High and Dry: Climate Change, Water and the Economy, details a picture of what is likely to transpire if our water resources are not better managed on a global scale.
The report that came out today warns that unless better management is given to water resources, some countries could see a decline in their GDP by as much as six percent, spurring migration and planting the seeds of conflict, according to ABC News.
Taking into account the combined effects of a growing world population, rising incomes, increasing food prices and expanding cities, the demand for more water will continue to rise, even as it becomes more scarce.
The researchers say that economies in Africa’s central and Sahel regions, East Asia and the Middle East will be the ones most affected by a drop in their GDP, all due to water-related losses in agriculture, health, income and property as soon as 2050, says the International Business Times.
In a statement, Jim Yong Kim, the World Bank’s president said: “Water scarcity is a major threat to economic growth and stability around the world, and climate change is making the problem worse. If countries do not take action to better manage water resources, our analysis shows that some regions with large populations could be living with long periods of negative economic growth.”
The report also offers some probable solutions, such as advancing technologies to increase water supplies using waste-water recycling and desalination plants. The researchers also say the best method to increase water supplies is the use of dams. Water permits, giving the user the right to rent or sell his allocation is another idea.
There is a silver lining,” said the report’s author and a World Bank Lead Economist Richard Damania. “When governments respond to water shortages by boosting efficiency and allocating even 25 percent of water to more highly-valued uses, losses decline dramatically and for some regions may even vanish. Improved water stewardship pays high economic dividends.”
The World Bank report also notes that there will be a lot of variation across regions, and sadly, the major impacts talked about in this report are going to be felt in warmer, drier, and less developed countries.
The World Bank Report seems to be in line with the Digital Journal article published on Tuesday detailing the findings of a new study compiled by the Max Planck Institute that found that parts of the Middle East and North Africa, home to 500 million people, could become uninhabitable by the middle of this century.
