Water
and development in a changing world
The
world is facing a global water crisis. Increased demand together
with changes in climate and land use has altered water availability
dramatically in many regions. But crisis can also be an opportunity
for co-operation and development. In South Africa, a successful
combination of water and ecosystem management has created social
and economic benefits and employed more than 4,000 poor people in
the "Working for Water project".
Rivers are potential areas for conflict, but also for co-operation.
"Water
for Development" was the theme of this year's World Day for Water,
on March 22. Water is a major driving force of social, economic
and cultural development. Most of the world's poorest countries
are those where water scarcity limits the potential for industrial
and agricultural development. Two out of three people will live
in water-stressed conditions by the year 2025. We often focus on
the amount of water we draw from lakes, rivers or groundwater aquifers.
However, the water cycle is not only affected by the increased demand
for water. Changes in land-cover and climate also affect the amount
of water available for drinking, irrigation and industrial uses,
as well as recreation, waste disposal, and maintenance of healthy
ecosystems.
To better understand these changes, Swedish
Hydrologist Malin Falkenmark introduced the concept of "green water",
water stored in the soil. An estimated 60% of world staple food
production relies on green water ("rainfed irrigation"). In Sub-Saharan
Africa almost all food production depends on green water, since
irrigation is uncommon. Green water is also needed to produce the
resources and services that natural land-based ecosystems provide
to humans. An altered water cycle also affects these services generated
by green water.
Thirsty alien plants in South Africa removed in successful project
In
South Africa invasion of alien plants has also altered water availability.
This has happened in the unique, world famous, bushy "Fynbos" vegetation
in the Western Cape. Already today development in the downstream
area in the Western Cape province, with the large cities Capetown
and Port Elisabeth, is restricted by water shortage. Alien plants
from Australia and South America, imported for use in the forestry
sector, rapidly outcompete domestic plants in the Fynbos and transform
natural areas into one-species groves. This has affected biodiversity,
scenic beauty, and ecosystem functioning. In particular, the alien
plants are much thirstier than the domestic plants. The cost of
reducing the cover and spread of the alien plants is very high,
but the benefits outweigh the costs. In mountain areas, alien control
is justified by the increased water production (stream flow) alone.
However, the Fynbos vegetation yields many other direct and indirect
benefits as well. These include tourism and recreation, harvesting
of flowers, thatch and food plants, as well as ecosystem services
such as pollination. The honeybees that pollinate fruit orchards
are found only in Fynbos, implying that any major threat to the
Fynbos may have serious economic consequences for the export-directed
fruit industry. In addition, people are willing to pay substantial
sums towards the preservation of the Fynbos.
Action today is much cheaper than action
tomorrow, since alien cover increases rapidly and incurs high clearing
costs. Therefore, the internationally funded Working
for Water Project was initiated by the South African government
in 1996 to remove alien plants. It has become successful from an
ecological, social and economical perspective, preserving water
and the other benefits of the Fynbos while creating employment and
training opportunities for over 4,000 people. Sixty percent of the
workers are women, with preference given to poor women who head
single-parent households.
Land-use changes can affect rainfall
Venezuelan
Hydrologist Ignacio Rodríguez-Iturbe was recently awarded the 2002
Stockholm
Water Prize for, among other things, defining the concept of
eco-hydrology. Eco-hydrology uses theories of ecology and hydrology
to explain the interactions of the atmosphere, water, plants and
soil. Hubert H.G. Savenije, a Dutch researcher, has also shown that
land-use changes can affect rainfall, especially in semi-dry and
dry regions. This is seldom considered in policy and economic evaluations
of planned activities.
In the savannah and steppe belts of West
Africa, land use changes include deforestation, new agricultural
practices, road building, urbanisation, and drainage of wetlands.
