There are different goals that countries wish to accomplish but it takes a lot more work to try and complete them. This would push for partnership amongst countries and allow for better relations between them. There is the UN where there are 193 members and has been evolved over the years to keep pace with a rapidly changing world. The 17 Sustainable Goals is one of the ways that the UN contributes to aid the planet and people.
There are a few goals that are getting more people to contribute whether that is from home, work or at Unions as there are a lot more extreme weather changes which is impacting everyone. There is one sustainable goal that I wanted to point out which is the clean water and sanitation goal. Clean water and sanitation is key for humans to live and thrive. It is used for better health such as domestic use, drinking, cooking and crafts. This could then improve countries’ economic growth and reduce poverty. However, there could be more challenges to this goal now that there was a global crisis.
In recent years, there was more support toward poorer countries than ever by the UN. In 2020, 74% of the global population had access to decent water compared to 70% in 2015. Also, between 2015 – 2020, people who had access to safe sanitation increased from 47% to 54%. These figures are reassuring as they reveal that more people are getting their basic rights met even through there are still damages from the less amount of monitoring the water levels and usage. These could impact the quality of water and sanitation as more people are desperate to keep the damages low.
Furthermore, the quality of water could also impact animals and cause diseases that would potentially make the low developed countries to suffer more damages. Over 300 years, an estimate of over 85% of the planet’s wetlands have been destroyed mainly through drainage and land changes which can cause many species that depend on these wetlands to be under extinction danger. The remaining wetlands are still being threatened by pollutions, chemicals and invasive species.
Countries that are being impacted by water changes
Countries are now experiencing shortage of water or suffer flooding due to climate change. This could impact on our usage of water in the future. In the UK, we have more water resource loss in the South and South – Eastern areas. 3 billion litres of water are lost due to leakages which shows that UK water companies should find a more flexible way to support communities such as better management, development of new resources and support environmental objectives. Furthermore, the environmental agency has given drought permits and droughts orders but they also expect the water companies to continue with necessary actions to move the impact of drought by doing their drought plans.
In Germany, they are suffering from water shortages and have developed a new strategy which brings together agriculture and nature conservation, administration and transport, urban development and industry. This has brought all stakeholders on board and now they are working together to restore a semi-natural water regime and make the water sector resilient to climate changes. In Turkey, there would be a severe drought according to the Foreign Agriculture Service of the US Department of Agriculture. This could be due to the fact that rainfall totals up till February fell to the lowest levels in decades. Also, the lack of rain would impact the irrigation later for the crops. This has caused the government to act by planning a new action which would increase efficient use of water and curb the decline in water resources in underground dams. Around 150 dams will be built to prevent the evaporation of underground water.
How to show support
How can we help? We could donate money to trusted partners that have resources to give out water sources for both animals and humans. The Water Aid, Water Mission and Planet Water Foundation are great organisations to support. We could also learn more about our ecosystems from experts such as the Planet Earth series, Blue Planet and David Attenborough’s Natural Curiosities. The more we are willing to look at our planet's state and attempt to do something, the more we can see results. The UN is a platform where representers could give speeches and may give out extra tips or actions that the UN could to provide clean water and sanitation to poor communities. Furthermore, we could teach our children in schools how to check the quality of water and sources of water by giving them water packets which gives them something to try out with family and friends.