October 14th, 2019 | During the UNEP conference, delegates were giving their stances on ensuring recovery and response measures for droughts of the future and their opinions on addressing the impact of climate change on water sources.
During this discussion, the United States’ delegate gave some insight on how the U.S. plans to address both of these issues. “The main focus that the United States wanted to take was mostly on technological development and spreading the access to that, and also the agricultural industry,” the delegate explains, “We wanted to focus on making agriculture a more sustainable industry by using things like alternative feed sources… and taking down the water intake that agriculture has”. On the topic of water resources, the U.S. delegate also suggested ecological sanitation. “Less intense technology, such as ecological sanitation, which simply allows for water to be recycled in rural areas and communities, and even traditional areas and communities like in Africa and Asia where water is obviously scarce,” said the delegate, “human waste can be turned into fertilizer, it could be turned into accessible water, and it basically gives these rural communities control over their own water supply”.
The United States’ delegate gave an interesting point of view on how to better recycle water and improve agriculture after droughts. The delegate planned to improve technology in rural areas so that they become self-sufficient and are able to have control over their own resources. This plan seems highly effective and gives hope for the future of agriculture and water resource conservation around the globe.