From the marshlands of Iraq to the most remote bush villages in South Sudan, the same demand has been repeated to me: we need clean water or we are going to die.

Safe water is the most basic need for humans. It is life. And yet water crises – which are often man made and have solutions – never get the same attention as other humanitarian disasters such as an airstrike or a suicide bombing, even though polluted water can be far more deadly than direct conflict.

Water, hygiene, sanitation – or WASH in the aid agency world – is usually met with a disinterested shrug. In fact, most environmental issues are dismissed as soft news and in the past have been relegated to the science sections of newspapers or features shows on TV. This has meant programmes combating the issues are often woefully underfunded.

This needs to change. Before it is too late.

Earth Hour 2019: Landmarks go dark as activists urge climate action Show all 12 1 /12 Earth Hour 2019: Landmarks go dark as activists urge climate action Earth Hour 2019: Landmarks go dark as activists urge climate action AFP-1F8695.jpg (COMBO) A combination image shows the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Opera House and the ferris wheel before (top picture) and after (bottom picture) their lights went out, as seen from Sydney's Luna Park for the Earth Hour environmental campaign on March 30, 2019. - The lights went out on two of Sydney's most famous landmarks for the 12th anniversary of the climate change awareness campaign Earth Hour, among the first landmarks around the world to dim their lights for the event. (Photo by PETER PARKS / AFP)PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images PETER PARKS AFP/Getty Images Earth Hour 2019: Landmarks go dark as activists urge climate action AFP-1F87LF.jpg (COMBO) This combination of pictures created on March 30, 2019 shows the Victoria Harbour before (top picture) and after (bottom picture) its lights went out for the Earth Hour environmental campaign in Hong Kong on March 30, 2019. - The 13th edition of Earth Hour, organised by the green group WWF, will see millions of people across 180 countries turn off their lights at 8:30 pm local time to highlight energy use and the need for conservation. (Photo by Dale DE LA REY / AFP)DALE DE LA REY/AFP/Getty Images DALE DE LA REY AFP/Getty Images Earth Hour 2019: Landmarks go dark as activists urge climate action AFP-1F878O.jpg (COMBO) A combination image of two photographs shows a general view of the Marina Bay Sands hotel and resort lit up (top) and after the lights were turned off (bottom) during the Earth Hour environmental campaign in Singapore on March 30, 2019. (Photo by ROSLAN RAHMAN / AFP)ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP/Getty Images ROSLAN RAHMAN AFP/Getty Images Earth Hour 2019: Landmarks go dark as activists urge climate action 2019-03-30T171238Z-506473023-RC126F5D02E0-RTRMADP-3-EARTH-HOUR-INDONESIA.JPG A combination picture shows the landmark statue of Garuda Wisnu Kencana before and after being switched off for Earth Hour in South Kuta, Bali, Indonesia March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Johannes P. Christo JOHANNES CHRISTO REUTERS Earth Hour 2019: Landmarks go dark as activists urge climate action AFP-1F88QL.jpg (COMBO) This combination of pictures created on March 30, 2019 shows the N Seoul Tower and the historic Seoul Fortress Wall before (top picture) and after (bottom picture) their lights went out for the Earth Hour environmental campaign in Seoul on March 30, 2019. - The 13th edition of Earth Hour, organised by the green group WWF, will see millions of people across 180 countries turn off their lights at 8:30 pm local time to highlight energy use and the need for conservation. (Photo by Yelim LEE / AFP)YELIM LEE/AFP/Getty Images YELIM LEE AFP/Getty Images Earth Hour 2019: Landmarks go dark as activists urge climate action 07473114.jpg epa07473114 Bikers lineup during an Earth Hour ride in Santa Rosa, Laguna, Philippines, 30 March 2019. According to the organizer, an estimate of 2,000 riders participated in the Earth Hour ride where bikers used LED lights on a 16km route to raise awareness in reducing carbon footprint. Earth Hour is an annual event in which lights are switched off in major cities around the world to draw attention to energy consumption and its environmental effects. EPA/MARK R. CRISTINO MARK R. CRISTINO EPA Earth Hour 2019: Landmarks go dark as activists urge climate action 2019-03-30T155633Z-968287513-RC19BA2CA200-RTRMADP-3-EARTH-HOUR-PHILIPPINES.JPG Star Wars enthusiasts huddle with their lightsabers after participating in Earth Hour at Taguig City, Philippines, March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez ELOISA LOPEZ REUTERS Earth Hour 2019: Landmarks go dark as activists urge climate action 07473485.jpg epa07473485 Members of World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), India take part in a candle light vigil as they observe 'Earth Hour', in Bhopal, India, 30 March 2019. This year's Earth Hour theme is 'Shining a light at Climate Action'. Earth Hour takes place worldwide at 8.30 p.m. local time and is a global call to turn off the lights for 60 minutes to raise awareness of the danger of global climatic change. The hour is observed every year on the last Saturday of March. EPA/SANJEEV GUPTA SANJEEV GUPTA EPA Earth Hour 2019: Landmarks go dark as activists urge climate action 2019-03-30T175754Z-1503605500-RC12C9083910-RTRMADP-3-EARTH-HOUR-RUSSIA.JPG A combination photo shows the Admiralty building, the Peter and Paul cathedral and the State Hermitage museum before (top) and during Earth Hour in St. Petersburg, Russia, March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Anton Vaganov ANTON VAGANOV REUTERS Earth Hour 2019: Landmarks go dark as activists urge climate action 2019-03-30T194136Z-2063007137-RC133436E0F0-RTRMADP-3-EARTH-HOUR-RUSSIA.JPG A combination photo shows the Kremlin before (top) and during Earth Hour in Moscow, Russia, March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva TATYANA MAKEYEVA REUTERS Earth Hour 2019: Landmarks go dark as activists urge climate action AFP-1F91TI.jpg (COMBO) This combination of pictures created on March 30, 2019 shows the dome of St. Peter's basilica before (L) and after (R) being plunged into darkness for the Earth Hour environmental campaign in the Vatican on March 30, 2019. - The 13th edition of Earth Hour, organised by the green group WWF, will see millions of people across 180 countries turn off their lights at 8:30 pm local time to highlight energy use and the need for conservation. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP/Getty Images ANDREAS SOLARO AFP/Getty Images Earth Hour 2019: Landmarks go dark as activists urge climate action 2019-03-30T200048Z-1595840044-RC16C8B710E0-RTRMADP-3-EARTH-HOUR-GERMANY.JPG The Brandenburg Gate is pictured before Earth Hour in Berlin, March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch FABRIZIO BENSCH REUTERS

