Climate Change, Combating Desertification and Drought, Editors’ Choice, Environment, Featured, Food & Agriculture, Headlines, Humanitarian Emergencies, IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse, Middle East & North Africa, Population, Poverty & SDGs, Projects, TerraViva United Nations, Water & Sanitation This story is part of special IPS coverage of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, observed on June 17.
This quick conclusion does not come out of the blue–the MENA region, which is home to around 400 million people, is one of the world’s most impacted areas by drought and fast advancing desertification.
What Desertification Is All About?
Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas.
“These people include many of the world‘s poorest, most marginalized and politically weak citizens.” The World Day to Combat Desertification is a unique moment to remind everyone that land degradation neutrality (LDN) is achievable through problem solving, strong community involvement and co-operation at all levels,” according to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
“Environmental degradation, political instability, food insecurity and poverty are causes of migration and development challenges.” In fact, the Bonn-based UNCCD secretariat timely reminds that in just 15 years, the number of international migrants worldwide has risen from 173 million in 2000 to 244 million in 2015.
By 2025, 1.8 billion people will experience absolute water scarcity, and two thirds of the world will be living under water-stressed conditions.
Meanwhile, UNCCD reports that the demand for water is expected to increase by 50 per cent by the year 2050.
“Drought and water scarcity are considered to be the most far-reaching of all natural disasters, causing short and long-term economic and ecological losses as well as significant secondary and tertiary impacts.” Ten Times Less Available Fresh Water Per capita availability of fresh water in the region is now 10 times less than the world average, the United Nations has recently warned.
The UN Convention to Combat Desertification Established in 1994, UNCCD is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management.

Greenpeace New Delhi, Jun 13 The use of sewage water to meet cooling needs of coal-based power plants will not resolve the conflict over water between thermal projects, farmers and urban communities, a Greenpeace India report said today.
In 2016, the government had made mandatory the utilisation of treated wastewater for coal power plants located within 50 km of a sewage treatment facility.
"Switching from fresh water to sewage will not reduce the impact of coal power plants on water scarcity in the country," the report, titled ‘Pipe Dreams’, said.
The report said that another solution is timely adoption of the water consumption target set for power plants by the environment ministry in its notification, dated December 7, 2015.
It recommended that all permits for new coal plants must be halted, as they are in any event not required at least till 2027, per the Central Electricity Authority’s draft National Electricity Plan.
The treated sewage policy was meant to tackle this problem, but GIS-based analysis shows that less than eight per cent (18 GW) of the country’s coal plants can actually utilise treated sewage water, about 87 per cent (200 GW) of the plants have no access to treated sewage water at all, making the efficacy of the policy questionable.
"Speedy adoption of the new water consumption targets will also help alleviate the crisis," said Jai Krishna, Greenpeace researcher and the author of the report.
The report also found that those power plants that are able to use treated sewage could see a 300-600 per cent increase in water costs, apart from hundreds of crores in capital investments for treatment facilities.
The resulting costs will be included in the tariff, increasing the burden on distribution companies and consumers, the report said.
Coal power plants require as much as 3.5 litres of water for each unit of power generated and the 230 GW of coal power plants included in this analysis would need about 19 billion litres of water each day for their operations.

Carlsberg set to achieve zero carbon emissions at breweries.
Following champion of the environment Emmanuel Macron’s advice to ‘make our planet great again’, beer giant Carlsberg has committed to eliminating carbon emissions and halving water usage at its breweries by 2030.
Part of its new sustainability programme, ‘Together Towards Zero’, the step includes the exclusive use of renewable electricity at its breweries by 2022.
Developed in partnership with global experts using a science-based approach, the Together Towards Zero programme is aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals, setting out to deliver emissions reductions beyond those set out in the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Working with experts from WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), the brand has identified breweries situated in areas with a high risk of water scarcity and developed targets to support the ambition.
New targets include halving brewery water usage by 203o and improving water management in high-risk areas around selected breweries.
Other targets include offering 100% distribution of alcohol-free beer by 2022 to expand consumer choice.
‘Global challenges such as climate change and water scarcity require strong collective action, and with Together Towards Zero we’re setting new industry standards for science-based and partnership-driven sustainability as part of our Sail’22 strategy,’ said Cees ‘t Hart, CEO of the Carlsberg Group.
‘Carlsberg’s ambitions go above and beyond the levels of carbon reduction that science tells us are necessary to keep global warming below 2°C.
‘Carlsberg has taken a genuine leadership position on some of the most critical environmental issues the world currently faces, by developing an ambitious long-term business strategy that focuses on delivering a sustainable future.’

