Australian activist runs 78th marathon in Istanbul to bring awareness to global water crisis

By Dilan Pamuk

ISTANBUL (AA) - An Australian activist who set out to run 200 marathons in drought-stricken regions to draw attention to global water shortages that are increasing with climate change, ran her 78th marathon race in the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul.

Starting her first marathon in her home country on March 22, World Water Day, Mina Guli, 52, set foot in Istanbul to start the European leg of her campaign after completing marathons in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa and Turkey’s Salt Lake in the central province of Konya.

“We’re literally in the middle of a massive water problem of a water crisis around the world,” Guli told Anadolu Agency about her “Run Blue” campaign to raise awareness about the water footprint.

“Unfortunately, for most people it is hidden, but I’ve seen it and I want the world to see it, too,” she said.

Guli pointed out that companies are responsible for almost 90% of the world’s water use, directly or indirectly, and she aspires to convince 200 countries to take concrete action or “Run Blue” by completing the marathons by the start of the UN World Conference in March 2023.

“We often think that water is someone else's problem,” she said. “Because we live in big cities, we live in places where water comes freely out of the taps. But the truth is that water is everybody's business. Whether it's because we're wearing clothes, using power or eating food, these things take water.”

Guli underlined that with accelerating climate change, the global water crisis requires urgent action.

“We cannot hope anymore. Now we need to make things happen. We’re beyond the time of hope. We are into the time of opportunity for change because frankly, failure isn’t an option. We don’t have a planet B,” she said. “And the water crisis is accelerating. The challenges are accelerating. Climate change means that we have massive water problems around the world.”

Regarding the marathon she ran two months ago in the Aral Sea, the fourth largest lake in the world, 90% of which has dried up due to water that has not been replenished and increasing temperatures, Guli said: “It used to be filled with water. Now it’s so dry, it’s desert, sand and I ran across what used to be the bed of the ocean. I ran between these hulking great ships that are now carcasses lying in that sand. I thought to myself for 30 years scientists told us that this lake would dry up and we just ignored them. People told us that Lake Urmia would dry up and we ignored them.”

“Now people are telling us that the Salt Lake in the US is going to dry up and we're ignoring them, too. We see the rivers in Europe drying up. We see the lakes drying up. Lake Tuz has dried up because of climate change and also because of the diversion of the inbound rivers,” she said. “So we need to find a way to ensure that these warnings are not ignored anymore.”

- 2023 UN Water Conference ‘really great opportunity’

Emphasizing that the issue “has been swept under the rug or it's been forgotten about or deprioritized” for more than 50 years, Guli said the Water Conference “is a really great opportunity for us to use as a catalytic moment to drive change by governments, companies and all of us as individuals.”

“We have an opportunity now over the next few months to show our leaders in government in the halls of power, in the boardrooms that we need them to do more. We need them to step up. We need to stop the talking, and we need to start the action,” she said.

Guli highlighted that the crisis has massive consequences not only for today but for future generations.

“The next generation can't afford us to fail. We have no time to waste. Experts forecast that by 2030 there will be a 40% gap between our demand for water and our supplies of water that are available. We owe it to the future of our planet to step up and say ‘Let's take action now.’”

Guli is not a runner by profession and running 200 marathons has overwhelming challenges.

“But sometimes overwhelming tasks can be solved by small, simple steps, and I think the same thing is for water. We look at the water crisis and we think it's a massive global problem that's unable to be solved. But the truth of the matter is when we all step up and we all take small steps, big change can happen,” she said.

- ‘Together, we can change the world’

Guli encouraged those who want to play a role in the solution to the crisis to apply the “3R” principles: “Reduce, reuse and recycle.”

“There are many options, but the most important thing is every single day no matter what you run in your life, whether you're involved in your company, whether you're involved in your household or just daily decisions, think about the water consequences,” she said.

“Every one of us has the power to work together to solve it. Individually, you can make an impact, but together, we can change the world,” she added.