When Samuel Taylor Coleridge first published The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in 1798, the lyrics “Water, water, everywhere, / Ne any drop to drink” sound particularly relevant today.
According to Csaba Krsi, the president of the 77th United Nations General Assembly, during a news conference on the impending UN Water Conference, the world is currently experiencing an unprecedented water crisis, with the demand for freshwater expected to outpace availability by 40% by 2030.
There is a water issue, according to the scientific findings. Through what we are doing to the climate, we are wasting water, polluting water, and altering the entire global hydrological cycle. It s a triple catastrophe, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research Johan Rockstrom, who is co-chair of the Global Commission on the Economics of Water (GCEW), told The Guardian.
At the UN meeting taking place from March 22 to 24 in New York, a Water Action Agenda voluntary pledge by nations and stakeholders to achieve sustainable development goals is anticipated to be established.
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The GCEW study Changing the Tide: A Collective Call to Action outlines crucial steps that everyone must take to avert the impending water crisis. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and global climate action, in general, will fail, according to the commission, the GCEW reported in a press statement.
Governments must stop subsidizing agricultural water extraction and usage, according to the report, according to The Guardian. Heavy industry activities like mining and manufacturing must also stop being dangerous and wasteful.
The report’s authors make the point that since most nations rely on one another for this critical resource and its pollution and excessive usage endanger the world’s water resources, countries must start managing water as a common good.
We require a common good strategy that is far more proactive and ambitious. According to Mariana Mazzucato, co-chair of the GCEW and lead author of the study at University College London, we need to place justice and equity at the center of this; it’s not only a technology or financial problem.
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According to Rockstrom, most countries acquire around half of their water from neighboring countries’ green water, which is produced when trees’ leaves emit water vapor while transpiring. Nevertheless, most of these countries are unaware of this link.
Seven important recommendations are made in the GCEW report, including managing the planet’s water cycle as a common good, ending the undervaluation of water, eliminating the $700 billion in water and agriculture subsidies, and establishing Just Water Partnerships to facilitate investments in water sustainability, access, and resilience in low- and middle-income countries.
The research recommended that the restoration of wetlands, depleted groundwater supplies, and other freshwater systems, as well as clean and sufficient water for all vulnerable people, be given top priority.
According to Rockstrom, there won’t be an agricultural revolution until the water problem is solved, according to The Guardian. There is always water behind all of the difficulties we encounter, but we never bring it up.
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Since the initial water summit in 1977, the UN has not convened for a water-related discussion until next week’s conference. If we are to have a hope of solving our climate crisis, our biodiversity crisis, and other global challenges on food, energy, and health, we need to radically change our approach in how we value and manage water, Henk Ovink, a special envoy for international water affairs for the Netherlands, told The Guardian. The best chance we have to ensure that people, crops, and the environment continue to have access to the water they require is now.
