orld leaders go into the COP26 climate talks with the most explicit warning to date from scientists that global temperatures will increase by at least 1.5C.
The latest IPCC report makes clear that the world has to reach net zero emissions by 2050 to succeed in averting even worse scenarios, and that slashing levels of greenhouse gases is only part of the urgent response needed.
The extreme climatic events experienced around the world in 2021 are just the start. Countries have to prepare to live with the consequences of rising temperatures and be ready for what lies ahead.
The IPCC's findings are unambiguous: what is coming is more droughts, floods, and extreme rainfall, more variable and less reliable tropical monsoons, melting glaciers, changing river flows and rising sea levels. Climate change is water change—and it is bringing with it the threat of famine, insecurity, and conflict.
In a future defined by accumulating climate change and a climate-altered water cycle, the world needs more fluid, decentralized, and innovative water management, and cannot only rely on what has worked in the past.
If countries are to more effectively manage water resources against ever more uncertain and extreme conditions then fit and proper water governance must be a central feature of national climate strategies and the priorities for action that come out of COP26.
As the climate warms, water risks are increasingly a moving target. Anticipating and planning for water scarcity, deluges and damage is becoming more and more challenging for governments and communities, and for the finance sector and businesses.
Traditionally, the systems that oversee water rights, supplies and allocations have made use of often rigid, formal agreements or treaties and prioritized built infrastructure, like dams and reservoirs.
A key tenet of more effective water governance must be the development of greater resilience to the changes in local and regional water regimes that the unfolding changes in the global water cycle are unleashing.
Just over 1.4 billion people in the world today—including some 450 million children—live in areas classed as having high or extremely high levels of water scarcity. By 2050, almost six billion people could face water shortages for at least one month every year.
Although there is no standardized blueprint for how nations govern water resources, there are principles for resilience that national, regional, and local actors can use to guide water governance and to reduce the risk of water insecurity and, consequently, hardship, instability and conflict.
For instance, inflexible, top-down approaches must give way to more democratic and decentralized arrangements that allow greater autonomy in local decision-making while promoting cooperation across watershed, basin, and transboundary levels.
Just over 1.4 billion people in the world today—including some 450 million children—live in areas classed as having high or extremely high levels of water scarcity. Photo by Gyan Shahane via Unsplash.
Just over 1.4 billion people in the world today—including some 450 million children—live in areas classed as having high or extremely high levels of water scarcity. Photo by Gyan Shahane via Unsplash.
The long-running tension between Pakistan and India over the Indus River, which is a lifeline for the 268 million people inhabiting its basin, for instance, reflects the frailties in water governance at these different levels.
Lessons in responding to new circumstances and adapting water governance can be learned from the seven state signatories to the 1922 Colorado River Compact in the US, where an historic drought forced local authorities to review a century-old agreement and adopt a contingency plan in April 2019. The updated agreement reduced water allocation to each state during droughts, protecting the interests and livelihoods of the 40 million people served by the basin.
Ultimately, decision-making on a resource as crucial as water should be evidence-based. This requires investment in technologies and systems that can allow a wide range of data to be gathered and put to use.
The Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, home to some 175 million people, have been able to carry out real-time planning and evidence-based decision-making in the event of a drought thanks to the South Asia Drought Monitoring System (SADMS) since 2017.
As climate change drives water change, more and better data about water supplies and up-to-date information on water risks will be ever more essential. Responding to climate change needs arrangements for water governance that are flexible and in which decision-making at all levels is well supported with data and information.
As the governments of the world are warned that the tipping points for climate vulnerability are rapidly approaching and intensifying, it is clear that good governance of water is crucial to the climate agenda, as well as incorporating nature-based solutions and integrating climate action with transformation of food systems.
And while a transition in the energy sector is driving global efforts to mitigate climate change, governance that transforms water systems will drive adaptation to the changes that lie ahead.
The UN Water Conference slated to take place in 2023 will be the first intergovernmental conference on water since 1977. During this time, there have been almost 30 global climate talks.
Agile arrangements for water governance are urgently needed to lay the framework for the ways in which countries respond to the growing water challenges we face in the world today.
With water more firmly embedded in the climate change discourse, countries can seize the opportunity at COP26 to prioritize resilient water governance as a key strategy to reduce the risks of climate-amplified water insecurity.
a global affairs media network
An Urgent and Radical Rethink on Water
Photo via Unsplash.
