Water, scarce and poorly distributed: and there is a close link with food shortages, while countries experiencing high levels of crisis do not receive investments

ROMA – The struggle of a part of the contemporary world against “giants” such as inequality, injustice, fear, ignorance, finds its culmination on the theme of water. An absolute good that globally sees 3.2 billion people affected by its scarcity; 1.2 billion in an extreme way. This is an increasingly scarce and precious resource: it is sufficient to remember that 97.5% of the water on our planet is salty and the remaining part, 2/3, is ice. But the water is also distributed in a dramatically unequal way. And this does not just depend on the climate, it also has a lot to do with the degree of poverty in the various countries, which increasingly do not have the resources and equipment to supply themselves with water or to purify it.

It is an emergency in which very little is invested. Only 36 percent of requests for funds for water supplies and sanitation services were satisfied in 2023: this is the figure that emerges from the report “Water Funding Gap” Of Action against Hunger, which analyzes the availability of drinking water in the world. 64 percent of funding appeals went unheeded. Aid is decreasing, but the need for assistance is growing: 3.6 billion people around the world do not have adequate sanitation services and are vulnerable to diseases transmitted by contaminated water and are, therefore, even more exposed to serious problems like malnutrition.

The pressing role of the climate crisis. The report, published today, on the occasion of the World Water Dayexamines data from countries with the most urgent needs and which are seeking financial support to support water, sanitation and hygiene programmes, the so-called WASH, through the United Nations system. “The climate crisis is increasing drought levels and floods, making safe, clean water even more scarce for millions of people around the world. This report highlights that urgent action is needed,” explains Charles Owubah, CEO of Action against Hunger. The dossier highlights that the global community must quadruple its efforts on water and sanitation programs if the United Nations’ Sixth Sustainable Development Goal is to be achieved by 2030.

Water and cholera. The unavailability of clean water is the cause of a number of diseases such as cholera, which is increasing in many parts of the world, with a new case every 45 seconds and more than four thousand deaths reported in 2023. Cholera is an infection caused by bacterium Vibrio choleraeeasy to contract if you come into contact with sources of dirty and contaminated water, or when you live in overcrowded and unhygienic conditions such as refugee camps.

The disease of iniquity. “It is the disease of inequity. While it is preventable and treatable, it brings death to families facing poverty and hunger,” says Tobias Stillman, director of technical services at Action against hunger. “Without urgent humanitarian intervention, the death toll will continue to rise among the most vulnerable.” Access to healthcare is a major challenge to survive in a place where cholera thrives.

The countries most affected by cholera. Among the countries that are seeing an increase in this disease are:

Haitiwhich is also the poorest place in the Western Hemisphere;

he Sudanwhich is experiencing unprecedented levels of violence and hunger;

Syriawhich after twelve years of conflict has a collapsed economic system, destroyed infrastructure and very high hunger rates.

The exam on 33 Nations. The report Water Funding Gap examines water-related funding requests in 33 countries: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya , Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela and Yemen.

The financing. The analysis reveals that fulfillment of water-related financing requests varies from a low of 0.7 percent in El Salvador to a high of 212.5 percent in Libya, whose appeal for water dates back to severe flooding that damaged sanitation infrastructure in the fall of 2023. However, an additional $1.9 billion would be needed to fully meet all reported utility needs in 2023 WASH. The report considered both overall funding levels for sanitation programs in 2023, as well as funding for countries experiencing critical levels of hunger in 2022.

The profound connection between water and hunger. And despite the profound link between water and hunger, no requests for water-related funds for 2023 have been fully granted in the 17 countries whose hunger rates had already been identified as a “crisis” based on rankings drawn up with monitoring of the integrated food safety. This means that greater hunger does not translate into greater funding for water, even though the two problems are closely linked.