Editorial
Neglect of water related issues at the recently-held Copenhagen Summit or COP-15 has sent a wave of simmering discontent among international water groups, including India. Inclusion of water into the agenda of COP-15 would have opened up new vistas of focusing global attention on this burning issue.
There is no denying the fact that the effects of climate change on water resources is prone to be among the most devastating consequences of continued global warming pollution. Floods, droughts, water pollution, and other impacts will affect communities across the globe.
Vested interests seemed to at work when the draft of climate change treaty was being finalized to ignore the water-related issues out of the draft. It is worth mentioning here that when participants were completing the draft text of climate change treaty in Barcelona in early November 2009; all mentions of water were excluded from the text. This prompted a number of international water groups to stage a “Water Day” to coincide with the meeting in Barcelona, stressing the importance of the link between water and climate change and the need to consider water in adaptation and mitigation efforts.
Despite these efforts, water issues were excluded from the text in part because of long-standing fears among climate advocates that water adaptation will distract from the necessity of reducing global warming pollution.
Making an eloquent argument for why water must be included in discussions on a global climate treaty, James G. Workman in an op-ed in Los Angeles Times of 30 November 2009 wrote:
“Virtually every effect we dread — urban heat waves, melting snowpack, longer droughts, increased wildfires, drying reservoirs, rising sea levels, desiccating soils — boils down to the loss of fresh water. Even regions feeling more sudden, torrential rain can’t use their extreme runoff; to absorb unpredictable floods, dam operators must empty their reservoirs.” In other words: “Whenever we say climate volatility, we really mean water volatility.”
Nevertheless, water resources are on the front lines in a changing climate. It will take an enormous effort to reform existing water management strategies and build the type of flexible, sustainable infrastructure. There is a need to preserve a clean and consistent supply of water in a more volatile climate.
Participants of the 2009 World Water Week in Stockholm, representing a number of organizations throughout the globe in a meeting held in the last week of August 2009 had unanimously pleaded for the inclusion of water in the COP-15 climate negotiations. The 2009 Stockholm Water Week sent the following message for the Copenhagen:
Adaptation is a prerequisite for sustainable development and water is a key medium through which climate change impacts will be felt. Managing the resource effectively, including through well-conceived IWRM approaches and at a transboundary level, is central to successful adaptation planning and implementation, and to building the resilience of communities and regions;
Adaptation measures thus need proper integration within broader development goals and objectives, including the Millennium Development Goals;
Integration of water with land and forest management is key to effective adaptation. We strongly endorse the Nairobi Statement on Integrated Land and Water Resources Management for Climate Change Adaptation; we also emphasize that water-related adaptation can and should support global mitigation actions;
Ecosystem protection and sustainability is fundamental to adaptation and human development. We therefore urge increased efforts towards and investment in the protection and restoration of natural resources—including water—as an essential part of any adaptation process;
Higher-quality information that is more effectively shared will strengthen responses. In particular there is a critical need for the water and climate communities to increase the sharing of information at all levels of policy and practice—from global to local, and from local to global;
Vulnerability assessments and risk management are critical to sound adaptation practice. Knowing where and how the impacts of climate change are most likely to affect populations and ecosystems through the water cycle will help in the identification of areas for early intervention or ‘hot spots’; these include arid regions, areas highly dependent on groundwater, small island developing states, low-lying deltas and fragile mountainous areas;
New and additional funds are essential. It is imperative that additional funding is allocated in support of developing adaptive strategies for vulnerable groups and ecosystems; there is a need for an initial mobilization of finance to assist vulnerable, low income countries already affected by climate change, followed by the establishment of a well-resourced mechanism for funding adaptation as part of ongoing climate negotiations.
We, at India water Foundation, feel that water related issues should be made part of any national or international negotiations on climate change. We also call upon the global climate communities to look beyond COP-15 and work through dialogue to strengthen global mechanisms that can enhance collective action on water and adaptation. Exclusion or isolation of water from Climate change is uncalled for at this juncture when the humankind is already suffering the cost of this neglect.
Dr Arvind Kumar
