Paris, March 22 (EFE).- Water crises threaten peace in the world, according to UNESCO, which shows in a report published on Friday how energy and technology interfere and weigh heavily on the exploitation of water resources.
The report's co-ordinator, Richard Connor, explains that water can „contribute to prosperity” and that where it is available, „conflicts are less likely”, while lack of access results in „forced migration, food insecurity and impact”. About health”.
That's why Connor considers analyzing the economic importance of water in a world where „water stress” will become increasingly significant due to climate change and where „2.2 billion people do not have access to drinking water.”
„There is no clear relationship between water and per capita gross domestic product (GDP),” but „only rich countries can afford hydraulic infrastructure,” the expert points out.
Seven economic sectors are responsible for 70% of the world's freshwater pollution: food, textiles, energy, industry, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and mining.
In terms of energy, the authors of the report highlight that wind and solar energy have grown the most in the last decade, but in reality they represent a „minimum fraction” compared to fossil fuels, which is why they are trying to accelerate rates. Development of renewable energies.
In parallel, they note that the deployment of renewables consumes large amounts of water resources.
Lithium is one of the elements that plays an essential role in the production of renewable energy devices, such as powering vehicles or storing electricity from intermittent sources such as wind and sunlight, but it is a „huge consumer and polluter” of water. ” says the expert.
In fact, it takes 2.2 million liters of water to produce one ton of lithium.
Something similar happens with technological development and artificial intelligence that contribute to these processes, for example with cyber security systems that protect infrastructures.
The protection of these systems rests in the hands of governments and large technology companies, which in their environmental studies recognize that their water consumption has increased by up to 30% due to the demands of cooling electronic equipment such as power plants.
By way of explanation, UNESCO points out that the third version of ChatGPT uses 700,000 liters of water per day.
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