November 1, 2021
Climate change is water change—and it is bringing with it the threat of famine, insecurity, and conflict, warns Dr. Mark Smith, Director General of International Water Management Institute (IWMI).
W
orld leaders go into the COP26 climate talks with the most explicit warning to date from scientists that global temperatures will increase by at least 1.5C.
The latest IPCC report makes clear that the world has to reach net zero emissions by 2050 to succeed in averting even worse scenarios, and that slashing levels of greenhouse gases is only part of the urgent response needed.
The extreme climatic events experienced around the world in 2021 are just the start. Countries have to prepare to live with the consequences of rising temperatures and be ready for what lies ahead.
The IPCC's findings are unambiguous: what is coming is more droughts, floods, and extreme rainfall, more variable and less reliable tropical monsoons, melting glaciers, changing river flows and rising sea levels. Climate change is water change—and it is bringing with it the threat of famine, insecurity, and conflict.
In a future defined by accumulating climate change and a climate-altered water cycle, the world needs more fluid, decentralized, and innovative water management, and cannot only rely on what has worked in the past.
If countries are to more effectively manage water resources against ever more uncertain and extreme conditions then fit and proper water governance must be a central feature of national climate strategies and the priorities for action that come out of COP26.
As the climate warms, water risks are increasingly a moving target. Anticipating and planning for water scarcity, deluges and damage is becoming more and more challenging for governments and communities, and for the finance sector and businesses.
Traditionally, the systems that oversee water rights, supplies and allocations have made use of often rigid, formal agreements or treaties and prioritized built infrastructure, like dams and reservoirs.
A key tenet of more effective water governance must be the development of greater resilience to the changes in local and regional water regimes that the unfolding changes in the global water cycle are unleashing.
Just over 1.4 billion people in the world today—including some 450 million children—live in areas classed as having high or extremely high levels of water scarcity. By 2050, almost six billion people could face water shortages for at least one month every year.
Although there is no standardized blueprint for how nations govern water resources, there are principles for resilience that national, regional, and local actors can use to guide water governance and to reduce the risk of water insecurity and, consequently, hardship, instability and conflict.
For instance, inflexible, top-down approaches must give way to more democratic and decentralized arrangements that allow greater autonomy in local decision-making while promoting cooperation across watershed, basin, and transboundary levels.
Just over 1.4 billion people in the world today—including some 450 million children—live in areas classed as having high or extremely high levels of water scarcity. Photo by Gyan Shahane via Unsplash.
Just over 1.4 billion people in the world today—including some 450 million children—live in areas classed as having high or extremely high levels of water scarcity. Photo by Gyan Shahane via Unsplash.
The long-running tension between Pakistan and India over the Indus River, which is a lifeline for the 268 million people inhabiting its basin, for instance, reflects the frailties in water governance at these different levels.
Lessons in responding to new circumstances and adapting water governance can be learned from the seven state signatories to the 1922 Colorado River Compact in the US, where an historic drought forced local authorities to review a century-old agreement and adopt a contingency plan in April 2019. The updated agreement reduced water allocation to each state during droughts, protecting the interests and livelihoods of the 40 million people served by the basin.
Ultimately, decision-making on a resource as crucial as water should be evidence-based. This requires investment in technologies and systems that can allow a wide range of data to be gathered and put to use.
The Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, home to some 175 million people, have been able to carry out real-time planning and evidence-based decision-making in the event of a drought thanks to the South Asia Drought Monitoring System (SADMS) since 2017.
As climate change drives water change, more and better data about water supplies and up-to-date information on water risks will be ever more essential. Responding to climate change needs arrangements for water governance that are flexible and in which decision-making at all levels is well supported with data and information.
As the governments of the world are warned that the tipping points for climate vulnerability are rapidly approaching and intensifying, it is clear that good governance of water is crucial to the climate agenda, as well as incorporating nature-based solutions and integrating climate action with transformation of food systems.
And while a transition in the energy sector is driving global efforts to mitigate climate change, governance that transforms water systems will drive adaptation to the changes that lie ahead.
The UN Water Conference slated to take place in 2023 will be the first intergovernmental conference on water since 1977. During this time, there have been almost 30 global climate talks.
Agile arrangements for water governance are urgently needed to lay the framework for the ways in which countries respond to the growing water challenges we face in the world today.
With water more firmly embedded in the climate change discourse, countries can seize the opportunity at COP26 to prioritize resilient water governance as a key strategy to reduce the risks of climate-amplified water insecurity.
