Experts warn global water shortages could shrink GDPs worldwide: 'Every community is going to be affected'

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A new report suggests global water shortages will levy a heavy price on economies worldwide.

Bloomberg noted that by 2050, high-income countries’ GDPs could decrease by 8% on average, while low-income countries’ GDP could fall by up to 15%, according to the Global Commission on the Economics of Water (GCEW) report.

What’s happening?

The GCEW report further sounds the alarm over the world’s worsening water crisis. The water conditions are deteriorating in regions that impact nearly 3 billion people and over half of the world’s food sources, per Bloomberg.

Areas with high population density, like Southern Europe and Northwestern China, are particularly at risk, but water shortages will reverberate everywhere.

“Every community is going to be affected,” said Singapore president and co-chair of the GCEW Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

The report cites deforestation, climate change, and “perverse” government subsidies as key contributing factors to the crisis.

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The “government subsidies” factor refers to scenarios such as when arid countries in South Asia and the Middle East funnel capital into water-guzzling crops like sugarcane and cotton.

The researchers say over $550 billion of “distorting” subsidies cause overuse of water in countries that desperately need it, Bloomberg noted.

Why are global water shortages important?

Global water shortages affect the bottom line of the global economy, which is concerning on its face.

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Even worse, though, are the consequences for the planet and humans if severe droughts become the norm worldwide.

A UN report showed that droughts caused the deaths of around 650,000 people from 1970 to 2019. Additionally, droughts combined with deforestation can prove devastating to ecosystems — in the Amazon, for example, vast acreages of land have been burned in forest fires.

All these factors can also reduce the quality of drinking water, and a lack of access to clean water creates a major public health hazard.

What’s being done about the global water crisis?

There are many initiatives in play to try to address the global water crisis.

One tactic is reforestation, with governments and companies planting more trees.

Rethinking the price of water could also play a key role.

“Every country should move towards realistic pricing that takes into account local water scarcity,” Shanmugaratnam said while acknowledging the world is “not anywhere near ready” for a global water price, per Bloomberg.

Innovative water harvesting techniques are another potential solution, as scientists in China believe they can help pull water out of the atmosphere, even in dry conditions. Water recycling is another tactic some communities are pursuing to maximize what they have.

Combating the changing climate is a major effort as well, with moves to clean energy like wind and solar aiding the end of reliance on dirty fuels that contribute to the water crisis.

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