Status of the world water crisis

Q: Please send me some material on world water: what is the status of world water, how to prevent water stress, what can be done to prevent water loss, and what strategies should developing countries have to cope up with water crisis? (Professional, Social Services, Karachi, Pakistan)

Answer: A good start for information on the global water crisis is the Human Development Report 2006 which focuses on water scarcity this year. It´s title is Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis. Read the article in Source Bulletin (10 Nov 2006) for information and recommendations, http://www.irc.nl/page/31625 Or download the full report at the UNDP web site: http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/

Secondly, in Source Weekly, 18 Sep 2006, there was an article called Water crisis: global action required, say two new studies. Read the article in Source Weekly: http://www.irc.nl/page/30900 or download the studies below.

[1] Dickie, P. (2006). Rich countries, poor water. Zeist, The Netherlands, WWF Global Freshwater Programme. PDF file [2.56 MB] http://assets.panda.org/downloads/richcountriespoorwater.pdf

[2] IWMI (2006). Insights from the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture. PDF file [2.5 MB] http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/assessment/files_new/publications/Discussion%20Paper/Insights%20Book_Stockholm2006.pdf