UNEP Report Highlights Climate Change’s Threat to Water Sources
6 February 2009: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Asian Institute of Technology have produced a report titled “Freshwater Under Threat: South Asia,” which highlights, inter alia, the threat climate change poses to the freshwater supply of hundreds of millions of people.
It forecasts that, given the dependence on receding Himalayan glaciers, climate change is likely to eventually lead to severe water shortages in all of South Asia's water basins, and calls for urgent policy attention. Speaking about the report, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner called for the sustainable management of South Asia's river systems and noted their importance for economic progress. [UNEP Press Release] [The Report]