Professor Wouters – director of the Unesco Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science, University of Dundee, said: “Water must be part of the climate change negotiations, and water law must be part of the water agenda, otherwise any solution could be deeply compromised at best.”
About 900 million people suffer globally due to lack of access to clean water, and people are as likely to be reliant on water originating outside their own country’s borders as within them, hence the centrality of international water law in a world of rising population and scarce water resources.
“The future economic welfare of nation states will depend on how they manage their water, especially across national borders – and there will be conflicts-of-use right across the spectrum,” said Wouters.
The Copenhagen talks’ failure to adequately focus on this issue adds up to what Professor Wouters said was a “serious and dangerous blind spot”.
“If water is left out of the dynamic, we’re undermining the very foundation of the climate change initiative,” she said. “This is a daily issue of survival for poor people across the globe, and there are daily reminders of the catastrophic effects to lives, livelihoods and ecosystems as a result of too much or too little water.”
Professor Wouters, who heads the UK’s only Unesco Centre, and the world’s only Unesco Centre combining water law, policy and science, is concerned about the lack of “connecting up the dots” on matters related to regional peace and security, and national economic welfare.
The recently released Mckinsey Report on water forecasts a future water gap of 40%, with 42% of the global water demand over the next few decades coming from China, India, South Africa and Brazil.
Source: Unesco Centre for Water Law, University of Dundee
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