Water security

  

Water security is the capacity of a population to ensure that they continue to have access to potable water. 

A water secure world means ending fragmented responsibility for water and integrating water resources management across all sectors – finance, planning, agriculture, energy, tourism, industry, education and health. Besides, water security also means addressing environmental protection and the negative effects of poor management, which will become more challenging as climatic variability increases. A water secure world reduces poverty, advances education, and increases living standards.

  

  According to United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs,water scarcity already affects every continent. Around 1.2 billion people, or almost one-fifth of the world's population, live in areas of physical scarcity, and 500 million people are approaching this situation. Another 1.6 billion people, or almost one quarter of the world's population, face economic water shortage (where countries lack the necessary infrastructure to take water from rivers and aquifers). Around 700 million people in 43 countries suffer today from water scarcity. Sub-Saharan Africa has the largest number of water-stressed countries of any region.

  A water secure world is very important for a better future in which there is enough water for social and economic development and for ecosystems. A water secure world will integrate a concern for the intrinsic value of water together with its full range of uses for human survival and well-being. Moreover, a water secure world harnesses water's productive power and minimizes its destructive force. It is a world where every person has enough safe, affordable water to lead a clean, healthy and productive life. It is a world where communities are protected from floods, droughts, landslides, erosion and water-borne diseases.