IWA’s Water and Development Congress & Exhibition in Bangkok, Thailand, was staged under the theme of ‘Water, sanitation, and innovation – pathways to progress and a resilient future’. The theme captures the sense that water is multifaceted, the concerns around it diverse and overlapping, and the gains from action on water returned to the human and natural world in interlinked strands. And within all of that, there are the rising concerns around climate change and the need for well-managed water as a foundation of resilience.
So, as the water sector looks on at the ongoing efforts of the COP process around the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to advance action on climate change, we know it is an issue that adds pressure but does not fully define our agenda, as there is so much else to be done. But at the same time, the long-term picture is clear enough: that climate action needs to be baked into the fabric of our sector.
That long-term picture is grounded in the prospects for greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) where, quite clearly, much more needs to be done and done soon. The United Nations Environment Programme provides an ongoing benchmark in this respect – through its regular Emissions Gap Report. Its top-line warning signal is that a global temperature of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels is very likely to be reached within the next decade, and that faster and bigger reductions in GHGs are needed to limit overshoot above this and for a return to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by 2100 to even be a possibility.
This is one of a slew of reports over recent months that continue to raise concerns around direct impacts of climate change and of wider issues that are at risk of being exacerbated by a changing climate.
Prominent among these is the first edition of the Global Water Monitoring Report released by the World Bank. Providing the most detailed picture yet of global freshwater decline, it warns that the world is losing 324 billion m3 of freshwater every year. According to the report, these losses are driven not only by worsening droughts but also by unsustainable land and water practices, ranging from poor pricing policies to excessive irrigation.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has warned in its latest report of a ‘silent crisis’ of land degradation that is threatening the welfare of many. The report warns that around 1.7 billion people are living in areas where crop yields are failing because of human-induced land degradation. Natural and human factors are at play, including salinisation and unsustainable irrigation practices.
There are also concerns around prospects for the world’s forests. The UN Economic Commission for Europe has highlighted the rising number of wildfires and droughts globally linked to warmer temperatures. It also raises other concerns, with fears that the world’s forests risk being damaged and overexploited beyond repair.
So, while the climate connections can be complex, the need to forge agendas that embed action as part of broader plans is clear. And just as the Bangkok Congress was framed to capture the climate need, so too will next year’s World Water Congress & Exhibition, which will be held under the theme of ‘Water action – the path to resilience and prosperity’.
Keith Hayward, Editor
