Serious Water Policies Urged: Inundation

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INUNDATION

Serious water policies urged

Nalin Viboonchart

The Nation

Marseille, France

MARSEILLE: -- Governments that have not taken water management seriously should address the issue as a critical concern and set concrete policies to tackle the problems and relieve the impact from climate change and deforestation, experts say.

"From the point of view of the Netherlands, a country that in past years faced flood problems and has truly realised the water problem, we would like to urge all countries to take actions on efficient water management," Frances Kelly, communication representative of Deltares, an independent institution in the Netherlands working on water issues, told the sixth World Water Forum in Marseille.

"The plans on this issue should be made to tackle the problem over the next century, not just decades."

The effect of climate change, the world's growing population and deforestation were the main factors discussed at the gathering from March 12-17. Most of the pavilions from countries all over the world also focused on these and similar issues.

Kelly said the main reasons for water-related problems were global warming, the rapidly growing populations in developing countries and deforestation. People in rural areas are moving to cities. The urban lifestyle creates more consumption, so more agricultural products are needed.

Despite the rising demand for food, climate change and deforestation are obstacles to increasing the supply of farm products. Water-management systems, however, have paid less attention to serving the increased water demand from various sectors.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) presented its environmental outlook to 2050, including key findings on water. It forecasts in its baseline scenario that, without policies to manage water, 3.9 billion people, more than 40 per cent of the world's population, by 2050 will live in river basins under severe water deprivation. And some 1.4 billion people will not have access to basic sanitation.

Water demand in the first half century is expected to surge by 55 per cent, mainly from manufacturing, electricity generation and domestic use. Despite the increased demand, water for irrigation is limited.

According to the report, 100 million to 200 million people per year are likely to be victims of floods, droughts and other water-related disasters. Almost two-thirds of this number are forecast to be hit by floods.

People who are at risk of floods are expected to rise from 1.2 billion currently to 1.6 billion by 2050 and account for 20 per cent of the global population. The economic value of assets at risk of floods is predicted to reach about US$45 trillion (Bt1.4 quadrillion) by 2050, up by more than 340 per cent from 2010.

The OECD recommends that governments worldwide highlight three aspects to prevent water-related problems - strong financing, effective governance, and coherence among water, energy, food and environmental policies.

-- The Nation 2012-03-20

[Unkomoncents]

This is a great headline: "Must...drown..."