Freshwater @ UNEP

An information portal operated by the UN Environmental Programme, concerning fresh water and water resources.

About one-third of the world's population lives in countries with moderate to high water stress. The problems are most acute in Africa and West Asia but lack of water is already a major constraint to industrial and socio-economic growth in many other areas, including China, India and Indonesia. If present consumption patterns continue, two out of every three persons on Earth will live in water-stressed conditions by the year 2025. The declining state of the world's freshwater resources, in terms of quantity and quality, may prove to be the dominant issue on the environment and development agenda of the coming century.