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21. Water: A Key Driver for Sustainable Growth

Author:
Jamal Saghir
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Institute for the Study of International Development, McGill University (ISID)
Abstract:
Why is water important in the MNA region? • It matters for people. MNA countries cover 10 percent of the world’s area and home to 6% of the world’s population but receive less than 2% of the world’s renewable water supply. With rapid population growth since the mid 1970s, this has caused dramatic contraction in per capita renewable water resources. The MNA region is now the world’s driest region in the World. • It matters for the economy. Over 60 percent of the population of MNA lives in area of high-water stress compared to some 35% for the rest of the World. Water stress in MNA will be severe in the next 20 years as freshwater per resources per capita is estimated to keep on declining steadily unless fundamental shift occurs. The MNA region has the greatest expected economic losses from climate-related water scarcity, estimated at 6–14 percent of GDP by 2050. The MNA region will have to learn to do more with less – no matter what. • It matters for the environment. wastewater, 82% of which is not being recycled in the region, compared to just 30% in highincome countries. This presents a major threat to human and environmental health but also a massive opportunity to better satisfy water demand. Wastewater is the only natural resource that increases, as cities and populations grow. • It matters for equality. Equality between men and women; between urban and rural and between nations. MNA countries need to comprehend water as a political, economic and security issue in the region that plays a profound role in the future of the region and its growth and development, and take more concerted actions now.
Topic:
Agriculture, Energy Policy, Natural Resources, Water, Economic Growth, and Sustainability
Political Geography:
Middle East, North Africa, and Global Focus

22. From Scarcity to Security: Managing Water for a Nutritious Food Future

Author:
Mark Rosegrant
Publication Date:
03-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Abstract:
From Scarcity to Security: Managing Water for a Nutritious Food Future MARCH 21, 2019 By: Mark W. Rosegrant, Nonresident Fellow, Global Food and Agriculture The world is running out of clean, fresh water to feed—and nourish—a growing global population. Approximately 2.4 billion people—more than one-third of the global population—currently live in water-scarce regions, and projections indicate that by 2050 over one-half of the world’s population could be at risk due to water stress. At the same time, global demand for water will continue to increase, driven by population growth, rising consumption, urbanization, and energy needs. The stakes are high for protecting and effectively managing this vital resource, as increasing water scarcity threatens to undermine the progress that has been made on global food and nutrition security. Failure to treat water as a strategic, valuable, and limited resource will accelerate water insecurity, even for historically water-secure populations, and may threaten the economic and political security of nations, including the United States.
Topic:
Security, Water, Food, and Scarcity
Political Geography:
Global Focus

23. Designing High-seas Marine Protected Areas to Conserve Blue Carbon Ecosystems: A Climate-essential Development?

Author:
Cameron S. G. Jefferies
Publication Date:
11-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)
Abstract:
The high seas are a critical biodiversity reservoir and carbon sink. Unfortunately, the oceans, generally, and the high seas, in particular, do not feature prominently in international climate mitigation or climate adaptation efforts. There are, however, signals that ocean conservation is poised to occupy a more significant role in international climate law and policy going forward. This paper argues that improved conservation and sustainable use of high-seas living marine resources are essential developments at the convergence of climate action and ocean governance that should manifest, at least in part, as climate-informed high-seas marine protected areas.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Water, Maritime, and Conservation
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, North America, and Global Focus

24. Synthesis Report on State of Water: A Look at the Legal and Regulatory Framework Governing Water Services across Jurisdictions

Author:
Maanav Kumar and Parag Mohanty
Publication Date:
03-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
This study looks at the development of legal and regulatory framework governing drinking water and sanitation services in South Africa, England and United States. Around 780 million worldwide do not have access to clean drinking water and almost 2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation according to data published by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In such a situation, it becomes extremely important to study the legal and regulatory measures used internationally to control, manage and improve these resources. This study, covering South Africa, England and USA, sets out to identify, comprehend and analyze these legal frameworks and structures; examine the control exercised by national, state/provincial as well as municipal governments over water and sanitation-related questions; and the responsive measures being taken by them to preserve the water resources and their quality for future generations. The authors have observed that in presence of varying geographical, historical and social factors, while it would be impossible to compare each model against the other on the basis of merit, it becomes increasingly important for governments to balance the individual’s right to water with the planet’s ecological balance.
Topic:
Environment, Government, Natural Resources, Water, Law, Regulation, Legislation, and Sanitation
Political Geography:
South Asia, India, Asia, and Global Focus

