According to the Global Water Security 2023 Assessment, which was published on Thursday by the UN University, 33 nations from three different geographic regions have high levels of water security. Even so, these zones also included nations with low levelwater security.
According to a news release announcing the findings, the most recent evaluation of the world’s water resources by United Nations water experts showed that access to regulated drinking water and sanitation was a major problem in many developing countries. “still a pipe dream for more than half of the global population, as more than 70 per cent, or 5.5 billion people, do not have safe water access, with Africa having the lowest levels of access, at only 15 per cent of the region’s population.”
The press release mentioned, “Three out of four people currently live in water-insecure countries. More people die from a lack of safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services than water-related disasters.”
The experts found that the majority of people on earth currently reside in water-insecure nations like the Solomon Islands, Eritrea, Sudan, Ethiopia, Vanuatu, Afghanistan, Djibouti, Haiti, Papua New Guinea, Somalia, Liberia, St. Kitts and Nevis, Libya, Madagascar, South Sudan, Micronesia, Niger, Sierra Leone, Yemen, Chad, Comoros, and Sri Lanka, according to an English-language daily from Pakistan.
The press release reads, “This is a cause for major concern because water security is fundamental to development.”
Sweden with highest level of water security
The report ranked Sweden as the nation with the highest level of water security, ahead of other European nations like Denmark, Luxembourg, Austria, Norway, Switzerland, Finland and Iceland, Ireland, France, Lithuania, Greece, Germany, the UK, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, and Portugal.
According to Dawn, the only countries in the Americas that met the criteria for the water-secure category were Canada and the United States, whereas the Asia Pacific region’s water-secure nations included New Zealand, Cyprus, Australia, Japan, Israel, Kuwait, and Malaysia.
According to the news release, the report’s findings showed that “abundant natural water availability was unable to provide water security.”
The press release added, “Many countries in Africa, the Asia-Pacific and the Americas with abundant freshwater resources has high rates of WASH-attributed low economic value despite potentially high economic losses due to floods or droughts.”
Water security affecting 7.8 billion people in 186 countries
According to the report’s additional findings, the global assessment, which was completed in the middle of the Water Action Decade (2018-2028) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, provided a “multidimensional comparison” of the state of water security affecting 7.8 billion people in 186 countries.
The press release stated, “The report provides some very alarming statistics, arguing that the world is far from achieving ‘clean water and sanitation for all’ known as sustainable development goal (SDG) number six.”
In order to provide a more “realistic understanding of the water security status around the world,” the UN report reportedly looked at water security in ten different contexts, including drinking water, sanitation, health, water quality, availability, and value, as well as human and economic safety and the stability of water resources.
According to the press release, “The results were worrying: 78 per cent of the world’s population (6.1 billion people) currently reside in nations with water scarcities.”
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