Less water is vaporised from cropland than from natural vegetation,
because of the limited root depth and growing seasons of annual
crops. Further, cultivation often decreases infiltration capacity
and increases surface runoff, so more water flows directly to the
rivers. This reduces the evaporation of moisture to the atmosphere
(moisture feedback), and hence reduces rainfall further inland.
Rainfall in West Africa currently reaches some 2000 km from the
coast, but it would only reach 500 km inland from the coast if there
were no moisture feedback at all.
In the Sudan belt a 50% reduction in rainfall
was noted when the periods 1951-1970 and 1971-1990 was compared.
Intensification of land use and overgrazing are possible explanations.
In the Nile basin a substantial decrease in downstream rainfall
(over 10%) was recorded 1965-1984 compared to 1945-64. This has
partly been explained by 60% higher runoff in the upper catchment
over the period.
In short, a local farmer who treats his
land wisely might still suffer from decreased rainfall caused by
land use changes hundreds of kilometres away. Therefore, land and
water conservation needs to be framed by policies promoting wise
land use practises at a large scale. Hubert Savenije has suggested
that such policies could include: 1) minimising runoff, 2) minimising
erosion to prevent surface runoff, 3) forest conservation, 4) mixed
farming systems to increase biodiversity (which increases moisture
recycling), 5) sustainable grazing to allow vegetation recovery,
and 6) conserving wetlands.
Water crisis can become a catalyst for co-operation
Water
has no nationality. River water is shared among people living within
the same river basin. Two thirds of the world's major rivers are
shared by several nations. This has often been discussed as a potential
area for conflict, and conflicts do occur. However, in a message
at World Water Day 2002, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan pointed
out that nations often share information, data and technology with
each other to devise water-sharing policies. There is also increasing
awareness that decision-makers must move away from the present fragmented,
sectoral approach to water resources management. Water crisis can
thus become a catalyst for co-operation and lead to changing patterns
of water use and new ways to manage water - not only new technologies.
In addition, a number of organisations
and initiatives - with a jungle of acronyms - are working to solve
the looming water crisis. For example, the Global
Water Partnership (GWP) supports countries in the sustainable
management of their water resources, and the UNESCO
World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) will produce the first
World Water Development Report in March 2003. The United Nations
has also proclaimed 2003 as the "International
Year of Freshwater".
Line
Gordon & Fredrik Moberg
More
at:
Jackson
RB, and 6 others. "Water in a changing world". Ecological
Applications, Vol. 11(4), pp. 1027-1045, August 2001. Also available
in an easy-to-read version at: www.esa.org/issues.htm
Rockström, J., and 4 others. 1999. "Linkages among water vapor flows,
food production, and terrestrial ecosystem services". Conservation
Ecology 3(2): 5. [online] URL: www.consecol.org/vol3/iss2/art5
Savenije, H.H.G., 1995. "New definitions for moisture recycling
and the relation with land-use changes in the Sahel". Journal
of Hydrology, 167:57-78.
For our Swedish readers we recommend the newsletter Omvärldsbilder's
coverage of the Working for Water Project: http://www.smvk.se/Omvarldsbilder/2002/020207.html
Southern Africa: Focus on invasion of plant "invasives",
at IRINNews.org (Integrated Regional Information Networks) www.irinnews.org
Ecosystem
resilience is a measure of how much disturbance (like storms,
fire and pollutants) an ecosystem can handle without shifting into
a qualitatively different state. It is the capacity of a system
to withstand shocks and surprises and then rebuild itself. It is
during this rebuilding phase that renewal and innovation takes place
in resilient systems. Without resilience, systems become vulnerable
to disturbance that previously could be absorbed. Clear lakes can
suddenly turn into turbid, anoxic pools, grasslands into shrub-deserts,
and coral reefs into algae-covered rubble. The new state may not
only be biologically and economically impoverished, but also irreversible.
