As the UN meets, make water central to climate action
This week in New York City, the United Nations is holding its second global Water Conference — after a gap of 46 years. At the first meeting in 1977, climate change was not even on the agenda. Today, there is stark evidence that the world is warming and that greenhouse gases from fossil fuels are to blame. At the same time, the global water cycle has been wrecked by decades of mismanagement and intensified by climate change. As a result, 1.5 billion to 2.5 billion people live in areas where water is scarce for at least part of the year — and those numbers could double by 2050. Strategies for governing water and addressing climate change in tandem must be higher on the political agenda.