World Water Development Report

Why in news?

• The United Nations World Water Development Report (WWDR) was released ahead of World Water Day (March 22).

Ensuring the sustainable use of the planet’s resources is vital for ensuring long-term peace and prosperity.

What is the report on?

• The WWDR is an annual and thematic report that focuses on different strategic water issues each year.
• It aims to provide decision-makers with the tools to implement sustainable use of our water resources.
• The development of the WWDR is coordinated by the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP).
• The report is a joint effort of the UN agencies and entities which make up UN-Water.
• The latest report was released at the 8th World Water Forum in Brasilia, hosted by Brazil.

What are the highlights?

• Water - Global demand for water has increased six-fold over the past 100 years and continues to grow at the rate of 1% each year.
• Demand for water is projected to rise faster in developing countries.
• The report highlights that more than 5 billion people could suffer water shortages by 2050.
• This could be due to the effects of climate change, increased demand and polluted water supplies.
• Climate change will put an added stress on supplies because it will make wet regions wetter and dry regions drier.
• Drought - It is arguably the greatest single threat from climate change.
• Drought and soil degradation, the biggest risks of natural disaster, are likely to worsen.
• Water quality - Pollution has worsened the water bodies and water is expected to deteriorate further in the coming two decades.
• This would be mainly due to agriculture runoffs of fertiliser and other agrochemicals.
• They load freshwater supplies with nutrients that lead to the growth of pathogens and choking algae blooms.
• Industry and cities are also a significant problem.
• About 80% of industrial and municipal wastewater is discharged without treatment.
• Threat - Water scarcity can lead to civil unrest, mass migration and even to conflict within and between countries.
• The report thus warns of conflict and civilisational threats unless actions are taken.

What is the concern with the present approach?

• For too long, the world has turned first to human-built, or ‘grey’, infrastructure to improve water management.
• In doing so, it has often brushed aside traditional and indigenous knowledge that embraces greener approaches.
• But accelerated consumption, multi-faceted impacts of climate change and increasing environmental degradation is the reality now.
• All these call for new ways of managing the competing demands on freshwater resources.

What are the suggestions?

• Water - Reducing the stress on rivers, lakes, aquifers, wetlands and reservoirs is important.
• Water shortage cannot be offset by groundwater supplies, a third of which are already in distress.
• Nor is the construction of more dams and reservoirs likely to be a solution.
• The report emphasises a shift away from watershed management.
• It calls for a wider geographic approach that takes in land use in distant areas, particularly forests.
• Although farmers have long seen trees as a drain on water supplies, the vegetation helps to recycle and distribute water.
• Evidently, the São Paulo (Brazil) drought of 2014-15 has been linked to Amazon deforestation.
• The key for change, even for the water problem, will be agriculture.
• Agriculture - This is the biggest source of both water consumption and pollution.
• The report thus emphasises the importance of nature-based solutions.
• Nature-based solutions can be personal – such as dry toilets – or broad landscape-level shifts in agricultural practices.
• In agricultural practices, it is essentially an approach to rely more on soil and trees than steel and concrete.
• It calls for shift to “conservation agriculture”.
• This would make greater use of rainwater rather than irrigation, and regularise crop rotation to maintain soil cover.
• This is crucial to reverse erosion and degradation, which currently affects a third of the planet’s land.

• The suggestions imply that the potential savings of such practices exceed the projected increase in global demand for water.
• This would ease the dangers of conflict and provide better livelihoods for family farmers and poverty reduction.

Source: The Guardian

Quick Fact

World Water Assessment Programme

• The WWAP focuses on assessing the developing situation of freshwater throughout the world.
• The primary output of the WWAP is the periodic World Water Development Report.
• UNESCO hosts the WWAP Secretariat.

World Water Forum

• The World Water Forum is the world’s biggest water-related event and is organized by the World Water Council.
• It is the biggest single gathering of policymakers, businesses and NGOs involved in water management.
• Its mission is to promote awareness, build political commitment and trigger action on critical water issues.
• It takes place every three years.

World Water Council

• The World Water Council is an international multistakeholder platform organization.
• Its members include organizations from the UN and intergovernmental organizations, the private sector, governments, academic institutions, civil society groups, etc.
• Its mission is to mobilize action on critical water issues at all levels, including the highest decision-making level.
• The Council focuses on the political dimensions of water security, adaptation and sustainability.s