Publisher : Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity
Place of publication :
Publication year : 2013
Thematic : Biodiversity
Language : English
Note
This years’ theme for the International Day for Biological Diversity, “Water and
Biodiversityâ€, was chosen to coincide with the United Nations designation of 2013
as the International Year of Water Cooperation. Sustainable water management
requires cooperation among a wide range of stakeholders, if not all.
Water is our most precious natural resource and central to sustainable
development. Of all of the world’s water, only 0.03% is available as liquid freshwater
at or near the land surface. This water supports all terrestrial and freshwater
biodiversity, underpins most aspects of human welfare and is essential for
sustainable development. Water is a renewable but a finite resource. It can be
recycled but not replaced. Water security is very high on the government, public
and business agenda. In a 2012 survey by the World Economic Forum, water supply
crises were listed as the second ranked global risk after major systemic financial
failure, and ahead of food shortage crises, chronic fiscal imbalances and extreme
volatility in energy and agricultural prices.
We live in a world suffering from rapidly increasing water insecurity. Currently
884 million people (12.5% of the global population) are living without safe
drinking water and 2.5 billion people (40%) do not have adequate sanitation.
By 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute
water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world population could be under
water stress conditions. The water extremes of drought and flood are ever
increasing problems. Worldwide, more than 7,000 major disasters have been
recorded since 1970, causing at least US $2 trillion in damage and killing at
least 2.5 million people. Water-related hazards account for 90% of all natural
hazards, and their frequency and intensity are generally rising. Some 373
natural disasters killed more than 296,800 people in 2010 alone, affected
nearly 208 million others and cost nearly US $110 billion.
Set against this background managing the impact of water on biodiversity
will be an increasingly difficult challenge. Faced with such pressing demands
on water, the stark realities of achieving access to and supply of water
as a human right, and the importance of water to economic growth, many
might place a low value on biodiversity in trade-offs in water allocation and
management decisions. But water is an ecosystem service. Biodiversity is
critical to the maintenance of both the quality and quantity of water supplies
and plays a vital but often under-acknowledged role in the water cycle. This
changes the water-biodiversity paradigm by requiring us to look at how
biodiversity influences water. The equation becomes less about trade-offs
and more about converging interests between biodiversity and water. We
shift from potential conflict to partnerships and cooperation.
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Keywords : Southeast Bering sea
Encoded by : Pauline Carmel Joy Eje
