Making Every Drop Count

By 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world’s population could be living under water stress conditions, FAO said today. Water use has grown at more than twice the rate of population increase over the last century, making sustainable, efficient and equitable management of scarce water resources a key challenge for the future, according to FAO's Pasquale Steduto, current Chair of the United Nations coordination mechanism, UN-Water. Coping with water scarcity This year, FAO is also the coordinating agency within the UN system for World Water Day, which is observed every year on 22 March. This year’s theme, “Coping with Water Scarcity”, highlights the need for increased cooperation at international and local levels to protect global water resources. Coping with water scarcity requires addressing a range of issues, from protection of the environment and global warming to equitable distribution of water for irrigation, industry and household use. Even people in areas with plenty of freshwater experience water scarcity when they are unable to gain access to enough water for their basic needs. Worldwide, 1.1 billion people do not have access to adequate clean water to meet their basic daily needs and 2.6 billion do not have proper sanitation.