For example, in Australia, water consumption declined by 40% between 20 while the economy grew by more than 30%. Some countries have already proven that decoupling water use from economic growth is possible. Scarcity can be expected to intensify with most forms of economic development, but, if correctly identified, many of its causes can be predicted, avoided or mitigated. Scarcity varies over time as a result of natural hydrological variability, but varies even more so as a function of prevailing economic policy, planning and management approaches. All causes of water scarcity are related to human interference with the water cycle. At the global level and on an annual basis, enough freshwater is available to meet such demand, but spatial and temporal variations of water demand and availability are large, leading to (physical) water scarcity in several parts of the world during specific times of the year. Climate change, such as altered weather-patterns (including droughts or floods), deforestation, increased pollution, green house gases, and wasteful use of water can cause insufficient supply. The increasing world population, improving living standards, changing consumption patterns, and expansion of irrigated agriculture are the main driving forces for the rising global demand for water. The essence of global water scarcity is the geographic and temporal mismatch between freshwater demand and availability. Demand is expected to outstrip supply by 40% in 2030, if current trends continue. However, due to unequal distribution (exacerbated by climate change) resulting in some very wet and some very dry geographic locations, plus a sharp rise in global freshwater demand in recent decades driven by industry, humanity is facing a water crisis. Technically, there is a sufficient amount of freshwater on a global scale. Of the remaining water, 97% is saline and a little less than 3% is hard to access. Ī mere 0.014% of all water on Earth is both fresh and easily accessible. Half of the world’s largest cities experience water scarcity. Half a billion people in the world face severe water scarcity all year round. One-third of the global population (2 billion people) live under conditions of severe water scarcity at least 1 month of the year. It is manifested by partial or no satisfaction of expressed demand, economic competition for water quantity or quality, disputes between users, irreversible depletion of groundwater, and negative impacts on the environment. It affects every continent and was listed in 2019 by the World Economic Forum as one of the largest global risks in terms of potential impact over the next decade. Water scarcity is the lack of fresh water resources to meet water demand. Global physical and economic water scarcity
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