Thursday, December 11, 2008

Millions fear death as climate change depletes water resources

Tearfund.org: Unless major changes are made to water management strategies, climate change will threaten the lives of millions of people as soaring temperatures deplete water supplies. A new report: Separate Streams? Adapting water resources management to climate change, published by international aid agency Tearfund, reveals that national plans for managing water are failing to consider the impacts of climate change, resulting in devastating consequences for the world’s poorest people.

Today, around 700 million people face water scarcity, and the number of people living in severely water stressed regions is set to rise to 5 billion by 2050 unless significant changes are made to water management strategies.

The report, which includes research from the semi-arid areas of Niger and north-east Brazil, highlights that climate change adaptation must be integrated within water management policy to benefit the poorest and most vulnerable people.

Speaking at the UN climate talks in Poznan, Paul Cook, Tearfund’s director of advocacy said, 'The water sector underpins all other development sectors and must be prioritised for adaptation funding. We call on the international community to earmark at least $50 billion a year of new money to help developing countries adapt to climate change. Failure to secure this funding could lead to unprecedented levels of suffering and deaths.'….

The mysterious sliding rocks of Race Track Playa The level surface of this parched basin provides the backdrop for one of Death Valley's most intriguing geological puzzles, the mysterious sliding rocks of Racetrack Playa. Shot by Jim Gordon, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License

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