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W
ater
C
ooperation
, S
ustainability
and
P
overty
E
radication
• in early 2012 once-in-a-century floods submerged
swathes of Great Britain and Ireland, causing some
US$1.52 billion in damages
6
• in 2003-2009 the Middle East lost a volume of
water equivalent to the needs of up to 100 million
people in the region
7
• millions of people could become destitute in Africa
and Asia as staple foods more than double in price
by 2050 as a result of extreme temperatures, floods
and droughts.
8
We are, in summary, dealing with a hydro-climatic
problem with the potential to destroy ecosystems and
parts of the economy, and exacerbate poverty as well as
inequalities and tensions among and between nations.
It is for good reason that elder statesmen of the
InterAction Council recently called on the United
Nations Security Council to recognize water as one of the
top security concerns facing the global community. “The
future political impact of water scarcity may be devastat-
ing,” former Canadian Prime Minister and InterAction
Council co-chair Jean Chrétien stated. “Using water the
way we have in the past simply will not sustain humanity
in future”.
9
Even the business community understands
the need for enhanced global water management. The
2013 Global Risk Report the World Economic Forum
(WEF) called water scarcity one of the biggest threats
to prosperity of mankind, ranking water crises as more
likely, and having greater impact globally, than chronic
fiscal imbalances and food shortages.
10
WEF presents
a scary risk list: deficient adaptation to climate change,
increasing greenhouse gas emissions, more extreme
weather events, mismanagement of land and water and
water crisis. All of these have to do with our planetary
boundaries. WEF also raises the flag on possible price
spikes in energy and agricultural products. And as
mentioned before, in these areas water is a crucial factor.
Most water is shared across nations and people. A
total of 145 nations include territory within international
basins, and 21 countries lie entirely within international
basins.
11
Of the world’s 263 international basins, 158 lack
any cooperative management framework.
12
Over the last
60 years, governments have signed more than 300 inter-
national water agreements, while there have only been 37
cases of reported conflict between states over water.
13
Nevertheless, in a report for the US State Department,
the US Director of National Intelligence noted that during
the next decade water problems will contribute to instabil-
ity in states important to US national security interests.
14
Based on an analysis of past water disputes, which contrib-
uted to tensions between rivals including nuclear-armed
India and Pakistan, Israel and the Palestinians, and Syria
and Iraq,
15
it concludes that after 2020, the risk of geopo-
litical water conflict will likely increase.
16
Management of water is thus not only about techni-
cal solutions, but also about establishing a governance
structure that enables countries to develop and imple-
ment them. How to distribute the available water in
order to meet demand is essentially a question of politi-
loaded wastewater systems. As the Earth warms, rainfall patterns
can shift, bringing new patterns of drought and flooding; and rising
sea levels, storm surges, flood damage, and saltwater intrusion will
threaten human lives and livelihoods, both directly and indirectly,
through diminished freshwater supplies.
Humanity has long managed human needs for water within
the hydrological cycles; and we can continue to do so – even
with increased demands and shifts in hydrologic patterns – if we
manage water more sustainably. Water cooperation will be an abso-
lute necessity in the coming decades in order to cope with multiple
water challenges worldwide.
In the Netherlands, we pride ourselves of being probably the best
protected delta against floods in the world. Four European rivers,
including the Rhine and the Meuse, reach the sea over Dutch terri-
tory. This makes the whole country a ‘multiple delta’. Almost 60 per
cent of our territory is vulnerable to flooding from either the sea or
the rivers, and it is precisely in these areas that we earn two thirds
of our national income. The Dutch water management model – a
blend of engineering ingenuity and a governance model that is the
result of 700 years of gradual adaptation – owes its existence to
disasters, floods and broken levees. Yet what is often forgotten is that
the Netherlands is vulnerable not only to flooding, but also to water
depletion, shortages of groundwater, subsidence, salt intrusion and
transboundary pollution.
The Netherlands have had to take into account all aspects of
water in a densely populated area, vulnerable to weather, wind,
sea and other elements – and still organize it to raise welfare
levels. We were, in other words, forced to take a holistic view
of water management, to integrate sustainability upfront in our
action agenda, and to include stakeholders both within and outside
our borders. And this is exactly what is needed in future water
cooperation frameworks: an integrated vision on sustainable water
management across borders.
Achieving global water security for all is an enormous chal-
lenge. We are approaching an increasing number of natural and
planetary boundaries and have already crossed several such
boundaries. What this means in practice is reflected in the daily
news. The signs are unmistakable, and the challenges are mount-
ing. The world will have 9 billion people in 2050. More people,
larger economies, bigger cities, and more factories mean we will
need to waste much less, and produce more food – in 20 years,
about twice as much food – to meet growing demand. Yet water
tables are already more depleted than we had thought. In north-
ern India, for example, over-extraction of groundwater could
impact food security and access to water for millions of people.
So we will need to produce more food, using less water. Water
scarcity already affects more than 40 per cent of the world’s
population across every continent, and the situation will become
more severe in the coming decades.
5
As a result of population growth, economic development and
changing consumption patterns, the competition for water will grow
– between agriculture, mining, industry and cities; within socie-
ties and between countries. Especially the poor suffer from water
stress, as they are the ones who are directly dependent on water as a
natural resource for their living. Women are particularly dependent
on sufficient and safe water for household water supply, sanitation,
hygiene, food production and processing.
The economic and social costs of inaction are daunting. As extreme
weather events increase, they bring unprecedented damages: