Green Economy
Report Outlines Investment Strategies to
Help Reduce Water Scarcity
Nairobi/Stockholm, 25
August 2011 - Investing 0.16 per cent of
global GDP in the water sector could reduce
water scarcity and halve the number of people
without sustainable access to safe drinking
water and basic sanitation in less than
four years, according to United Nations
research released today.
Currently, the failure
to invest in water services and to collect,
treat and re-use water efficiently, is exacerbating
water shortages in many parts of the world
and contributing to a situation where global
demand for water could outstrip supply within
20 years.
In the water chapter
of its ground-breaking Green Economy Report,
released during the World Water Week conference
in Stockholm, the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) said investing in sanitation
and drinking water, strengthening local
water supply systems, conserving ecosystems
critical for water supply, and developing
more effective policies can help avert the
high social and economic costs resulting
from inadequate water supplies.
Cambodia, Indonesia,
the Philippines and Vietnam, for example,
lose an estimated US$9 billion a year, or
2 percent of their combined GDP, due to
problems caused by poor sanitation, such
as water-borne diseases.
"Improving access
to cleaner drinking water and sanitation
services is a cornerstone of a more sustainable,
resource-efficient society", said Achim
Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and
UNEP Executive Director.
"The Green Economy
Report shows how accelerated investment
in water-dependent ecosystems, water infrastructure
and water management, coupled with effective
policies, can boost water and food security,
improve human health and promote economic
growth," added Mr Steiner.
With no improvement
in efficiency of water use, water demand
is expected to outstrip supply by as much
as 40 per cent by 2030.
The Green Economy Report
shows that improvements in water productivity,
as well as increases in supply (from new
dams and desalination plants as well as
more recycling) are expected to narrow this
gap by about 40 per cent, but the remaining
60 per cent will have to come from infrastructure
investment, water policy reform and the
development of new technologies.
"Without this investment
and policy reform, water supply crises will
become increasingly common," said Professor
Mike Young of the University of Adelaide,
lead author of the water chapter of the
Green Economy Report.
Improving the efficiency
and sustainability of water use is also
vital if the world's increasing energy demands
are to be met. As countries become wealthier
and more populous, industrial demand for
water is expected to increase. In China,
for example, more than half of the increase
in demand for water over the next 25 years
is expected to result from a significant
expansion in its industrial sector.
Under the green investment
scenario outlined in the Green Economy Report,
global water use could be kept within sustainable
limits and the Millennium Development Goal
of reducing by half the proportion of the
population without sustainable access to
safe drinking water and basic sanitation,
could be met by 2015.
With an annual investment
of US$198 billion, or 0.16 per cent of global
GDP by 2030, water use could be made more
efficient, enabling increased and sustainable
agricultural, biofuel and industrial production.
Under this scenario, the number of people
living in water-stressed regions is 4 per
cent less than under the business-as-usual
scenario, and 7 per cent less by 2050.
The report highlights
several case studies where green water investments
are producing economic and environmental
benefits.
As part of its Five-Year
Plan for Green Growth, the Republic of Korea,
for example, announced a US$ 17.3 billion
investment in its Four Major Rivers Restoration
Project in 2009. The five key objectives
of the project are to secure water resources
against water scarcity, implement flood
control measures, improve water quality
whilst restoring river-basin ecosystems
and develop local regions and cultural and
leisure space around major rivers.
Overall, it is expected
that the project will create 340,000 jobs
and generate an estimated US$ 31.1 billion
of positive economic effects as rivers are
restored to health.
Well-planned bioenergy
a key part of Green Economy
Water use for bioenergy
production is the subject of another new
report, also released at World Water Week
today. The Bioenergy and Water Nexus was
jointly produced by UNEP, the Oeko-Institut
and the International Energy Agency Task
43.
Renewable, sustainable
sources of energy are an essential part
of the transition to a low carbon, resource-efficient
Green Economy. All forms of energy have,
to a greater or lesser extent, an impact
on water resources, and the relation between
water and bioenergy (renewable energy derived
from organic materials such as wood, biomass
or agricultural by-products) is particularly
complex.
This report finds that
bioenergy's water demands are in large part
linked with the cultivation and processing
of feedstocks, such as crops, which in turn
have important implications for sustainable
agriculture, land use and food production.
