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Cancun, Mexico.- According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), water and its availability constitute the main pressure for society and the environment under a climate change reality. Here, lies the need to improve our understanding of problems this implies. Reductions in terms of carbon emissions must be substantial, immediate and ambitious, to avoid the worst impacts. While this agreement is reached, it is urgent to adopt a freshwater adaptation framework, mainly to ensure successful mitigation strategies. COP 16 decisions on adaptation must be based on solid mechanisms of financing and technical support to assure their suitable implementation in the developing countries.
“Changing our model of development for a low carbon economy will not be possible without a comprehensive management of hydrological resources, which has to be solid, sustainable and adaptive to the new climate conditions”, commented Vanessa Perez-Cirera, Director of the Climate Change Program at WWF-Mexico.
Freshwater management in the world must quickly adapt its principles and operations to the new scene of climate change and development by improving its governance, understanding climate variability, controlling the impact of mitigation actions, and mainly, considering the urgent necessity to avoid maladaptation, which includes solutions that do not incorporate ecosystems services or society participation.
Although less than 1% of freshwater in the planet is accessible for direct use, there is enough to satisfy human and environmental needs. The challenge is to ensure the quality and availability of water that we required for satisfying our needs, avoiding substantial affectations over rivers, lakes, wetlands and aquifers.
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The Amazon River is the largest river in terms of volume of water discharged to the ocean. With only two hours of its volume it would be possible to satisfy the needs of water of almost 7.5 million citizens of New York a year.
More than 80% of the water in Ecuador’s capital, Quito, originates in three protected areas of the country.
San Pedro Mezquital River, in Mexico, is the main freshwater contributor for sediments and nutrients to the Marismas Nacionales Reserve in México.
60% of the world’s largest rivers have been altered and 50% of wetlands have been lost, in the last 20 years. |
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The major threats to hydrological resources at the global level are fragmentation of rivers, over-exploitation and pollution. According to The Living Planet Report 2010 by WWF, 2 million tons of sewage and effluents drain into the world’s waters everyday. In addition, tropical populations of freshwater species diminished almost 70% in the last four decades. This is the greatest reduction of species statistically registered, which implies a threat for the nutritional security of many developing countries. The latter obtain 70% of their animal protein consumption from freshwater fish.
“One billion people in the world lack access to a suitable source of water today, and by 2025, it is estimated that 5.5 billion people will live in areas facing moderate to severe water stress. This, combined with projected temperature increases, rising sea levels and the intensification of droughts and storms, will provoke human displacements without precedents within the next 50 years. For this reason, we call on governments to create integrated adaptation strategies to reduce our risk facing these scenarios”, stated Omar Vidal, General Director of WWF Mexico.
Another factor to be taken into account in adaptation is the hydrological infrastructure, which can bring short-term benefits related to water access and flood prevention. However, if environmental and ecosystem parameters are not considered in planning this infrastructure, ecosystems, society and water availability could be affected negatively. Recent studies estimate that 500 million people on the planet have been impacted by the construction of dams (Richter, 2010). That is why maladaptation solutions must be avoided, which would, at the end, exacerbate ecosystems and societies’ vulnerability.
“Today, we must acknowledge the social and economical importance of recovering the natural infrastructure supported by ecosystems. That’s the best way to tackle the negative impact of climate change. Furthermore, it is the only way society can still obtain the environmental services that ecosystems provide, such as soil fertilization, carbon dioxide storage, leisure services, among many others” commented Yolanda Kakabadse, President of WWF International.
The Gonzalo Rio Arronte Foundation, an important supporter of the conservation of freshwater resources in Latin America, and WWF established an alliance that engages in developing new, ecosystem based models of water management in Mexico. The alliance works in three river basins: Conchos, the main effluent of the Bravo river in the Chihuahuan desert; the Copalita-Zimatán-Huatulco basin in Oaxaca; and the San Pedro Mezquital basin in Durango, Nayarit and Zacatecas. The latter is one of the main freshwater suppliers to the Gulf of California and among the few rivers in North America and globally whose channel still flows freely.
The ecosystem-based approach to water management incorporates these key elements: involving local communities, establishing environmental flows (eflows) and setting goals for water use in terms of efficiency. It also takes into account ecosystems functions and services for building any hydrological infrastructure. This is a way to address poverty and water scarcity problems.
“Water is not a sector, but the main mean through which climate change impacts society, ecosystems and economies worldwide. It is clear that our development will depend on the way we manage it, so we must include an integrated water management strategy in our goals to reach a low carbon economy. We must deploy freshwater efficiently by using the natural and non natural hydrological infrastructure in a correct way”, concluded Eugenio Barrios, Water Program Director at WWF-Mexico.
WWF calls on governments and water entities globally to:
- Strengthen regulatory frameworks at all levels: national, regional and global.
- Establish a sustainable limit of water extraction.
- Eliminate subsidies and implement suitable incentives to foster a more efficient use of water.
- Improve management, transparency, and ensure evaluation processes free of conflicts of interest.
- Value the relationship between water resources and forests.
- Incorporate functions and nature services, in the conception, design and construction of infrastructure.
Notes to the editors:
WWF is one of the world's largest and most respected independent conservation organizations, with almost 5 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries. WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the earth's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world's biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.
Fundación Gonzalo Río Arronte was constituted in January, 2000 and it is managed by a sponsorship board. The foundation works on three fundamental areas: human health projects, addiction prevention programs and the conservation of river basins promoting the best use of water. To know more about the Foundation, visit: http://www.fgra.org.mx/
Environmental flow is the amount of water needed in a watercourse to maintain healthy ecosystems. WWF amplifies this term by conciliating the necessities among several stakeholders who directly depend on rivers.
For further information in Mexico
Jatziri Pérez
jperez@wwfmex.org
+52 55 52 86 56 31 Ext. 223
Mira Bai Simón
mbsimon@wwfmex.org
+52 55 52 86 56 31 Ext. 217
Contents for the press and media in Spanish: http://www.wwf.org.mx
Contents for the press and media in English: http://www.panda.org/media
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