Center for Water Policy Director, Professor, and Lynde B. Uihlein Endowed Chair Melissa Scanlan was quoted in a Washington Post article examining a recent report from the United Nations University, the U.N.’s research arm, that finds climate change, pollution and decades of overuse have pushed the world into a state of “water bankruptcy,” a state they define as a long-term condition that requires a global reset in approaches.
Fresh water is a finite resource with inputs and outputs that make up a global water budget. People worldwide are starting to experience the impacts of overspending that budget. “The global scope of the report is useful in showing repeat patterns,” Scanlan said. “It’s not just the Southern Hemisphere, it’s not just the Middle East. There is something larger at play in terms of how we’re treating water across the world.” Professor Scanlan’s water law and policy research has included analysis of water budget issues closer to home, highlighting how climate change and population pressures have intensified water management challenges in the relatively water-rich North American Great Lakes.
Read the full article from the Washington Post: The world has entered a new era of ‘water bankruptcy,’ U.N. report says. Read the UN report.
And read the Center’s law review article on climate change and population pressures intensifying water management challenges.