The Anthropocene is characterised by the significant impact of humans on Earth and its systems. Our planet is populated by 7.8 billion people as of 2020, and an expected 9.9 billion people by 2050. This exponential increase in the world’s already massive population comes with the unprecedented challenge of providing freshwater necessary for needs and desired activities, including for sustenance, health, and energy.
An article by Rockström et al. (2014) entitled ‘The unfolding water drama in the Anthropocene: towards a resilience-based perspective on water for global sustainability’ highlights how there has been a dramatic rise in water-related shocks and interactions in the Anthropocene. This is due to two significant social phenomena occurring simultaneously: the exponential increase in population growth and the large rapid growth of the global middle class. Rockström et al. (2014) argue that a “deeper social-ecological resilience-based approach to integrated land and water-resource management” is critical to address the (fresh)water challenges that we are currently faced with (p. 1250). I will comment on the influence of pollution causing water stress specifically, but the whole paper is definitely worth the read.
‘Resilience’ does not mean putting an end to all pollution. Human activity has always resulted in pollution. This is inevitable. But pollution throughout the Anthropocene has drastically increased in quantity and worsened in quality and extent. It must be reduced and addressed now. Most concerningly, pollution has been normalised and justified as an unfortunate consequence of attaining prosperity. This capitalist greed by industrialists and policymakers neglects the disastrous impact that the pollution of freshwater resources has and will have throughout the world. Fast-growing populations being distributed mainly in developing nations means that repercussions to freshwater availability will unevenly affect these more vulnerable communities.
Furthermore, water pollution is not limited to the water body. Rockström et al. (2014) say that “the cumulative response time to water pollution problems has been very long” (p. 1254). This is due to the transboundary nature of water where contaminants move with flows of water on and under the ground and in the atmosphere, and the issue of having diffuse sources of contamination. We cannot afford to wait for societies and achieve prosperity under these environmentally destructive conditions. World leaders must take steps to achieve prosperity without excessive pollution. Though what encompasses ‘excessive’ will undoubtedly be heavily debated, laws and stringent regulations of our freshwater resources are imperative to the survival of humanity.
Allowing the continued pollution of Earth’s already severely limited freshwater resources is selfish and unethical on the part of opportunistic industrialists and policymakers. While it is good that a greater proportion of people get to live in relative comfort and less live in absolute poverty now as the ‘middle class’, the problem of depleting and polluting resources is that many might invariably fall into poverty in the coming decades as the problem worsens. It could become a situation where only the rich are able to afford enough clean water, and where middle-class lifestyles become difficult to access for those considered middle-class citizens today.
References:
IISD. (n.d.). World Population to Reach 9.9 Billion by 2050 | News | SDG Knowledge Hub | IISD. Https://Sdg.Iisd.Org/News/World-Population-to-Reach-9-9-Billion-by-2050/. Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://sdg.iisd.org/news/world-population-to-reach-9-9-billion-by-2050/
Rockström, J., Falkenmark, M., Allan, T., Folke, C., Gordon, L., Jägerskog, A., Kummu, M., Lannerstad, M., Meybeck, M., Molden, D., Postel, S., Savenije, H., Svedin, U., Turton, A., & Varis, O. (2014). The unfolding water drama in the Anthropocene: towards a resilience‐based perspective on water for global sustainability. Ecohydrology, 7(5), 1249–1261. https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.1562
