Briefing an 11 March UN Security Council meeting on the link between conflict and food security, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made an impassioned plea for the Council to address conflict as the main cause of hunger around the world

“Conflict forces people to leave their homes, land and jobs, disrupts agriculture and trade, reduces access to vital resources like water and electricity, and so, drives hunger,” Guterres said, continuing, “Famine and hunger are no longer about a lack of food. They are now largely manmade, and I use the term deliberately.”

"At the same time, conflict forces people to leave their homes, land and jobs; disrupts agriculture and trade; reduces access to vital resources like water and electricity; and also drives hunger".  

Framing starvation as a “war crime” that has been used as a tactic in conflict-torn countries such as Syria, South Sudan and Myanmar, the UN chief urged the Council to “take maximum action to seek accountability for these atrocious acts”.

He pointed out that, at the end of 2020, more than 88 million people were suffering from acute hunger due to conflict and instability, marking a 20 Percent year-on-year increase, and warned that this escalation is continuing in 2021.

Referring to the disappointing outcome of the UN’s recent aid pledging conference for war-ravaged Yemen and reductions in humanitarian aid resulting from the Covid crisis, he argued that “the solution does not lie in cutting aid to starving children.”

He went on to state that women and girls face a double risk, saying: “They are more likely to be forced from their homes by conflict, and they are more vulnerable to malnutrition, particularly when pregnant or breast-feeding. Girls who are hungry are at increased risk of trafficking, forced marriage and other abuses.”

In a funding plea to the same meeting, the head of the World Food Programme (WFP), David Beasley highlighted the crisis in South Sudan, which he visited in early February and where “7.2 million people face acute food insecurity or worse”. He described conditions in Western Pibor where mothers had resorted to feeding their children with the skin of dead animals or even mud, adding, “Their suffering is the result of widespread conflict and the unprecedented floods that came in 2019 and 2020. These people are in the crossfire of conflict, while bearing the brunt of the climate crisis.”

Mekong River water levels between Jinghong hydropower station in China’s Yunnan province and the Mekong Delta in Vietnam fell in recent weeks to worrying levels, says the Mekong River Commission (MRC).

The MRC has observed a 25 percent drop in average rainfall since last November, while outflow from Jinghong has been fluctuating wildly, falling to half its normal levels on several days in January.

Background here

The fluctuations have made it “challenging for authorities and communities to prepare for and respond to possible impacts”, says to Dr Winai Wangpimool, Director of the MRC Secretariat’s Technical Support Division.

In early January, China’s Ministry of Water Resources notified the four Lower Mekong countries that the outflow from Jinghong would be restricted to 1,000 m³/s from 5 to 24 January due to the maintenance of power grid transmission lines. The Ministry, however, did not specify the river water level before the outflow restriction nor the volume to be restored on 25 January.

“Continuing this flow pattern could have an impact on river transport, fish migration, agriculture and river weed collection,” Dr Winai said. “To help the Lower Mekong countries manage risks more effectively, we call on China and the Lower Mekong countries themselves to share their water release plans with us.”

Last year, China agreed to share year-round water level and rainfall data with the MRC and pledged to notify the MRC and its Member Countries of any abnormal rise or fall in water levels or discharge, and provide relevant information on factors that might lead to sudden flooding.

The significantly lower levels have also changed the river’s colour from its usual brown to blue-green. The lower flow means less sediment is being washed downstream and the resulting clarity of the water is leading to the formation of algae on the riverbed.

Experts at the MRC are concerned that the increased clarity could lead to changes in the river’s productivity, with less food available for aquatic insects, invertebrates and small fish.

The 12th longest in the world, the Mekong River runs through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Heavily dammed in China, changes to its flow have had a noticeable impact on the river’s ecology and on the downstream communities dependent upon it for food, fresh water and livelihoods.

Plans to build another dam in Laos have already brought widespread criticism from environmental groups and the Thai authorities.

 

Egypt and Sudan have renewed their calls for a new negotiating mechanism mediated by four international parties to help resolve the long-running dispute with Ethiopia over the GERD (Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam) project.

It comes as the US plans to review the freeze of $272 Million USD in aid to Ethiopia imposed by the Trump administration in response to its GERD actions.

Following a meeting on 2 March, Cairo and Khartoum reiterated that they are seeking the establishment of a four-party mediation team lead by the African Union (AU) and comprising the UN, the EU and the US. So far, separate attempts at mediation by the AU and the US have failed to secure meaningful progress or produce the legally binding framework desired by Egypt and Sudan.