In a world where more
than 70 percent of global freshwater is
used for agriculture, the report says bioenergy
development needs to be carefully planned
to avoid it adding to existing pressures.
This planning needs to reflect the increasing
and competing needs for the same raw materials
for uses such as food, animal fodder and
fibre as the world's population climbs to
an expected nine billion by mid-century.
In some cases, these considerations may
argue against bioenergy development.
However, the report
outlines circumstances in which well-planned
bioenergy development can improve agricultural
practices, including promoting water efficiency
and sustainable fertilizer use, and even
improve access to water, thanks to water
pumping and cleaning powered by bioenergy,
and food security in the case of combined
food-bioenergy production systems.
The report's recommendations
include:
Taking a holistic approach
and a long-term perspective - Consider the
context to identify the best use for water.
There is no "one size fits all"
approach. Apply a life-cycle approach, consider
inter-relationships with other resource
needs, and take into account the whole watershed.
Base decisions on impact
assessments to ensure sustainable water
management - Analyse bioenergy systems from
a comprehensive socio-ecological perspective.
Promote sustainable land and water use.
Design and implement
effective water-related policies - These
should cover feedstock production and energy
conversion and monitor competition between
sectoral uses of water.
Promote technology development
- New technologies may help relieve pressure
on water resources, but they will need a
due diligence check before deployment.
Conduct further research,
fill data gaps, and develop regionalized
tools - Support international cooperation
in research on bioenergy-related water impacts;
address emerging and largely unexplored
issues such as the potential and risks of
coastal zones/microalgae, land-based microalgae
and genetically modified organisms; monitoring
needs to be done on a regular basis to fill
data gaps and check compliance with regulations
and sustainable production; Life Cycle Impact
Assessment and water footprints are inadequate
without regional tools that assess localized
impacts.
New "Cool Tools"
for Waterbird and Wetland Conservation
The CSN Tool will improve
our understanding of waterbirds migration
An innovative tool for
tracking the migratory patterns of waterbirds
has won first prize in an ESRI International
Conservation Mapping Competition. The "Critical
Site Network (CSN) Tool" (CSN Tool)
and the supporting "Flyway Training
Kit" (FTK) are some of the products
of the Wings over Wetland (WOW) project,
the largest flyway scale waterbirds conservation
initiative ever attempted, covering the
118 countries included in the range of the
African-Eurasian Waterbirds Agreement (AEWA).
The WOW project is funded
by the GEF (Global Environment Facility),
The German Government and several other
donors, and it is implemented by UNEP as
a joint effort by leading global conservation
organizations and partners such as Wetlands
International, BirdLife International, the
AEWA, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands,
and UNEP-WCMC (World Conservation Monitoring
Centre) and UNOPS.
An estimated 50 billion
migratory birds make phenomenal annual journeys
across borders and regions of the world,
covering thousands of kilometers. For this
reason, they are a link between countries
and ecosystems, making them one of the world's
great wonders. Because of their use of several
habitats as stopover sites during migration,
the health of migratory birds is an important
indicator of the state of our environment.
Migratory birds are
particularly vulnerable to the effects of
climate change; they often feel the effects
of the changing environment first, before
many other animal species. The critical
habitats that migratory birds need to complete
their annual migrations are disappearing
due to human activity such as land reclamation
for agricultural use, rapid urbanization
and population growth. This poses a great
risk to migratory birds, sometimes preventing
them from completing their long journeys.
The CSN Tool will be
instrumental to improve our understanding
of waterbirds migration, and it will promote
their conservation through better management
and more informed decision making at the
flyways scale. This will also help combat
the adverse effects of climate change by
protecting the critical wetlands habitats
used by water birds. These habitats are
also important for the livelihoods of millions
of people in rural communities living around
those wetlands.
Selected as one of the
best web-based conservation mapping tools,
from over 100 entries, the CSN Tool is being
increasingly featured in birding and conservation
magazines and winning global awards since
its launch in 2010. This online conservation
tool features 294 species of waterbirds
and covers all the known important sites
upon which they depend (n.b. access is free,
on the WOW website). Users can now gain
quick one-stop access to all existing relevant
information about migratory waterbirds and
their critical migration sites, used for
rest and refuel during their journey, and
this is all greatly simplified through a
user-friendly interface. The improved access
to existing information can now significantly
help conservation efforts, but will also
facilitate the implementation of international
environment agreements, such as the AEWA
and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. It
is a useful resource for a range of different
users from site managers to national authorities
and international organizations.
