00:03We're talking about billions of people who lack safely managed drinking water, but also we're
00:08talking about nearly 3.4 billion people who lack sanitation or lives under poor sanitation conditions.
00:19Water covers most of our planet, yet less than 1% of it is actually fresh water that we can
00:24use.
00:25Around half of the world's population faces severe water shortages for at least part of the year,
00:30and that pressure grows with every degree of warming and every expanding city.
00:34In the UAE, where rain is rare and there are no permanent rivers, most of the drinking water comes from
00:39the sea.
00:40In this episode of Earth Now, we ask why water scarcity matters, and what can be done about it.
00:46Water underpins food, energy and health.
00:49In December, the UAE and Senegal co-hosts the UN Water Conference in Abu Dhabi,
00:53where heads of state will be pressed to turn decades of pledges into projects that are financed and delivered.
01:00The UAE and Abu Dhabi is the city where decision makers, intellectuals, business community meet and discuss important topics,
01:10and water is not an exception.
01:13Growing populations, expanding cities and a warming climate are putting more pressure on a finite resource.
01:19With no permanent rivers, the UAE has engineered its own water security for thousands of years.
01:26Our ancestors invented the fallage over 3,000 years ago, or engineered the fallage if you want,
01:33as a method for prosperity, where people can have access to water but also irrigate from it and trade.
01:40Ancient flower channels have given way to vast desalination plants, and now artificial intelligence.
01:45It is experience the UAE wants to share, inviting the world to bring its own ideas to the table.
01:52We want you to come with ideas, we want you to come with optimism, but also with the merit to
01:57partner.
01:58Because, as I mentioned earlier, this is a global challenge that should be solved by everyone.
02:04And we hope to see you all in Abu Dhabi.
02:06Few understand the value of a single drop better than Dr. Sultan Al-Nayadi.
02:10The Emirati astronaut spent six months on the International Space Station, where water is recycled again and again.
02:17Living in space is an eye-opener. Water is clean. So we use water to create our own oxygen.
02:23We use water for hygiene. And we use water also to hydrate our food.
02:29So without water, we cannot sustain life on board the station.
02:32So every drop on board the International Space Station is accounted for.
02:36They say coffee of today, coffee of tomorrow.
02:39We recycle about 95% of our water.
02:42We do all of that through multiple filterations and we make sure that it's drinkable and it's as drinking from
02:50a bottle here on air.
02:51Lessons from orbit applied on Earth. Recover, reuse and waste nothing.
02:56It's a challenge facing every country and few have felt it more sharply than those in Central Asia.
03:02From the Gulf we travel to Central Asia, where water has shaped history for thousands of years.
03:07Uzbekistan depends on two great rivers that once fed the Oral Sea.
03:10Uzbekistan is in our leading efforts to restore the region, including planting new forests on the former seabed.
03:17Our team in Tashkent reports on how the country is making every drop count.
03:25In Uzbekistan, agriculture depends heavily on irrigation.
03:29Cannals, reservoirs and pumping stations carry water across dry landscapes to farms, communities and wetlands.
03:36As demand grows, the challenge is not only how much water is available, but how much reaches its destination.
03:44Water scarcity does not only mean drought.
03:47It means land left behind, fields that cannot be farmed because the irrigation infrastructure does not reach them.
03:54World Bank project has been rebuilding that infrastructure across the Firgana Valley since 2017.
04:01This peach orchard is one result.
04:04The Firgana Valley is one of Uzbekistan's most important agricultural regions.
04:09But in some districts, an unreliable supply at the start of the growing season can leave farmland without enough water
04:16when it's needed most.
04:40In western Uzbekistan, water travels much farther.
04:45This water comes from Amu Darya River.
04:48The modernized pumping station delivers it to farmers across Navai and Bukhara regions, irrigating more than 300,000 hectares of
04:56land.
04:56Water from the Amu Darya is pumped across the desert through the Amu Bukhara machine canal, a major irrigation system
05:03serving western Uzbekistan.
05:26Once the water has been lifted and transported, the next challenge is preventing it from seeping away before it reaches
05:32farmers.
05:54Farmers downstream say the difference is already visible.
06:23But this system does more than supply agriculture.
06:26Drainage and return flows from irrigated land also feed Dengis Kul, a wetland of international importance in the Bukhara region.
06:35Recognized under the Ramsar Convention, the lake provides an important resting and wintering site for migratory birds.
06:42This object is equipped with wetlands, wetlands and streams of collector-drenage, so the mineralization is very high, but the
06:56agriculture is developed here.
06:58This is a unique object for fishing birds in the east or northern birds for wintering and so on.
07:13From mountain springs to desert canyons and wetlands, the system connects agriculture with the wider environment.
07:21How efficiently water is moved and used will shape both farm production and natural habitats.
07:29From the Gulf to Central Asia, places facing some of the toughest water challenges are showing just what is possible,
07:36turning seawater into drinking water.
07:38Growing more food with less, bringing new life to land once written off.
07:43Water scarcity is one of the greatest challenges of our time, but it's one we can meet.
07:48Every single one of us, every single day, has a part to play.