The biggest current stumbling block hampering the restart of the stalled negotiations among the three parties is Ethiopia’s intention to commence the second phase of filling the dam on the Blue Nile in July at the onset of this year’s rainy season.

Egypt and Sudan issued a joint statement saying: “Ethiopia’s unilateral move to commence the second filling of GERD reservoir would pose a direct threat to the water security of Egypt and Sudan, especially with regard to the operation of Sudanese dams, and risk the lives of 20 million people in Sudan.”

Ethiopia remains unconvinced by the proposal for 4-way mediation. At a press conference in Addis Ababa on 3 March, a spokesperson for the Ethiopian foreign ministry said: “The tendency to invite various parties as mediators to the issue while the AU-led negotiation has not been finalised is demeaning the efforts of the AU," adding that Addis Ababa believes the AU-brokered negotiation will bring a “win-win solution” to all parties.

It was Ethiopia’s move in 2020 to start filling the 6 GW dam that prompted the Trump administration to freeze the US aid package on the basis that the action contravened the agreement brokered by the US a year ago. Speaking to reporters, a US spokesperson said that the policy is under review and that the administration is looking at renewing efforts to mediate.

Ethiopia was unhappy with the water-sharing aspect of the US agreement, which it said provided assurances of outflow for drought mitigation downstream without taking into account fluctuations in inflow. Ethiopia argues that the agreement conflated drought with water shortage – an important differentiation when it comes to determining responsibility for mitigation.

Taiwan’s crucial microchip sector is under threat from the country’s worst drought in 56 years. The government has issued assurances that there are sufficient water supplies to keep the industry going until late May, when it hopes monsoon rains will alleviate the looming crisis. Meanwhile, it has urged companies to reduce water consumption by 7 to 11 percent.

Speaking to the media, the head of the country’s Ministry of Economic Affairs, Wang Mei-hua, said that Taiwan has seen just 20 millimetres of rain so far this spring, compared to an average of 100 millimetres. This follows a complete absence in 2020 of the typhoons that would normally restock the island’s water supplies. Hsinchu City, home to several major chip makers, received just half its usual rainfall in 2020.

With water levels at six of Taiwan’s reservoirs standing at between 10 and 15 Percent, the world’s largest chip maker TSMC is already reportedly buying water by the truckload to prop up manufacturing operations that are already struggling to meet global chip demand in major sectors such as automobile manufacturing.

Last month, Volkswagen criticised the semiconductor supply chain for bad planning in its response to the recovery in automotive manufacturing following last year’s coronavirus shutdowns. The world’s second-largest carmaker is one of several forced to curtail vehicle production due to chip shortages.

The supply issues have prompted several countries, including the US, to look closely at ramping up their domestic chip supply chains to reduce dependency on Taiwan, which is one of the world’s biggest providers of subcontract chip fabrication (fabs). Taiwan has already been forced to defend the resilience of its chip making sector in the face of a push by China to develop its own semiconductor industry.

Making microchips is a thirsty business. According to TSMC’s own figures, it needs 156,000 tonnes of water a day, a large proportion of which is Ultra Pure Water (UPW), which is thousands of times purer than drinking water and so clean that it is regarded as an industrial solvent.

In its most recent social responsibility report, TSMC says it reused 86.7% of its water (133.6 million tonnes) in 2019 and saved a further 7.93 million tonnes.

US President Joe Biden's administration has announced a 90-day delay of implementation of the previous Trump administration update to the Revised Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) that governs lead and copper in drinking water.

The Trump rule would have shortened the time for notification of exposure to lead in municipal (mostly) water pipes but would also have allowed a longer time for utilities to replace the lead service lines. Some critics argue that this rule is very weak and would allow lead-tainted pipes to remain for another 30 years versus the 14 years under the previous rule. US States, community activists and advocacy groups are challenging this rule in a number of courts.

The Biden decision to delay implementation will allow for longer consultation, particularly on the replacement portion of the provision. Under consideration is a three-year deadline to implement compliance with any new regulation.

Lead in drinking water can be extremely toxic and even more so for childrens’ health where lead exposure has been linked to causing brain and nervous system damage, slowed growth and development, and learning, behaviour, and motor skill issues.

Radhika Fox, the agency’s acting assistant administrator for water, has indicated that the additional review period will allow for greater public participation, including from those who have already been affected by such contamination.

