The Global Water Crisis: Addressing an Urgent Security - Unu-inweh ...

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As former U.S. President Mr. Bill Clinton pointed out, we should be chipping away at the problem of the world’s poor and to do so, we should start with water. In addressing water issues, we address economic and public health woes while also advancing capacity to adapt to climate change and thus reducing the pressures of climate-related migration. The UN Millennium Development Goals strive to halve the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015. While advancements have been made on the water target, progress on the sanitation target is lagging far behind. Solidarity needs to be shown with those needing assistance in attaining basic sanitation systems. Mr. Clinton offered that it would not take a lot of money in relative terms for the world to show solidarity in addressing the world’s water supply and sanitation shortfall. Dr. Gro Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and principal author of the Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future, widely known as the Brundtland Report on global sustainability, observed that on the matter of universal water supply, governments have not properly responded to what to some appears as a contradiction between the fundamental human right to water and appropriate pricing of water supply and sanitation services. We have to be clear, she said, that governments at different levels are responsible for promoting the fundamental right to water, while at the same time introducing appropriate pricing for water services. It cannot be one or the other: sustainable water management demands both. It was noted that governments often fall into the vicious circle of demanding that water be priced so low or even given away because of the perception that it is a basic human need. Governments then fall short of meeting that fundamental need because they can’t afford investment in maintenance and replacement of water supply and sanitation infrastructure. There are cities around the world, especially, but not exclusively, in underdeveloped and developing countries that on average lose more than 40% of domestic water supply due to leaky networks. InterAction Council members expressed amazement at the fact that some countries – and often the most needy countries – are prepared to spend a great deal of resources to expand domestic supplies while at the same time tolerating leakage rates that are often 50% or higher when, for a fraction of the cost, better infrastructure maintenance would go a long way towards alleviating water shortages. Because of this problem, the poorest people in the world, for example in sub- Saharan Africa or southern Asia, may actually end up paying more for water on a per-litre basis than those who live in the world’s most prosperous countries. In this regard, today’s water crisis is not as much a crisis of affordability as it is a crisis of governance. Problems associated with the appropriate valuation of water services are not confined to the developing world. Even among affluent nations, efficiency of water use varies dramatically between countries and even within households in the same country. Household water efficiency ranges, for example, from more than 1,000 litres per person per day in parts of Canada to less than 100 litres per person per day in Munich, Germany. From this, it was observed that wealth and availability of water supplies do not appear to be deciding factors in determining individual daily water supply requirements. Such inefficiency, however, is no longer acceptable. Furthermore, as global energy demands rise, the energy sector is being placed into greater competition with other water users and sectors. This will impact regional energy reliability and energy security. Until our thinking about water and energy can be integrated, sustainability will continue to elude us. As pointed out by the former Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr. Goh Chok Tong, everything we are counting upon to overcome food supply shortfalls, to ensure energy security, and to adapt to climate change effects involves more water. Citing the success Singapore has had in addressing its own water supply issues, Mr. Goh Chok Tong urged members of the InterAction Council to recognize the responsibility of each national government in responding to how important water will be to our global future. Nowhere is the water crisis as imminent as in the Middle East, where several states contend over the use of the Euphrates and Jordan river basins. Joint efforts will be vital in making water-sharing part of a peaceful Middle East. However, the effects of the water crisis reach far beyond the Middle East and the developing world. Former U.S. President Mr. Bill Clinton observed that a sustainable world will not be possible unless water contamination becomes better regulated and the effects of agricultural run-off are globally controlled and diminished. 154 The Global Water Crisis: Addressing an Urgent Security Issue
The Council membership acknowledged that a watershed-based approach should be pursued as a means of addressing the growing global water crisis. International examples suggest that watershed-scale management of water resources can generate increased economic benefits en route to solving environmental problems. The European Union Water Framework Directive, for example, provides a positive example of a successful agreement on water management standards and the linkages between agricultural and water policies. In recognizing that there is only a finite amount of water in the world, we realize that the water we drink today is the same water we will drink tomorrow and our grandchildren will drink generations from now. This necessitates the promotion of an ethic of water usage and a realization that water is simply too valuable not to manage appropriately. Speaking for many others, the former President of Argentina, Mr. Fernando de la Rua, identified the need for a new global water ethic. Mr. Bolger of New Zealand noted that just as the 1960s and 1970s promoted the Green Revolution, we now need a Blue Revolution. Solutions to the water crisis need to be sought from the perspective of development, energy, technology, international law, gender equality, migration, economic progress, public health conservation, and the environment. It was noted, however, that presently international water leadership is virtually non-existent. The world is clearly lacking in effective hydro-diplomacy. Political will, financial resources, good governance and public education are lacking. In response to this, the InterAction Council agreed to establish a panel to address global water issues, and will begin this work by building on the positive examples of the Singapore International Water Week, the Stockholm Water Conference, the World Water Council, and other similar initiatives. Progress is possible on the global water crisis, but it won’t be easy and it will take time. Alleviating the world’s water woes is one of our generation’s great challenges, and we should be working now toward fulfillment of the InterAction Council recommendations with all the intelligence and energy we can summon. Response from the InterAction Council on the World Water Crisis Conclusions 155
