Pakistan in ‘serious water insecurity’ category: UN report | World News

A report published by the United Nations Institute for Water, Environment and Health placed Pakistan and 22 other countries in the category of “serious water insecurity”, Dawn newspaper reported.

The United Nations University released its Global Assessment of Water Security 2023 on Thursday, which found that 33 countries from three different geographic regions had high levels of water security. However, there are also countries with low levels of water security in all regions.

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In a press release announcing the report, it noted that a recent assessment of the world’s water resources by UN water experts showed that access to managed drinking water and sanitation “remains a pipe dream for more than half of the world’s population” and more than 70 percent, That is, 5.5 billion people lack access to safe drinking water, with Africa having the lowest access rate, accounting for only 15% of the region’s population. “

“Three-quarters of people now live in countries with unsafe water. Lack of safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services kills more people than water-related disasters,” the release said.

According to an English-language daily in Pakistan, experts have found that most of the world’s population currently lives in countries with insecure water resources, such as Solomon Islands, Eritrea, Sudan, Ethiopia, Vanuatu, Afghanistan, Djibouti, Haiti, Papua New Guinea, Somalia, Liberia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Libya, Madagascar, South Sudan, Micronesia, Niger, Sierra Leone, Yemen, Chad, Comoros and Sri Lanka.

“This is a cause for significant concern, as water security is fundamental to development,” the release reads.

and other European countries such as Denmark, Luxembourg, Austria, Norway, Switzerland, Finland and Iceland, Ireland, France, Lithuania, Greece, Germany, United Kingdom, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Portugal, where the report ranks Sweden as the country with the highest water security rating.

It was noted that the only countries in the Americas that fit the water security category are Canada and the United States, while water security countries in the Asia-Pacific region include New Zealand, Cyprus, Australia, Japan, Israel, Kuwait, and Malaysia, according to Dawn.

The report’s findings show that “abundance of natural water resources does not necessarily ensure water security,” according to the press release.

“Many freshwater-rich countries in Africa, Asia-Pacific, and the Americas experience high rates of low economic value from WASH, despite potentially large economic losses from floods or droughts,” the release added.

The global assessment, conducted halfway through the Decade of Action on Water (2018-2028) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, provides a “multidimensional comparison” of the state of water security affecting 7.8 billion people in 186 countries, the report said Additional finds.

“The report presents some very alarming statistics, arguing that the world is far from achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #6 ‘clean water and sanitation for all,'” the release said.

According to the statement, the UN report examines water security in 10 areas to get a more “realistic picture of the state of water security around the world”: drinking water, sanitation, good health, water quality, water availability, water value, water governance, human security , economic security and stability of water resources.

According to the press release, “The results are worrying: 78 percent of the world’s population (6.1 billion people) currently lives in water-scarce countries.”

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According to the report, the lack of clean WASH services in Africa contributes to poor water security in the region. In 54 African countries, including 33 LDCs and 6 Small Island Developing States (SIDS), about 31% of the population (over 411 million) is said to be without access to a basic water supply.

The release added, “Only 15 percent have access to safely managed drinking water. In terms of sanitation services, 82 percent still do not have access to safely managed sanitation services.”

It then stated that the lack of safe WASH services kills more people globally than water-related disasters. “And, worryingly, the situation is not improving: 164 countries experienced an increase in WASH mortality in 2019 compared to WHO’s previous estimates in 2016.”

The press release also mentioned that comprehensive and accurate water quality assessments at the national level remain an obstacle.

The press release also states that “the level of household wastewater treatment assessed by WHO using household health statistics remains poor (below 30%) in most regions of Africa and Asia-Pacific and remains poor (below 50%) in most regions. South American countries, although all regions have exceptions,” Dawn reported.