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The individualized readings were a real eye-opener and helped us widen our perspective on the UFFCCC theme – Adapting Water Use to Climate Change.
Water forms a core aspect of climate change, and climate change is in fact mainly about water management. This is exactly what is put into context through the paper made by UN-Water, an “inter-agency mechanism that strengthens coordination and coherence among UN entities and non-UN partners dealing with issues related to all aspects of freshwater and sanitation.” The paper rightly says that water is medium through which the effects of climate change on the environment can be most visibly seen. And it has already started reflecting the growing need to control climate change. With frequent and harsher droughts and floods becoming more common, with changing hydrological cycle impacting global temperatures, it is quite evident that climate change is having adverse effects on our environment and water, or its degradation and scarcity, is playing an integral part in it. Moreover, it isn’t as if the effects are limited to a particular sector; rather the effects transcend all sector, impacting all industries, be it food, energy, domestic sanitation, and a lot many others. And therefore, to combat this problem it is important for us to face this issue through the solution of water management. Measures must be taken to ensure and promote water security, and innovative methods and technologies need to be devised to achieve this objective. And there are certain fundamental changes that need to be made in the policies of the government, just like the UN Water seeks to do, so as to reduce the water stress and help in the process of combating the challenge posed by climate. This has to begin by the integration of the issue of climate change into the normal dialogue of the countries, and the importance of the issue must be communicated to the masses. It is only when we undertake certain drastic measures that we can hope to pull off what we seek to do.
The other reading, a compilation by the Asian Development Bank on the effect and importance of Water and its Scarcity in Asia, also does a good job of reminding us what our might be like if we continue to let things be the way they are. A worrying fact disclosed by the paper was that 75% of the Asian people face the problem of water insecurity. And this problem has been compounded by various other interconnected factors like overpopulation, water pollution, deforestation, etc. And climate change too has added to this huge burden. Climate planners are not able to accurately predict the water needs because of ever-changing water statistics. And the only answer, as ADB says, is by looking for ways to do more using less water. And we shouldn’t just undertake measures that make things alright for a few years. Certain permanent methods have to be devised and thought of. And irrigation management too will play a crucial role in determining how Asia combats the problem of climate change. ‘Water for All’, the ADB’ s vision, should be the vision for each one of us. This will ensure that each one of us gets a chance to live a worthwhile life.
Naman Singla ( Group 1)
Yadavindra Public School, Patiala, Punjab, India
