Towards Global Water Security: A Departure from the Status Quo

How humans have used and misused water is the story of civilization itself. Water is paradoxical-it is ever-renewable but often scarce-and humanity's relationship to it is often contradictory. Although water is essential and non-substitutable it is often taken for granted. While it is finite and fugitive, humans flock to cities and expand agricultural enterprises as if the water will always be there in abundance. The challenges for water security are many and varied, and go to the heart of social organization. The chapter argues that seeing 'security' through different lenses reveals different sets of threats and vulnerabilities. Changing the referent object-the state, individuals, the environment-changes the context for action. Given water's central role in building political and economic power, 'water security' is generally tied to the security of the sovereign state. Actions taken in support of securing water for the state generally involve a confluence of political, economic and technical power. Over the last several decades, numerous attempts have been made to structure action in support of the greater social and environmental good. A variety of discursive framings have emerged to drive collective action. Yet, the legal and institutional frameworks for action remain state-centric, not only in terms of the primary beneficiary of water security, but in terms of the ontological framework for seeing security and insecurity. As shown in the chapter, limited formal space has been created for civil society participation, and for alternative perspectives and approaches to water security to emerge. The chapter concludes that despite numerous attempts to draw the world toward new ways of seeing water, deeply embedded interests, practices and processes ensure that efforts in support of "water security" will continue to yield highly uneven outcomes: security for some, insecurity for many.

National Security and Human Health Implications of Climate Change, 2012

The paper introduces some of the general challenges of global water security, particularly in poverty stricken regions such as Africa, and highlights the likely global impact of climate change, increasing pollution and population growth etc. on water resources, as outlined in recent studies. The nexus between water, food and energy is introduced, along with the concept of virtual water and the impact of the water footprint and the need for society, industry and governments to become more conscious of the water footprint, alongside the ...

2013

"In a report released today to mark World Water Day and 2013 as the International Year of Water Cooperation, UN-Water is proposing a common definition of water security. UN-Water, which coordinates water programs within the United Nations system, claims that a single description of the problem will help global collaboration around water, one of the world’s most vital needs. world water day 2013 united nations un-water water security paper report analytical brief Image courtesy of UN-Water ‘Water Security and the Global Agenda’ is the title of an analytical brief published by the United Nations for World Water Day 2013. Click image to enlarge. The authors define water security as: “The capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socio-economic development; for ensuring protection against water-borne pollution and water-related disasters; and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability.” This work builds on the UN High Level Expert Panel convened at the UN in New York (Sept 2012) where I was invited as a panellist. (see my earlier post on this). I was invited to peer review this Analytical Brief.

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2012

This article reviews and contrasts two approaches that water security researchers employ to advance understanding of the complexity of water-society policy challenges. A prevailing reductionist approach seeks to represent uncertainty through calculable risk, links national GDP tightly to hydro-climatological causes, and underplays diversity and politics in society. When adopted uncritically, this approach limits policy-makers to interventions that may reproduce inequalities, and that are too rigid to deal with future changes in society and climate. A second, more integrative, approach is found to address a range of uncertainties, explicitly recognise diversity in society and the environment, incorporate water resources that are less-easily controlled, and consider adaptive approaches to move beyond conventional supply-side prescriptions. The resultant policy recommendations are diverse, inclusive, and more likely to reach the marginalised in society, though they often encounter policy-uptake obstacles. The article concludes by defining a route towards more effective water security research and policy, which stresses analysis that matches the state of knowledge possessed, an expanded research agenda, and explicitly addresses inequities.

Water Policy, 2007

Achieving basic water security, both harnessing the productive potential of water and limiting its destructive impact, has always been a societal priority. To capture this duality, water security is defined here as the availability of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health, livelihoods, ecosystems and production, coupled with an acceptable level of water-related risks to people, environments and economies. This paper looks broadly at those countries that have achieved water security, the paths they chose and the costs they paid, and those countries that have not achieved water security and how this constrains economies and societies. It defines three typologies: countries that have harnessed hydrology, those hampered by hydrology and those that are hostage to hydrology. It finds that countries remaining hostage to hydrology are typically among the world's poorest. They face "difficult" hydrologies often characterized by high inter-and intra-annual rainfall and runoff variability, where the level of institutional and infrastructure investment needed is very high and the ability to invest is low.

