Our Water Is Being Lost - 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey on March 16, 2009

Our Water Is Being Lost - 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey on March 16, 2009
Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
March 17, 2009
 Despite terrible political differences, economic discrepancies, and national or cultural divergences, more adversities unite the Mankind than calamities divide the world´s nations.

We used to speak for decades about pollution, clean air, and greenhouse effect. Water is poised to become a concern of primary order; within the next few years, Water will certainly become The Concern of an economically destroyed, financially collapsed, politically corrupted, culturally degenerated, and morally dead Mankind.

The extent of the problem is beyond imagination.

An effort to set up a collective tackling of the issue has been deployed by the UN. Yesterday, the 5th World Water Forum was launched in Istanbul. The Third edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report (WWDR-3) was presented in the meeting. It urges immediate action before Water becomes an additional reason for further wars.

I herewith republish a brief which was released a few hours ago by IRIN; in addition, I republish the press release issued by the UNESCO ("The 3rd United Nations World Water Development Report: Water in a Changing World") and the section "About the Programme" from the website of the international body.

Global: Key Water Report Urges Prompt Action

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=83515

Istanbul, 17 March 2009 (IRIN) - A UN flagship report on global freshwater resources, the World Water Development Report (WWDR), launched in Istanbul on 16 March, urges swift action to avert a global water crisis.

"This report sounds an alarm. If we continue as we have been, we run the real danger of a global water crisis," Koïchiro Matsuura, head of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said at the official launch of the report.

Offering a comprehensive and authoritative review of the state of the world´s freshwater resources, the report is a collaborative effort of 26 UN agencies.

"Since the publication of the first report in 2003, I have constantly argued that unless we change our behaviour towards freshwater we will face a major water crisis," Matsuura said.

The report, entitled Water in a Changing World, warns of additional pressure on water resources triggered by such factors as population growth and mobility, as well as climate change (For more information on the world´s water problems click here).

Boosting capacity to cope with climate change

"Water is the principal medium through which climate change will affect economic, social and environmental conditions. The report underscores the urgent need to strengthen capacity - especially in the poorest countries - to cope with more frequent and intense water-related disasters caused by climate change," the UNESCO head said.

According to the report, the estimated cost of adaptation to climate change varies from US$37 billion - to $100 billion a year in several decades from now. Most of these investments will need to be made in developing countries where financial resources are limited.

"These costs may seem high, especially in the current economic context. However, the price of inaction will be much higher - in terms of lives lost, economies ruined and societies broken by conflict and mass displacement," he said.

Food security

Pasquale Steduto, head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Water, Development and Management Unit, noted recently that with agriculture being the number-one user of water worldwide (accounting for about 70 percent of all freshwater use), and with the world´s population set to grow by at least 3-4 billion in the next few decades, water resources will be under increased pressure, particularly for the production of food.

"The food crisis is not over," Steduto said, adding that increased pressure on water resources to produce more food to feed more people would not ease the pressure on food prices.

The report notes that the production of one kilo of wheat requires 800-4,000 litres of water, and a kilogram of beef 2,000-16,000 litres.

"About 3,000 litres of water are needed to feed one person per day," Steduto said, noting that multiplying that figure by the increasing population would give an idea of the magnitude of the issue.

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The 3rd United Nations World Water Development Report: Water in a Changing World (WWDR-3)

http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/wwdr/wwdr3/index.shtml

The Third edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report (WWDR-3) is currently under preparation and will be presented at the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey on March 16, 2009. The development of the WWDR, coordinated by WWAP, is a joint effort of the 26 UN agencies and entities which make up UN-Water, working in partnership with governments, international organizations, non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders. For more information on the background of the Report and the two previous editions, please see the World Water Development Report page.

New Features of the 3rd edition

The Third edition of the Report presents several changes compared to the previous two editions. Unlike the earlier Reports, which were structured along UN agency lines, the WWDR-3 has a new, holistic format. It will address a number of themes through out the report, including climate change, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), groundwater, biodiversity, water and migration, water and infrastructure, biofuels, etc.

Some of the new features include:

1. A new Table of Contents (ToC). The ToC was endorsed during the UN-Water meeting held in Stockholm on August 12th, 2007. It was further developed through the discussion and contributions of members of UN-Water, professional organizations, non-governmental organizations, and WWDR-3 writers and contributors in attendance at the ´Inception Meeting´ in November 2007.

2. A Technical Advisory Committee (TAC). The experience gained during the development of the first two WWDRs and insights learned from consultations and assessments on WWAP´s past performance demonstrated that the program will benefit from the involvement of a body comprised of scientists, policy and decision makers, stakeholders and representatives from member states. The TAC is composed of members from academia, research institutions, non-governmental organizations, public and professional organizations, and two ex-officio members (Chair of UN-Water and WWAP Coordinator).

3. Seven Expert Groups. To strengthen the scientific basis as well as possible implementation of the report and its recommendations, interdisciplinary expert groups were created for a number of topics, including ´Indicators, Monitoring and Databases´, ´Business, Trade, Finance and Involvement of the Private Sector´, ´Policy Relevance´, ´Scenarios´, ´Climate Change and Water´, and ´Legal Issues´ and ´Storage´.

