World Water Day
March 22, 2018
World Water Day is an annual observance day on 22 March to highlight the importance of freshwater. It also advocates the sustainable management of freshwater resources. UN Water selects a different theme every year. This year’s theme – Nature for Water – explores how we can use nature (Nature Based Solutions) to overcome the water challenges of the 21st century. The campaign is called ‘The answer is in nature’ and raises awareness of NBS. The central message is that NBS, such as planting trees to replenish forests, reconnecting rivers to floodplains, and restoring wetlands, is a sustainable and cost-effective way to help rebalance the water cycle, mitigate the effects of climate change and improve human health and livelihoods.
Water demand:
• 2.1 billion People lack access to safely managed drinking water services.
• By 2050, the world’s population will have grown by an estimated 2 billion people and global water demand could be up to 30% higher than today.
Water availability:
• Today, around 1.9 billion people live in potentially severely water-scarce areas. By 2050, this could increase to around 3 billion people.
Water quality:
• An estimated 1.8 billion people use an unimproved source of drinking water with no protection against contamination from human feces.
• Over 80% of the wastewater generated by society flows back into the environment without being treated or reused globally.
WHAT ARE NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS (NBS)?
• Water availability and supply: Water storage via natural wetlands, soil moisture and/or groundwater recharging can be more sustainable and cost-effective than grey infrastructure, such as dams.
• Water quality: Pollution from agriculture can be drastically reduced by NBS such as conservation agriculture, which protects soil from erosion, or riparian buffers, strips of land along water courses planted with native trees and shrubs.
• Risk management: The effects of climate change, such as frequent extreme flooding, can be mitigated by a range of NBS, such as riparian buffers or connecting rivers to floodplains.
Conserve water: be a part of a change.
Source: Source: www.en.wikipedia.org / www.worldwaterday.org
