Opinion: The climate crisis is a water crisis

Around the world, we’re increasingly seeing clear evidence that our climate is changing at an alarming rate. This year alone, we’ve already witnessed floods in Europe and China, drought in Madagascar, forest fires in the US and an earthquake in Haiti, to name but a few.

There can be no doubt that we’re in the midst of a global climate emergency, but while we’re all in the same storm, we are not in the same boat. People in the world’s poorest countries are bearing the brunt of climate change, with a lack of clean water and decent sanitation making their suffering unimaginably worse.

The climate crisis is a water crisis. One in ten people have no clean water close to home, compromising their health, education and livelihoods, and now they are facing an increasingly uncertain future because of climate change. Every day, fragile water supplies are at even greater risk of disappearing completely as droughts dry up sources and floods contaminate them, threatening the lives of people living in poverty.

I joined WaterAid in London on the banks of the Thames where the international charity unveiled four striking ice sculptures featuring people from around the world collecting water from unreliable and unsafe sources. The beautiful statues represented the serious message that our water is fragile  and we need to protect it. As the ice began to melt, it highlighted the need for urgency and the consequences of global complacency.

François, 31, from Burkina Faso, was one of the people whose story was brought to life through the ice. The wells in his village have started drying up because of rising temperatures and he has to juggle with the little water he has, or “simply give up certain needs due to lack of water”.