Biodiversity
plays a crucial role in ecosystem resilience by spreading risks,
providing "insurance", and making it possible for ecosystems
to reorganise after disturbance and adapt to change. Ecosystems
seem to be particularly resilient if there are many species performing
essential functions (such as photosynthesis or decomposition) and
if the species within such "functional groups" respond
in different ways to disturbances. If this is the case, then species
can replace or compensate for one another in times of disturbance
and insure against loss of ecosystem functions.
Social
resilience is the ability of human communities to withstand
and recover from stresses on their infrastructure, such as environmental
change or social, economic or political upheaval. Resilience and
diversity in societies and their life-supporting ecosystems is therefore
crucial in maintaining options for future human development.
More
at:
Building
resilience - a necessary task? www.albaeco.com
The Resilience
Alliance - www.resalliance.org
New
website focuses on science and sustainability in developing countries
SciDev.Net
is a new website dealing with science and technology of relevance
to sustainability in developing countries. The website also provides
information about science in the developing world and ways of applying
science and technology to social and economic development in an
environmentally responsible way.
Recently, SciDev.Net reported that the
Indian government approved the planting of genetically modified
crops, and reviewed a Greenpeace report claiming that organic farming
methods can boost yields in developing countries.
SciDev.Net is aimed at government decision-makers,
non-governmental organisations, research administrators, journalists,
teachers, and officials in professional scientific organisations
and multilateral and bilateral aid agencies. The site is sponsored
by the leading science journals Nature and Science in association
with the Third World Academy of Sciences. It also receives financial
support from the UK Department
for International Development (DFID), the
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida),
and the International
Development Research Centre in Ottawa, Canada.
More
at:
www.scidev.net
New
Sida-supported research programme on poverty and vulnerability at
the Stockholm Environment Institute
A new
Sida-financed two-year research programme on poverty and vulnerability
was launched in January 2002. Vulnerability is the extent to which
peoples or systems risk being harmed by environmental or socio-economic
perturbations or stress. A vulnerability assessment can for example
study the exposure and susceptibility to damage from climate change
on ecological systems and people. The programme co-ordinator, Stockholm
Environment Institute (SEI) will develop the tools and analytic
approaches needed to identify and understand the vulnerability of
people and ecosystems. They will also recommend how to apply the
results of this work in Sida's operations and other operations in
developing countries. The ultimate objective is to anticipate and
reduce the risk of harm to the world's poorest and most vulnerable
people. Sustainable development is a central aspect of this work.
In addition, participatory methods and capacity building will be
used extensively.
The research programme includes case studies
produced in close collaboration with developing country partners,
participation in a global knowledge network, and the development
of conceptual frameworks and practical methodologies. The programme
will include workshops, publications, and policy recommendations.
Mattias Nordström & Fredrik Moberg
More
at:
SEI arranged an international workshop on Vulnerability and
Global Environmental Change in Stockholm, Sweden, 17-19 May last
year. A summary of the workshop and additional information is available
at www.sei.se/risk/workshop.html
Kasperson, Jeanne X., and Roger E. Kasperson. 2001. Climate Change,
Vulnerability and Social Justice. ISBN 91 88714 73 X. Available
at: www.sei.se/pubs/dpubs.html.
Want to know more about the Poverty and Vulnerability programme?
Contact the Executive Director of SEI,
Roger E. Kasperson.
Coral
reefs in Southeast Asia at risk
The coral reefs of Southeast Asia
are the world's most important and extensive. A new study from the
World Resources Institute shows that these reefs are also the most
threatened. The livelihood and food security of some of the world's
poorest people is at risk.
Coral reefs are threatened and important ecosystems
for the poor. Photography by Ingrid Nordemar.
Southeast Asia has more than a third of the world's coral reefs
and the highest level of species richness. These reefs are the cornerstones
of economic and social development in the region, the report states.
In the Philippines, where some 70 percent of the animal protein
intake comes from seafood, reefs provide benefits worth approximately
USD $1.1 billion every year. In addition, coral reefs provide numerous
other valuable goods and services to human societies such as shoreline
protection, maintenance of biodiversity, new medicines, and recreational
tourism opportunities.
