Humanity has ‘broken the water cycle,’ UN chief warns
The future of humanity’s “lifeblood” — water — is under threat worldwide, the UN secretary-general warned Wednesday at the opening of the global body’s first major meeting on water resources in nearly half a century.
“We’ve broken the water cycle, destroyed ecosystems and contaminated groundwater,” Antonio Guterres said at the three-day summit in New York, which gathers some 6,500 participants including a dozen heads of state and government.
“We are draining humanity’s lifeblood through vampiric overconsumption and unsustainable use, and evaporating it through global heating,” Guterres told the conference.