Strategies Water is needed in all aspects of life. The general objective is to make certain that adequate supplies of water of good quality are maintained for the entire population of this planet, while preserving the hydrological, biological and chemical functions of ecosystems, adapting human activities within the capacity limits of nature and combating vectors of water-related diseases. At the Earth Summit the governments of the world agreed that water resources must be managed sustainably, with full recognition of their limits. Yet discussion of strategies to fulfill the pledge made in Rio has scarcely begun. Long-term solutions will also require them to confront the realities of population growth.
Water is a regional rather than a global resource.
A farmer in Jordan can take no comfort from the fact that the Amazon River, which carries some 15 percent of global runoff, remains largely untapped. But water scarcity is becoming a global issue. Few countries are so well-endowed with water or so thinly settled with people that they are completely immune to water quantity and quality problems. As such problems increase in scale and intensity, countries cannot isolate themselves entirely from the problems of water deprivation in other parts of the world. Escalating scarcity demands a sense of urgency that is still largely missing, as well as a combination of strategies at the international, national and local levels.