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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

1.4 Water, Climate Change and Human Security: Conflict and Migration Fabrice Renaud Head of Section – Environmental Vulnerability and Ecosystem Services, United Nations University, Institute for Environment and Human Security, Germany Lars Wirkus Senior Researcher, Bonn International Center for Conversion, Germany
Introduction Water is an essential resource that affects environmental, economic and social systems. This resource, whether in the form of surface water or groundwater, is under increasing pressure through increased demand, which is being driven by population growth and changing lifestyles, direct anthropogenic stressors such as agricultural, urban and industrial pollution and, in some cases, reduced supply from ecosystems through the impacts of climate change and anthropogenic activities. Arnell (2006) noted that “increasing population densities, changing patterns of water use and growing economic activities are increasing the pressures on water resources” (referenced by Scheffran and Bataglini, 2011: 30). Research literature between 1990 and today, including the IPCC 4 th Assessment Report, as well as numerous public statements since its publication in 2007, have indicated that climate change will lead to more environmentally-related stressors, particularly in vulnerable developing countries. Some of these stress factors will occur in the form of hazards: floods, tsunamis, and droughts, directly threatening human health and life; whereas hazard-induced water scarcity and hazard-weakened ecological systems gradually undermine human well-being over an extended period of time (cf. UNGA, 2009). These facts have led academics, politicians and the media to predict a bleak future for societies with the prospect of violent conflicts triggered by dwindling water resources or massive displacements of populations triggered by hydro-climatic hazards. But is this climate change/water hazards/security/displacement nexus likely? This issue will be addressed in this paper by reviewing some of the main scientific literature on the topic. 1. Water-related Hazards The EM-DAT database maintained by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) clearly indicates that the number of natural disasters reported worldwide since the 1900s is on the increase in the last few decades, as is the number of people affected by these disasters (EM-DAT, 2011). Fortunately, casualties have tended to decrease over the reported period (Figure 1). Hydro-climatic events such as droughts, floods and storms represent the majority of the reported events, and the recent devastating floods that have affected Pakistan, Thailand and Australia in 2010 and 2011 come to mind. The frequency and magnitude of hydro-climatic events are likely to be exacerbated in the future by the effects of climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) noted that in coastal areas, sea-level rise will very likely expose millions of more people than today to hazards such as floods; in addition, drought-affected areas are projected to increase in extent; coastal erosion will affect more areas; and storm patterns will change in terms of magnitude and track (IPCC, 2007). In more general terms, the IPCC (2007) reported that climate change will exacerbate current pressures on water resources worldwide by affecting precipitation and run-off patterns as well as water quality. UN-Water (2009: 3) considers that “water is the primary medium through which climate change influences Earth’s ecosystem and thus the livelihood and well-being of societies”, even though water is not discussed as a specific theme in the climate change negotiations. This can be further highlighted by the fact that the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) emphasized that 2 billion people living in arid, semi-arid and sub-humid regions are extremely vulnerable to the loss of ecosystem services, including water supply, which is exacerbated by climate change. Many in the scientific arena, political circles and mass media predict that the new or exacerbated water-related stresses will lead to mass displacement and/or increased likelihood of (violent) conflict. But can these fears be backed by empirical evidence? Water, Climate Change and Human Security: Conflict and Migration Part 1 35
Page 1: The Global Water Crisis: Addressing
Page 4 and 5: About the InterAction Council Estab
Page 6 and 7: Acknowledgements
Page 8: Foreword
Page 11 and 12: The undeniable seriousness of the g
Page 13: Foreword xiii
Page 16 and 17: The Global Water Crisis: Framing th
Page 18 and 19: Ethical considerations also need to
Page 20 and 21: 3. Support Ratification of the UN W
Page 23 and 24: 1 Water and Global Security
Page 25 and 26: Introduction Since the serious stat
Page 27 and 28: Jury and Vaux project that the numb
Page 29 and 30: 5. The Potential for Conflict and t
Page 31 and 32: References Cullen, H., 2010. The We
Page 33 and 34: Introduction Water is an integral p
Page 35 and 36: shortage Statewide Regional Local N
Page 37 and 38: summer months. To alleviate the con
Page 39 and 40: References Department of Energy, 20
Page 41 and 42: Introduction Water, economic and en
Page 43 and 44: Economic analyses of ecosystem good
Page 45 and 46: • Managing for sustainability. De
Page 47: Richter, B.D., M.M. Davis, C. Apse
Page 51 and 52: early post-Cold War period, from a
Page 53 and 54: 2.4. Water, conflicts, and institut
Page 55 and 56: Renaud et al. (2011) proposed a pre
Page 57 and 58: Carius, A., D. Tänzler and A. Maas
Page 59 and 60: Turton, A.R., 2004. “The Evolutio
Page 61 and 62: Introduction In the West Asia and N
Page 63 and 64: 2. Water in the WANA Region 2.1. De
Page 65 and 66: Following on this, during a persona
Page 67 and 68: Below are some suggestions for how
Page 69 and 70: plants through evapo-transpiration)
Page 71 and 72: WANA Forum, 2010b. Toward Supra-nat
Page 73 and 74: Introduction “The trouble with wa
Page 75 and 76: • Upgrading current water infrast
Page 77 and 78: 60,000 ventilation improved pit lat
Page 79 and 80: 5. The Bottom Line It is widely ack
Page 81: The Blue Economy: Risks and Opportu
Page 84 and 85: 2.1 A Human Development Approach to
Page 86 and 87: apparatus assists nation-states in
Page 88 and 89: By ensuring that the international
Page 90 and 91: 2.2 Water and Health Security Ganes
Page 92 and 93: 1.1. Human-induced Pollutants Domes
Page 94 and 95: Table.1. Water pollutants and human
Page 96 and 97: In many urban and semi-urban areas,
Page 98 and 99:
2.3 Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and
Page 100 and 101:
1. The Impacts of Poor Water, Sanit
Page 102 and 103:
77 64 2015 MDG target Coverage (%)
Page 104 and 105:
3. The Neglect of the WASH Sector a
Page 106 and 107:
References Checkley, W., G. Buckley
Page 108 and 109:
2.4 Water, Food and the Development
Page 110 and 111:
2. Keeping Pace with Change Since t
Page 112 and 113:
one and has yet to attain widesprea
Page 114 and 115:
2.5 Investing in Women’s Particip
Page 116 and 117:
of agriculture resulting mainly fro
Page 118 and 119:
their substantial contribution is p
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 168 and 169:
As former U.S. President Mr. Bill C
Page 170 and 171:
The InterAction Council Québec Dec
Page 172:
List of Participants
Page 175 and 176:
List of Participants: 29 th Annual
show all

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

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?