Climate change and population growth are creating increasing pressure on food and water — and to solve the need, innovative solutions will be required. The issue of water scarcity in the near future is an issue Australia’s aid program is attempting to solve today.
“Only one percent of the earth’s water resources can be used for human consumption,” Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told media. “This ground and surface water is unevenly distributed, which can lead to the spread of disease, conflict over resources, irregular migration and slowed economic development.”
Since water security is a severe issue for Australia’s focal region of the Indo-Pacific, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are calling on inventors from around the globe to help solve the problem. They are being tasked to design an economical device that will extract 2,000 liters of water per day from the atmosphere using entirely renewable energy.
About the author
Lisa Cornishlisa_cornish
Lisa Cornish is a former Devex Senior Reporter based in Canberra, where she focuses on the Australian aid community. Lisa has worked with News Corp Australia as a data journalist and has been published throughout Australia in the Daily Telegraph in Melbourne, Herald Sun in Melbourne, Courier-Mail in Brisbane, and online through news.com.au. Lisa additionally consults with Australian government providing data analytics, reporting and visualization services.
