United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
| The 2021 World Water Development Report on “Valuing Water” assesses the current status of, and challenges to, the valuation of water across different sectors and perspectives, and identifies ways in which valuation can be promoted as a tool to help achieve sustainability. Water is our most precious resource, a ‘blue gold’ to which more than 2 billion people do not have direct access. It not only is essential to survival, but also plays a sanitary, social and cultural role at the heart of human societies. – Audrey Azoulay -Director-General of UNESCO |
The current state of our water resources highlights the need for proper water management. Recognizing, measuring and expressing water’s worth, and incorporating it into decision-making, are fundamental to achieving sustainable and equitable water resources management and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This report groups current methodologies and approaches to the valuation of water into five interrelated perspectives: valuing water sources, in situ water resources and ecosystems; valuing water infrastructure for water storage, use, reuse or supply augmentation; valuing water services, mainly drinking water, sanitation and related human health aspects; valuing water as an input to production and socio-economic activity, such as food and agriculture, energy and industry, business and employment; and other sociocultural values of water, including recreational, cultural and spiritual attributes.
Sustainable Development Goals, Water resources, Water infrastructure, WASH, Agriculture
These are complemented with experiences from different global regions; opportunities to reconcile multiple values of water through more integrated and holistic approaches to governance; approaches to financing; and methods to address knowledge, research and capacity needs.
| The current status of water resources highlights the need for improved water resources management. Recognizing, measuring and expressing water’s worth, and incorporating it into decision-making, are fundamental to achieving sustainable and equitable water resources management and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. |
The various approaches to valuing water that is discussed are-
- Valuing the environment- the source of all water is from the environment and all water that is used for human consumption eventually returns to the environment. The status of our use of water resources clearly indicates that we need proactively manage our resources. The existence of different value systems infers that it would be problematic to develop a unified system of, and metrics for, valuing water and/or the environment. What is feasible is to develop a common approach under which different environmental values or value systems can be compared, contrasted and used
- Valuing hydraulic infrastructure- The value of water to society is underpinned by hydraulic infrastructure, which serves to store or move water, thus delivering substantial social and economic benefits. Socio-economic development is curtailed in countries that have insufficient infrastructure to manage water. While more infrastructures are needed, past experience shows that the valuation of hydraulic infrastructure has been seriously flawed.
- Valuing water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services- Water is a basic human need, required for drinking and to support sanitation and hygiene, sustaining life and health. Access to both water and sanitation are human rights. A direct extension of access to WASH services not only improves educational opportunities and workforce productivity, but also contributes to a life of dignity and equality. WASH services also indirectly add value in the form of a healthier environment.
- Valuing water for food and agriculture- Agriculture uses the major share (69%) of global freshwater resources. However, water use for food production is being questioned as intersectoral competition for water intensifies and water scarcity increases. Moreover, in many regions of the world, water for food production is used inefficiently. This is a major driver of environmental degradation, including depletion of aquifers, reduction of river flows, degradation of wildlife habitats, and pollution.
- Energy, industry and business- In the energy, industry and business (EIB) sector, water is seen as both a resource with withdrawal and consumption costs determined by prices, and a liability involving treatment costs and regulatory penalties, leading to a perception that water is a cost or risk to sales and compliance. Business tends to focus on operational savings and short-term revenue impacts, and tends to pay less attention to water value in administrative costs, natural capital, financial risk, future growth and operations, and innovation.
- Cultural values of water- Culture directly influences how the values of water are perceived, derived and used. Every society, group or individual exists in their own cultural setting that is moulded by a varying mix of heritage, tradition, history, education, life experience, exposure to information and media, social status, and gender, among many other factors.
Unlike most other natural resources, it has proven extremely difficult to determine water’s ‘true’ value. As such, the overall importance of this vital resource is not appropriately reflected in political attention and financial investment in many parts of the world. This not only leads to inequalities in access to water resources and water-related services, but also to inefficient and unsustainable use and degradation of water supplies themselves, affecting the fulfilment of nearly all the SDGs, as well as basic human rights. Consolidating the different approaches and methods for valuing water across multiple dimensions and perspectives will likely remain challenging. Even within a specific water use sector, different approaches can lead to strikingly different valuations. Trying to reconcile valuations across sectors would normally increase the overall level of difficulty, as would taking account of some of the more intangible values attributed to water in different sociocultural contexts. While there may be scope to reduce complexities and standardize metrics in some circumstances, the reality is the need for better means to recognize, maintain and accommodate different values.
Download full report from the website: http://www.unesco.org/reports/wwdr/2021/en
References of work:
https://www.unwater.org/publications/un-world-water-development-report-2021/
https://www.un-igrac.org/resource/un-world-water-development-report-2021-valuing-water
http://www.fao.org/land-water/events/world-water-day-2021/en/
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