World leaders urged to link water to climate negotiations
EurActiv, Friday 20 March 2009
Business leaders attending this week's World Water Forum called on the international community to acknowledge the link between water, energy and climate change, encouraging them to take these up in global climate negotiations that are expected to be concluded this December in Copenhagen.
Background:
The World Water Forum forum is the world's largest international gathering on water policy. It has been organised by the World Water Council (WWC) every three years since 1997.
The Fifth World Water Forum
in Istanbul this week addressed a variety of issues, ranging from water scarcity and sanitation to climate refugees and water financing.
A high-level panel on climate change also prepared recommendations for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC
Launching a new report yesterday (19 March), the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) pointed to the "inextricable link" between water and energy.
Water is indeed used in the energy generation process as a coolant for nuclear power stations, for example, or as vapour to clean up heavy tar sands from which oil is extracted. Likewise, cleaning up water resources for later reuse consumes large amounts of energy.
With large greenhouse gas emissions, these industrial activities are important contributors to climate change.
Rising demand for water and energy
Furthermore, global demand for both resources is on the rise as growing numbers of middle and high-income citizens need water and energy to power lavish lifestyles and particularly transport, swimming pools and green gardens, the report says.
However, some regions would feel the impact more intensely than others, it adds, urging world leaders due to meet in Copenhagen in December to agree a successor to the Kyoto protocol, to address water, energy and climate change as an interlinked issue in the UN negotiations.
Business leaders outline recommendations on areas where policymakers, researchers and business can work together to forge a link between water and energy policy.
First and foremost, their report stresses that reliable water, energy and climate change data, models and analytical tools are needed to assess the impacts of climate change on water and to put in place better early-warning systems. These measurement tools should be able to account for the trade-off between water and energy efficiency, as they do not always work the same direction, it adds.
The report also calls for water issues to be mainstreamed by ensuring that water authorities have enough staff trained in common management practices, with the capacity to conduct education and awareness-raising campaigns.
Water pricing
Watershed management requires cooperation between all the parties involved, business leaders say, advocating market mechanisms such as payments for ecosystem services or certification standards to ensure that decision-making values the benefits that nature brings to society (see EurActiv LinksDossier). They also say policymakers should encourage best practice, such as reusing wastewater to find cost-effective ways of reducing water and energy consumption.
"Water is everybody's business. It is used to generate energy, and energy is used to provide water. Climate change will affect the use and availability of both. It is important that we get the policies right," said WBCSD President Björn Stigson.
Water high on climate agenda
Calls to make water an essential issue in the UN-led climate negations were echoed by conservationists. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) urged politicians at the World Water Forum to do more to protect the natural environment, arguing that rivers and wetlands offer vital services like clean drinking water and energy.
The organisation said climate change would be felt first via water, amid droughts, floods and rising sea levels. River basins and coasts in good condition could help people fend off impacts of climate change, it argued, stressing that investment in nature should therefore be included in all policies aimed at adapting to climate change.
The European Parliament's delegation to the forum argued that low political and financial priorities are the main hurdle on the way towards efficient water management, calling for the Copenhagen agenda to address water management, water resources and access to water for all.
However, discussions on climate change are only now starting to begin. Maude Barlow, special advisor on water issues to the president of the UN General Assembly, recently told EurActiv that the chances of getting water high up the Copenhagen agenda are "slim" (EurActiv 18/02/09).
"The water crisis is where climate change was five years ago. It is just starting to get into the media and people's heads, and in five years it will be what people talk about," she said.
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