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Solutions needed to water shortage posed by climate change
boy drinking water
PRES: Population and climate pressures on our fresh water supply mean that we will have to feed more people with less water by mid-century. A recent discussion at the UN focused on seeking solutions to this looming crisis. Bissera Kostova reports.
Chandavarkar: We expect another 3 billion people to be added to the planet by 2050 and there is an acute awareness that there may not be enough fresh water for everyone.
NARR: Nikhil Chandavarkar is Secretary of the interagency collaborative mechanism, known as UN-Water. He says the interactive discussion organized by the UN General Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee sought to influence the Climate change conference taking place next month in Copenhagen.
Chandavarkar: The climate talks are focused on greenhouse gases and not enough on water, which is the main medium by which climate change will affect people, flora and fauna across the world.
NARR: One of the panelists, Colin Chartres, Director of the International Water Management Institute, agrees that the effects of climate change on water need to be addressed in the new climate treaty.
Chartres: Climate change mitigation is all about gases, but climate change adaptation is all about water.
NARR: Mr. Chartres says that while climate change might bring more storms and rains to some parts of the world, overall it is expected to decrease the supply of fresh water globally.
Chartres: In some countries, particularly those dependent on melting glaciers and snow melt, as time goes on, we expect that there will be a 30% decrease in water resource availability.
NARR: Shortages of water will result not so much for drinking water, but mainly for producing food. That's why a lot of the solutions need to focus on agriculture, says Colin Chartres.
Chartres: The solutions are there - they range from looking at better ways to storing water, better use of ground water, greater use of waste water, after some cleaning up of that waste water, better use of things like conservation tillage, all of which can sort of drive up productivity, so we can get more crop per drop. On the crop side, we'll need, as well, the improvement in varieties, so that they are more drought and heat tolerant, and able to adapt to various changes in environment.
NARR: Equitable distribution of water resources and fair pricing are also part of the solution.
Chandavarkar: There is certainly a rights issue that the need for water needs to be met. There are also other aspects, such as the efficiency of water use, and it's quite clear that a lot of the wastage of water, whether it's through irrigation elsewhere, has occurred because water often does not have a price, so I think there is a way to balance both, and the UN provides a forum for all these views to come together.
NARR: Nikhil Chandavarkar, Secretary of UN-Water and Chief of Communications in the Sustainable Development Division of the United Nations. For UN Radio, I'm Bissera Kostova.
Duration: 2'36"
