“The world can no longer afford to take water for granted…. the ecosystems on which life itself is based – our food security, energy sustainability, public health, jobs, cities – are all at risk because of how water is managed today,”
President of the World Bank Group, Jim Yong Kim, 2018
The global water crisis is a crisis of governance: there is enough to meet all our needs if we improve the way we manage, share and protect our water resources. Too often decisions about water and its management are ill informed, inadequately funded, or put short-term gains for a few above long- term benefits for the many.
Most countries have decent water policies and laws, but implementation is limited and as a result, pollution, resource depletion, conflict, inadequate water supply and sanitation, insecure tenure and flooding and drought increasingly undermine health, livelihoods, and economic opportunities.
Weak water governance undermines the health, livelihoods, and economic opportunities of vulnerable people and communities, and of women and girls in particular.
Water is essential for health and poverty reduction
1 in 10 people lack access to safe water
1 in 3 lack access to proper sanitation
over 1,400 children die every day because of water-related disease
(WHO 2017)
Water is essential for food security
Feeding 2 billion additional people by 2050 as well as the 815 million already facing hunger means doubling food production & massive irrigation expansion
(FAO 2018)
Water is essential for biodiversity
Freshwater ecosystems are the most threatened on earth, with a fifth of aquatic species becoming extinct or imperilled in the last few decades
(TNC 2018)
Water is essential for functioning ecosystems
80% of the world’s wastewater goes untreated and over half of the world’s rivers are polluted or depleted
(Corcoran et al 2010)
Water insecurity is worsened by Climate Change and Disasters
90% of disasters are water-related. Climate change means more frequent floods & droughts. In 2016 water-related disasters displaced 24 million people
(WMO 2017)
Our theory of change towards a fairer, more secure water future is based on our conviction that:
1. People power or, citizen agency can activate water law and improve water security for all. Helping communities to understand their rights, demand action and hold water managers to account plays a vital but neglected role in better water governance.
2. Engagement with the private sector is central to ensuring a fair water future. Working constructively with businesses, harnessing the reach of markets and demand for ethical production can drive sustainable resource use alongside economic and social progress.
3. Governments need to deliver on their responsibilities for water resource management. Government agencies need adequate funds, water-trained staff and political authority in order to manage water for the benefit of society now and in the future.
We also see a cross-cutting need for improving knowledge and communication on water. We contribute by linking local voices and on the ground evidence to national and global debates, by ensuring rigour, reflection and learning and getting the right information to the right people in the right ways.
Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals will be contingent on our collective ability to allocate, protect and use freshwater in ways which avoid depletion, degradation, conflict and vulnerability to climate change.
We can make an important and unique contribution to fulfilling the promise of the SDGs.
The global water crisis is a crisis of governance: there is enough to meet all our needs if we improve the way we manage, share and protect our water resources. Too often decisions about water and its management are ill informed, inadequately funded, or put short-term gains for a few above long- term benefits for the many.
Most countries have decent water policies and laws, but implementation is limited and as a result, pollution, resource depletion, conflict, inadequate water supply and sanitation, insecure tenure and flooding and drought increasingly undermine health, livelihoods, and economic opportunities.
Weak water governance undermines the health, livelihoods, and economic opportunities of vulnerable people and communities, and of women and girls in particular.
Our theory of change towards a fairer, more secure water future is based on our conviction that:
1. People power or, citizen agency can activate water law and improve water security for all. Helping communities to understand their rights, demand action and hold water managers to account plays a vital but neglected role in better water governance.
2. Engagement with the private sector is central to ensuring a fair water future. Working constructively with businesses, harnessing the reach of markets and demand for ethical production can drive sustainable resource use alongside economic and social progress.
3. Governments need to deliver on their responsibilities for water resource management. Government agencies need adequate funds, water-trained staff and political authority in order to manage water for the benefit of society now and in the future.
We also see a cross-cutting need for improving knowledge and communication on water. We contribute by linking local voices and on the ground evidence to national and global debates, by ensuring rigour, reflection and learning and getting the right information to the right people in the right ways.
Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals will be contingent on our collective ability to allocate, protect and use freshwater in ways which avoid depletion, degradation, conflict and vulnerability to climate change.
We can make an important and unique contribution to fulfilling the promise of the SDGs.
