Climate Change: Water Scarcity ’ll Displace 700m By 2030 -Commissioner

With the current climate scenerio around the world, and reliable water supply sources pumping away through flood, droughts and natural disaster, it has been predicted that water scarcity would displace between 24million to 70million people by 2030.
This is even as three out of ten people in Nigeria do not have clean water close to them, thereby putting them under constant threat from waterborne diseases like Cholera and the likes.
Rivers State Commissioner for Water Resources and Rural Development, Prof. Kaniye Ebeku stated this while presenting his keynote address at the World Water Day celebration with the theme ‘Accelerating Change To Solve The Water And Sanitation Crisis’, in Portharcourt, last Wednesday.
Ebeku who noted that the climate was changing at an alarming rate explained that more frequent and extreme flooding was polluting fragile water sources and longer droughts drying up springs, stating that this has made it even harder for the world’s poorest people to get clean water.
According to him, the Sustainable Development Goal(SDG) No.6 as established by the UN General Assembly in 2015, was about ‘Clean Water and Sanitation for all’ with the sixth outcome targeting safe and affordable water.
The Commissioner said “findings from WHO and UN-Water’s Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water(GLAAS), report shows that acceleration is needed in many countries to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 -water and sanitation for all by 2030″.
With barely seven years left, Ebeku expressed fears that the more the climate changes with flooding, droughts and other natural disasters, the more challenging it becomes to hit the 2030 deadline.
“Dire consequences of climate change and extreme weather events bring more attention to the issues, underlining an urgent need for a whole-of society approach and global cooperation to act together”, Ebeku said.
While noting that the GLAAS 2022 report showed that countries making progress demonstrated high level of political commitment and investments in improving safe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) systems, Ebeku stressed the need for the Nigerian government to take a queue for the achievement of safe and affordable water for it’s citizens.
He further called on the government and stakeholders to scale up support for WASH service delivery through strengthened governance, financing, monitoring, regulation and capacity development.

By: Lady Godknows Ogbulu