A new United Nations report calls for a shift away from human-made water infrastructure and towards nature-based irrigation solutions in order to avoid widespread water shortages around the world by 2050.
The UN’s annual report on the state of the world’s water found that five billion people could be affected by a lack of potable water within the next three decades—about half of the expected world population by that time—due to climate crisis, polluted supplies, and increased demand brought on by a rise in population.
About 70 percent of the 4,600 cubic kilometers (over 1,100 cubic miles) of water consumed annually, is used for agriculture. The rate of water use grows by one percent every year.
“For too long, the world has turned first to human-built, or ‘gray’, infrastructure to improve water management,” wrote Gilbert Houngbo, the chair of UN Water, in the report. “In doing so, it has often brushed aside traditional and indigenous knowledge that embraces greener approaches. In the face of accelerated consumption, increasing environmental degradation, and the multi-faceted impacts of climate change, we clearly need new ways to manage competing demands on our freshwater resources.”
The report shares examples of nature-based solutions that have had positive impacts on the local level in countries including India and Jordan.
In Rajasthan, India, after logging and low levels of rainfall led to severe drought, a non-governmental organization supported communities in the restoration of their water sources:
Activities centered on the construction of small-scale water harvesting structures combined with the regeneration of forests and soils, particularly in upper catchments, to help improve the recharge of groundwater resources.