Stockholm / Nairobi,
7 September 2010 - Governments
and law-makers need to integrate environmental
concerns into water-use legislation to avert
an impending global water crisis, according
to a new report from the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP), titled "Greening
Water Law".
According to the report,
launched Tuesday at World Water Week in
Stockholm, competition is increasing between
the rapidly growing human population-which
needs water for drinking, sanitation, food
production and economic development-and
species and ecosystems, which rely on water
to sustain their existence.
The key challenge now
facing governments across the world is how
to meet the growing water needs of human
society, while maintaining freshwater ecosystems
and supporting environmental sustainability.
The Human Toll
Nearly 1.8 million children
under the age of five die annually from
diarrheal diseases (such as cholera, typhoid,
and dysentery) attributable to a lack of
safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
The UNEP report warns
that if the international community fails
to take action to improve freshwater supplies
for drinking, sanitation, and hygiene purposes,
as many as 135 million preventable deaths
could occur by 2020.
Impacts on Ecosystems
and Biodiversity
The unsustainable use
of freshwater is a major contributor to
biodiversity loss - and the effects are
being felt in rivers, lakes and wetlands
across the world.
In North America, for
example, around 27% of continental freshwater
fauna populations are now threatened with
extinction as a result of depleted and contaminated
freshwater resources. And in Croatia, over
a third of all freshwater fish species are
currently under threat.
Greening Water Law
So with more communities
than ever before facing both human and environmental
water crises, how can changes to the law
help to tackle the problem?
"Simply put, it's
the law that provides the structure through
which new policies can be implemented",
says Professor Gabriel Eckstein, lead author
of the report. "Achieving a better
balance between human and environmental
water needs will require significant changes
in legislation - and you need legal tools
to achieve this."
The report cites several
examples of green water laws that have already
been introduced across the world. In New
South Wales in Australia, the State's Water
Management Act dictates that in the event
of a severe water shortage, freshwater will
be allocated first to meet basic domestic
and municipal needs, then in response to
the needs of the environment, and thereafter
for all other purposes. Similarly, in Paraguay,
the Water Resources Act ranks the water
needs of aquatic ecosystems as second only
to humans and ahead of agriculture, power
generation and industry.
"These laws recognise
the immense value of freshwater resources",
says Eckstein. "Take wetlands for example
- for humans to recreate their natural benefits,
we would have to build massive water treatment
plants at huge cost. Protecting these resources
makes economic sense."
Economic Gain
Protecting freshwater
resources in national and internal law can
bring economic gains. For example, the world's
wetlands have been calculated to provide
as much as US$15 trillion in ecosystem services.
This includes benefits such as water purification
and detoxification through their ability
to extract and absorb pollutants from contaminated
waters.
Freshwater resources
are also among the 11 sectors being addressed
under UNEP's Green Economy Initiative. The
initiative is designed to assist governments
in 'greening' their economies by refocusing
policies and spending towards clean technologies,
renewable energies, water services, waste
management and other sustainable strategies.
Managing freshwater
resources also forms a central pillar of
The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity
(TEEB) project, hosted by UNEP. TEEB aims
to develop guidance for policy makers at
international, regional and local levels
in order to promote sustainable development
and better conservation of ecosystems and
biodiversity.
Although over two thirds
of the Earth is covered in water, only 2.5%
of this is fresh water. Most is stored deep
underground or in glaciers, meaning that
only 1% of the world's fresh water is available
for human use.
Today, this limited
natural resource is under greater strain
than ever before.
Regional and national
governments must therefore be encouraged
to seek a more balanced approach to water
use - with regard to both environmental
and human needs..
The life and wellbeing
of people and the natural environment are
intertwined. The greening of water laws
represents an historic opportunity - and
a real challenge - for communities around
the world to ensure both human progress
and environmental sustainability.
