The report, published by the World
Water Assessment Programme on behalf of UN-Water stresses the urgent need to
change the way we use and manage this vital resource, as the United Nations
prepares to adopt new Sustainable Development Goals.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General
and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said, "The
impacts of our increasingly stressed global water resources can be felt by
almost everyone, in the form of food insecurity, disease, degraded ecosystems,
biodiversity loss, loss of economic productivity, endangered marine life, loss
of tourism and more".
"What this means is that the
remedy to these ills cannot be administered in a piecemeal and fragmented form.
An integrated approach is key because solutions that address the environmental
challenges, if they are to be effective, must also address the economic and
social ones. All countries, regions and international agencies should combine
efforts to apply integrated approaches to water supply chain management to address
these challenges, now, and in the post-2015 development agenda", he added
"Water resources are a key
element in policies to combat poverty, but are sometimes themselves threatened
by development. Water directly influences our future, so we need to change the
way we assess, manage and use this resource in the face of ever-rising demand
and the over exploitation of our groundwater reserves. This is the appeal made
by the latest edition of the UN World Water Development Report. The report's
observations are timely, because the international community has to draw up a
new development programme, to take over from the Millennium Development
Goals", said UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova.
"There is already international
consensus that water and sanitation are essential to the achievement of many
sustainable development goals. They are inextricably linked to climate change,
agriculture, food security, health, energy, equality, gender and education.
Now, we must look forward to measurability, monitoring and
implementation", said Michel Jarraud, Chair of UN-Water and
Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organisation
Growing demand
In 2000 India had nearly 19 million
mechanised or tube wells, compared to less than a million in 1960. This
technological revolution has played an important role in the country's efforts
to combat poverty, but the ensuing development of irrigation has, in turn,
resulted in significant water stress in some regions of the country, such as
Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
This example alone illustrates the
complex relationships between access to water and development. While water is
essential for economic growth and the fight against poverty, it is also itself
directly affected by economic development. To find a solution to this conundrum,
we must seek a balance between water supply and demand. But we are nowhere near
this. Despite the considerable progress that has been made in recent years, 748
million people are still without access to an improved drinking water source.
And those first affected are the poor, the disadvantaged and women.
At the same time, the planet has
never been so thirsty. To answer the needs of an ever- growing population, the
agriculture and energy sectors have to keep producing more and more. From now
until 2050, agriculture, which consumes most water, has to produce 60 per cent
more food globally, 100 per cent in developing countries. Demand for
manufactured goods is also increasing, which, in turn, puts further pressure on
water resources. Between 2000 and 2050, the demand for water by industry is
expected to increase by 400 per cent.
But while demand for water rockets -
it is expected to increase by 55 per cent by 2050 - and
20 per cent of global groundwater
sources are already overexploited, it is still not being managed sustainably.
Intensive crop irrigation, uncontrolled release of pesticides and chemicals
into watercourses and the absence of wastewater treatment - which is the case
for 90 per cent of wastewater in developing countries − are all proof of this
state of affairs.
Development is putting a strain on
water
The environmental cost of practices
like these is high. It means wide-scale water pollution and significant
wastage. In the North China Plain, intensive irrigation has caused the water
table to drop by over 40 metres. The environmental cost is also seen in terms
of the sometimes irreversible damage to many ecosystems across the world,
especially in wetlands and coastal areas. This substantially reduces their
capacity to perform vital ecosystem services such as water purification and
storage.
Climate change only adds to this
pressure. The increased variation in rainfall and rising temperatures lead to
greater evaporation and transpiration by vegetation. Meanwhile, sea level rise
is threatening groundwater in coastal areas. Just like Calcutta (India),
Shanghai (China) and Dacca (Bangladesh), other cities are finding their
groundwater reserves are being contaminated by salt water. The picture is the
same in the Pacific islands of Tuvalu and Samoa, whose inhabitants increasingly
depend on imported water to satisfy their needs, as their own groundwater has
become too salty.
According to the authors of the
report, this growing pressure on water resources is also likely to lead to
greater competition between sectors, as well as between regions and nations.
The time has therefore come for us
to change the way we assess, manage and utilise this resource, the report
stresses, pointing to failures in our governance of water. Water is too cheap,
compared to its real value, and is rarely taken into account when decisions are
made regarding energy and industry. In general, decisions that determine how
most of water is used are taken by a limited number of players (public,
parapublic and private) and follow a logic dictated by short-term goals, rather
than environmental concerns.
The virtuous circle of sustainable
development
The report emphasises the role of
public authorities in influencing the strategic choices that will guarantee a
lasting future for our water resources. In particular it recommends limiting
the development of thermal power stations that, today, produce 80 per cent of
our electricity and consume vast quantities of water. This could be achieved,
for example, by granting subsidies to renewable energies such as wind and
solar, which are still relatively expensive. It could also mean rewarding
farmers who use efficient irrigation methods. For example, in an arid country
like Cyprus, subsidies like this have led to a major change in farmers'
attitudes towards irrigation techniques and the imposition of techniques that
consume less water.
The transition towards more
sustainable models of production comes at a cost, but as the report points out,
such investments are part of a virtuous circle. Indeed, studies show that for
every dollar invested to protect a catchment area up to $200 can be saved on
water
treatment. So, while $235,000 are
needed annually to optimise the treatment of waste in order to maintain the
Nakivubo marshlands in Uganda ecologically intact, this ecosystem provides a
water purification service for Kampala that is estimated to be worth USD 2
million per year. In New York, managing the upstream catchment areas saves the
city an estimated USD 300 million a year.
The efforts that some countries are
making show that better governance and more careful use of water are possible,
including in developing countries. The water authorities in Phnom Penh
(Cambodia) are a case in point. This organisation, once accused of corruption
and on the verge of bankruptcy has, in the space of a decade, become one of the
world's most efficient water suppliers. It has reduced water losses from 60 per
cent in 1998 to 6 per cent in 2008, which is equivalent to Singapore's entire
water supply.
As the United Nations prepares to
adopt the future Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, the report points to
the need to devote an entire goal to water. It argues that the focus be
extended from drinking water and sanitation - as was the case in the Millenium
Development Goals - to the global management of the whole water cycle. The
proposed SDGs would thus take into account questions of governance, water
quality, wastewater management and the prevention of natural disasters. The
Sustainable Development Goals will be finalised in the autumn of 2015 during
the United Nations General Assembly.
The United Nations World Water
Development Report is the result of collaboration between the 31 agencies of
the United Nations system and the 37 international partners that make up
UN-Water. It is produced by the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP), hosted
by UNESCO. The report presents an exhaustive account of the state of the
world's water resources and, up until 2012, was published every three years.
Since 2014 it has become an annual publication, devoted to a specific theme.
Its publication is now timed to coincide with World Water Day, whose theme is
also aligned with that of the report.
