On March 22, the world will celebrate World Water Day. This year's theme focuses on the impact of rapid urbanization, climate change and natural disasters on water systems. This initiative was created by UN-Water. With access to water set to become a serious global issue, now is the time the international community needs to ask what else can be done to address this pressing issue.
The data speaks for itself. By 2025, it is estimated that about two thirds of the world's population (roughly 5.5 billion people) could be living in areas facing moderate to severe water stress. According to UN-Water, 827.6 million people living in slums lack safe drinking water and sanitation facilities across the world. The United Nation's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) report says that the world could see more than 800 million people without clean drinking water and 1.8 billion people deprived of basic sanitation by 2015. In the ghettos of Jakarta, Manila and Nairobi, poor people pay 5 to 10 times more for water than those living in high-income areas like in London or New York. More than 2 million people are reported to have died of water-borne diseases in the year 2000.
It is universally believed that water is a basic human right. But achieving this right has been a distant dream for many. The stark reality of the present scenario means that in the future, nations will be fighting wars to seize control over water resources. Water will become one of the most significant issues that will change the dynamics of International Relations. The present equation between nations will no longer remain the same. Such concerns have been raised and asserted many times by academics, activists groups and individuals yet surprisingly, the resultant response of the global community has been passive, vague and disoriented.
At present, UN-Water exists to help various countries achieve their MDGs. But this organization is just a ‘mechanism', not a concrete platform that can combat water related issues. Moreover, the visibility of such an organization and its capabilities are negligible. Many states also have their own national water policies. As far as effective implementation of water policies is concerned, developed nations are farther ahead than developing countries.
In the cases of less-developed nations like India, half hearted actions are reflected in the way that national water policies are implemented. This is evident from drying and polluted water bodies, senseless wastage of water, de-regulation for industrial use and lack of public awareness, which speaks highly of the pathetic reality on the ground. Also, we lack authentic data on the depleting condition of water resources, usage and wastage of water, and lack of political will to address this challenge.
Taking into account the nature of the issue, pure hegemony may not be a relevant way to address it. A multilateral water regime is needed, where both states and non-state actors can negotiate policies that address the issues of water suitably. This present grappling context presents the United States and the European Union with a new opportunity to come forward and take the lead in addressing the issue of water. Both players have had their differences in climate change, owing to their respective stance on the climate debate, which has caused a considerable strain in their relationship. Therefore, no credible breakthrough has been achieved in the climate negotiations. Global issues cannot be solved effectively unless the US and the EU work in a united way for it.
Therefore, the issue of water has potential to open up a new and significant chapter in the transatlantic relationship where both the EU and the US can work together in engaging other nations to form a multilateral regime under which an effective Global Water Policy can be formulated. This policy has to be comprehensive and workable for nations according to their realities on the ground, both at macro and micro level. Certain key areas which have to be emphasized and incorporated for the global response to this strategic issue are:
- Treat water as an urgent and immediate security issue for which the West should take the lead.
- Focus should be on technology-transfer and funding to lesser-developed nations in successfully addressing water issues.
- Engage NGOs in a massive awareness campaign at various levels. Governments and players at international level should genuinely consider feedback from non-state actors for a planned and systemic solution.
The world cannot afford to sit back and wait for the worst to happen. Already a lot of damage and wastage has been done to our water bodies at every level. Recently, the effort of the concerned actors for water reflected in Cancun Summit in Mexico was a welcome step. However, in the current scenario, water needs an independent global platform just like the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is for climate-policy making. As in the case of climate change, a vigorous discourse is required to promote water as a critical focal area.
Water is the most precious gift that nature has endowed on us. It is our duty and requirement to do the needful. Now is the time for collective and sincere efforts to save and manage water. So this year, March 22 must be celebrated with new enthusiasm. It should be the starting point of many required activities for a future agenda by the global community ahead, one of them being the formulation of a global water regime under the active leadership of the European Union and the United States.
Vijeta Rattani and Trupti Sahu are Doctoral Research Scholars at the Centre for European Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
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February 21, 2011
John Hadjisky, Blogger, Platinum Contributor (324)
I'm afraid I must disagree. Water is a molecule, not a right. Rights are abstract ideas; water is a material substance. Why am I making this seemingly trivial point?
Potable water, like food, shelter, fuel, transportation, entertainment, and all the other necessities or luxuries in life, is a commodity, plain and simple. Even better, people (and agriculture, etc.) don't consume water the way they do fossil fuel. With proper watershed management, potable water is nature's ultimate renewable resource. Any region with a functioning economy and respect for the rule of law has no trouble providing its inhabitants with sufficient potable water at a cost that is very close to zero.
The fact that potable water has, in some areas, become scarce, is due to either prosperity (increased demand for luxuries that use water), or due to mismanagement of this abundant, renewable resource. This mismanagement, in turn, is far more common in situations where water is considered a free, inalienable "right", and far less common where potable water is managed as a commodity.
Another form of mismanagement is the use of force (by governments, warlords, etc.) to artificially restrict the supply of, or access to, this vital commodity. They do this in order to extort funds (or taxes), or to maintain political control, or both. Here the right that is being denied is the right of free exchange between producer and consumer, not the "right" to water. Another way of looking at it: in many cultures, water is connected to religious beliefs about moral or spiritual purity. When this right is denied, it is the right to free expression and freedom of religion, and not the right to water, that is being denied.
"Water will become one of the most significant issues that will change the dynamics of International Relations."
That could be said about any commodity that people want enough to fight over. In that respect, there's nothing special about water, it is just another resource. Even before the modern area, with its dynamism and occasional abrupt transitions and dislocations, people often fought about water. Modernity's ability to ameliorate natural variations in water availability more than makes up for the occasional disruptions caused by modernity.
"The world cannot afford to sit back and wait for the worst to happen."
Vague, alarmist statements such as these are unhelpful. In general, water is neither created nor destroyed by human use. I suppose there are a few natural geological processes (for example ocean subduction) and man-made processes (for example, cement production) that actually, permanently remove water from the earth's hydrosphere. However, the amounts are negligible compared to the total volume of the hydrosphere. We are no more likely to run out of water than we are to run out of air to breath. The alleged, imminent, global water apocalypse is a myth.