According to report estimates, almost 90
percent of Southeast Asia's coral reefs are threatened by human
activities. Threats include overfishing, fishing with explosives
and poison, sedimentation, climate change, and pollution from activities
on land such as agriculture, industries, and deforestation. An estimated
18 percent of the region's coral reefs were damaged or destroyed
by elevated seawater temperatures leading to coral bleaching during
the 1997-98 El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
The WRI report also suggests how to help
coral reefs survive in the future. More reefs must be protected
in reserves and overall management must be improved. This includes
helping fishermen find alternative livelihoods and regulating the
USD $1 billion annual trade in live reef fish. Saving reefs at risk
will require political will and financial commitments from governments,
private organisations, and the tourism industry.
More
at:
Reefs at risk in Southeast Asia, published by WRI,
the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Center
(UNEP-WCMC),
ICLARM - The
World Fish Center, and the International Coral Reef Action Network.
www.wri.org/reefsatrisk/reefriskseasia.html
Fate
of the world's forests depends on the poor
A
new report by two of the world's leading forestry organisations
concludes that conservation of the world's forests can only be achieved
by engaging local people in marketing forest products and services.
A new
report Making Markets Work for Forest Communities finds that
improving the lives of the poor is crucial to conserving the world's
forests. The report is published by the Center for International
Forestry Research (CIFOR),
a Future Harvest Center based in Bogor, Indonesia, and Forest
Trends, based in Washington D.C.
The
report concludes that creating opportunities for the poor to generate
income from forest products and services is a necessity for the
conservation of forests outside reserves. Others have argued that
forestry has contributed little to poverty alleviation, and that
increased commercial activity by the poor can become a threat to
conservation.
In
the developing world, indigenous and local groups control about
25 percent of the forests. Many of these groups depend on forests
to meet subsistence needs for food, fuel, construction materials,
medicines, and local ecosystem services, as well as animal feed
and nutrients for cultivation. Moreover, poor farmers often earn
up to 25 percent of their household income from non-timber forest
products like mushrooms, fruits and medicines.
The
report also highlights a few cases where local forest communities
have received payments from governments and conservation agencies
for protecting their forests and thereby preserving ecosystem services
such as watershed protection, biodiversity, and carbon dioxide storage
(to mitigate global warming).
More
at:
www.futureharvest.org/news/forests.shtml
Book
review: Panarchy: a new way of thinking about a sustainable future
Panarchy
discusses our global failure in managing natural resources. Often,
it is the poor - those already under social, economic and environmental
stress - that suffer the most. Is there any point in searching for
solutions at regional or local scales? Yes, argue the authors of
Panarchy.
The
new book, Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and
Natural Systems, presents a new theoretical framework for connecting
human development to the basis of all life - the natural environment.
It is written by two leading ecologists, Lance H. Gunderson and
C. S. (Buzz) Holling, together with several other ecologists, economists,
and social scientists. The book is a result of the work of the Resilience
Alliance, a group of prominent international ecological and economic
research organisations and individuals.
Gunderson
and Holling claim that most management failures and environmental
problems have a simple cause. If humans control nature without considering
that nature is dynamic and changes, nature strikes back. Controlling
water levels, food production, fish stocks, and pest invasions has
in many cases had severe consequences for both human health and
welfare.
The authors argue that poverty, social
inequity, human health, human migration, political upheaval, loss
of biodiversity, and land use changes cannot be dealt with as separate
issues. Neither are they only global or only local problems. Closer
collaboration is needed among traditional disciplines, among researchers,
policymakers and resource users themselves, and among local, regional
and global levels.
Panarchy offers a new theoretical
framework for integrating both disciplines and scales. It provides
researchers, students and policymakers with a new way of thinking
about a sustainable future.
