Un Warning On Water Security

摘要

Speaking recently at a high-level water security symposium at United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York, UN deputy secretary-general Asha-Rose Migiro warned that two-thirds of the world's population will face water shortages in under 20 years if current trends in climate change, population growth, rural to urban migration and consumption continue. Ms Migiro told the meeting that the lack of safe water and sanitation is 'inextricably linked with poverty and malnutrition, particularly among the world's poor.' She added: 'It limits girls' school attendance and exacerbates maternal mortality. Yet today about 900 million people still rely on unimproved drinking-water supplies, and 2.5 billion people remain without improved sanitation facilities. And this mismatch between supply and demand is set to get worse unless we take urgent action; water demand is growing at twice the rate of the global population.'