Development And Water

 DEVELOPMENT AND WATER

Water is one of the most important substances on earth. All plants and animals must have water to survive. If there was no water there would be no life on earth. Apart from drinking it to survive, people have many other uses for water. These include:

• cooking
• washing their bodies
• washing clothes
• washing cooking and eating utensils; such as billies, saucepans, crockery and cutlery
• keeping houses and communities clean
• recreation; such as swimming pools
• keeping plants alive in gardens and parks
  


Water and sustainable development

Water is at the core of sustainable development and is critical for socio-economic development, healthy ecosystems and for human survival itself. It is vital for reducing the global burden of disease and improving the health, welfare and productivity of populations. It is central to the production and preservation of a host of benefits and services for people. Water is also at the heart of adaptation to climate change, serving as the crucial link between the climate system, human society and the environment.

Water is a finite and irreplaceable resource that is fundamental to human well-being. It is only renewable if well managed. Today, more than 1.7 billion people live in river basins where depletion through use exceeds natural recharge, a trend that will see two-thirds of the world’s population living in water-stressed countries by 2025. Water can pose a serious challenge to sustainable development but managed efficiently and equitably, water can play a key enabling role in strengthening the resilience of social, economic and environmental systems in the light of rapid and unpredictable changes.









Sustainable development, water, and…

Agriculture is by far the thirstiest consumer of water globally, accounting for 70% of water withdrawals worldwide, although this figure varies considerably across countries. Rainfed agriculture is the predominant agricultural production system around the world, and its current productivity is, on average, little more than half the potential obtainable under optimal agricultural management. By 2050, world agriculture will need to produce 60% more food globally, and 100% more in developing countries.

Industry and energy together account for 20% of water demand. More-developed countries have a much larger proportion of freshwater withdrawals for industry than less-developed countries, where agriculture dominates. Balancing the requirements of sustainability against the conventional view of industrial mass production creates a number of conundrums for industry. One of the biggest is globalization and how to spread the benefits of industrialization worldwide and without unsustainable impacts on water and other natural resources.

Domestic sector accounts for 10% of total water use. And yet, worldwide, an estimated 748 million people remain without access to an improved source of water and 2.5 billion remain without access to improved sanitation.

Cities. More than half the world already lives in urban areas and by 2050, it is expected that more than two-thirds of the global population of 9 billion will be living in cities. Furthermore, most of this growth will happen in developing countries, which have limited capacity to deal with this rapid change, and the growth will also lead to increase in the number of people living in slums, which often have very poor living conditions, including inadequate water and sanitation facilities. Therefore, the development of water resources for economic growth, social equity and environmental sustainability will be closely linked with the sustainable development of cities.

Ecosystems. Perhaps the most important challenge to sustainable development to have arisen in the last decades is the unfolding global ecological crisis that is becoming a barrier to further human development. From an ecological perspective, the sustainable development efforts have not been successful. Global environmental degradation has reached a critical level with major ecosystems approaching thresholds that could trigger massive collapse. The growing understanding of global planetary boundaries, which must be respected to protect Earth’s life support systems, needs to be the very basis of the future sustainable development framework.









Conclusions

An approach based on management, research and preparation of a data base at the level of the hydrographic basin must consider the value of the "services" of the aquatic ecosystems and of the hydric resources, a predictive capacity based on a dense and technically advanced monitoring program and a suitable system of water governance designed to promote opportunities for regional and sustainable development based on the water available and the demand. Integrated, predictive management with alternatives for and improvement of the multiple uses must be implanted at the level of hydrographic basins in order to decentralize management and provide opportunities for participation to users and the public and private sectors. Education of all levels of the community and the preparation of managers with new approaches is another necessary development for water resources management in the 21st century.