In a statement, the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) indicated that it is committed to following the best science to address the lead issues in drinking water. The agency has also committed to maintaining a flexible approach in learning from its stakeholders and adapting solutions that meet local needs.

“It’s promising that EPA is finally committing to take a hard look at fixing the badly-broken Lead and Copper Rule. The Biden Administration has the opportunity to make history by ending the crisis of lead-contaminated water, which is a public health disaster more than a century in the making,” commented Erik D. Olson, senior strategic director for Health at the Natural Resource Defense Council.

“Water is our most precious resource, a ‘blue gold’ to which more than 2 billion people do not have direct access. It is not only essential for survival, but also plays a sanitary, social and cultural role at the heart of human societies,” said UNESCO director-general Audrey Azoulay, launching the UN’s annual World Water Development Report (WWDR) on World Water Day 2021.

Entitled “Valuing Water” this year’s report emphasises the need to broaden the notion of the value of water beyond monetary concepts of price and cost. It examines the value of water under five headings: supply and sanitation services, the economy, the environment, cultural values and the so-called hydraulic infrastructure.

“Many of our problems arise because we do not value water highly enough; all too often water is not valued at all,” said chair of UN-Water Gilbert Houngbo, adding: “The time has come for stakeholders to identify, articulate and share perspectives of the values of water.”

The 206-page report recognises widely varying approaches to valuing water across, and even within, different contexts as well as the often intangible nature of some sociocultural values that defy quantification, concluding “Consolidating the different approaches and methods for valuing water across multiple dimensions and perspectives will likely remain challenging.”

Nevertheless, it stresses that valuing water “remains an absolutely necessary step in addressing water-related challenges worldwide. Otherwise, water will remain poorly accounted for and, thus, routes to its better management harder to identify”.

For instance, UNESCO estimates it would cost $114 billion per year to provide universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation in 140 low- and middle-income countries, but points out “the multiple social and economic benefits of safe water are difficult to evaluate”, asking: “How do we quantify the meaning of the 443 million schooldays missed annually due to water-related diseases?”

“We must all recognize the multifold value of water and take action to conserve this basic resource, the resource which gives our planet its unique colour,” said director-general Azoulay.

This echoes the final summation of WWDR, which points to the universality of water and its incalculable and limitless value, stating: “This is perhaps best illustrated by the widespread enthusiasm for the idea that traces of water can be found on Mars, or the fact that we think of water and life as interchangeable when studying other planets.”

The WWDR is published by UNESCO on behalf of UN-Water. It is the UN’s flagship publication on water and sanitation issues and focuses on a different theme every year.

Water UK, the industry association representing water and wastewater companies in England, UK, has launched a public consultation on a long-term vision for the country's water sector.

A discussion paper, “Developing a 2050 Vision for the Water Sector”, is  described as the first step in a programme to accelerate and broaden the sector’s role given recent unprecedented challenges

Population growth, droughts, floods, biodiversity loss combined with the effects of climate change have put increasing pressure on water resource and aging infrastructure.

The Vision 2050 paper outlines  the English water industry’s ambition to become a global environmental leader: to stewardship improvement and protection of England’s water resources, to act on the impacts of climate change and to protect its customers long-term interests.

Christine McGourty, Water UK Chief Executive, commented: “The launch of today’s public consultation on our 2050 Vision for the water sector in England is the beginning of a dialogue, with those inside and outside of the industry, on how we collectively address the challenges we face, such as the climate emergency. 

“We welcome views from all individuals and organisations in helping us develop a Vision which the sector can stand behind for the long-term benefit of customers, society and the environment.”

Rachel Fletcher, Chief Executive of England's regulator, Ofwat said: “The water sector faces profound challenges, not least from climate change, population growth and changing customer needs. It’s vital that companies, regulators and government redouble their joint work to unlock the industry’s full potential to benefit customers, communities and the natural world while keeping bills affordable.  

Emma Clancy, Consumer Council for Water (CCW) Chief Executive, said:  “We welcome the water industry’s efforts to deliver a clear Vision to overcome the mounting pressure on its services and the environment and we want to see future – as well as current – consumers have a stake in developing those plans".

The water Diplomat Voices is a series of guest columns written by participants in different parts of the international water community. 

His Excellency President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, 4th President of the Republic of Tanzania, writes here in his capacity as Chair of Global Water Partnership Southern Africa - Africa Coordination Unit:

 

The unprecedented events of 2020 have laid bare the systemic inequalities that hold back progress on our beloved continent. In the face of the overwhelming challenge that the Covid-19 pandemic has brought to Africa, the need for urgent and significant investment in African water and sanitation resources has never been clearer. 