BOX: Panarchy combines
theories of hierarchies with theories of change. For example,
a forest can be seen as a hierarchy of levels ranging from
a grove of trees, to individual trees, to each leaf. Each
level undergoes a cycle of change within specific time and
space scales. The turnover rate of a forest may be hundreds
of years, while the turnover rate of a leaf may be one year.
The parts and the whole are tightly interconnected. If a
leaf is infected by a virulent parasite, the tree and perhaps
the whole forest may suffer. Migrating birds connect forests
across the globe to each other. Problems that arise in a
forest may be due to activities half a planet away or may
be the result of slow changes accumulated over centuries.
Those managing and using the forest must understand these
cross-scale interactions.
|
Cecilia
Holmlund
See also:
www.resalliance.org/panarchy/index.html
"The
transition towards sustainable development is inconceivable without
science"
The
International Council for Science (ICSU)
is writing an agenda for 'sustainability science' together with
the Third
World Academy of Sciences. The agenda will be discussed at the
World
Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg later this
year. It concludes that much remains to be done within the scientific
and technological community to deal with basic human and societal
needs such as social equity and poverty reduction. This requires
collaboration among major research funding agencies, the development
assistance community, and private sector.
The paper also acknowledges the progress
made by the S&T community to meet the basic needs of the poor and
socially excluded. These include increased use of renewable energy
sources, progress on health and sanitation, and the contribution
of science to peace and disaster reduction and relief. Moreover,
the S&T community has contributed to the development of agriculture
through studies of soils, land use and land-cover change, more effective
use of water, more sustainable use of agricultural chemicals, and
the use of traditional knowledge. However, the scientific community
has also contributed to more controversial practices, such as the
production and use of genetically modified plants and the use of
radiation in the conservation of foods.
The report also highlights themes including
integrated assessments, changing patterns of consumption and production,
capacity building and education, information and communications
technology, and ethics and society.
More
at:
sustsci.harvard.edu/keydocs/fulltext/wssd_stc_020128.pdf
The Equator Initiative on poverty and
biodiversity
The Equator Initiative will identify,
highlight and honour successful and innovative partnerships for
sustainable development in tropical ecosystems in developing countries.
The Equator Initiative Awards will recognise initiatives that have
reduced poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of
biodiversity in the equatorial belt. The first award will be presented
at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)
in Johannesburg. UNDP,
the UN Foundation,
the International
Development Research Centre, and the Government
of Canada are sponsoring the Equator Initiative.
More at:
www.undp.org/equatorinitiative/index.htm
Join the e-discussion on poverty
reduction and environmental management!
Make your voice heard at the World
Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD)
in Johannesburg, South Africa- this autumn! Join the ongoing global
e-discussion on a background paper for the summit: "Linking
Poverty Reduction and Environmental Management: Policy Challenges
and Opportunities." This is a joint paper by the UK Department
for International Development (DFID),
the Directorate
General for Development of the European Commission (EC), the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
and the World
Bank. The paper is optimistic about the future and focuses on
win-win opportunities that reduce poverty and sustain growth through
sound and equitable environmental management. It concludes that
"environmental degradation is not inevitable, nor is it an
unavoidable sacrifice on the altar of economic growth. On the contrary,
better environmental management is key to poverty reduction".
The e-discussion will continue until June 30, 2002.
Want to join the e-discussion and read
the Consultation Draft? Go to: vx.worldbank.org/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=env-rio-10
or to the World Bank website: www.worldbank.org
The quote:
"…human activities are having an increasing impact on the integrity
of complex natural ecosystems that provide essential support for
human well-being and economic activities. Managing this natural
resource base is essential for protecting the land, water and living
resources on which human life and development depend…".
Source:
Section four in the "Chairman's
Paper" from the second preparatory meeting (PrepCom II) before
the World Summit on
Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.
www.johannesburgsummit.org/html/documents/prepcoms.html
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