Clean energy measures subjected to the analysis in the report are preliminarily estimated to require around 900 cubic kilometers of freshwater per annum, which equates to approximately a third of the water withdrawn by irrigation globally. At this measurement of extraction, the concerns on mass water depletion assume a bigger dimension of global concern.
By Salam Rajesh
Water resources have become a pressing issue of concern in the world today, even as millions of underprivileged people all across the globe are reportedly facing acute shortages of drinking water on the one hand while farmers are facing uphill tasks with unprecedented droughts and drought-like situations becoming the norm of the day as climate change impacts hits hard on both the human and the natural environments.
The International Universities Climate Alliance (IUCA) and the UN-Water Expert Group on Water and Climate Change recently published a report, “Water for Climate Mitigation: Estimating the Global Freshwater Requirements of Climate Mitigation Measures (May, 2024)”, which looks at the estimation of water requirements with particular reference to climate change mitigation measures.
The IUCA and UN-Water report identifies trends related to the water intensity of mitigation and adaptation options considered by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and recommends that member countries take the recommendations into account in their climate policies and actions on ground.
The report underscores the crucial point that meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change depends on the sustainable management of water resources. It specifically urges policymakers to assess the water requirements of clean energy and carbon sequestration measures in their policy framework along the pathway in achieving their respective Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
Reasserting that natural solutions offer the best return on carbon sequestered per unit volume of water, the report takes into account the consideration that the applicability of each measure is contextual and depends on the spatial and seasonal availability of water and water quality requirements.
Mitigation measures based on the estimated water requirements and efficiency is placed on priority in these considerations. It particularly emphasizes on the ‘relative value of natural solutions, such as maintaining and restoring the water tables of peatlands and afforestation’.
Carbon sinks in the form of well-protected forests (such as sub-tropical and tropical forests) and grasslands, and conserved water bodies – notably peatlands, marshes, mangroves and bogs – are considered as best nature-based solutions in climate change mitigation measures.
The report, moreover, cautions that ‘these measures are location specific and involve other ecological risks, for example, those associated with the release of methane from peatlands and wetlands if these systems are not managed properly and the potential for afforestation to alter rainfall patterns’.
The IUCA and the UN-Water Expert Group on Water and Climate Change stresses that the climate and water crises are inextricably linked, and their relationship needs to be better understood by all relevant stakeholders and policymakers. This understandably reflects upon the current water shortage crisis in several parts of the world – Africa, Asia, Australia, the Americas and even Europe.
It reaffirms that energy production is – and will remain – highly water intensive, while re-emphasizing the crucial point that “water is critical to climate change mitigation measures whose ‘water efficiency’ varies widely, with some requiring more freshwater than is now committed”, and that there is the need for sustainable, affordable, and scalable water solutions for climate change mitigation.
The IUCA and the UN-Water report stressed that further intensive work is required by nations to understand the estimated water requirements for each mitigation measure committed to under the Paris Agreement targets (for instance, the measures necessary to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by target year 2050 under the UNFCCC) on the sustainable management of water resources.
It equally stressed that countries need to consider water requirements relative to their respective NDCs, with national-level assessments and both national and local-level planning required for the water dependencies of climate mitigation measures.
This reflection comes close to the concerns that climate mitigation measures for achieving net zero and implementing the Paris Agreement will consume substantial volumes of freshwater and which could drain out freshwaters and more importantly groundwater storage if the check and balance mechanism is not there.
Clean energy measures subjected to the analysis in the report are preliminarily estimated to require around 900 cubic kilometers of freshwater per annum, which equates to approximately a third of the water withdrawn by irrigation globally. At this measurement of extraction, the concerns on mass water depletion assume a bigger dimension of global concern.
On this very note, the report re-emphasizes that meeting climate targets is dependent on the sustainable management of water resources. The findings presented in the report are particularly intended to raise awareness of the critical links between the availability of water and implementing various Paris Agreement climate mitigation measures.
In tune with the targets and objectives set under the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration to achieve healthy restoration and rejuvenation of forests and wetland ecosystems, the report pronounces that ‘significant amounts of water will also need to be retained and recharged in forests, peatlands and other natural ecosystems for these to perform their necessary carbon sequestration roles’.
It inherently points out that ‘optimizing carbon sequestration of natural measures is reliant on the protection of their natural flow and flooding regimes, and further work is required to assess the resilience of such measures within a local or regional context’.
This context is quite relevant to the conditions of the biomes in the North East region where uncontrolled and un-monitored practices of commercialization of forest lands and resources have caused the depletion and degradation of important biodiversity-rich areas.
Manipur is not an exception to cases of mass depletion of forests for illegal activities of which timber logging, clearance for poppy cultivation, expansion for infrastructures and urbanization, and reclamation of wetlands for different activities, are all too glaring.
With discourses on climate change becoming more intensive by the day, and with global warming concerns hot on the heels of the world community today, it is imperative that these concerns filter down to the grassroots for effectiveness, with equally responsive strategy action plans from the lawmakers and policy planners.
The IUCA and the UN-Water report was launched on the opening day of the Bonn Climate Change Conference on the 3rd of last month.