MEASURING WATER USE IN A GREEN ECONOMY - UNEP

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decoupling of economic growth from water resource depletion. The aim of this first report is to explain how the different analytical methods and approaches fit together and how they can best be used across the policy cycle and in water management. indicators and the different approaches available to measure water use, efficiency and the environmental impacts on different geographic scales arising from different economic and social activities. The chapter covers the extraction and provision of water, as captured in the reports of the national statistical agencies, 1.2 Report outline This report consists of 5 main chapters with final conclusions and recommendations. Chapter 2 presents the main concepts and definitions of the different aspects of water used in the economic, policy and scientific literature. The chapter looks at the general concept of decoupling as applied to water and examines various types of policy targets, water potential within key sectors such a food and agriculture and water use at the local industrial installation level. Taking the green economy as its entry point, the chapter defines the data, information and knowledge needs for maintaining the water components of the natural capital stored within ecosystems, the manufactured and financial capital in the economy, and the social capital linked to human well-being. 12
Measuring water use in a green economy It is clear that water availability is not only highly dependent on the global hydrological cycle but also on local and regional water management regimes, so many sources of information are needed. Accounting is seen as a crucial tool for the purpose of overall water management and the generation of economic assessments, alongside GDP growth and other economy-wide indicators such as greenhouse gas emissions. There is a need to address ecosystem services within such resource accounting schemes, to enable the links to be made between resource efficiency and biodiversity and ecosystem services and hence the connection to the social values of water. An important conclusion that emerges is the significant and growing interest in the business world in taking water resources into account when considering future business. For public bodies involved in determining water balances, there is a need not only to produce quantitative estimates of stocks and flows but also to assess the impact of fluctuations and uncertainties coming from the global hydrological cycle on water abstraction licenses and access rights and on the quality of water. In chapter 3, the data and sources of information on water balances globally and within river basins and ecosystems are described, with a view to providing knowledge of how they are derived, and the strengths of a series of common classifications and water reporting processes are analysed. One of the key features determining the balance between water demands and availability is the emerging view of how best to take into account the water needed to sustain the many different types of ecosystem services. Here, we present examples of the data used to quantify the condition and changes in services across a river basin and its landscape though time, and show how the impacts of land transformation on ecosystem service loss can be demonstrated. One important conclusion from the analysis is that there is a common need across all methodologies and approaches for data and information at the river basin scale. and environmental impacts, their underlying assumptions and the context in which they can be effectively used. This chapter provides the core of the report, covering water registers, water and ecosystem capital accounting, water scarcity and vulnerability indices, water footprint assessment and life cycle assessment. Case studies are used to exemplify how the different methods are currently used and where they are developing. It is possible to conclude that water registers provide a key to the fair distribution of access to water; accounting can provide governments with knowledge of how water as one part of the natural capital of ecosystems is linked to the economy and human well-being; water footprint assessment can provide a strong analytical perspective on production and consumption of water, especially in areas such as agriculture, crops and the food industry; life cycle assessment and the various standards associated with it can provide benchmarking for industries; and water stewardship can help improve quantification in corporate water monitoring. There are tradeoffs between the various methods, but it is clear that today we have a sufficiently robust set of tools and methods to be able to include water in all major economic and social considerations. Chapter 5 summarises the main conclusions of the report. It provides information on how to address decoupling through the adoption of targets and policies on water efficiency, innovation, appropriate market signals, and water rights, so as not to deplete water resources and to increase water productivity. Chapter 4 looks in detail at the various methodologies for quantifying water use 13
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Water is an essential resource for
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