Nournews: In its latest report, titled “Continental Drying-Up: A Threat to Our Shared Future”, the World Bank announced that global freshwater reservoirs have declined to an alarming level over the past two decades.
The report’s data indicate that the average annual decline in fresh water amounts to 324 billion cubic meters, equivalent to the yearly needs of 280 million people. In drier regions, this decline has even reached 10 percent of renewable sources.
The phenomenon, termed “continental drying-up”, refers to long-term freshwater depletion on a global scale. Satellite data show that dry areas are losing water resources at a faster rate, with climate change, increased evaporation, and shifts in precipitation patterns playing fundamental roles in this trend.
The World Bank report identifies four key factors contributing to the expansion of this crisis:
1. Global warming has increased evaporation rates and altered the precipitation cycle.
2. Changes in land use, including deforestation, unregulated urbanization, and overwatering, have accelerated the depletion of underground water.
3. Poor management and inappropriate pricing, such as cheap agricultural water and fuel, have led to excessive pumping of groundwater.
4. Fragmented management of water resources, resulting in countries with weak governance losing reservoirs at a rate two to three times higher than others.
Global water consumption increased by 25 percent between 2000 and 2019, with one-third of affected regions drying up during this period. The agricultural sector consumes 95 percent of the country’s total water, making it the primary source of pressure on water resources. In most dry lands, about one-fourth of agriculture relies on rainfall, while one-third depends on inefficient irrigation. Additionally, cultivating water-intensive crops such as rice, especially for export, has further exacerbated the crisis.
In the final section, the report outlines three policy pillars to manage the crisis:
1. Demand management through increased water efficiency, withdrawal restrictions, and public education;
2. Supply enhancement via water recycling, the use of desalination plants, and the reinforcement of natural and artificial reservoirs;
3. Improved water allocation by ensuring fair and efficient distribution of resources among agricultural, industrial, and urban sectors.
The World Bank also emphasizes the need to reform subsidies, strengthen local institutions, leverage advanced monitoring technologies, and assign economic value to water.
The report concludes: “Continental drying-up is not inevitable; humanity can still change course, provided that knowledge, policy, and global solidarity are applied simultaneously.” This warning carries even greater significance for countries like Iran, which are located in arid and semi-arid regions.
NOURNEWS