Symptoms if there is no Sufficient Water in Human Body – Symptoms of Dehydration: Water will reduce many problems in our body. Nothing will replace the value of water in our body. If you are drinking enough water, get ready to tackle the health issues. We have to know the problems that we are going to face if not consuming water. Water will carry many functions in our body like lubrication, moistening, detoxification, transportation of nutrients, cell functioning, maintaining the internal organs healthy etc. Drinking water early in the morning will benefit us more than taking it throughout the day, Signs of Dehydration More water will detoxify our body. The water from copper containers is good for health. We have to drink water before we feel thirsty. Once we feel thirsty it is the indication that our body is dehydrating. People has to consume eight glasses of water daily for making the body function normally. In summer we have to take more water. Here is the information regarding the symptoms if we are not drinking the enough quantity of water. Signs if We did not Drink Enough Water: Dry Mouth: The first sign if we did not consume enough water is the dry mouth. We will feel…

Complete water works till June end: Bawankule.
Staff Reporter, Chandrashekhar Bawankule, In-charge Minister for Nagpur district, asked the authorities concerned to complete the works like deepening of wells, repairs to water schemes etc till June end to tackle water scarcity.
Dr Ashish Deshmukh, MLA, was prominently present.
Bawankule further said that the officials should give momentum to the developmental works in Katol-Narkhed constituency and ensure that they are completed in the specified period.
The VIDP works of water conservation in Katol-Narkhed have been completed while the remaining works concerning water scarcity should be taken up in seven days.
Out of 127 sanctioned bore-well works in Katol tehsil 60 are completed while most of the works out of 49 under CM Peyjal Yojna are also completed.
The minister wanted that the remaining works should be finished at earliest possible.
Bawankule also asked the officials to finish the pending works in respect of electricity.
He pointed out that funds of Rs 40 crore have been given for electric supply and electricity works in Nagpur district.
The minister also wanted that solar system should be made available to farmers having less than ten acres of agriculture land.

A majority of the hamlets in all the village panchayats in the district have been provided with public water taps for supplying potable drinking water through different comprehensive drinking water schemes.
However, the irony is that water is not being supplied through these public taps even once a week, lament a cross section of the villagers.
While Pottammal, a daily wage earner of Ammapettai, says that she has to walk for a long distance for getting a pot of drinking water, Raja, running a brick kiln, says that he and other villagers have been purchasing water for both the kiln and drinking and other purposes.
“We are hiring tankers to procure water from Karipatti village situated about 10 km away,” says Raja.
A 2,000 litre tanks costs Rs.
500 and 1,000 litres Rs.
A cross section of the people of Vettaikaranur in Athanurpatti village panchayat, all daily wagers, complained that they were getting water for about 10 minutes once in a fortnight in the public taps.
What is more disturbing is that the people do not know when they will get water in public taps.
The residents of various villages surrounding Belur visit the town in two-wheelers to fetch drinking water.
This reservoir too has become totally dry, leading to ground water level going down alarmingly.

