Water & climate change

Water sources facing climate change impacts

Climate change has been causing great impacts on natural resources, natural environment and socio-economic activities of nations worldwide, affecting men’s life quality. Water resource have soon suffered from the impacts. In 2019, we experienced extreme weather events in the world: cyclone Idai in Mozambique; typhoon Hagibis in Japan’ lethal heat waves in places as in India, Holland, and France; epic heat in Europe; forest fire in California; flood in Venice (Italia) and many other natural disasters. At the beginning of the year, the whole world were totally shocked by the most terrible forest fire in Australia. According to many experts, the main reason: climate change.

According to USAID (United States Agency of International Development), there are over 785m people globally having no safe-drinking water service. In areas around Sahara Desert, Africa, 30% - 50% of rural water supply system stopped operating after having been built for 5 years…

Populated countries as China, India and poor ones a Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nigeria are facing serious water shortage. Women and children have to spend hours daily seeking for water and bringing it home. It is not very difficult to find skinny black Indian boys and girls with plastic bottles travelling for dozen miles with villagers for water instead of being at school or playing or. Kenyans clustering a well. It is obvious that fresh water is limited and with climate change impacts it is getting less and less.

In Vietnam, climate change has had direct and serious impacts to water resource. Debility of water sources in river system and downstream of lakes is getting serious. Soil degradation is getting serious due to climate change: rising sea level, desertification in Southern Central provinces and flood, drought and saline instruction in the Mekong Delta, causing serious impacts to socio-economic developments.

Besides, increasing activities of industrial production and agriculture resulted in the fact that waste water has not been well-treated, causing pollution to rivers, streams, water storage layers and water resources.

Responding to the world water day

The World Water Day (March 22nd) 2020 with the theme “Water and Climate Change” emphasizes the important of water resource and solutions of water resource sustainable management to minimize climate change impacts. The focus on the theme also improve community’s awareness of the changes of atmospheric conditions and oceans that reshape the global meteorology.

Global population increases lead to higher demand of water. Therefore, the resource is running out and environment pollution is everywhere. Solutions of protecting water resources, protection of wetlands, intelligent agricultural productions and reuse of safe waste water to deal with climate change are things that the World Water Day aims at.

In Vietnam, to safeguard water resource, there should be good implementation of water resource management at any levels, of protecting and recovering ecology systems related to water (mountains, forests, swamps, rivers, underground layers and lakes). International cooperation should be carried on in fields related to water and sanitation including collecting water, desalting, waste water treatment; and assisting and improving community’s participation in water management and environmental sanitation…

In current situation, increasing population means higher demand for fresh water and continuously reducing water resource. Water shortage in many places worldwide cannot be immediately solved. Nations and international community should have more efforts to improve water resources in accordance to targets of sustainable developments. And each of us has to change our habit and has the most efficient way of using water. For later time, when we get old, future generation still have fresh water to use.