Last autumn the United Nations warned that we are the last generation that can prevent irreparable damage to our planet.

The report, the most comprehensive of its kind, shocked many. The looming spectre of global warming or climate change can no longer be reduced to tired images of polar bears sitting atop shrinking ice caps, implausible Hollywood fantasy films or discussions about five generations’ times. It is happening now.

From a water perspective, it’s complicated. I am no environmental journalist or expert, but last year I began an eight-month, seven-country investigation into water and conflict in the Middle East and beyond.

What I found is that, right now, chronic shortages are not only reaching alarming levels, largely due to climate change and accidental or deliberate mismanagement of resources, but that those shortages have an impact on every aspect of the conflicts.

In the countries I explored, water shortages are not only killing people due to thirst, but are complicating existing or igniting fresh domestic and international wars over resources.

At the heart of each shortage are solutions. In most instances there are not enough funding, know-how, tools or political will to implement the changes.

Water wars have begun.

The UN put one element of the problem in stark terms last week in a 16-nation study, released for World Water Day, that says every year 1.4 million people are killed by polluted water alone.

But more disturbing is their discovery that more children are killed by unsafe water each year than bullets and bombs in protracted war zones.

In fact, children under the age of five years old are 20 times more likely to die from dirty water than direct fighting.

Girls and women are particularly affected, as they become victims of sexual violence as they collect water, or venture out to use latrines.

Women struggle with menstrual hygiene, leading to disease, many even miss school if they are on their periods because of a lack of toilets. The list goes on.

It is clear from this that we can can no longer park environmental issues in their own section, as they have bled into all aspects of reality on the ground from business to gender issues.

This was was at the heart of a panel I hosted at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia this week.

Panelist Sven Egenter, editor-in-chief of Clean Energy Wire, said journalists have a duty to dig deeper, connect the dots between conflict and the environment, think outside the box, and ring those alarm bells. Because there are solutions.

“Our focus [at Clean Energy Wire] is the energy transition, but we cover electricity, mobility, business, efficiency, politics, international relations under the prism of energy transition,” he said.

“Our takeaway so far is that journalists from all beats should be tuned into this mega trend. Journalists must think outside their usual reporting boxes in terms of sources and ways of looking.”

Wim Zwijnenburg, who works for Netherlands-based NGO PAX, says attitudes towards the environment need to change from the misconception that it is just about “bees and butterflies”.

He works closely with Bellingcat using open-source data including satellite imagery to locate and track issues such as oil spills that have ravaged farmlands in the north of Iraq, sparking displacement, poverty and fears of recruitment to extremist groups.

“As soon as the guns fall silent, people go out. There is pollution because someone targeted a phosphate factory next to a river or a massive amount of water infrastructure has been destroyed. People cannot have access to water, they cannot use irrigation, it affects their livelihoods,” he says.

“It’s difficult to visualise. You can visualise someone stepping on a land mine… but how do you visualise someone getting sick or an outbreak of disease? It is less tangible – that is why you look at it using open-source information.”

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Louise Sarrant, an environmental journalist covering the Middle East, says that environmental journalists are increasingly coming under fire from regimes as they uncover uncomfortable truths about bad practices.

For example, according to Amnesty International, at least 63 environmental activists and researchers were arrested in 2018.

Sarrant herself has written extensively on Egypt’s disastrous decision to import coal, and has described being stopped upon entry to Egypt repeatedly and intelligence officials watching her flat.

She says lack of data in many countries is impacting the ability to report. Particularly in places like Egypt, experts are nervous about coming forward.

“People are scared to talk if they can avoid it... that is a recent development,” she says.