USP – Conférence : "La faillite mondiale de l'eau"

The water crisis on our planet is a worrying phenomenon. According to a new United Nations report, four out of ten people worldwide suffer from water scarcity. Human activities—pumping, the artificial alteration of watersheds, pollution, and the development of megacities—and climate change are worsening the situation every day. Despite efforts to build resilience in local communities, the outlook for the 21st century does not appear promising. So, is this water crisis inevitable? What technical, ecological, and political solutions can we consider? What are their limitations? What challenges will present and future generations have to face?

Agnès Ducharne is a hydrologist and Research Director at the CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research) in the METIS laboratory (Sorbonne University, Pierre-Simon Laplace Institute). Author of numerous international scientific publications, she has been studying the complex dynamics between ecosystems, water resources, and the consequences of ongoing climate change for over thirty years. She is also a member of the Scientists in Rebellion movement and a recipient of the Franco-Taiwanese Grand Prize for Science from the French Academy of Sciences. Her work contributed, among other things, to a recent UN report (January 2026) highlighting the severity of the "global water crisis."