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3. Pioneers in the Blue Economy The economic risks and opportunities for water are only just beginning to register for most government and business managers. However, a number of pioneers in the Blue Economy have emerged and are leading the way in the development of new approaches, innovative technologies, and ways of working together to confront the challenge. 3.1. Leading jurisdictions A handful of countries and geographic regions have established themselves as leaders in the ‘innovation ecosystems’ that lead to the creation of new water technologies, services and practices. For example, despite a lack of abundant local source water, Singapore has recognized the growing opportunities in the water sector and is investing to become a global ‘hydro hub’ (2030 Water Resources Group, 2009; IBM, 2009). The country’s national water agency, PUB, is working to reduce reliance on imported water (from Malaysia) and costly desalinated water by increasing the supply with reclaimed water and driving down demand through a conservation plan. The reclaimed water, called NEWater, involves separating the collection and redirection of wastewater and run-off rainwater and treating used water with advanced-membrane filtration. Through its innovative efforts, Singapore aims to generate roughly 11,000 professional and skilled jobs by 2015 (2030 Water Resources Group, 2009). Israel is another country with scarce water supplies that has turned a vulnerability into a major asset. Since 1964, the Israeli population has nearly tripled; however, Israeli farmers have succeeded in producing nine times the amount of food with a mere 3% increase in water consumption (IBM, 2009). This productivity is typically attributed to the sector’s technological prowess, and indeed Israel is a global leader in precision agriculture. However, this technological advancement was made possible by placing proper valuation on water, investing in advanced education, creating platforms for new business ventures, and developing programmess to attract private funds (Cleantech Group, 2011; IBM, 2009). Israel’s Novel Efficiency Water Technologies (NEWTech) programme has produced 26 government-funded water technology incubators, which have attracted nearly US $700 million in private investment (Cleantech Group, 2011). Israel boasts more than 250 water technology businesses, which, when combined, exported US $1.4 billion worth of goods in 2008 (2030 Water Resources Group, 2009). Scarcity is not the only driver of innovation in water. The need to remove pollutants, to reduce energy and other costs associated with water distribution, and to replace or repair aging water infrastructure, is common to many regions of the world, wet or dry. Governments that share the North American Great Lakes basin, a region that contains 20% of the world’s fresh surface water supplies, have identified water as a key economic asset. The region faces challenges related to water pollution concerns, crumbling water infrastructure, and water stress in urban areas located away from the lakes. It is also a region that has gone through economic decline due to a loss in its traditional manufacturing base, particularly in sectors such as auto manufacturing. Meanwhile, it has produced some major technological innovations in water and wastewater treatment, such as the ground-breaking treatment technologies of Trojan Technologies and ZENON Environmental (purchased by General Electric in 2006). To build on the successes of Trojan and ZENON and as part of a broader push towards a green economy, the Ontario Government in Canada recently passed the Water Opportunities and Water Conservation Act, with the goal of making Ontario the North American leader in the development and sale of water conservation and treatment technologies. To achieve this goal, it has created the Water Technology Acceleration Partnership (WaterTAP) to support research, development and commercialization of new technologies and innovations in the water sector. Similarly, the Milwaukee Water Council in Wisconsin, USA was created to convene and build partnerships between the research clusters and more than 130 water technology companies in the region. The Council aims to establish the Milwaukee region as a ‘World Water Hub’ for water research, economic development, and education. Another water hub is emerging just south of the Great Lakes basin in southwest Ohio, southeast Indiana and northern Kentucky, USA where, in 2011, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched the Water Technology Innovation Cluster (WTIC). WTIC aims to establish the region as a global leader in sustainable, environmental technology innovation, with an initial emphasis on water. Innovation is not limited to highly developed jurisdictions. The city of Durban, South Africa is working to provide adequate drinking water and sanitation to each resident of its growing population, whether wealthy or impoverished. Low pressure delivery reduces the amount of drinking water lost to leakage. More than 60,000 urine diversion toilets and nearly another 62 The Global Water Crisis: Addressing an Urgent Security Issue
60,000 ventilation improved pit latrines require less water for flushing (IBM, 2009). Yellow waste could one day be used for fertilizing urban crops; black waste, for urban agroforestry (IBM, 2009). 