Nature for Water, Nature for Life
A UN publication that highlights the importance of safeguarding nature in order to secure water-related services in line with the Sustainable Development Goals, with a special focus on Latin America, Asia, and Africa.
Publication link: UN Development Programme (2018)
Our current level of water consumption is unsustainable. Only a small fraction of the Earth’s water is freshwater that can be accessed for human use. Over a quarter of the world’s population lives in areas with potentially severe water scarcity, and nearly half the world’s population experiences water scarcity at least one month per year.
Driven by increasing irrigation, ground water extraction, changing diets, increasing energy demands, and a changing climate, global demand for water is expected to grow by more than 50% by 2030. This will lead to acute water shortages. Water quality is also expected to decline, as a result of pesticide use, salinization, industrial waste, and municipal sewage. Together, these will result in urban water crises, food insecurity, vulnerability to natural disasters, political instability, rising tensions, and increasing corruption, all of which will disproportionately affect the poor and vulnerable.
Nature – especially forests, grasslands, mountains, wetlands – are essential for water security. Nature conservation and restoration has a vital role to play in securing water resources, including regulating water flow, ensuring water quality, and reducing impacts from natural disasters. Particularly important are wetland, forest, mountain, and grassland ecosystems. Forest protected areas supply drinking water for one-third of the world’s largest cities, and the Himalayas supply water to one out of five people in the world.
Contributing authors (UNDP): Nigel Dudley, Marianne Kettunen, Jamison Ervin, Sarah Garwood, Amanda Bielawski, Anne Virnig