UN Experts: Climate Change Manifest through Water

At River Network, we’ve been doing our best to help people understand that the world will primarily experience climate change through water. Although the critical role of water is often overlooked, experts at the United Nations are starting to speak up.

In an article published last month by Reuters, Zafar Adeel, chair of UN-Water which coordinates work on water among 26 U.N. agencies, explained that, "The main manifestations of rising temperatures...are about water."

Adeel goes on to describe the potential for international conflicts to erupt over water resources (Sudan and the Middle East), as well as examples of cooperation amongst countries over managing shared water resources (the Mekong River).

In the United States, we have plenty of examples of both conflict and cooperation. The Colorado River Compact serves as an example of how a variety of different interests can come together and hash out a workable and more or less stable agreement. Meanwhile, the ongoing Tri-State Water Wars between Alabama, Florida and Georgia illustrate how contentious water issues can be.

Climate change is expected to exacerbate our water challenges – from water pollution to water scarcity. A 2009 study by the National Center for Atmospheric Research concluded that climate change is already altering the flows of rivers around the world. A report released this past June by the United States Global Change Research Program and endorsed by 13 different Federal agencies refers to water in eight of its “10 key findings.”. Yet water received nary a mention in the UN’s draft negotiation text for last year’s major climate change summit in Copenhagen.

As Adeel from the UN describes in the Reuters article:

Adeel said that water should have a more central role in debates on food security, peace, climate change and recovery from the financial crisis. "Water is central to each of these debates but typically isn't seen as such," he said.

And efforts to combat global warming will themselves put more strains on water because of rival economic demands -- such as for irrigation, biofuels or hydropower.

While its encouraging to see this article and people like Zafar Adeel at the UN shed light on the importance of water to climate change, we need to make sure that the broader public understands the connection and that this understanding translates into water policies that vigorously promote water efficiency and strengthen the resiliency of our freshwater ecosystems by keeping as much water as possible in our rivers.