Abu Dhabi faces acute water scarcity

An article on gulfnews highlights the situation facing the United Arab Emirates, and the wider world, regarding the availability of water:

Abu Dhabi is considered a “water-stressed” area as the emirate’s per capita availability of fresh, natural and renewable water resource is less than 100 cubic metres. The areas with less than 500 cubic metre availability of fresh water falls under this category, a conference in the capital heard on Tuesday.

If current trends continue, 1.8 billion people around the world will be living in water-scarce areas by 2025.
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The agriculture sector is one of the top-priority sectors to tackle water scarcity because agriculture is very sensitive and vulnerable to climate change. The sector accounts for about 80 per cent of the total global consumption of water and contributes to more than 90 per cent of the water footprint. As 80 per cent of agricultural areas around the world rely on rainwater, minor climate change will affect the sector and the state of global food security.

Dr Al Jaberi, who delivered the keynote speech on behalf of Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, secretary-general of the EAD, said water scarcity affects all continents and 40 per cent of humans on earth. By 2025, 1.8 billion will be living in water-scarce areas.

To read more about the changing world and what you can do to prepare, visit: www.greatwavesofchange.org