3.2. Innovative businesses and partnerships Governments have a key role in stimulating the Blue Economy by fostering innovation, supporting commercialization of new solutions, reversing perverse subsidies and establishing the right price signals. But to seize these opportunities, the world is also going to require pioneers that are ahead of governments and can show the way forward. One pioneer that is establishing itself in this space is IBM. IBM has launched the Global Innovation Outlook (GIO) to convene diverse actors and explore a variety of pressing topics, including the future of the world’s water resources. The company is active in promoting advanced information gathering and analysis as a key part of environmental decisionmaking. And in 2011, it pledged CAD $20 million of technology investment in the Southern Ontario Water Consortium in Canada to partner with eight universities and over 70 companies to create a new platform for innovation in watershed, wastewater and drinking water management. Examples of pioneering companies can be found throughout the world: • APTwater: A US company that has developed a revolutionary technology that can remove nitrates and other oxidized contaminants from agriculturally-impacted source water without producing waste. • TaKaDu: An Israeli company providing software for water utilities to monitor their networks, detect leaks and address inefficiencies in delivery. • AquaZ: a Danish company making sea water desalination economically viable through the use of biotechnology and nanotechnology. • Water Health: a decentralized water utility that is delivering access to clean drinking water in underserved communities in India, Bangladesh, Ghana and the Philippines for less than US $10 per person. • Ostara: a Canadian company that recovers nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) from municipal and industrial wastewaters and transforms them into fertilizer. Business clusters are also beginning to work together to collect, share and standardize data on water conservation and protection (IBM, 2009). For example, a group of 12 international corporations, including Nestlé Waters and The Coca Cola Company, has formed The Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable to share best practises concerning water resource management. Other businesses have forged partnerships with environmental organizations. SABMiller plc, one of the world’s largest brewing companies, has partnered with WWF-UK to address the issues of water scarcity and pollution faced by SABMiller’s local businesses and surrounding communities. The partnership has yielded ground-breaking ‘water footprints’, indicators of water use that consider both the direct and indirect water use of a consumer or producer, and enable the assessment and reduction of water risk (WWF-UK & SABMiller plc, 2009). Another creative partnership, Aqueduct, was formed by several private companies, the Dutch Government and The World Resources Institute, a global environmental think tank. The Aqueduct partnership is a tool that measures and maps water-related risks, and can be used by companies, investors, and others to track water risks at a scale appropriate for developing sound business and investment strategies. 3.3. Non-governmental collaborations A number of non-governmental organizations are also taking a strong interest in water risk and opportunity. The Carbon Disclosure Project is now producing an annual Water Disclosure Global Report, designed to provide data that informs decision-making, to increase investor and business awareness of the financial risks and opportunities around water, and to report on global standards and corporate practices related to water (Carbon Disclosure Project, 2011). The 2030 Water Resources Group was formed in 2008 to contribute new insights to the issues of water resources scarcity. Its members include McKinsey & Company (a global management consulting firm), the World Bank Group, and a consortium of business partners. In 2009, the Group, guided by hundreds of specialists and public sector practitioners, published the report Charting Our Water Future: Economic Frameworks to Inform Decision-Making (2030 Water Resources Group, 2009). The Blue Economy: Risks and Opportunities in Addressing the Global Water Crisis Part 1 63
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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
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 and 48: Richter, B.D., M.M. Davis, C. Apse
Page 49 and 50: Introduction Water is an essential
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: • Upgrading current water infrast
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
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1.2. The Extreme risk of food secur
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Furthermore, within each basin, lan
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3.2. Early doubts vis-à-vis progre
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transboundary water management conc
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3 Will the Right to Water Alleviate
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Introduction A growing number of ar
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2. Ethical Perspectives on State Ob
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References Barlow, Maude, 2007. Blu
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Introduction It is widely recognize
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Later in 2010, the UN Human Rights
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3.2. Legislative Recognition Dozens
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Mandela, M., 2002. No Water, No Fut
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Introduction South Africans have a
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water per person per day. The appli
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References Bluemel, E. B., 2004.
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Introduction Water conflicts are nu
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4. Water Policies and Their Impact
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y its interconnection to encompass
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Access to Water and Conflict: An In
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Response from the InterAction Counc
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As former U.S. President Mr. Bill C
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The InterAction Council Québec Dec
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List of Participants
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List of Participants: 29 th Annual
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