A United Nation (UN) report has predicted that more than five billion people across the globe could suffer water shortages by 2050 and it will be because of climate change, increasing demand and polluted supplies. The 2018 edition of the UN World Water Development Report shows that there will be more water scarcity in the central India, which means withdrawal of 40 percent of the renewable surface water resources. While ground water resources will face even greater pressure in north India, south and central India will experience high levels of risk from poor water quality in its river basins by 2050. By 2050, the report predicts, between 4.8 billion and 5.7 billion people will live in areas that are water-scarce for at least one month each year, up from 3.6 billion today, while the number of people at risk of floods will increase to 1.6 billion, from 1.2 billion. As the global population expands and the planet warms, demand for water is rising, while the quality and reliability of our water supply is declining, says report. However, the report also suggests solution. It says positive change is possible, particularly in the key agricultural sector, but only if there is a move towards nature-based solutions that rely more on soil and trees than steel and concrete. Nature-based solutions can be personal – such as dry toilets – or broad landscape-level shifts in agricultural practices. The report contains several positive case studies that show how environments and supplies can improve as a result of policy changes. Director-general of Unesco, Audrey Azoulay, said that two-thirds of the world’s forests and wetlands have been lost since the turn of the 20th century and it is situation which needs to be addressed. Water scarcity can lead to civil unrest, mass migration and even to conflict within and between countries, she said. The World Water Forum is the biggest single gathering of policymakers, businesses and NGOs involved in water management. It is being held in the southern hemisphere for the first time, and is expected to draw 40,000 participants.