UN Water Conference: A third of people surveyed by global study suffer from freshwater shortage

Some 58 per cent of people from 31 countries are seriously concerned about freshwater shortages, whereas 30 per cent claim to be greatly impacted by them. These figures are part of a new global study published prior to the UN 2023 Water Conference.

The conference, to be held in New York City from March 22-24, 2023, is being eyed as a platform to raise awareness, define a roadmap and advance the water agenda.

The new research was carried out by GlobeScan and released by Circle of Blue and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on March 15. The researchers used data from almost 30,000 people from 31 countries to analyse attitudes to water shortages.

The 58 per cent of the population who raised serious concerns about access to water includes Mexicans, Colombians and Brazilians. At the same time, people in mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea did not consider freshwater shortages a “very serious” issue.

Strong concerns about freshwater shortages have increased over the past few years, from a low of 49 per cent in 2014 to 61 per cent in 2022. Fears about climate change have also increased from 45 per cent in 2014 to 65 per cent in 2022.

People in Argentina, South Korea, Vietnam, Colombia, Germany and Peru reported the largest increases in concerns about water shortages over the past few years.

Globally, people in urban areas (32 per cent) are more likely to be greatly affected by a lack of freshwater than those in rural (28 per cent) or towns and suburban areas (26 per cent).

The UN 2023 Water Conference starting on March 22, 2023, is going to be the first of its kind event in almost 50 years. The agenda of the conference will be to unite the world for water as it is an important part of the sustainable development agenda going forward.