In places around the world, supplies of groundwater are rapidly vanishing. As aquifers decline and wells begin to go dry, people are being forced to confront a growing crisis.
Much of the planet relies on groundwater. And in places around the world – from the United States to Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America – so much water is pumped from the ground that aquifers are being rapidly depleted and wells are going dry.
Groundwater is disappearing beneath cornfields in Kansas, rice paddies in India, asparagus farms in Peru and orange groves in Morocco. As these critical water reserves are pumped beyond their limits, the threats are mounting for people who depend on aquifers to supply agriculture, sustain economies and provide drinking water. In some areas, fields have already turned to dust and farmers are struggling.
Climate change is projected to increase the stresses on water supplies, and heated disputes are erupting in places where those with deep wells can keep pumping and leave others with dry wells. Even as satellite measurements have revealed the problem’s severity on a global scale, many regions have failed to adequately address the problem. Aquifers largely remain unmanaged and unregulated, and water that seeped underground over tens of thousands of years is being gradually used up.
In this documentary, USA TODAY and The Desert Sun investigate the consequences of this emerging crisis in several of the world’s hotspots of groundwater depletion. These are stories about people on four continents confronting questions of how to safeguard their aquifers for the future – and in some cases, how to cope as the water runs out.
PLURAL+2018 TAL-Television America Latina Award PLURAL+2018 FACIUNI Award Age Category 13 to 17 | Brazil By João Adams Samora.
Five hundred years ago, the civilization of Uros, seeking shelter from its enemies, fled to Lake Titicaca, near Puno, in Peru. They built lands out of Totora (a type of straw) in the middle of the water. Globalization and pollution have changed their way of life. They no longer live as their ancestors did, but only by the image of their ancestors’ culture and more.
One in 10 known species in the world lives in the Amazon, the most culturally and biologically diverse place on the planet. But the Amazon’s ecosystems are at risk.
The World Bank-led and Global Environment Facility (GEF)-financed Amazon Sustainable Landscapes Program (ASL) aims to protect this vast diversity and implement policies to foster sustainable land use and restore native vegetation cover. The ASL is the result of the joint effort from Brazil, Colombia, and Peru (which together contain 83% of the Amazon basin) and partner agencies to develop an integrated program. This video highlights the forest’s biodiversity, some of it’s threats, and the countries’ efforts to conserve over 73 million hectares of forests and bodies of water, ensure landscape connectivity, and support communities and indigenous peoples.
