Water scarcity doesn't work in silo.

It's oftentimes an aggravating factor that compounds many other risks.

The crux of the issue isn't just about hydration,

but really about how much of our economy depends on water for everything from food to vaccines

to mining and energy, right?

So every single economic output does rely on access to water.

Welcome to Living Beyond Borders, a podcast from City Private Bank and G0 Media. On this program, we examine

global risks and opportunities from the angles of both politics and economics. I'm Michaela McQuaid,

director of energy, climate, and resources at Eurasia Group. You can't avoid the images and the headlines

of just how much severe weather events are impacting people around the globe

and how frequently. Frightening developments in the natural world around us are changing the way we

live, work, and play, and no one is immune. One of the most significant threats that billions of people

are facing isn't coming just in the form of large, intense disasters,

but short events accumulating slowly on a dangerous trajectory.

It's a daily occurrence impacting lives little by little, drip by drip.

The problem is water scarcity.

Most of us in the developed world are immune from even thinking about water scarcity.

We can trust that at home, at work, and everywhere in between,

we will have access to as much water as we need or want whenever we need it or want it.

But that's certainly not true everywhere. In fact, nearly half of the world's population currently lives in areas that face water scarcity

for at least one month out of every year, with the situation worsening in many of those geographies day by day.

As we speak to you today, over 1.2 billion people lack access to the clean drinking water they need.

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