30 March 2015 \u2013 The international community must gear up for a new era of \u201chydro-diplomacy\u201d as the threat of water scarcity risks plunging the world into a period of geopolitical tension and stunted development, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told delegates gathered at the General Assembly today.<\/p>\n
\u201cWater is one of the highest priorities for development and lives in dignity, as well as a serious factor in maintaining peace and security,\u201d the Deputy Secretary-General said in remarks to open the High-Level Interactive Dialogue on the International Decade for Action \u2018Water for Life,\u2019 2005-2015<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe lack of water causes individual tragedies,\u201d he continued. \u201cAnd it also, growingly, constitutes a threat to international peace and security. There is a need for \u2018hydro-diplomacy\u2019 \u2013 making scarce water a reason for cooperation, rather than a reason for conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Eliasson warned that in a period of \u201cintensifying disasters, both man-made and natural,\u201d social and economic stresses related to water supply would increasingly flare up, spawning tensions between communities and nations.<\/p>\n The dire straits facing the world\u2019s water situation was recently amplified in the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ\u2019s 2015 World Water Development report<\/a>, released by the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵESCO) <\/a>and in time for last week\u2019s World Water Day<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to the report, the planet will face a 40 per cent shortfall in water supply in 2030 unless the international community \u201cdramatically\u201d improves water supply management. Demand for water is slated to skyrocket 55 per cent by 2050 while 20 per cent of global groundwater is already overexploited.<\/p>\n As such, the Deputy Secretary-General called for greater international cooperation based on the growing communal urgency and need for water around the world.<\/p>\n \u201cShared water sources have historically brought countries closer together. Instead of seeing water-sharing as a problem, we have to treat it as a potential solution, with the help of innovative and dynamic hydro-diplomacy,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Mr. Eliasson\u2019s remarks come as Member States prepare to roll out a post-2015 development agenda that will focus on sustainability and which may also touch upon issues of issues of water governance and quality to wastewater management and the prevention of natural disasters.<\/p>\n Water consumption, the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ has noted, also directly affects quality of life for millions of people around the world in developing and least developed countries.<\/p>\n On average, nearly 1,000 children die every day from diarrhoeal disease linked to unsafe drinking water, poor sanitation, or poor hygiene. In three countries in particular \u2013 the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique and Papua New Guinea \u2013 more than half the population does not have improved drinking water.<\/p>\n \u201cThe impact of water on human health as well as economic well-being is better understood than a decade ago, including water\u2019s critical importance for households, industries, agriculture, cities, energy production and transportation,\u201d President of the General Assembly, Sam Kutesa, stated in a message to the meeting delivered by the Permanent Representative of Iceland to the United Nations, Einar Gunnarsson.<\/p>\n