Karnataka bandh: Farm loan waiver, Mahadayi river dispute, drinking water crisis, lead to state wide shutdown.
Moreover, the outfits have been demanding for the exile of Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti activists from the state for their alleged ‘anti Kannada’ activities in Belagavi.
Visuals from Bengaluru: Pro-Kannada organisations call for statewide shutdown over Mahadayi river dispute & drinking water crisis #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/SH25hfHi5x — ANI (@ANI_news) June 12, 2017 According to Vatal Nagaraj, who heads Kannada Okoota, the bandh has been called in order to protest against Tamil Nadu’s opposition to the Mekedatu project across the river Cauvery apart from the proposal to privatise BEML.
However, state intelligence bureau believes the bandh to be a low-key affair.
ALSO READ: Southern states shut hotels, chemist shops to protest GST rates Schools will remain open Government schools and colleges are set to remain open on Monday, whereas some private ones have decided to declare a holiday keeping in mind students’ safety.
Some private schools have also appealed to the government to enhance security or aid schools in districts where violence is expected.
The fourth-semester postgraduate exams of Bengaluru University have been postponed.
The officials of BMRCL have said that the Namma metro will be operational.
The radio cab services will also be operational, say officials of Bangalore Tourist Taxi Operators’ Association.
Police inspectors have been asked to be on patrol duty on Monday.

A statewide bandh has been called in Kannada on Monday by two groups with a long list of demands, but many public services are expected to run as usual.
Buses run by the state, including KSRTC and BMTC, will continue to ply, as will taxis and the Bengaluru metro.
Most shops, businesses, schools and colleges will stay open, though some have declared holidays for precautionary reasons.
Petrol pumps will operate at their full capacity, even as the Bengaluru Petroleum Dealers’ Association has declared “moral support” to the protestors”.
Security has been stepped up around the state’s major cities.
They are expected to hold a protest march in Bengaluru’s Freedom Park.
Among their demands are farm loan waivers and water scarcity in the state’s driest areas.
They want Prime Minister Narendra Modi to resolve the dispute on the sharing of water from the Mahadayi river between Goa and Karnataka.
They have also raised concern about Tamil Nadu opposing the Mekedatu project on the Cauvery river and want Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti members sent out of Karnataka for “anti-Kannada activities”, The Indian Express reported.
Additionally, some traffic restrictions are expected to apply in Bengaluru as Vice President Hamid Ansari and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi arrive in the city for the official relaunch of the National Herald newspaper.

Chennai: Water shortage looms large in Greater Chennai.
Though the Chennai metro water claims to supply around 550 mld of drinking water to Chennai through various sources like desalination plants, borewells and quarries, piped water supply to parts of central and north Chennai has completely stopped since Friday.
Cutting across party lines elected MLAs of both AIADMK and DMK told DC that they were unable to visit the constituency and answer the public on acute shortage of water.
Local administration minister S. P. Velumani claims that the state is attending the Chennai water scarcity and the authorities claim that they supply close to 600 mld water but I doubt the water supply claim as complaints are pouring in, the MLA added.
Metro officials say that they are attending the short supply, but the issue is not addressed and I agree that it is a really a bad situation for the metro water authorities also" said Egmore MLA K. S. Ravichandran.
“We are hoping for the metro water to resume the water supply through pipelines at the earliest as water tankers reach public only once in three days.
When contacted a senior metro water official said as of now metro water is providing water every alternate day through pipelines.
According to Saidapet MLA Ma Subramanian metro water is positive in attending complaints but the state has failed to store adequate water and is not prepared to handle drought.
"Drinking water shortage issue is looming across Chennai and the steps taken by the local administration ministry is not satisfactory", added the former mayor.
Quarries will be used to collect rainwater and if required the water will be tapped in future also, the minister said adding that the state was taking all efforts to fight the drinking water shortage.

Shortage of drinking water.
There are millions of people all over the world who don’t have access to water, if they have access that water is unable to be used.
About 70% of Earth’s surface covered with water and 3% of it is actually fresh water that is for human consumption.
On the entire earth, water is the most important thing, but there is shortage of clean drinking water in Balochistan.
People have to walk for miles in search of water and one can imagine the endurance one has to face in the holy month of Ramadan.
According to the reports 62% of Balochistan is deprived of safe during water and more than 58% of its land is unculativable due to water scarcity.
It is hardly imaginable that why the people of Balochistan are left to suffer.
While the government is trying to build a world-class port but the city remains deprived of water and electricity.
We feel disappointed.
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