By Jamphel Shonu, Global Order – 14 April 2022
Amidst all the talk of tech and the AI (artificial intelligence) taking over the world, there is a growing uncertainty about how the future world might look like. Speculation is rife with predictions that the country with the most advanced technology would rule the world. There is no denying that it could come true, but in the midst of all this discussion, it could feel like the basic elements that make the earth ‘earth’ are overlooked. Water, for instance.
Despite the earth being composed of more than three-fourth water, only two percent of it is freshwater. To make matters worse, with the help of medical development, the global human population is increasing at an alarming rate with the extension of average human lifespan and reduction in deaths caused by illnesses. From its current population of seven billion, the earth’s human population is expected to reach 10 billion by 2050 and 11.2 billion by 2100 making the shortage of freshwater even more acute.
Already, several of the world’s largest cities are grappling with a severe shortage of water. From Cape Town in South Africa to Cairo in Egypt, from Beijing in China to Bangalore in India, a combined total of one billion people lack access to freshwater and another 2.7 billion find it scarce for at least one month of the year. A 2014 survey of the world’s 500 largest cities estimate that one in four cities are in a situation of water stress.