Water at COP26 - “The climate crisis is a water crisis at its core” (Tim Wainwright, chief executive of WaterAid)

 

    Hi dear reader, 

    I hope you enjoyed my last post on the Kala Fleming Ted Talk. How to write a blog about “Water and Politics” without dealing with the last COP26 that took place in Glasgow (Scotland) from 31^st October to 12^th November? So, let's take a closer look at this conference together!

    To begin with, let's list again the major water-related climate changes that should have been so many red flags prompting the participating leaders to formulate ambitious new commitments at COP26. In her article published in The Guardian on 10^th November 2021, the journalist Sarah Johnson recalls that according to this 2016 study, “two-thirds of the global population, four billion people, faced water shortages, and many were at increased risk of floods and droughts brought on by the climate crisis”. Beyond the increasingly frequent and extreme floods and droughts, she also mentions the change in rainfall patterns, the rising sea levels and the current decrease of natural water storage in ice and snow. The water cycle is being disrupted and about one third of the world's children, some 920 million boys and girls, are severely exposed to water scarcity (UN News, 2021).

    These terrible consequences of climate deregulation are affecting the African countries in full force, even though “Africa is one of the lowest emitters of greenhouse gases with only 4% of global emissions” (Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan at COP26). Africa is therefore particularly vulnerable to climate change compared with many other regions, especially since almost half of the population in sub-Saharan Africa live below the poverty line and depend on weather-sensitive activities, such as rain-fed agriculture, herding and fishing for the livelihoods (Kairu, The East African, 2021). Hence, Tanzania’s President is very concerned about the economic consequences of climate change for her country as “30% of [Tanzania’s] GDP comes from agriculture, forestry and fisheries” and is thus threatened by climate change. Please find below the video of her speech at COP26 (The Citizen, 2021). In this excerpt, she draws up the alarming inventory of the climate change consequences in Tanzania. “Our pride, the Mount Kilimanjaro, is drastically becoming bald due to glacier melting” (Samia Suluhu Hassan). In the State of the Climate in Africa 2020 report (WMO, 2021), the authors even announce that “total deglaciation” could be possible by 2040s. Samia Suluhu Hassan also talks about the worrying situation in Zanzibar. “Our exotic and beautiful archipelago Zanzibar is struggling with temperature rises, saltwater intrusion and inundation, thus impacting its tourism ecology”.

 

    But despite these warnings, have the words of the Tanzanian President been heard? What lessons have been learned knowing the new measures taken? What weight is given to the interventions of leaders of African countries contributing the least to emissions but suffering the brunt of the climate change consequences (UN Africa Renewal, 2021)? While the organization of the next conference in Egypt in November 2022 could have augured a better consideration of African issues in the decisions taken this year, the outcome of COP26 is rather disappointing as we will see. But first, how important was water in the discussions?

    According to Marie-Hélène Aubert, president of the "Aquatic Biodiversity and Nature-based Solutions" working group of the French Water Partnership, "COP26 [was] too carbon-focused, water [was] the great forgotten one". She deeply regrets that the climate debate has focused on the production of carbon via fossil fuels, neglecting the issue of water (Gamberini, La Tribune, 2021). Tim Wainwright, chief executive of WaterAid, whose quote titles this post joins Marie-Hélène Aubert (Johnson, The Guardian, 2021). Water had not had “nearly enough” attention at the climate conference in Glasgow, despite the urgency of the action needed; “the climate crisis is a water crisis at its core” he claims. Indeed, “COP26 summit focuses on slowing down global heating at expense of current impact on water-stressed regions” (Johnson, The Guardian, 2021). Moreover, Tim Wainwright is concerned not only about the lack of attention paid to the issue of water but also about the more than insufficient resources allocated to its preservation. A WaterAid analysis in 2020 found that water received less than 3% of climate finance overall. Despite this undeniable lack of commitment by COP26 participants to take the crucial water challenge more into account in their discussions, what new resolutions were nevertheless taken to preserve water resources? If there are any, what are the reasons for hope?

Water Pavilion accessible throughout COP26 between 1 November and 12 November

    A first-ever Water Pavilion at the COP mobilized and gathered the water community and partners (water4climate, 2021). Moreover, the head of the World Meteorological Organization and 9 other international organizations sent a letter to world leaders ahead of the COP26 UN climate change conference to urging them to address the water-related consequences of climate-change (UN News, 2021). Leaders of the Water and Climate Coalition made an urgent and united call for integrated water and climate management based on increased data and information sharing (ONU Info, 2021). All these initiatives, as well as the creation of a water and climate crisis fund that aims to bring clean water to 50 million people in Africa and Asia by 2030 (Williams, WaterAid, 2021), show that awareness is growing. Barbara Visser, Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management of the Netherlands, thus said that “water is essential to achieve real change and reach the goals of the 2030 Agenda” (ONU Info, 2021). But even if all the objectives of this agenda are met, which seems optimistic given the non-binding nature of the agreements, global temperature rise will get about 2.4°C, which is much higher than the 1.5°C needed to avert climate catastrophe (BBC News, 2021). On top of that, these new measures do not incorporate unfortunately the main recommendation of the State of the Climate in Africa 2020 report (WMO, 2021) that climate-resilient development in Africa requires investments in hydro-meteorological infrastructure and early warning systems to prepare for escalating high-impact hazardous events.

    I hope you now know a little more about how the water issue was addressed during COP26 and the associated established goals and that you enjoyed reading this post.