25. Freshwater as a Global Commons: International Governance and the Role of Germany

Author:
Elke Herrfahrdt-Pähle, Waltina Scheumann, Annabelle Houdret, and Ines Dombrowsky
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Abstract:
Water is essential for all life on earth and is a key prerequisite for attaining many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Many countries, however, suffer from physical water scarcity, a lack of access to a safe water supply and sanitation, water pollution or hydrological extremes (droughts and floods) due to climate change. The generality and severity of water problems lead many to speak of a global water crisis. While this crisis mostly manifests at the local or in some cases transboundary level, two global issues are often overlooked. First, global trends such as climate change and the spread of water-intensive consumption and trade patterns are key triggers that cannot be addressed at the local level alone. Second, the aggregation of local or regional water problems may add up to a universal threat to sustainable development. In the face of current challenges, (fresh) water should be conceptualised as a global common good, and global water governance should contribute to improving its protection. This study reveals that the current global water governance architecture is a highly fragmented and incoherent regime consisting of numerous norms, paradigms and actors, each covering single aspects of global water governance. Given the diversity of issues, a “classical” formation of one comprehensive international water regime in the form of a framework convention, and equipped with a specific global governance institution (such as for climate stability, biological diversity or the prevention of desertification) has so far not emerged. The authors suggest a global water governance regime that could evolve from the improved interplay of the existing elements of global water governance (i.e. norms, targets, paradigms and actors). This could be complemented by two innovations at UN level: installing an Intergovernmental Body on Water allowing for mandated decisions on water in the UN system, and a Scientific and Practice Panel on Water improving the science-policy interface. Such an approach that combines global norms and joint guidelines to be adapted to local contexts and needs may be able to increase urgently needed political support for governing water as a global commons, beyond the nation-state interests and their perception of water resources as sovereign goods.
Topic:
Environment, Water, Governance, and Sustainable Development Goals
Political Geography:
Europe, Germany, and Global Focus

26. A new funding approach could bring clean water to the world’s poorest households

Author:
Matthew Eldridge and Chloe Hauenstein
Publication Date:
09-2018
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Urban Institute
Abstract:
The World Health Organization estimates that more than 2 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water services. At the current pace, the world will fall short of meeting one of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs): to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030. Accelerating to meet the SDGs for water and sanitation will cost as much as $166 billion a year for capital expenditures alone. Although critical to global efforts, utilities and municipalities serving the poorest households face three large hurdles, resulting in a funding gap that prevents them from meeting customers’ demand for clean water: They often cannot cover their operational and maintenance costs through existing tariffs and transfers alone. Higher tariffs, without improved service, would create an unsustainable burden for the poorest households, who may prefer not to connect to piped services at all. Operating at a loss, these utilities are not creditworthy and cannot tap private finance to make needed investments.
Topic:
Poverty, World Health Organization, Water, and Funding
Political Geography:
Global Focus

27. Mobilizing Additional Funds for Pro-Poor Water Services: An Exploration of Potential Models to Finance Safe Water Access in Support of Sustainable Development Goal 6.1

Author:
Tanvi Nagpal, Ammar A. Malik, Matthew Eldridge, Yoori Kim, and Chloe Hauenstein
Publication Date:
09-2018
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Urban Institute
Abstract:
Meeting the Sustainable Development Goal for universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water by 2030 requires utilities serving the poorest households to play critical roles. Yet these utilities are frequently unable to cover their current operational costs, much less expand access, through existing tariffs and transfers. New models and approaches are needed to identify new sources of sustainable subsidies for these utilities. Drawing on lessons from other sectors, this study explores three potential models in particular – global funds, solidarity levies, and land value capture – for raising additional resources and considers ways that funding could be pooled and delivered to incentivize improved outcomes.
Topic:
Water, Sustainable Development Goals, and International Development
Political Geography:
United Nations and Global Focus

28. Water Crises, Security and Climate Change

Author:
Geoffrey Kemp and Luke Hagberg
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Abstract:
The historically severe drought in Syria from 2006-2011 led to the migration of rural communities to already overburdened urban centers, which concurrent with the state’s mismanagement of freshwater resources, helped foment the social unrest and the uprisings against President Bashar al-Assad. The ongoing conflict has had repercussions around the globe with refugees fleeing to, and having an unmistakable political impact upon, neighboring states and Europe. The war in Yemen was rooted in the Arab Spring, but while the attempts to overthrow President Ali Abdullah Saleh were eventually successful, the political transition was not. The overextraction of Yemen’s groundwater led to an unprecedented water crisis that has been exacerbated by the civil war. Terrorist cells, militant insurgencies, and foreign interventions have undermined efforts to reform the Yemeni government and address this humanitarian catastrophe.
Topic:
International Security, International Affairs, and Water
Political Geography:
Global Focus

29. Dossier 2: Cities Without Water

Author:
Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Publication Date:
03-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Abstract:
Water is a class issue. Its distribution has never been equitable. What the residents of Cape Town will struggle with is what more than one billion residents of informal settlements across the planet deal with each day. They too have little access to piped water and no sanitation system. They have to fetch water from afar and have to rely upon open fields to relieve themselves. What has already a afflicted the very poorest on the planet has now become a grave peril as it inflicts itself upon a major city. Our Dossier #2 looks closely at cities without water.
Topic:
Natural Resources, Water, Urban, and Cities
Political Geography:
Global Focus

30. Waiting for Disruption?! Undersea Autonomy and the Challenging Nature of Naval Innovation

Author:
Heiko Borchert, Tim Kraemer, and Daniel Mahon
Publication Date:
02-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:
This paper looks at the mechanics of military innovation to sound a cautionary note on the current and future use of undersea autonomy. It starts from the premise that undersea autonomy is not yet as inevitable and disruptive as many believe. In particular, this is because of the current threat environment, the limited scope of current missions for unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs), and the prevailing technology push. For undersea autonomy to lead to disruptive and discontinuous changes in undersea warfare, navies will need to understand how to translate technological advancements into operational advantages. This will require navies, industry and science partners to develop a better understanding of the interplay between operational needs, cultural predispositions, organisational and resource needs, and technological options.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Military Strategy, Water, and Military Spending
Political Geography:
Global Focus