Climate Notes: The Closed Tap – Water Scarcity

Worldwide water scarcity and its proliferation is a recurring topic in the debate over climate change, intensified crop cultivation and potential water conflicts. As part of its International Decade for Action “Water for Life”, the United Nations (UN) also looks at other aspects related to the topic of water. Clean water was recently recognised by the UN as a human right. In Germany and Europe water scarcity was most recently an issue in the unusually dry summers of 2003 and 2006. Periods of drought are also a recurring problem in the USA, which proves what a scarce resource water is, even in developed countries. This article offers an overview of global fresh water reserves and of long-term changes in per capita water resources available.