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The Global Water Crisis: Addressing
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About the InterAction Council Estab
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Acknowledgements
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Foreword
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The undeniable seriousness of the g
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Foreword xiii
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The Global Water Crisis: Framing th
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Ethical considerations also need to
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3. Support Ratification of the UN W
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1 Water and Global Security
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Introduction Since the serious stat
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Jury and Vaux project that the numb
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5. The Potential for Conflict and t
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References Cullen, H., 2010. The We
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Introduction Water is an integral p
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shortage Statewide Regional Local N
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summer months. To alleviate the con
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References Department of Energy, 20
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Introduction Water, economic and en
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Economic analyses of ecosystem good
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• Managing for sustainability. De
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Richter, B.D., M.M. Davis, C. Apse
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Introduction Water is an essential
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early post-Cold War period, from a
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2.4. Water, conflicts, and institut
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Renaud et al. (2011) proposed a pre
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Carius, A., D. Tänzler and A. Maas
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Turton, A.R., 2004. “The Evolutio
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Introduction In the West Asia and N
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2. Water in the WANA Region 2.1. De
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Following on this, during a persona
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Below are some suggestions for how
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plants through evapo-transpiration)
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WANA Forum, 2010b. Toward Supra-nat
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Introduction “The trouble with wa
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• Upgrading current water infrast
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60,000 ventilation improved pit lat
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5. The Bottom Line It is widely ack
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The Blue Economy: Risks and Opportu
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2.1 A Human Development Approach to
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apparatus assists nation-states in
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By ensuring that the international
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2.2 Water and Health Security Ganes
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1.1. Human-induced Pollutants Domes
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Table.1. Water pollutants and human
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In many urban and semi-urban areas,
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2.3 Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and
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1. The Impacts of Poor Water, Sanit
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77 64 2015 MDG target Coverage (%)
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3. The Neglect of the WASH Sector a
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References Checkley, W., G. Buckley
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2.4 Water, Food and the Development
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2. Keeping Pace with Change Since t
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one and has yet to attain widesprea
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2.5 Investing in Women’s Particip
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of agriculture resulting mainly fro
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Page 120 and 121: Although cultural constraints still
Page 122 and 123: UNEP, 2009. Water Security and Ecos
Page 124 and 125: 2.6 Water Governance Reform in Afgh
Page 126 and 127: 1.2. The Extreme risk of food secur
Page 128 and 129: Furthermore, within each basin, lan
Page 130 and 131: 3.2. Early doubts vis-à-vis progre
Page 132 and 133: transboundary water management conc
Page 135 and 136: 3 Will the Right to Water Alleviate
Page 137 and 138: Introduction A growing number of ar
Page 139 and 140: 2. Ethical Perspectives on State Ob
Page 141 and 142: References Barlow, Maude, 2007. Blu
Page 143 and 144: Introduction It is widely recognize
Page 145 and 146: Later in 2010, the UN Human Rights
Page 147 and 148: 3.2. Legislative Recognition Dozens
Page 149 and 150: Mandela, M., 2002. No Water, No Fut
Page 151 and 152: Introduction South Africans have a
Page 153 and 154: water per person per day. The appli
Page 155 and 156: References Bluemel, E. B., 2004.
Page 157 and 158: Introduction Water conflicts are nu
Page 159 and 160: 4. Water Policies and Their Impact
Page 161 and 162: y its interconnection to encompass
Page 163 and 164: Access to Water and Conflict: An In
Page 166 and 167: Response from the InterAction Counc
Page 170 and 171: The InterAction Council Québec Dec
Page 172: List of Participants
Page 175 and 176: List of Participants: 29 th Annual
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