The supporting WOW "Flyaway
Training Kit", also launched in 2010,
is a 560-pages state-of-the-art training
package developed to build professional
capacity to plan, implement, monitor and
engage in effective flyway-scale conservation
of migratory waterbirds and wetland habitats
in the entire AEWA region. It is the result
of collaborative efforts of the WOW partners
and over 40 training institutes across the
AEWA region. Three modules are included
in the FTK, focusing on understanding, applying
and communicating the flyway conservation
concept. The FTK covers the topic of flyway
conservation with example-rich text, case
studies, ready-to-use PowerPoint presentations,
practical exercises and workshop programmes.
This is all available for free download
online in the WOW website, and is available
in English, French, Arabic and Russian languages.
The WOW project has
now turned into a long-term "WOW partnership"
between some of the same group of conservation
organisations, and the joint annual celebration
of the World Migratory Bird Day is just
an example of the continued efforts towards
highlighting the negative effects of human
activities on migratory birds, their habitats
and the planet's natural environment. International
environmental governance for the conservation
and sustainable use of global common resources
is a vital issue that is at the core of
the UNEP mandate. Migratory birds require
protection across all borders. They are
a unique natural wonders shared by all mankind,
and their conservation is the responsibility
of all countries and organizations of the
world.
For more information,
direct access to all the WOW flyways tools
described in this article, and contacts,
please visit: www.wingsoverwetlands.org
+ More
New UN Programme Aims
to Tackle Water Scarcity in Jordan
Nairobi, 25 August 2011
- A new Joint Programme to strengthen to
the impacts of climate change on scarce
water resources and to improve food security
and health in Jordan is the focus of a workshop
at the World Water Week in Stockholm today.
The Jordan Joint Programme
- a collaborative effort between the Government
of Jordan and several United Nations agencies
and carried out under the Spain-funded Millennium
Development Goals Achievement Fund (MDG-F)
- aims to improve access to drinking water,
promote the sustainable use of water supply
sources and strengthen resilience to climate
change in a country that is faced with serious
water supply challenges.
The UN Human Development
Report for Jordan 2011 shows that the country
ranks among those facing the greatest shortages
in terms of water resources and availability
worldwide.
Jordan's water supplies
are indeed precarious. According to the
report, it has a shortfall of one third
of its requirements in drinking water and
approximately 50% in irrigation needs. This
has a direct bearing on the country's food
security, human health and environmental
sustainability.
In an attempt to meet
the country's increasing demand for water,
there has been extensive drilling for under-ground
water sources. This in turn has resulted
in rising levels of salinity in underground
water reserves, as well as diminishing water
levels and growing pumping costs.
Approximately two thirds
of Jordan's water supplies go towards agriculture,
even though agriculture is responsible for
less than 4% of the country's GDP.
Assessments by experts
indicate that the current situation is likely
to worsen in light of climate change.
The main UN agencies
involved are the World Health Organization
Regional Centre for Environmental Health
Activities (WHO - CEHA), the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO), the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) and the Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO).
The United Nations Environment
programme (UNEP) is identifying best practices
and sharing information on other climate
change adaptation projects with key interest
groups in Jordan in order to help develop
a more sustainable approach to water use.
The Joint Programme
has brought together a wide range of partners
in the country which include the Ministry
of Environment, Ministry of Health, Ministry
of Agriculture, Ministry of Water and Irrigation
and Ministry of Education.
The Jordan Joint Programme
will target vulnerable communities and improve
their adaptive capacity to climate change.
This will be achieved through establishment
of model farms using waste water for irrigation,
introduction of drought resistant wheat
seeds, adoption of drinking water safety
plans, water safety educational programmes
and updating the needed strategies governing
these interventions.
The Jordan Joint Programme
was featured in UNEP's "Week in Focus"
- a dynamic and interactive knowledge management
platform for policymakers and environmental
experts - from 15 to 18 August 2011. The
platform seeks to improve the sharing of
technical information and expertise among
key interest groups.
By making water use
more sustainable, the programme hopes to
bring benefits to human health and food
security.
Similar projects in
Ecuador, Egypt, Mauritania, Turkey and Guatemala
will be showcased in future "Weeks
in Focus".