The World’s Water, 2014

Growing pressure on the world's water resources is having major impacts on our social and economic well-being. Even as the planet's endowment of water is expected to remain constant, human appropriation of water, already at 50 percent by some measures, is expected to increase further (Postel et al. 1996). Pressures on water resources are likely to worsen in response to population growth, shifts toward more meat-based diets, climate change, and other challenges. Moreover, the world's water is increasingly becoming degraded in quality, raising the cost of treatment and threatening human and ecosystem health (Palaniappan et al. 2010). Furthermore, the physical availability of freshwater resources does not guarantee that a safe, affordable water supply is available to all. At least 780 million people do not have access to clean drinking water, some 2.5 billion people lack access to safe sanitation systems, and 2-5 million people-mainly children-die as a result of preventable water-related diseases every year (Gleick 2002; UN 2009; WHO and UNICEF 2012). There is growing recognition that the scope and complexity of water-related challenges extend beyond national and regional boundaries and therefore cannot be adequately addressed solely by national or regional policies. In a recent report, the United Nations notes that "water has long ceased to be solely a local issue" (UN 2012a, 40). In particular, widespread water scarcity and lack of access to water supply and sanitation threaten socioeconomic development and national security for countries around the world. Additionally, people around the world share and exchange water directly and indirectly through natural hydrologic units and systems and through global trade (i.e., "virtual water," discussed below). Furthermore, climate change and the growing presence of multinational companies within the water sector play a role in globalizing water issues (Hoekstra 2006). Over the past sixty years, a number of efforts have sought to address the many challenges facing the water sector. Early efforts to address these challenges were almost entirely based on developing large-scale physical infrastructure, such as dams and reservoirs, to produce new water supplies. Amid a growing recognition that technology and infrastructure alone were not sufficient to address persistent water management concerns, discourse about water governance began to emerge in the early 1990s. In its first World Water Development Report, the United Nations strongly stated that the "water Global Water Challenges As described below, the scope and complexity of water-related challenges extend beyond traditional national and regional boundaries. Such challenges require broader thinking and more comprehensive solutions. Water Scarcity Water scarcity is a major challenge, affecting every continent around the world. Water scarcity occurs when water demand nears (or exceeds) the available water supply. Several groups, including the World Resources Institute and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), have developed tools to promote a better understanding of where and how water risks are emerging around the world. The IWMI, for example, estimates that 1.2 billion people-nearly 20 percent of the world's population-live in areas of physical water scarcity, where water withdrawals for agriculture, industry, and domestic purposes exceed 75 percent of river flows. An additional 500 million people live in areas approaching physical scarcity. Another 1.6 billion people live in areas of economic water scarcity, where water is available but human capacity or financial resources limit access. In these areas, adequate infrastructure may not be available or, if water is available, its distribution may be inequitable (IWMI 2007). But water scarcity isn't solely a natural phenomenon; it's also a human one. Numerous human activities-such as untimely water use, pollution, insufficient or poorly maintained infrastructure, and inadequate management systems-can result in or exacerbate water scarcity. As noted by the United Nations, there are adequate water resources to meet our needs, but water "is distributed unevenly and too much of it is wasted, polluted and unsustainably managed" (UN 2012b). Widespread declines in groundwater levels are one symptom of water scarcity. Groundwater is an important source of freshwater in many parts of the world. Some areas, however, have become overly dependent on groundwater supplies. In the past two decades, advances in well-drilling techniques have significantly reduced the cost of extracting groundwater. Driven, in part, by these technological advancements, groundwater withdrawals have tripled over the past fifty years (UN 2012a). In some areas, the rate of groundwater extraction now consistently exceeds natural recharge rates, causing widespread depletion and declining groundwater levels. A recent analysis of groundwater extraction by hydrologist Yoshihide Wada and colleagues (2010) finds that depletion rates doubled between 1960 and 2000 and are especially high in parts of China, India, and the United States. Much of the groundwater extracted supports agriculture (67 percent), although it is also used for domestic (22 percent) and industrial (11 percent) purposes.

The Wold Economic Forum (WEF) recently released its sobering Global Risks 2016 report. The findings are the results from The Global Risks Perception Survey whereby approximately 750 experts and decision-makers participated from business, academia, civil society and the public sector from various regions and of different ages contributing different areas of expertise. The survey asked respondents to rank 29 global risks over a 10 year time frame – categorized as societal, technological, economic, environmental or geopolitical – according to their perceived likelihood of it occurring and impact if it does. The two ranked categories were: international security threat likelihood and impact of those threats if they happened. The top five international security threats in terms of likelihood were (in order): Large-scale involuntary migration, extreme weather events, failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation, interstate conflict with regional consequences and major natural catastrophes. In terms of ranking the impact of these threats, the failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation was first, weapons of mass destruction second and a fresh water crisis the third. Two things are striking about this report. The first is environmental issues are considered a key international security threat – more than nuclear weapons. Second, among the top 5 most likely international security threats to occur, water is tied to all of them – and may even cause most of them. The 2016 Global Risk report highlights a glaring problem: global water governance (GWG) is nowhere near the level it needs to be in terms of preventing a water crisis, which can take many forms ranging from fresh water scarcity to flooding. This Insight will focus on one issue: the global governance of fresh water resources – one of the keys to avoiding a water crisis. The Insight highlights the multifaceted GWG challenge as a result of the nature of the global fresh water resource context and the problems with the two existing GWG frameworks: the Nexus Approach and Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), which for several reasons do not offer an adequate GWG.

Global Policy, 2011

This paper explores the reasons why efforts to attain water security by states and the international water policy community often fall short of their goals, and suggests a conceptual tool as partial remedy. The main shortcomings of prevailing water security policy and thinking are found to stem from narrow and determinist analysis that is based on a separation of physical and social processes of water resources and use. Policy is found to place undue confidence in flawed methods and thresholds related to physical water scarcity, and to ignore the more influential social processes involved. Water resources are also found to be treated in isolation, as if independent of the food, climate or energy security of individuals, communities and states. The 'web' of water security introduced here emphasises combined readings of the social and physical processes that enable or prevent national water security. These processes are mediated by a socioeconomic and political context replete with power asymmetries such that water security for some rests on the water insecurity of others. Sustainable national water security in the long term, it is suggested, will be guided by principles of balance between related security areas, and equitability of distribution of resources between the actors involved. Policy Implications • Water security policy recommendations based on environmentally determinist analysis are often narrow, and should be evaluated as potentially interested and liable to lead only to short-term selective water security. • Long-term national water security policy should seek a balance between natural 'security resources' (food, water, energy, climate) and equitability between the individuals, communities and states involved. • The development of water security policy should expand beyond biophysical considerations to incorporate options stemming from related social processes, such as human agency, livelihoods and capacity for adaptation. • Long-term national water security will be served through harmonisation of policy across sectors, for example between ministries of water resources, trade and foreign affairs.