Get serious about water security COP27 told

Cairo, Egypt – COP27, the global climate change meeting, has been urged to get serious about water as an imperative climate change action by the water and climate leaders, an eminent panel of 18 high-level decision and policy makers.

They urged countries to take more integrated water and climate action to replace the existing fragmented approach to achieve the Paris agreement goals. The challenge is urgent because the impacts of climate change are often felt through water.

As the atmosphere passes one degree of warming above pre-industrial levels, sea levels rise and the cryosphere melts, the effects of climate change are being felt as never before.

Flooding, heatwaves, droughts, storms and sea level rise worldwide will progressively worsen as warming continues towards 1.5 degrees and beyond.

Currently, 3.6 billion people face inadequate access to water at least a month per year and this is expected to increase to more than five billion by 2050.

Even Christchurch, the supposed garden city, is in a messy process of beginning to charge its people for using water, something quite inconceivable 20 years ago when the city was proud of its abundantly clean water supply.

Globally between 2001 and 2018,  74 percent of all natural disasters are water-related (i.e. flood and droughts. Water-related hazards are therefore an important part of the new initiative to achieve early warnings for all in the next five years.

More than 1000 of the country’s 14,000 glaciers have completely melted. The total volume of Tajikistan’s glaciers, which make up more than 60 percent of the water resources in the central Asian region, has decreased by almost a third.

The leaders at COP27 stressed that improved management of water resources is vital and would have numerous benefits:

Reducing climate-induced disaster risks. Hydrometeorological monitoring and forecasting systems provide early warning of floods, droughts and other hazards. Better management of wetlands, dams and other water storages, with adequate safeguards, provides options for precautionary measures and emergency responses when such events happen.

Enhancing climate change resilience and security. Well-managed water contributes to human rights and livelihoods, economic development, poverty reduction, job creation, public health, gender equality and maintenance of biodiversity.

Reducing emissions. Water is essential for lowering emissions and capturing carbon. Water is a necessary feedstock for hydrogen production and to grow plants for biofuels.

To achieve the benefits, governments need effective policies, knowledge and tools to manage water for multiple objectives in the rapidly changing climate.