water scarcity

Climate change and population growth are creating increasing pressure on food and water — and to solve the need, innovative solutions will be required. The issue of water scarcity in the near future is an issue Australia’s aid program is attempting to solve today. [...] Scientists, engineers, academics, entrepreneurs and other creative minds are encouraged to compete as a team or individual.

Businesses have been warned that in order to thrive in a low-carbon future they must first "navigate a mosaic of global realities", that has seen water scarcity hit a variety of regions and threaten to destabilise infrastructure [...] that is the warning from the third annual Earth Security Index (ESI 2016) – released on behalf of the Earth Security Group - The report warns that businesses must align themselves to societal priorities in the countries that they operate as part of a new “business diplomacy for sustainable development”.

The United Nations estimates that people in sub-Saharan Africa spend roughly 40 billion hours per year collecting water, and what they do find is often unsafe to drink. In some parts of Africa, finding potable water can be a six-hour endeavor. Roughly 3.4 million people die every year from water-related disease. The water shortage is a major life-threatening problem that affects as many as 1 billion people on the continent alone, but it's not as though you can just snap your fingers and make water magically appear out of thin air. Or can you?