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Water for nature: the perennial challenge
As the world continues to urbanize at fast rates, the demand for potable water for municipal use is expected to soar, out pacing the capacity of most cities to provide it.
Globally, the annual population increase of nearly 80 million per year implies an increased demand for freshwater of about 64 billion cubic meters a year. The study carried out by World Resources Institute indicates that currently 2.3 billion people, or 41 per cent of the world's population, live in water stressed areas. Of this total, 1.7 billion live in water scarce areas, with less than 1,000 cubic meters per person per year. By 2025, the number of people suffering from water stress or scarcity could swell to 3.5 billion people, or 48 per cent of the world's projected population. Moreover, 2.4 billion of them are expected to live in water scarce regions. The world's deepening freshwater crisis is currently affecting 2.3 billion people. This has already caused antagonism between farmers and urban inhabitants, industry and agriculture, water-rich state and water-poor state, county to county and neighbour to neighbour.
In this scenario, allocation of freshwater to satisfy the needs of the three principal sectoral users including agriculture, industry and domestic uses is an on-going challenge for water managers in most countries. A substantial portion of the total freshwater supply is needed to sustain marshes, rivers, coastal wetlands, and the millions of species they shelter. As humanity withdraws a growing share of all available freshwater, less is available to maintain vital ecosystems. Already, over 20 per cent of the approximately 10,000 freshwater fish species in the world are either endangered, threatened or getting extinct. The freshwater ecosystems play crucial role in the lives of many people, providing a source of drinking and irrigation water, food, recreation, and employment. Indeed, the majority of the world's population lives near and depends on freshwater environments, with most inland cities located next to a waterway. Rivers and lakes are also crucial as transportation and shipping routes, as power sources, and, unfortunately, in most cases as waste sinks. All of these human uses take their toll on freshwater ecosystems. Threats to species in freshwater ecosystems are widespread. Habitat degradation, physical alteration from dams and canals, water withdrawals, over harvesting of fish and shellfish, pollution, and the introduction of non-native species have all increased in scale and impact in the last century. As a result, the capacity of freshwater ecosystems to support biodiversity, the natural variety, abundance, and distribution of species across the aquatic environment is highly degraded at a global level.
On the one hand populations are growing, while on the other hand economies and lifestyles are also developing, all adding to the pressure on water resources. Changes in social aspirations and consumption patterns are all part of development success that has been achieved by billions of people, who are now living more secure and prosperous lives than was ever thought possible by preceding generations. However, these achievements are not evenly spread, as billions still live in relative or absolute poverty. The latest estimates are that 1.2 billion people live on less than 1 US dollar per day and over 2.8 billion live on the equivalent of 2 US dollar or less. These people, the million of poor people across the world, use less water, but depend directly or indirectly, up on its resources for their livelihoods. It is the poor, who are hit first and hardest, when water crisis occurs.
The dynamics of social well being, economic stability and natural environment are often not recognized coherently, which are in fact closely associated with each other. The poorest people are bound to affect by the water crisis around the world. They are going to become more vulnerable to a range of fluctuations occurring in the global markets. Floods and droughts directly affect poor people, as they live in vulnerable areas and have no financial resources for prevention, mitigation or adaptation.
Sustainable development is difficult but not impossible, as it could be achieved by adopting new paradigm for the use, development and conservation of water resources. Water resources needs to be no longer overused, but conserved and restored for the benefit of both natural eco-system as well as humankind. It is unfortunate that development is contemplated in isolation. This is high time that development and conservation should not be considered as opponents, but should be seen as partners, that must forge strategic alliance for sustainable development. The water resource base for the planet could only be maintained, when all of us accept the duty of caring for other people, and other forms of life, now and in the future. This is an ethical principle, which requires us to respect the life and share both benefits and costs of water resource use and conservation. This ethic implies sharing water resources on equity basis among different communities and interest groups, among people, who are poor and those who are affluent and between generations. It should be matter of both ethics and practicality to establish management of water resources that ensures the survival of other species and their habitats. The capacity of earth's freshwater is finite. Therefore, growth of human population and present lifestyles should be brought into balance with the capacity of nature and the limits of renewable water resource base.
Sustainable water resources management also requires us to realize the range of goods and services provided by the eco-systems. The goods and services granted by the eco-systems has enormous value, which needs to be reflected, while devising water resources development programmes. However, other less obvious goods and services are also provided by eco-systems, which are often overlooked. Economic development is achieved on the cost ecological deficits, which are not reflected in the papers. Record economic prosperity of recent decades was only possible by over ploughing land, overgrazing, over fishing, over cutting of forests and last but not the least by over pumping of aquifers. Though exploiting natural resources can spur growth but development includes wider benefits such as social equity and environmental stability. Pursuing economic growth above all else could yield short term gain but sacrifice society's long term well being. If action to halt rapid environmental degradation is not taken, it may soon be too late to reverse the trend. The country like Pakistan has no choice except facing a choice between economic growth and a broader development agenda.
Healthy eco-systems are essential, as they perform a number of functions. The capability of robust eco-systems is pre-requisite to perform these varied functions. These functions are not only basis of security for individual but also for society. Loss of these functions may result into loss of security for individual and society. Water is most significant human need, therefore, security is closely linked to the sustainable use freshwater eco-system. Unprecedented conflicts and social disruption related to the freshwater is being witnessed in many countries. The major causes of eco-system degradation and social insecurity include the absence of fair and effective social structures. Good governance in its real spirit could prevent us from water related conflicts.
The writer is a freelance contributor
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