U.N. Urges Wealthy Nations to Confront Water Shortages
The United Nations has warned that water shortages, floods and hurricanes are equal opportunity disasters.
The growing shortage of water – a perennial problem in the world’s poorer nations – is expected to impact the rich nations in the Western world as climate change impacts ripple across the globe.
The United States, Spain, Australia and the Netherlands in particular are likely to face the consequences of climate change resulting in water-related disasters, including droughts, floods, hurricanes and sea-level rise.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, citing official U.S. figures, said the state of California, the world’s fifth largest economy, “could see prime farmland reduced to a dustbowl, and major cities running out of water by the end of the century.”
Blaming it on the negative impact of global warming, he said that climate is changing – globally – and that many nations and regions must prepare.