South Asia is where the most children in the world suffer from water scarcity. In total there are 347 million, as an analysis by the UN children’s fund Unicef shows. More than a quarter of all children lived in the world’s most populous region. At the same time, only four percent of the world’s water exists there, it said.
“Safe water is a basic human right, but millions of children in South Asia do not have enough to drink in a region plagued by floods, drought and other extreme weather events increasingly triggered by climate change,” said UNICEF, which is responsible for the region -Chief, Sanjay Wijesekera.
Ahead of the UN climate conference in Dubai at the end of the month, Unicef is calling on the international community to take steps to ensure a livable planet for children. Water scarcity affects the well-being and growth of children, creates food insecurity, malnutrition and diseases such as diarrhea. Water shortages also affect agriculture, industry and economic growth. And when farming families are doing poorly, children are more likely to be forced into child labor, it was said.
But there is also positive news: According to Unicef forecasts, access to drinking water in South Asia is likely to continue to improve rapidly in the coming years.