Clean water and sanitation are the first line of defence against infection and disease. And yet more than 300 million Africans are without access to potable water, and over 700 million are without access to adequate sanitation. 

Access to sustainable and reliable clean water is an indispensable social and health need. Resilient economic development, of the sort that will be critical in the post-Covid-19 era, is dependent on water security. We know Africa’s economic resilience will be tested in the aftermath of the pandemic.

The OECD has warned of multiple shockwaves, both short- and long-term, due to lower trade and investment, demand slumps for our exports, and a continental supply decline. As we stand today, our current investment levels in water infrastructure to meet our social and economic needs are insufficient.

The African Development Bank estimates that $64 Billion USD in water infrastructure investment is required annually to achieve water security for all. Actual investments stand between $10 and $19 Billion USD per year. 

Compounding the social and economic water challenges we are facing is climate change, which will wreak more frequent and more severe havoc on our cities, our villages, our crops, our live stocks, our built infrastructure – our livelihoods. The African Climate Policy Centre at the United Nations Economic Commission Africa (UNECA) expects our collective continental GDP to decline by as much as 5% against a 2% increase in average temperatures.

To rebuild a fair, prosperous, and peaceful society, and achieve our Sustainable Development Goals, we must address our deficit in water infrastructure investment – from private and public sources.

Opportunities for positive change do exist. During the 34th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Africa Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia earlier in February 2021, Heads of African State formally adopted the progressive Continental Africa Water Investment Program (AIP), as part of the second phase of the Africa Union Development Agency’s Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa Priority Action Plan (PIDA-PAP 2).

PIDA-PAP 2, a strategic continental portfolio of projects shortlisted for implementation between 2021 and 2030, is an opportunity to accelerate investment into climate-resilient regional, transboundary, and national water infrastructure – such as dams, water transfer systems, irrigation systems, water management information systems, water supply, and sanitation infrastructure – which is critically needed to meet Africa’s growing socio-economic needs.

With the full weight of support and leadership from our continent’s highest leadership, the AIP can leverage and influence $30 Billion USD in climate resilience SDG 6 water investments and create at least 5 million jobs.

The programme is designed to directly address two significant obstacles African countries face in attracting investment in water: lack of financing and inadequate preparation of bankable projects, which are intrinsically interlinked.

African water projects fail to attract funding, specifically from the private sector because planning, testing, reporting, and implementation at various stages of the project cycle falls short of financiers’ requirements. That is one of the chief reasons why just $3 Billion USD of private sector funding was invested in Sub-Saharan African water projects since 1990, compared to $41.7 Billion USD in East Asia and the Pacific, and $36 Billion USD in Latin America and the Caribbean over the same period. 

In order to make African water projects more attractive to the private sector, the AIP will facilitate accelerated project preparation, develop regional and country investment programmes, and develop a business case for high-level policy, decision makers, and investors. The goal is to catalyse investments that improve economic opportunities, create jobs, and better people’s lives.

Equally important is accountability, transparency, and access to reliable up-to-date data. We have seen the success of public accountability tools such as the Africa Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) Scorecard for Accountability and Action, which measures country progress in malaria interventions, maternal and child health, and neglected tropical diseases. The AIP proposes a similar accountability instrument to track and support country-level progress in attracting water investments and delivering essential water services.

The opportunities presented by the AIP are not linked to achieving water security alone. The gains we stand to make can contribute to a more prosperous continent, through industrialisation and economic growth. January 2021 marked the momentous start of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area, the largest in the world by the number of countries participating, which has the potential to generate $450 Billion USD in income gains for our continent, bringing 30 million people out of extreme poverty and increasing the incomes of 68 million others who are living on $5.50 USD/day or less.

But trade cannot flourish without industry, without robust economic growth, without infrastructure. Investment in climate-resilient water infrastructure that meets our economic and social needs must become a priority to our leaders. The AIP presents us with a roadmap to achieve our potential for present and future generations of Africans.

The European Commission has approved a multi-million dollar investment in Dubrovnik Waterworks from the Cohesion Fund (a European Commission initiative aimed at providing support and promoting sustainable development in low income countries).

The $71.5 Million USD investment, approved 2 March, will be used to improve Dubrovnik’s water supply and upgrade wastewater management infrastructure across the city.

