Water and climate

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Why Water
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Water and climate

Water and Peace

When properly managed, water can be a peacemaking platform for long lasting cooperation

Water cooperation

Water is a growing concern in many parts of the world. Countries can improve their water resilience through transboundary water cooperation over shared waters.

Indigenous peoples are the custodians of many of the world’s most fragile and important ecosystems. They also possess invaluable knowledge about sustainability and resilience, so they have a vital role in protecting our environment.

Water and the 2030 Agenda

In 2015, the global community launched the 2030 Agenda, with 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that should be reached by 2030. Some progress has been made, but for most of the goals, the world is not on track to meet the deadline. Water can help us do better.

Water in landscapes

A growing number of people, societies and companies are discovering the power of resilient landscapes. It is still possible to shift to more sustainable practices that recharge water, restore soil health, sequester carbon, and strengthen biodiversity – but we need to make the transformation now.

Agriculture and water

How to increase the productivity of agriculture around the world through better water management.

Groundwater

Groundwater is the regulator of the entire freshwater cycle, but its invisibility makes it difficult to manage and protect.

Rivers

While we all depend heavily on rivers for our survival, many rivers are under constant threat from unsustainable human activities

Water scarcity

Insufficient supply and inadequate infrastructure leaves millions of people in the world without water.

Source-to-Sea

The source-to-sea approach focuses on the strong connection between what happens on land, along waterways, and in the sea.

The climate crisis is essentially a water crisis. When we treat it as such, we get new tools to mitigate climate change and adapt to consequences that are unavoidable.

Water governance

Many of the most pressing challenges in the world are about water: too little, too much or too inferior. Such challenges can only be effectively addressed through adequate governance of available water resources.

The impact of COVID-19

The global COVID-19 pandemic has pushed millions of people back into poverty and exposed unacceptable gaps between the rich and the poor. One in three people are still not able to wash their hands with soap and water at home.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

More than two billion people in the world lack safely managed drinking water and twice as many lack safely managed sanitation, making WASH one of the most urgent development challenges.

PERSPECTIVES

Youth and water

More and more young people offer important contributions to solving the growing water challenges they are inheriting.

Human rights and water

Having access to water and sanitation has been recognized as a human right since 2010. But water is also essential to ensuring the fulfilment of many other rights.

Gender and water

To improve water governance, we need to take a close look at gender roles.

The climate crisis is essentially a water crisis. When we treat it as such, we gain new tools to mitigate climate change and adapt to consequences that are unavoidable.

Climate change is primarily experienced in the form of too much, or too little, water. One of the most important aspects of global warming is how it alters the water cycle. Even a relatively small temperature increase can have a significant impact on the water cycle, making rainfalls more unpredictable, and droughts and floods more severe and frequent.

The United Nation Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) describes an expected increase in heavy precipitation, droughts and tropical cyclones, which in turn, affects water quality. Further, rises in sea-levels could make freshwater salty, while massive flooding could overwhelm sewage systems and wastewater treatment plants. Some ecosystems will therefore get much more or much less water than usual, which will impact their ability to sequester carbon. Take for example, the Amazon rainforest, which has so far played a key role as a carbon sink; it has absorbed more greenhouse gases than it releases. However, global warming and deforestation are making it drier and drier, triggering new forest fires that contribute to a vicious cycle. As a consequence, large parts of the Amazon are now emitting carbon, according to new studies.

The 2021 IPCC assessment report warns that this pattern is seen in many parts of the world – nature’s ability to protect us from greenhouse gas emissions seems to be weakening. This could have disastrous consequences for our ability to mitigate climate change since nature has so far been able to absorb half of the greenhouse gas emissions that humans produce.

Adapting to climate change is no longer the main priority, it is crucial that we also slow down global warming. Restoring the water cycle must therefore be a top priority in global climate policy.

Here are some things we can do:

Restore and protect river basins, forests, wetlands, and peatlands. This ensures that they won’t turn form carbon sinks to carbon emitters.
Integrate nature in cities. Wetlands and trees store carbon and improve groundwater recharge. They also help clean water and protect us from floods.
Reduce water pollution. Contaminated water bodies release vast amounts of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.
Invest in clean water and safe sanitation for everyone.
Use natural infrastructure to clean water.
Climate-proof agriculture. We must shift to methods that store carbon, reduce the use of fertilizers, and improve water management.

What is so powerful about all of these solutions is that they simultaneously cut greenhouse emissions, and make humans and ecosystems more resilient to the impacts of climate change. Universal access to clean water and safe sanitation would vastly improve water quality in low-income countries, strengthen people’s health, and increase economic growth, according to a World Bank study. At the same time, it could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from water bodies and strengthen the ability of ecosystems to store carbon.