Wetlands for our Future: Securing our life support system.
Let’s try to imagine your life without water.
You probably experience an uphill task getting your first 10 minutes of the day: When you start your day, you drink water from the tap, flush the toilet, brush your teeth, take a shower. And that’s just the water you see. There is much more you do with the water.
A Panel Discussion: Wetlands: Securing Freshwater for All, to World Wetlands Day 2021, Henk Ovink, A Special Envoy for International Water Affairs for the Kingdom of Netherlands has this to say, “Investing in water has a trickle-down effect on across all sustainable development.”
Do you have an idea where your water originates? Am not talking about the tap, but the source. Is it a lake? A groundwater aquifer? A nearby river. Now think about how much water you use. Can you quantify it?
Research has it that an average American household of four consumes 400 gallons per day. Simply contrast this with the water use of many families in Africa and other parts of the developing world, who often consume as little as 5 gallons per day.
Their morning looks very different. Many wake up and begin miles-long trek to the nearest water source to fetch all the water for the day’s cleaning, cooking and drinking.
Healthy watersheds and wetlands provide the foundation for a clean water supply, flood control, food, and numerous other services on which billions depend for their health and well-being.
Failing to secure these natural resources can undermine the value of well-intended development: Taps run dry; toilets pollute drinking water; water storage infrastructure, such as dams and dikes, inadvertently increases communities’ vulnerabilities to extreme weather events; and farms pollute or over-consumption of water.
Unfortunately, freshwater ecosystems are in a precarious state. We are losing our largest free-flowing rivers. Half the world’s wetlands have been drained, filled, planted, or paved.
These resources are more precious and vulnerable than people realize.
According to United Nation (UN), World Water Development Report 2017, of all the water on Earth, less than 1percent is fresh and available to supply human demands for food, energy, and everyday life. Feeding an additional 2 billion people by 2050 will require a 15percent increase in water withdrawals, and the water required to produce energy is expected to increase by more than 85percent. Increased demand combined with climate change will leave two-thirds of the planet living in water-stressed regions by 2050.
Three things are critical for water security: good-quality, well-managed water resources; well-managed water supply services; and management of disaster risk.
Access to clean, safe water is fundamental to life. It is essential to health and well-being, but also food, energy, prosperity and economic growth.
Let’s conserve our wetlands in order to secure freshwater for all for a brighter future.
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