EU Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, commented: “This project will not only provide inhabitants with the essential access to clean water and reduced water losses but it will also boost the commercial and touristic attractiveness of the area, thus improving the local socio-economic development. Once more, Cohesion policy is about delivering concrete solutions and additional benefits to local challenges.”

Although the wastewater section of the investment will cover Dubrovnik agglomeration alone, districts out with the city whose water is supplied by the Zaton-Orašac-Elafiti and Mioševići-Visočani systems will also benefit from the water supply upgrades.

This investment will not only protect Dubrovnik’s water supply from pollution and contamination meaning that residents will have access to safe drinking water, but it will also boost the city’s economy by removing the costs associated with the upkeep and maintenance of old and unreliable water infrastructure.

OOSKAnews Voices is a series of guest columns written by participants in different parts of the international water community. 

On World Water Day 2021, Alexis Morgan discusses our framing of the value of water, and revisiting our language around this.

Alexis leads WWF’s global water stewardship efforts, a role that includes oversight of WWF’s Water Risk Filter tool. A global thought leader on water stewardship, he has authored numerous publications over the past 15 years and developed corporate partnerships on water across a range of sectors. He currently sits on CDP Water’s advisory board and is the chair of the board of the Alliance for Water Stewardship. He lives in Vancouver, Canada and holds a masters in hydrology from the University of Toronto and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University.

To value something is not only to “estimate the monetary worth of (something),” but also to “consider (someone or something) to be important or beneficial; have a high opinion of.” (Oxford definition). For World Water Day 2021, we are celebrating the “value of water” but let’s check ourselves as we do so. 

Take a moment and clear your mind. If someone were to say to you: “swamp”, “bogged down”, “flooded”, or “drought” – even “wet”, what feelings come to mind. Do they bring to mind positive notions or are you reminded of negative things? Deep down, do we all need to recalibrate how we value water?

Language is only one way in which we need to rethink valuing water; we need to dig deeply to also consider the process of valuation. When you think about how water brings value to your life, what comes to mind? In a year when the value of water has been perhaps been focused on how water (& soap!) is critical in the fight against disease, perhaps it brings to mind the social value of water to provide us with health and well-being. Perhaps you are one of the growing many who continue to see evidence of how water, climate and biodiversity work together to preserve ecological value. Or how clean and dirty water often parallel the growing inequity of economic value distribution. The value of water can take many forms – and therein lies one of its most powerful traits.

While under the spotlight this year, we’ve long talked about the value of water, so it is perhaps a good time to step back and reflect on what we put out over a half a decade ago when we [WWF] published our framework thinking on this issue: The Value of Water (WWF & IFC, 2015). This discussion paper recognized and outlined not only differ forms of value (at differing scales), but also began to link the narratives of risk and opportunity to water stewardship.

Furthermore, the framework began to outline thinking on how to begin to better measure the value of water – be it at a corporate level or beyond.

Since this time, WWF has seen a lot of people grappling with the same kinds of questions and challenges:

• How do we get financial markets to better value how water impacts financial value?
• How do we get regulators and central banks to better value how water impacts economic value?
• How do we get governments to better value how water impacts societal well-being value?
• How do we get humanity to better value how water impacts ecological value?

Efforts ranging from the Task Force for Climate Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) to the emergent Task Force for Nature Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) have started to advance these issues. The understanding of the linkages between water (as a front-line impact of climate), adaptation and the value of water resilience has grown.

Indeed, we have seen tools emerge to better explore how various future climate-driven water scenarios may impact a company’s activities. With World Water Day 2021, we [WWF] are also launching a new report with Germany’s largest food retailer Edeka, looking at how scenarios from WWF’s Water Risk Filter can be used to explore how water may affect global agricultural supply chains. Companies such as Edeka are explicitly recognizing that understanding future water risks to key agricultural commodities is central to preserving financial (shareholder) value.

In the coming week, WWF will also be releasing a second report on how water (and its contextual nature) can be better integrated into corporate strategy. This report, which will be accompanied by a linked report on contextual water target setting, emerged out of our learnings that target-setting, borne in a risk-mitigation logic, misses the point on value. Put differently, if a company is to maximize the value creation from water, it is critical that water be linked back to corporate strategy. As one considers how to create value within a corporate strategy, the lenses from the Value of Water framework become quite useful. Considering how water can enhance societal and ecological value is a central aspect to driving “purpose”, an issue that is increasingly being adopted by the world’s most sustainable (and often best performing) companies.