4. Accompanying Publications. A number of side publications will accompany the WWDR-3, which are intended to provide more focused, in-depth information, scientific background knowledge, policy guidelines and interface with other, less conventional water sectors. These publications will include scientific side papers, sector and topic-specific reports, briefs for policy makers and a Dialogue Series.

5. Side Processes. A number of side processes are planned to address relevant issues over time within the general framework of WWAP. These include "Scenario development and modelling"; "Indicator development, monitoring and reporting"; "WWDR Living Document"; "Data/ meta data bases"; and "Capacity development."

The Structure and Process

In addition to the WWDR-3´s new features, there have been a number of changes to its production process, which is compressed into a period of 18 months. The WWDR-3´s holistic approach to addressing the world´s water resources is reflected in a new structure and stages for its development.

The structure of the WWDR-3 has four main chapters, apart from the introduction and the recommendations: ´drivers of change´, ´the use of the resource for humans and for ecosystems´, ´the state of the resource´, and ´responding to a changing world: what are the options?´ This requires a much deeper level of integration of the content coming from contributing institutions, compared to the earlier reports.

To ensure this integration, each chapter has a core team of two persons, a coordinator from a UN agency, and a facilitator from WWAP. Additionally, a number of topics which require specific attention in the process will be addressed by expert groups and specialists.

The first step in making the report is to produce a table of contents for each chapter. A draft ToC for each chapter was prepared through the discussion and contributions of members of UN-Water, professional organizations, non-governmental organizations, and WWDR-3 writers and contributors through two rounds of comments. The first round took place at the UN-Water meeting during the World Water Week in Stockholm in August 2007. Based on the ToC drafted during this first meeting, WWAP, in collaboration with UN partners and other contributors, developed the main messages and storyline of the Report and produced an annotated table of contents on a chapter-by chapter basis. The second round of contributions and comments were incorporated during the Inception Meeting held in November 2007 to produce the final ToC for each chapter, a list of accompanying publications, and the production schedule for writing the first draft.

The second preparatory meeting, or "Integration Meeting," took place in Perugia, Italy at the new WWAP Headquarters in April 2008. At this meeting, members of the Technical Advisory Committee, members of UN-Water, contributors, writers, and other participants discussed the final drafts of the chapters and their integration. Conclusions and recommendations of the WWDR-3 were also addressed.

WWAP is holding a number of presentations on the table of contents and key messages that have emerged from the report at international conferences and events in the coming months. Please check our homepage for updates on these events.

Timeline for the WWDR-3:

16 March 2009: Launching of the WWDR-3 at the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey.

About the Programme

http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/description/index.shtml

Mission Statement

This UN-wide programme seeks to develop the tools and skills needed to achieve a better understanding of those basic processes, management practices and policies that will help improve the supply and quality of global freshwater resources.

Our goals are to:

assess the state of the world's freshwater resources and ecosystems;

identify critical issues and problems;

develop indicators and measure progress towards achieving sustainable use of water resources;

help countries develop their own assessment capacity;

document lessons learned and publish a World Water Development Report (WWDR) at regular intervals.

Access WWAP's Mid-Term Report, August 2008

Background

Acceptance of the need for a more people oriented and integrated approach to water management and development has gradually evolved as a result of a number of major conferences and fora. The Mar del Plata Action Plan of the 1977 UN Conference on Water, the Dublin Conference on Water and the Environment and the Rio Earth Summit, with its highly important Agenda 21 document, in 1992 and the World Water Vision exercises have successively reinforced the need for comprehensive assessment of the world's freshwater as the basis for more integrated water management. At the urging of the Commission on Sustainable Development and with the strong endorsement by the Ministerial Conference at The Hague in March 2000, UN Water has undertaken a collective UN system-wide continuing assessment process, the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP).

More about the main water conferences and decisions of the last thirty years, read the Water Milestones 1972 - 2003 : from Stockholm to Kyoto.

Rationale for the programme

The growing global water crisis threatens the security, stability and environmental sustainability of developing nations. Millions die each year from water-borne diseases, while water pollution and ecosystem destruction grow, particularly in the developing world. In its Millennium Declaration, the UN called on the nations of the world "to halve by the year 2015 (...) the proportion of people who are unable to reach, or to afford, safe drinking water" and "to stop the unsustainable exploitation of water resources, by developing water management strategies at the regional, national and local levels, which promote both equitable access and adequate supply."

Over the past few decades there has been an increasing acceptance that the management of water resources must be undertaken with an integrated approach, that assessment of the resource is of fundamental importance as the basis for rational decision-making and that national capacities to undertake necessary assessments must be fully supported. Management decisions to alleviate poverty, to allow economic development, to ensure food security and the health of human populations as well as preserve vital ecosystems, must be based on our best possible understanding of all relevant systems.

Currently there is no global system in place to produce a systematic, continuing, integrated and comprehensive global picture of freshwater and its management.

