lack of access to clean water and proper sanitation too often results in the spread of infectious diseases such as cholera, diarrhea and E. Coli, among many others.   Water scarcity and insecurity, meanwhile, is increasing worldwide, and so is the recognition of its role as a potential multiplier of instability and conflict.   These are some of the reasons the theme of World Water Day 2024 is ‘Water for Peace.’ Access to wafe water is a game changer for community health, resilience and prosperity. It opens the door to healthier people, more secure food sources and more stable communities. We invite you to join us in working to ensure all people around the world have access to safe water and a healthy, peaceful future.   The IFRC works to ensure that people around the world have equitable, sustainable and affordable access to water, sanitation and hygiene services and knowledge (WASH).   We do so by supporting our 191 National Societies to deliver effective emergency, recovery and long-term WASH programmes. Collectively, we reach over 100 million people with quality water, sanitation and hygiene activities every year.   http://www.ifrc.org/get-involved/campaign-us/world-water-day http://www.ifrc.org/article/joint-statement-millions-risk-cholera-due-lack-clean-water-soap-and-toilets-and-shortage http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/press-releases/cholera-on-rise-new-analysis-finds-only-36-of-2023-world-water-needs-met/ http://www.unicef.org/stories/water-and-climate-change-10-things-you-should-know http://www.unicef.org/topics/water-sanitation-and-hygiene   Mar. 2024   Global water crisis looms yet only one in four of the biggest food and agriculture corporations say they’re reducing water use and pollution. (Oxfam International)   Only 28 percent of the world’s most influential food and agriculture corporations report they are reducing their water withdrawals and just 23 percent say they are taking action to reduce water pollution. Oxfam’s new analysis of 350 corporations using World Benchmarking Alliance data comes ahead of World Water Day (March 22).   The UN, which last year convened the first major conference on water in over 45 years, estimates that 2 billion people do not have safe drinking water, and up to 3 billion people experience water shortages for at least one month each year.   The 350 corporations analyzed account for more than half of the world’s food and agriculture revenue. 70 percent of all freshwater withdrawals are used for agriculture, which is by far the largest water-using sector worldwide. Industrial farming plays a major role in water pollution.   Oxfam’s analysis found that only 108 of these 350 corporations are disclosing the proportion of withdrawals from water-stressed areas.   “When big corporations pollute or consume huge amounts of water, communities pay the price in empty wells, more costly water bills, and contaminated and undrinkable water sources. Less water means more hunger, more disease and more people forced to leave their homes,” said Oxfam France Executive Director Cecile Duflot.   “We clearly can’t rely on corporations’ goodwill to change their practices —governments must force them to clean up their act, and protect shared public goods over thirst for profit,” said Duflot.   Water and wealth are inextricably linked. Rich people have better access to safe public drinking water —and money to buy expensive private water— while people living in poverty, who often don’t have access to a government-backed water source, spend significant portions of their income to purchase water.   The fast-growing bottled water industry is an example of how corporate giants commodify and exploit water, intensifying inequality, pollution and harm. According to the UN, the multi-billion-dollar bottled water industry is undermining progress toward the key Sustainable Development Goal (SDG6) of providing universal access to safe drinking water.   Rises in global temperatures will further reduce water availability in many water-scarce countries, including across East Africa and the Middle East, because of the increased frequency of droughts, and changes in rainfall patterns and run-off.   Oxfam has seen first-hand how people are facing the daily challenge of accessing safe water sources, spending countless hours queuing or trekking long distances, and suffering the health impacts of using contaminated water.   For example in Renk, a transit camp in South Sudan, more than 300 people are now sharing a single water tap, increasing the risk of cholera and other diseases. Oxfam warned last year that up to 90 percent of water boreholes in parts of Somalia, Northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia had entirely dried up.   