Yet our (WWF's) Value of Water report was also rooted in the notions of different forms of value – not all value is monetary. Our recent report The World’s Forgotten Fishes highlighted that freshwater fish do not simply represent an important source of protein for many countries, but rather represent something much, much more. They are a source of inspiration, they are pets and companions, they are the basis for treasured past-times (fishing), and they are massively under-valued. As a core part of our freshwater ecosystems, freshwater fish embody the value of water in many regards: critical to humans and life, yet criminally undervalued and forgotten.

As we’ve explored the issue of value over the years, the issue of value to whom has always been central. Who provides value; who receives value. Linked to this, for a long time women have been disproportionately impacted by water challenges and like water, they are systematically undervalued in society. To better value water, we must link issues together such as women, water, and value. That’s precisely what we’re seeking to do under our #ApparelOpenLetter work with a consortium of actors, including the US Water Partnership in April when we will have a series of panels focusing on how women can be forces of value creation through water in the apparel sector. Stay tuned!

Reflecting upon our journey in #ValuingWater, I believe we need to revisit our framing of value as much as we must revisit our language. Swamps are life-giving sources of huge ecosystem service benefits. Bogs are some of the most treasured assets for trapping and sequestering carbon. Floods deliver critical nutrients, sediment to protect our coastlines and replenish our groundwater systems. Droughts too can be positive; they lower pollution levels, and help to “reset” systems (not unlike forest fires) and establish conditions for life to return and flourish again. We need to see freshwater systems in a new light, and bring forth new, positive associations that indeed “value” water.

No matter who we are, all of us value water in one way, shape or form. There is ultimately no way to escape how fundamentally important and beneficial water is – it is the basis of life, so what more must one say. And yet through our words, we undervalue water on a daily basis. Through our actions, we undervalue water in our investments and even our business strategies. We must reconsider water as not just a risk, but as an opportunity. So whether you are a farmer, a fisher, a factory owner, or a financier – let’s rethink water. Consider all of the benefits it brings to your life. You might even improve your opinion of yourself. After all, you’re more than 60 percent water.

A new comparative study conducted by the Geneva Water Hub and partners identifies the similarities and the differences in the challenges faced by female water experts across Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, and identifies capacity building requirements with respect to various skills of a 21st century water diplomat.

Read full report HERE.

The report is a collaborative effort of the Global Water Partnership -Mediterranean (GWP-Med) and Geneva Water Hub (GWH) and the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM). The work included technical “mapping” on the current status and challenges facing women in water diplomacy/ and transboundary water cooperation settings. Efforts capitalised on the methodology used for a similar mapping exercise undertaken in 2018 in Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine.

The current project updated previous findings and included Egypt and Morocco in its scope.

The report establishes a “baseline” for each country that includes progress to date, constraints experienced, and an overall assessment of the current “status” of women in the water sector in the respective country.

The study produced detailed comparative information using education and experience parameters and interrogated almost 100 water professionals in the region examined.

A 15 March virtual launch session included comments from the speakers as well as input from the funders and other key contributors. 

The date of 15 March was chosen as virtual “bridge” between International Women’s Day on March 8 and World Water Day on 22 March.

The winners of the Water ChangeMaker Awards were announced at the virtual Water Anchoring Event of the Climate Adaptation Summit held on 25 January 2021.

More than 350 individuals and groups from over 80 countries submitted their change journeys, highlighting the water decisions they have made to improve climate resilience. Out of the 78 journeys submitted, 12 of them made it to the final stage of the competition before 4 winners were chosen. Out of the 12 finalists, 2 of them received a Peoples’ Choice Award.

The aim of the Water ChangeMaker Awards is to recognise and celebrate organisations and individuals that make smart water management decisions to safeguard resources in response to the current climate crisis, and to build a community in which ChangeMakers can contribute and learn from one another to promote positive change.

Howard Bamsey, chairman of the Global Water Partnership, said: “We wanted to highlight that within our global network at the local level there are many stories of successful partnerships in confronting the multiple and related global crises we face, especially climate change.”

The first-place winner of the Water ChangeMaker Awards was ‘The Masungi Georeserve Story: Restoring forgotten watersheds through youth-led movements’. This project, which was largely led by young people under the age of 30, aims to restore the Upper Marikina watershed in Rizal, Philippines to prevent future landslides and flooding and to protect it against long-standing threats such as illegal mining. The Masungi Georeserve project has gained massive support from people across the world, with more than 200,000 followers on social media.

