A major assessment of hydrological systems has concluded that the global water crisis could spiral out of control if urgent remedial measures are not undertaken. Set up by the Netherlands in 2022, the Global Commission on the Economics of Water draws on the findings of leading scientists and other experts to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of the management of aquifers worldwide.
The Commission’s report, released last week, warns that more than half of the world’s food production could be imperilled if countries do not find better ways to manage water resources. The crisis could shave off 8 per cent of the global GDP by 2050, with poor countries facing a 15 per cent loss. The panel reckons that the “demand for freshwater will outstrip supply by 40 per cent by the end of the decade.”
In fact, as the report underlines, a large part of the Third World is already water-stressed. Every day, more than 1,000 children die, most of them in economically poor countries, from the lack of access to safe water. The panel urges countries to rethink how water is regarded: As a global common good, not as an endlessly renewable resource.
Several of the report’s conclusions have been issues of national conversation for more than a decade now. The links between perverse subsidies and imprudent water use in agriculture, for instance, have been well-established in India, for instance. Yet, governments have rarely summoned the political will to nudge the farm sector to use water prudently. Similarly, industries too are rarely penalised for polluting water. About 80 per cent of the wastewater generated by industries worldwide is not recycled, the panel reveals.
Despite the interconnectedness of water systems, there is no global governance system for water. The UN has held only one water conference in the past 50 years. The Commission suggests a global pact to conserve water. For that to happen, however, countries must tweak its findings to their contexts. For instance, the Commission slots India amongst those countries whose landmass supports water flow outside national boundaries.
This understanding should be qualified because inter-state water disputes are a major policymaking challenge within India. In other words, countries like India would need to find better ways to resolve conflicts over aquifers within their borders before thinking of a global pact. The trouble also is that analyses by planning agencies often do not find adequate resonance in policymaking.
In India, the NITI Aayog’s report of 2018 on the perilous state of groundwater is a case in point. The Global Commission on the Economics of Water report should be a message that such imperatives cannot be postponed for long.
