Water Security and Climate Change

Water Security and Climate Change will be the focus of an important international Conference (WSCC 2017) be held in Cologne, Germany, on 18 – 21 September 2017.

Achieving water security is one of the major challenges faced by society. Recent global agreements such as the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction relate substantially to questions of water security.

Alarming facts about water shortage in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Fresh water resources in the region are among the lowest in the world, and according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), they have decreased by two thirds during last 40 years and are expected to fall over 50% by 2050. Water scarcity is expected to intensify as a result of climate change: for each 1 degree of global warming, 7% of the global population will see a decrease of 20% or more in renewable water resources. Within the region, an estimated 90% of land lies within arid and dry areas, while agriculture uses approximately 85% of the total available freshwater.

The Global Water Partnership (GWP), an international action network, considers the region in the eye of the cyclone due to the dangerous nexus between water, employment and migration, and associated socio-political, economic and environmental risks.