In joint second place was the ‘Water Producer Project in the Pipiripau Watershed: building resilience in a water-conflict area in Brazil’ and the ‘Watersheds and Cities: Social participation to improve the health of ecosystems and water provisions’. The Water Producer Project is aimed at reducing water conflicts in the Pipiripau watershed through the use of integrated water resource management (IWRM), efficient soil and water management practices and good governance. Similarly, the Watersheds and Cities project focuses on improving water management in watershed across Mexico by forming alliances with local partners based on “planning, resource investment and institutional collaboration”.

Finally, third place was awarded to ‘Watershared Bank: Funding the conservation of water factories in the Tropical Andes’ a journey which not only provided funding opportunities to allow indigenous communities in Latin America to implement their own water conservation programmes but has also helped to improve human health by providing food and water security in the region.

The Water ChangeMaker Awards also launched two People’s Choice Votes, which were selected from the 12 finalists, in partnership with the Climate Adaptation Summit. The winners were ‘Mother parliaments advocate for climate resilient WASH facilities’, and the African People’s Choice award went to ‘Strengthening climate resilience in the Kafue sub-basin’.

All 350 of the Water ChangeMakers will continue to have an input in future events and publications throughout the year, allowing others to learn and take inspiration from their experiences to promote positive change in terms of climate resilience.

Water is essential for human life. For food, energy, our environment and ecosystems, playing a central role in our economies, from agriculture to energy production, and manufacturing to tourism.

But what about those vital Non-Market Values of Water? Artistic and Social? Human Peace? Health and Wellbeing? Spiritual and Philosophical?

VIDEO FOOTAGE HERE!

MORE ABOUT OUR PANEL HERE!

“We don’t have dominion over the planet and its ecosystems, in fact we are part of that ecosystem and we depend on nature for everything that is important to us in life – socially and economically,” said hydrologist James Curran, continuing, “And we can’t run the planet. We’re actually very bad at running the planet. We should let mother nature get on with it.”

Curran, who is a former chair of the James Hutton Institute and currently serves on the board of the Green Purposes Company, was describing his view of a third outrage to add to Freud’s two great outrages of humankind’s self-perception, and kicking off a wide-ranging discussion of the “non-market value of water to society” in the aquaNOW Audience to mark World Water Day.

aquaNOW Audience Moderator David Duncan invited six panelists, including an academic, a man of the cloth and an artist, to explore the less obvious artistic, social, spiritual and philosophical values of water and the contribution they make to human peace, health and wellbeing.

Dismissing mind models that place economic benefit on an equal footing with social and environmental benefits, Curran described the economy as a social construct, arguing: “The economy is there to serve us.”

For Elliot Hurst, water researcher and Scotland, Hydro Nation PhD Scholar, the values of water are closely related to how we engage with it. Echoing the point made by Curran on the economy, he said: “Water values are something that we create and that we decide upon.” The native New Zealander, who grew up drinking rainwater and surrounded by the Te moana nui a Kiwa (the Pacific Ocean), called for nature-based solutions to current manmade problems, reflecting upon the way indigenous peoples have thought about water for centuries as a “connecting fluid that holds all life together”.

This analogy was lauded by thought-leader and podcaster from Denver, Colorado, Will Sarni, who often refers to water as “the glue of humanity”. Welcoming what he described as “a different conversation about water”, he said: “Unless we [as water experts] can connect with humanity on a very visceral level, it’s going to be an echo chamber.”

“What we’re talking about is the local nature of water,” said Sarni. “Unlike carbon, water is not fungible – it is local, it’s personal.” Describing developments over recent decades in his native New York City that embrace its connectivity to water as “incredibly powerful”, he went on to say that water connectivity can transform people and serve as a catalyst for changing public policy. “We have an abundance of water, but we mismanage it so much that we don’t have access to water in an equitable fashion,” he said, urging people to “embrace the arts and embrace connectivity” and arguing that “the non-economic value of water is our power to do better”.

Referencing the spiritual roots of human relationships with rivers as symbols of cleansing and purification, James Curran talked of how industrialisation caused many cities, such as this year’s COP26 host Glasgow, to turn their back on the rivers from which they grew. Through industrialisation “the common good had become a private good”.

Recent efforts to undo the industrial damage done to Scotland’s waterways is evident in the work of Scottish artist Lesley Banks, whose residency with Scottish Canals resulted not only in an impressive body of work, but also in a new personal relationship with manmade waterways. Having previously spent time painting the canals of Venice and Amsterdam, Banks pointed to long-standing historical links between artists and water, citing Monet, van Gogh, Turner and Hokusai as examples of how artists are drawn to water.

