The world needs to rethink the value of water
- 25.11.2017
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- November 24, 2017
- Source:University of Oxford
- Summary:
- New research highlights the accelerating pressure on measuring, monitoring and managing water locally and globally. A new four-part framework is proposed to value water for sustainable development to guide better policy and practice.
Research led by Oxford University highlights the accelerating pressure on measuring, monitoring and managing water locally and globally. A new four-part framework is proposed to value water for sustainable development to guide better policy and practice.
The value of water for people, the environment, industry, agriculture and cultures has been long-recognised, not least because achieving safely-managed drinking water is essential for human life. The scale of the investment for universal and safely-managed drinking water and sanitation is vast, with estimates around $114B USD per year, for capital costs alone.
But there is an increasing need to re-think the value of water for a number of reasons:
- Water is not just about sustaining life, it plays a vital role in sustainable development. Water's value is evident in all of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, from poverty alleviation and ending hunger, where the connection is long recognised -- to sustainable cities and peace and justice, where the complex impacts of water are only now being fully appreciated.
- Water security is a growing global concern. The negative impacts of water shortages, flooding and pollution have placed water related risks among the top 5 global threats by the World Economic Forum for several years running. In 2015, Oxford-led research on water security quantified expected losses from water shortages, inadequate water supply and sanitation and flooding at approximately $500B USD annually. Last month the World Bank demonstrated the consequences of water scarcity and shocks: the cost of a drought in cities is four times greater than a flood, and a single drought in rural Africa can ignite a chain of deprivation and poverty across generations.
Story Source:
Materials provided by University of Oxford. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
- Dustin E. Garrick, Jim W. Hall, Andrew Dobson, Richard Damania, R. Quentin Grafton, Robert Hope, Cameron Hepburn, Rosalind Bark, Frederick Boltz, Lucia De Stefano, Erin O'Donnell, Nathanial Matthews, Alex Money. Valuing water for sustainable development. Science, 2017; 358 (6366): 1003 DOI: 10.1126/science.aao4942
Cite This Page:
University of Oxford. "The world needs to rethink the value of water." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 24 November 2017. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171124084323.htm>.
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