Global water resource crisis and ecosystem destruction Early 2000s

Global water resource crisis and ecosystem destruction Early 2000s

In the early 2000s, the international community regarded the securing of water resources as one of the most important issues common to all humankind. Excessive consumption of groundwater due to population growth, urbanization, and industrial expansion caused land subsidence in India, China, Mexico, and other countries, resulting in serious damage to agricultural and urban infrastructure. In arid regions, salt damage caused by unplanned irrigation has deprived farmlands of their productive capacity, leading to environmental destruction and destabilization of the livelihood infrastructure.

In the 1980s, the OECD called for the need to improve water use efficiency, but no concrete international framework was put in place, and the problem worsened in the 2000s. MDGs.

Factors contributing to the situation were the combined effects of changes in precipitation patterns and frequent droughts due to global warming, the decline in water source recharge functions due to deforestation, and water pollution from industrial and domestic wastewater. These factors were accompanied by ecosystem destruction, which accelerated water shortages and at the same time caused the loss of wetlands and river crossings, which in turn dealt a heavy blow to biodiversity and agricultural and fishery resources. As a result, they were also triggering social unrest and regional conflicts.

The "water crisis" theory of the time was not merely a lack of resources, but showed that environmental destruction and the sustainability of human society were inextricably linked. It was during this period that the need for a comprehensive approach combining international cooperation, forest conservation, and global warming countermeasures finally began to be shared worldwide.