Banks described Scotland’s canals that were once “industrial, dirty and hard-working”, but have since been “gentrified” and are now used for tourism, walkers, joggers, cyclists and kayaking. Calling the transformation amazing, she spoke enthusiastically of people enjoying these well-used places, of a “tow-path etiquette” that encourages social greetings and interaction, adding: “There’s a real camaraderie … it’s peaceful, it’s flat, you can’t get lost … it’s just this real asset to the community.”

This local perspective on water values was a common thread in the contributions made by all the panellists, who each came to the discussion with individual experiences from different parts of the world.

Rev Len Abrams is a civil engineer and water conservationist from Kenya, who was ordained as a Church of England priest in 2014. In his early work in South Africa during the apartheid era, he witnessed how water is an area of conflict, power and deprivation. While recognising the symbolic and spiritual significance of water across cultures, he stressed the significance of water values in everyday life, saying: “From a living faith perspective [the value of water] has to be real in how that impacts people’s lives,” continuing, “Disparity in water access is one of the biggest unseen travesties,” and arguing that the value of water can’t be dissociated from a whole range of other inequities globally.

It is in this key area of water as a source of conflict and inequity that Jean Willemin of the Geneva Water Hub has seen important developments that demonstrate how water can also serve as an instrument for peace. He cited the Senegal River Basin Development Organisation (OMVS), set up in the 1970s, as a positive example of promoting water as a common good. By merging the strategic interests of the four countries, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal, the OMVS shares income derived from the basin from structures such as hydroelectric dams and water distribution assets. It is an approach that Willemin argues has led to strong integration among the four nations – integration that was put to the test in 1989 when a local conflict escalated into a confrontation between Senegal and Mauritania. Willemin: “All diplomatic doors were shut down. Only one remained open, and it was this basin agency, because water keeps on flowing and you have to manage it.”

The one-and-a-half hour aquaNOW Audience ended with the each of the panellists offering their personal wish list for how humanity should value water. Jean Willemin called on everyone to think at the local level on how to place greater value in cooperation to achieve sustainability, while scholar Elliot Hurst stressed the importance of water for playing and having fun. Rev Len Abrams’ wish list was relational, calling for the building of relations between humanity and nature, predicated on better relationships between people.

Artist Lesley Banks had one simple, personal plea. Listing the health benefits of water, she urged people to drink more of it. Following on from that, James Curran felt that all organisations that have anything to do with water should “have a Lesley … an embedded artist and communicator who can break down barriers and let people understand how important nature is to every single one of us”.

Finally, after calling on water practitioners to “challenge the status quo and have a bias for action,” Will Sarni agreed with Lesley’s sentiment on hydration, with the added proviso that we also “drink more whisky”.

US President Joe Biden will host a Leaders Summit on Climate on 22 and 23 April, and has invited 40 leaders to take part in the virtual event, from the world’s biggest emitters to those most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

A statement issued by the White House also heralded forthcoming new US climate targets, saying: “By the time of the Summit, the United States will announce an ambitious 2030 emissions target as its new Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement".

The White House is framing the summit as a key milestone on the road to COP26 this November in Glasgow, Scotland  and is urging participants to use it as an opportunity to make more ambitious climate commitments.

It outlines six key themes it wishes to cover, among them the economic benefits of climate action, with an emphasis on job creation and the transition to a clean-energy economy. It also wants to “showcase subnational and non-state actors that are committed to green recovery” and “mobilise public and private sector finance to drive the net-zero transition".

Water is likely to feature in several of the themes, in particular those addressing infrastructure, preparedness, nature-based solutions, resilience and global security.

The move follows the clear recommitment to the climate emergency made by US climate envoy John Kerry at the Climate Adaptation Summit hosted by the Netherlands in January shortly after Biden’s inauguration, where Kerry announced: “We’re proud to be back,” adding: “We come back with humility for the absence of the last four years and we’ll do everything we can to make up for it".

In addition to the 17 countries that account for around 80 percent of global emissions such as China, Russia and India, the Leaders Summit hopes to include voices from “countries that are demonstrating strong climate leadership, are especially vulnerable to climate impacts, or are charting innovative pathways to a net-zero economy”, according to a White House statement. 

The invitation list includes several small island nations such as Antigua and Barbuda, the Marshall Islands and Jamaica. The leaders of Gabon, DRC, Vietnam and Indonesia are also among those invited, alongside a number from South America, including Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil.