UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on world leaders to put the looming crisis over water shortages at the top of the global agenda this year.
He reminded business and political leaders at the World Economic Forum that the conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan was started off by drought, and he said shortages of water contribute to poverty and social hardship in Somalia, Chad, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Haiti, Colombia and Kazakhstan.
"Too often, where we need water we find guns instead," Mr Ban said. "Population growth will make the problem worse. So will climate change. As the global economy grows, so will its thirst. Many more conflicts lie just over the horizon."
He said a recent report identified 46 countries with 2.7 billion people where climate change and water-related crises create "a high risk of violent conflict" and a further 56 countries, with 1.2 billion people "are at high risk of violent conflict."
Mr Ban said he spent 2007 "banging my drum on climate change," an issue the forum also had as one of its main themes last year. He welcomed the focus on water this year saying the session should be named: "Water is running out."
"We need to adapt to this reality, just as we do to climate change," he said. "There is still enough water for all of us - but only so long as we can keep it clean, use it more wisely, and share it fairly."
The UN leader said he will invite world leaders to "a critical high-level meeting" in September to focus on meeting UN development goals - including cutting by half the number of people without access to safe drinking water by 2015 - particularly in Africa.