The UN system, through the ACC/SCWR, has the mandate, credibility and capacity to take on the task of systematically marshalling global water knowledge and expertise to develop over time the necessary assessment of the global water situation, as the basis for action to resolve water crises.

Scope of the programme

The WWAP, building on the achievements of the many previous endeavours, focuses on assessing the developing situation as regards freshwater throughout the world. The primary output of the WWAP is the periodic World Water Development Report (WWDR). The Programme will evolve with the WWDR at its core. Thus there will be a need to include:

data compilation (geo-referenced meta-databases);

supporting information technologies;

data interpretation;

comparative trend analyses;

data dissemination;

methodology development and modeling.

The recommendations from the WWDR will include capacity building to improve country-level assessment, with emphasis on developing countries. This will include the building of capacity in education and training, in monitoring and database science and technology and in assessment-related institutional management. The Programme will identify situations of water crisis and will thus provide guidance for donor agencies and will provide the knowledge and understanding necessary as the basis for further capacity building.

The Programme focuses on terrestrial freshwater, but will link with the marine near-shore environments and coastal zone regions as principal sinks for land-based sources of pollution and sedimentation and as areas where the threat of flooding and the potential impact of sea level rise on freshwater resources is particularly acute.

The Programme, including the new WWDR, is undertaken by the UN agencies concerned aided by a Trust Fund, donors providing support in cash and in kind either through specific agencies or through the Trust Fund. UNESCO currently hosts the WWAP Secretariat and manages the FUND at its Headquarters in Paris.

The Programme serves as an "umbrella" for coordination of existing UN initiatives within the freshwater assessment sphere. In this regard it will link strongly with the data and information systems of the UN agencies, for example GRID, GEMS-Water, the Global International Waters Assessment (GIWA) of UNEP, the Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC) of WMO, AQUASTAT of FAO, the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC) being established by WMO and UNESCO, the water supply and sanitation databases of WHO and UNICEF and the databases of the World Bank system.

Programme components

The Programme consists of the following coordinated elements:

The WWDR component, involving the preparation of the periodic report and resultant advice, when requested, to governments. The WWDR will include:

a thematic component (in the first edition this will focus on developments in water management since the Rio Earth Summit and subsequent editions will include cross cutting themes such as "water and poverty", "water in cities" among other possible themes);

a methodological component involving analyses and the production of indicators of water-related stress;

a case study component, which will develop an integrated, cross-sectoral methodology and support its progressive dissemination in countries and river basins worldwide.

A Water Information Network comprising:

global-scale meta-database;

knowledge management systems to facilitate the assessment and dissemination of information;

an online library, website and newsletter.

The network will allow communication with governments and water related non-government groups, facilitate capacity building and raise awareness about water.

A capacity-building component, the prime purpose of which is to promote the ability of governments to conduct their own assessments through human resource development, education and training, provision of methodologies, institution and infrastructure development and development of data and information networks.

Specific programme objectives

Provide an on-going global assessment of the state of the world's freshwater resources and their use.

Identify and advocate methodologies which have been shown to work well.

Identify and assess aspects of the state of freshwater resources.

Identify water management strategies and policies which work well and those which are unsatisfactory and analyzes the reasons for success and failure.

Compile and synthesize data, information and knowledge on all aspects of water resource assessment.

Develop mechanisms for the transfer of knowledge and expertise to national governments, decision makers at all levels from local to international, user organizations, academic institutions and the general public, especially in developing countries which are disadvantaged in terms of the availability and quality of data and information, in order to facilitate and improve freshwater assessment.

Provide advice, on request, to Member States on water-related policies and technical issues at local, national, regional and international levels.

Provide strong advocacy for changes needed to alleviate distress in disadvantaged regions of the world.

Build the capacity for countries to make their own assessments through human resource development, education and training, institutional development and the development of appropriate legal and policy instruments.

Benefits of the programme

Provide, for the first time, a comprehensive process of assessment, from monitoring at the country level, through global database and indicator development, to sectoral and watershed assessment, capacity development and global trend assessment, all leading to a progressively more comprehensive periodic report.

Provide a framework for coordination and realignment of the existing programmes of ACC/SCWR members to take advantage of synergies, strengthen internal positioning of programmes and improve opportunities for external funding.

Provide a framework and rationale for strategic investment by prospective donors, targeted to particular components of the WWAP, while emphasizing the magnitude of the task that must be funded.

Recognize the importance of developing global geo-referenced databases, a comprehensive indicator system and harmonized data standards.

Recognize the need to develop an effective methodology for such assessments based on river basins and aquifers.

Address the essential role of countries in providing core national and watershed data for the assessment process.

Address the critical, continuing need to build or strengthen the capacity in many developing countries to conduct their own assessments.

Provide a mechanism to systematically address water issues that have been under-emphasized in the past, such as:

water quality;

aquatic ecosystem degradation;

water management economics.

Provide a prestigious, systematic institutional mechanism for interaction with non-UN partners and with developing-country water institutions in the assessment area;

Provide a knowledge base that can be used to support other water management and capacity building programmes, within and external to the UN.