The island nations in the Pacific lack serious freshwater

On April 24, in the Thai capital of Bangkok, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) published a study showing that climate change has further aggravated the already stressful water problem of Pacific island countries.

>>>Warning the risk of Earth lacking serious water

The director of UNEP's Asia-Pacific Regional Office, Park Young-Woo, highlighted the challenge of fresh water resources that the region is facing.

Pacific island countries are not only limited to human resources, finance and management but also limited in water resources.

The urgent need for the region is to increase the efficiency of water use to meet the essential needs of people and promote sustainable development.

Papua New Guinea

Agricultural production that relies almost entirely on rainwater has placed the economies and lives of islanders before many hazards.

Nearly 10% of deaths among children under 5 years of age in these island countries originate from water-related causes and the remaining 90% are due to unsanitary causes.

The UNEP study states that many Pacific island countries cannot fulfill the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for providing clean water and basic sanitation conditions by 2015.

As in Fiji and Papua New Guinea, access to clean water is only 40% and 47%, equivalent to 50% of the global average, and these two island nations cannot implement MDGs on improving access to resources. Clean water.

Pacific island nations are also facing the greatest ecological stresses with many islands with 85-90% of the area without vegetation and virtually no capacity to treat wastewater from urban areas. The market makes saltwater sources seriously polluted.

UNEP's study emphasizes water resource management to be one of the biggest challenges for Pacific island countries because water resources in these island nations are very vulnerable, especially governance and technical capabilities. The art is very limited due to the high migration rate of highly trained and skilled workers from these island nations.

This challenge requires Pacific island nations to promote innovation and offer appropriate solutions taking into account the complex socio-economic and geographical constraints of each island nation.