An alert about water scarcity in the world launched this week the Munciual Economic Forum, Wef. In the report, It was indicated that by 2030 the worldwide demand for water resource will exceed the sustainable supply by 40%. But without going so far, the Wef warned that this 2025 will be marked by a serious water crisis, with two thirds of the global population affected For water stress and 1.8 billion people facing absolute shortage of the resource.
A crisis that the World Economic Forum catalogs as aggravated since 2016. On the reasons for this problem, the report indicates that it is mainly due to the effects of climate change, the inefficient use of the resource, population growth and human activities that are destabilizing the hydrological cycle.
“This problem is undermining everything we want to achieve. If we do not solve this, the repercussions on food security for all and in GDP will be huge ”says Henk Ovink, executive director and founding commissioner of the World Water Economy.
Precisely, among the direct consequences given by scarcity is a decrease in food security. According to WEF, food systems are at risk especially because 55% of world foods are grown in areas with a decrease in water storage capacity.
As for what will be the areas that will most feel the impacts of water scarcity, Latin America will be one of them. The United Nations Development Program warns that the demand for water in the region will increase 43% by 2050, which is almost double the expected figure for any other region in the world. For this reason, a Watermark Study study conducted in 15 countries in the world, revealed thatLatin Mérica is the region with the greatest concern for the water situation in the world (90%), followed by China (88%) and the United States (80%).
“The theme“ Sustainability is no longer a trend, but an internal policy under which companies should work. The study showed that more than 60% of consumers are willing to pay between 1% and 4% more for sustainable products, And in Latin America 65% of respondents have stopped buying a product for the amount of water it requires in its elaboration, ”said Luis Felipe Carrillo, Senior Vice President of Ecolab for Latin America.
Regarding possible actions to mitigate this crisis, the forum indicates in its report that The implementation of advanced technological solutions can significantly improve water control and management in all the production processes of companies.In addition to water -related infrastructure investments: US $ 6.7 billion by 2030, and US $ 22.6 billion at 2025.
