▶ On September 1st, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution for a better system wide water and sanitation strategy and strengthened intergovernmental cooperation. 

▶ While no country is on track to achieving the SDGs, our collective progress on water related goals and targets under SDG 6 (Clean water and sanitation) is worse than most other goals.

▶ Technology, innovation, and human capital can help play an integrated role as a way to collectivly address and solve the water, climate and security nexus. Without a more comprehensive thinking, our collective futures remain at risk.

On September 1st the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution for a better system wide water and sanitation strategy and strengthened intergovernmental cooperation. This was in the follow up to the Water Conference that was held earlier in March 2023, a comprehensive water conference that was held after 46 years. Many are lauding the UN resolution and the fact that a conference was even held in the first place; it almost seems like the world is only now waking up to the realisation that water insecurity has been a growing concern for decades or that water security is possibly one of the best climate adaptation measures. While no country is on track to achieving the SDGs, our collective progress on water related goals and targets under SDG 6 (Clean water and sanitation) is worse than most other goals. The last SDG report states that ‘only 12 per cent of the targets are on track, while over 30 per cent of the SDGs have either stalled or regressed’. A UN resolution might spur countries to act faster, create better awareness of rising water insecurity and push for more financial commitments to aid developing nations. However, if we continue to look at water as a siloed resource and separate our climate goals, sanitation requirements, gender, our economic future or energy and food security, no amount of resolutions or agendas at the high table will help. If we fail on water, none of our other goals will be achievable.

Challenges are numerous and fairly well documented. By 2030 it is estimated that 3 billion people will still be living under conditions of water stress, possibly without adequate drinking water or sanitation facilities or both. Most of the countries that fare poorly on the water security scale are also those that have rising populations, rising temperatures and face the vagaries of an uncertain climate – including countries in North and Eastern Africa, South Asia and South East Asia. Even countries that have adequate water availability face water insecurity due to inadequate access and management systems that are not yet fully modernised. India is a classic case in this regard. Prosperity does not always signify water for all and even countries that are considered high income, such as the USA, are besieged by various forms of water stress. Hydroelectric dams dried up in Norway curbing energy export and water and heat caused a reduction in fruit harvests. In all cases, climate change plays a big role. The IPCC predictions of a 1.5 degree increase is not only about changing weather and monsoon patterns or heat as a killer or the wet bulb effect, it is also about melting ice, faster evaporation of water bodies, the changing nature of water quality, and a possible conflict over shared resources – All of this is about water, and our economic future is also at stake.

As populations rise in many parts of the world, accompanied by industrialisation and modernisation, the demand for water will continue to rise. The demand is not solely domestic, though this is growing the fastest especially as climate change forces more rural to urban migration. Over half the global population currently lives in cities, with numbers rapidly rising and expected to reach almost 70% by 2050. In India by 2030 over 600 million people are projected to live in cities, laying further stress on shrinking natural water sources. India is also one of the largest extractors of groundwater, where levels in many states across the country have shrunk, affecting recharge possibilities and quality of existing water. Beyond South Asia (especially India and Pakistan), some of the countries with fastest growing cities that are also facing a water crisis include China, Mexico, the Philippines, Taiwan, South Africa, Egypt, and the GCC region amongst others. These countries are also strategic in terms of global trade, raw materials and minerals, and rising great power competition; it is often the unseen demand and use that is affecting both surface and ground water. Developing and emerging economies countries that were once heavily dependent on agriculture for growth are also experiencing a boom in various industrial sectors, including manufacturing, infrastructure development, real estate, energy and others; all of which are water intensive.

Water crisis was in the top five of the 2022 World Economic Forum's Global Risk by Impact list and has held this spot since 2012. While the focus of this impact has largely been in parts of North and Eastern Africa, West-Central-South Asia, and South East Asia –a large arc of hydro-insecurity – climate change is slowly changing this. An unseasonably hot and dry summer in Europe saw temperature above 40 degrees in some parts; wildfires are becoming more frequent and widespread especially in Canada, Australia, Brazil and Central Asia; and shifting glaciers leading to greater avalanches in the Hindu-Kush-Himalayan belt are all aspects of a warming planet and the effects of greenhouse gases that the scientific community have been predicting. Often missed out in the climate change, adaptation and mitigation debate, the push reduction of fossil fuels and dialogue on greater use of clean energy is that all of these phenomena that we are likely to experience in greater detail are also intricately linked to water. And ultimately linked to the security of people and countries. Loss of land, water resources, livelihoods, food and health security, migration are cascading risks closely associated with both our climate and water futures.

Water has the potential to be a source of conflict and tension within countries and across borders. For decades people have predicted that the coming world wars will be on water, and while there are many more instances of cooperation over shared waters, this scarce resource does often become a source of tension or is a by product of other conflicts and is a risk multiplier. But, it can also be a part of the solution and recognising that water plays an integral part in our collective strategy, pushing for integrated dialogue and solutions could ensure that we slow down the vagaries of a changing climate. Water stress and scarcity could cost some regions, especially in Asia, up to 6% of their GDP, with unseen risks on the health and productivity of human capital. Conversely basic access to clean water could result in four fold benefits, where every dollar spent on water provides a potential return of four dollars. Not only do we need to assess the true value of water but ensure that it is a fundamental aspect of all future plans and policies. 

Our collective water future is here, there is no longer any time to wait. While the March 2023 UN Water Conference might have seen hundreds of pledges and commitments and more countries are cognizant of this reality, it is still too little. Fundamentally we need to get out of the siloed approach and move in a faster and more inclusive manner. Technology, innovation, and human capital can help play an integrated role as a way to collectively address and solve the water, climate and security nexus. Without a more comprehensive thinking, our collective futures remain at risk.