ISLAMABAD: Professor Kaveh Madani, Director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), has said transformative change, effective plan and smart use of technology can still pull the world back from a looming water crisis, but only if governments act now.
He was speaking in Pakistan TV’s show ‘Beyond Borders’ where he discussed the latest United Nations report on global water bankruptcy of which he is the lead author.
Madani said technology alone cannot solve the crisis.
“Without proper policies, technology would fail. Without technology, policies would not be sufficient to deal with the problems or to address the problems that the world in the 21st century is dealing with,” he said.
Professor Madani said the era of treating water stress as a temporary challenge is over, and called on governments to adopt decisive and coordinated solutions.
“It is better to admit to the failure rather than to live with the delusion,” he said, adding that it needs to be taken “seriously not only by the policymakers, but also by scientists and the media in communications with the general public”.
He said water scarcity is no longer a future risk but a present-day disruption already affecting food systems, trade networks and national stability across regions.
He said water shortages, aquifer depletion and climate shocks are compounding global pressures created by conflicts, trade wars and fragile supply chains.
He said countries heavily dependent on agriculture face the most complex trade-offs as water cuts threaten both food production and employment.
“It's not an easy problem, given the fact that 70% of the world's water is in the good hands of farmers, mostly in poor economies, mostly in the global south, where governments do not have the power or capacity to diversify their economies overnight and provide alternative modes of livelihood for the farmers,” he said.
“If you don't act today, the only choice would be rationing,” Madani said, warning that cutting water without providing alternatives to farmers means unemployment, migration and conflict.
Therefore, he added, a lot of measures need to be combined to act on a timely basis before it is late.
Professor Kaveh Madani said efficiency-enhancing technologies, selective supply expansion, consumption reduction and data-driven management must work together, adding that tools such as satellite monitoring and artificial intelligence can improve trust and decision-making.
He also urged governments to elevate water to the level of national security, particularly in countries like Pakistan that experience both floods and droughts.
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