Oxfam is calling on governments to:   Recognize water as a human right and a public good. Profits should not be the priority when it comes to providing water services to people. Hold corporations accountable for abusing and violating human and environmental rights and laws, including water pollution.   Invest in water security, subsidized public water provision, sustainable water management and climate-resilient water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services. National planning and policy around WASH must commit to women’s leadership, participation, and decision-making at all stages.   http://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/global-water-crisis-looms-yet-only-one-four-biggest-food-and-agriculture http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/inequalities/2024/12/11/global-water-insecurity/ http://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/water-dilemmas-the-cascading-impacts-of-water-insecurity-in-a-heating-world-621548/ http://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/unheard-water-stories-from-asia-africa-and-mena-elevating-local-voices-for-wate-621663   http://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/55/43 http://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Water/annual-reports/a-76-159-friendly-version.pdf http://thepeopleswaterforum.org/2023/02/28/water-justice-manifesto/ http://unu.edu/article/how-bottled-water-industry-masking-global-water-crisis http://inweh.unu.edu/un-water-experts-the-world-is-off-track-to-meet-its-sustainable-water-goal-by-2030/ http://theconversation.com/ipcc-report-half-the-world-is-facing-water-scarcity-floods-and-dirty-water-large-investments-are-needed-for-effective-solutions-175578   http://peasantjournal.org/news/working-paper-series-international-conference-on-global-land-grabbing-bogota-colombia/ http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2024.2317961 http://www.nature.com/articles/s44221-024-00206-9 http://www.water-alternatives.org/index.php/blog/UN2023 http://gi-escr.org/en/our-work/on-the-ground/un-special-rapporteur-on-the-human-rights-to-safe-drinking-water http://gi-escr.org/en/our-work/on-the-ground/water-is-a-public-good-and-a-human-right http://tinyurl.com/52z8kxey http://rightlivelihood.org/news/maude-barlow-tackling-the-water-crisis-is-the-only-way-to-safeguard-people-and-the-planet/   http://waterwitness.org/news-events/2023/3/24/water-witness-comment-on-outcomes-of-un-water-conference http://waterwitness.org/news-events/2023/3/20/new-data-reveals-extent-of-global-north-reliance-on-unsustainable-water-sources http://grain.org/en/article/7039-squeezing-communities-dry-water-grabbing-by-the-global-food-industry http://www.fairplanet.org/story/the-plague-of-water-grabbing-and-its-consequences/ http://www.fian.org/en/publication/article/rights-to-water-and-sanitation-2735 http://www.ids.ac.uk/opinions/covid-19-reveals-and-further-increases-inequalities-in-water-and-sanitation/   * IPCC Sixth Assessment Report: Chapter 4: Water. (2022)   Increases in physical water scarcity are projected, with estimates between 800 million and 3 billion for 2°C global warming and up to approximately 4 billion for 4°C global warming. Projected increases in hydrological extremes pose increasing risks to societal systems globally, with a potential doubling of flood risk between 1.5°C and 3°C of warming and an estimated 120–400% increase in population at risk of river flooding at 2°C and 4°C, respectively. Also projected are increasing risks of fatalities and socioeconomic impacts. Similarly, a near doubling of drought duration and an increasing share of the population affected by various types, durations and severity levels of drought are projected. Increasing return periods of high-end hydrological extremes pose significant challenges to adaptation..   Globally, agriculture is the largest user of water. Risks to agricultural yields due to combined effects of water and temperature changes, for example, could be three times higher at 3°C compared to 2°C, with additional risks as a consequence of increasing climate extremes. In addition, climate-driven water scarcity and increasing crop water demands, including for irrigation, pose additional challenges for agricultural production in many regions. Climate-induced changes in the global hydrological cycle are already impacting agriculture through floods, droughts and increased rainfall variability. Climate change will lead to populations becoming more vulnerable to floods and droughts due to an increase in the frequency, magnitude and total area affected by water-related disasters: http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/chapter/chapter-4/   http://wmo.int/news/media-centre/climate-change-indicators-reached-record-levels-2023-wmo Visit the related web page
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