22, Mar 2018 | CJP Team

A panel comprising 11 heads of state and a special advisor recently released a report on water action, which calls for major changes in the way water is managed so that the Sustainable Development Goal of ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation can be reached, UN News reported. The report notes that around 2.5 billion people, or around 365 of the global population, resides in water-scarce regions where over 20% of the world’s GDP is created. By the year 2050, more than half of the global population will be under threat because of “water stress,” along with half of the world’s total grain production. 700 million people may be displaced due to “intense water scarcity” by the year 2030. Currently, 2 billion people are forced to consume contaminated water, and 4.5 billion people “lack safely managed sanitation facilities.” The panel’s report, ‘Making Every Drop Count: An Agenda for Water Action’, which was released ahead of World Water Day on March 22, may be read in full here.