Global water scarcity demands immediate climate action

“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago,” Warren Buffett, American businessman and philanthropist once remarked.

The statement fits into the core of the sustainability goals of water and waste management.

Water, a finite resource, essential for life, agriculture, industry, and energy production, involves careful planning to meet current needs without compromising the demands of future generations.

Ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all has long been a subject of importance at the United Nations.

Targeted vision

In 1993, World Water Day was designated on 22 March by the UN General Assembly. The priority turned to the vision of water-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda, providing a blueprint to ensure it is used ethically.

In 2016, the resolution ‘International Decade for Action — Water for Sustainable Development (2018-2028)’ was adopted. The UN called upon all stakeholders to galvanise actions around the framework to achieve water-related goals and overcome the global crisis.

Abundance of hurdles

However, in the past few decades, overexploitation, pollution, and climate change led to severe water stress worldwide, as billions lacked access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities.

Climate change exacerbated the situation with increasing disasters including hurricanes, floods, and droughts. Rising temperatures and changing precipitation patterns altered the water cycle, leading to its scarcity in some regions and excess in others.

Flooding and rising sea levels contaminated land and water resources with saltwater or faecal matter and damaged water and sanitation infrastructure.

On the other hand, droughts and wildfires destabilised communities, triggering civil unrest and migration in many places. The destruction of vegetation and tree cover added to soil erosion and reduced groundwater recharge, increasing food insecurity.

Another major factor, which came to the fore during the Covid-19 pandemic, posed an additional impediment. It reflected the need for safe drinking water and hygiene services to prevent the virus from spreading.

Measures and strategies

The world needs to transform how water resources are managed and deliver sanitation services, as they are affecting the countries socially, economically, and environmentally.

However, we must first understand and admit that climate change is primarily a water crisis. We feel its impacts through worsening floods, rising sea levels, shrinking ice fields, wildfires, and droughts.

Regardless of that, water can fight climate change. Sustainable water management is central to building the resilience of societies and ecosystems and reducing carbon emissions.

The foremost step is for climate policymakers to put water at the heart of action plans. Governments must balance the water needs of communities, industry, agriculture, and ecosystems.

Harvesting rainwater is particularly useful in regions with uneven rainfall, ensuring supplies for dry periods. The techniques include rooftop capture for small-scale use, and surface dams to slow run-off to reduce soil erosion and increase aquifer recharge.

Another prime element is to adopt climate-smart agriculture, using conservation techniques to increase soil moisture retention, reduce post-harvest losses and food waste, and transform waste into biofuels.

Unconventional water resources, such as regulated treated wastewater, can be used for irrigation, industrial, and municipal purposes, reducing the strain on freshwater resources. Protecting and using groundwater sensibly is central to adapting to climate change and meeting the needs of a growing population.

Effective waste management

Similarly, sustainable waste management practices are essential to minimise environmental pollution, conserve resources, and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These include:

• Curtail waste generation through efficient production processes, product design, and consumer education.

• Encourage recycling of paper, plastic, glass, and metals, and promote reuse of products to extend their life cycle.

• Convert organic waste into compost to enrich soil and support agriculture.

• Utilise waste-to-energy technologies to convert non-recyclable waste materials into usable heat, electricity, or fuel, reducing the volume of waste sent to landfills.

• Designing and operating landfills to lessen environmental impact, including measures to capture and utilise landfill gas, and prevent leachate contamination of groundwater.

Benefits and hassles

While sustainable water and waste management offer numerous benefits, they pose challenges too.

These include a requirement for significant investment in infrastructure, framing effective policies and regulations, and promoting public awareness and participation methods.

On the positive side, these challenges present ample opportunities for innovation, collaboration, and developing new technologies, and, in turn, creating jobs.

Changes in these directions necessitate integrating the procedures to prepare better and mitigate the impacts of catastrophes.

Actions at the individual and household levels are equally important. It can begin by implementing methods to reduce water consumption, such as using water-efficient appliances and fixing leaks.

Spanish painter and sculptor Pablo Picasso rightfully stated, “Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.”

(Next week the author will discuss ‘cement’ — the most destructive material on earth)

Dr Abdullah Belhaif Al Nuaimi is Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Emirate of Sharjah