UNITED NATIONS WORLD WATER DEVELOPMENT REPORT

Posted 15 Apr 2024

4 min read

Why in the news?

The "UN World Water Development Report: Water for Prosperity and Peace" report was released on World Water Day (22^nd March), at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

More about the news

The United Nation’s annual flagship report on water is published by the UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) on behalf of the UN-Water.
- UN-Water is a ‘coordination mechanism’, which comprises of United Nations members and international organizations working on water and sanitation issues.
While the SDG 6 aims to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all” None of the SDG 6 targets are appearing to be on track.
- Around 2.2 bn people were without access to safely managed drinking water in 2022.
The latest report highlights how developing and maintaining water security and equitable access to water services is essential to ensuring peace and prosperity for all.

Water and Prosperity

Water and Peace

Water resources influence an economy in many ways, and can have direct repercussions on the performance of local economies.
Economic development depends on water infrastructure, in low-income countries, around 80% of jobs are water-dependent, due to the dominance of agriculture.
Economic Returns of WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) outweigh the costs, as it can improve health, productivity, environment, and social outcomes in a society.
Ensures gender equality in a society, as water scarcity and droughts can increase the risks of violence against women and girls, and the rate of child marriages.

Peace and Social Stability of a society increases with decrease in inequalities in allocation of water resources and access to water supply and sanitation.
Water is either a tool or a target or a victim of warfare in most parts of the world.
- The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has accused Israel of using Water as a Weapon of War in Gaza.
Human-Animal conflicts are exacerbated by reduced water resources availability, as the scarcity in water in their natural habitat drives the animals close to human habitations.

Water–prosperity paradox: While middle- and lower income countries require water to develop their economies, they require economic growth in order to finance water requirement.
Evolution of Water Pollution: Water pollution does not disappear with the development of a country but evolves in form.
- While wastewater treatment issues affects the water quality in low income countries, runoff from agriculture affects high income countries water resources.
Data Deficiency: Lack of data and information on various parameters of water like surface and groundwater, soil moisture, and associated hydro meteorological parameters.
- Lack of ambient water quality data indirectly affects the health of nearly 3 bn people in the low and lower-middle income countries.
Trans-boundary Water Management: Lack of trans-boundary agreements and international basin establishment for the efficient management of trans-boundary rivers
- Only 32/153 countries with trans-boundary waters have an operational arrangement to efficiently manage the water through a trans-boundary basin.
Water demand from emerging technologies: Increased water consumption with new age technologies as large volumes of water are used in the liquid cooling systems of computers that run AI programmes.
- It is estimated that AI currently requires 500 ml of water to answer 10–50 queries.

Recommendations of the Report

States to focus on responsible governance of water, ensuring that all have secure and adequate access to water resources, irrespective of their locality.
Leverage WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) as a ‘politically neutral’ service system and act as a platform for communal collaboration and partnerships between citizens and government.
Decouple water from industrial productivity, and replace the existing relationship between water and production in industries by encouraging water reuse and zero discharge.
Trans-boundary water management, through equitable agreements and establishment of joint operational bodies for the river basins.
Equitable benefit sharing of water resources, by moving away from mere volumetric water sharing to sharing the outcomes of the resource.