2023届高三英语外刊语篇精读Day5 讲义

Day 5 Could a Lack of Water Cause Wars? By Pola Lem Water scarcity poses a greater risk of turmoil under global warming, the World Bank argues. Water scarcity is expected to increase globally as populations boom and climate change sharpens uncertainty around the resource's availability, according to a report by the World Bank. The conclusion adds to a growing body of research, and it comes days before this year's Climate Action 2016 summit in Washington, D.C. The report, titled “High and Dry: Climate Change, Water, and the Economy,” highlights the importance of water to human health, agriculture and geopolitical stability. Water scarcity is expected to cost a swath of countries in regions such as sub-Saharan and northern Africa, the Middle East, and large parts of Asia roughly 6 percent of their gross domestic product, the report found. That's under a scenario in which emissions continue to be released as they are today. It's a stubborn problem, the report found. Even in a scenario where nations increase their water efficiency, northern Africa and the Middle East would still see 6 percent losses to their economy. “Water is to adaptation what energy is to mitigation, and the challenges the world will face in adapting to water issues are enormous,” the report said. Richard Damania, a lead economist at the World Bank and an author of the report, told reporters, “Climate change is really about hydrological change, and it's really about water change.” It's a lot easier for governments to pull more water from the ground than to fix big infrastructure problems like leaky pipes, said Damania. “Of course the easy thing to do is to increase supply. The much harder stuff is the softer stuff—increasing efficiency, trying to reallocate water,” he added. Water impacts reverberate far beyond the economy. Water shocks often emerge as a threat multiplier, the report finds. Drought is often associated with migration and regime change, said Carl Bruch, an attorney and director of in