Water Policy Group member Felicia Marcus penned this piece in collaboration with Jill Ozarski.
They say that there are successful models for leveraging natural systems to improve water quality and supplies, enhance biodiversity and blunt the ravages of wildfires – and that there’s even something we can learn from beavers.
Water Policy Group member Anne Castle – former assistant secretary of the Interior for Water and Science and a Colorado River veteran – comments in this story by the Water Education Foundation.
She says that in order to avoid a river war, “there is a need for speed in reaching some sort of agreement to share the reduced flows of the river.”
A new report reveals the key issues to improving water outcomes globally, as perceived through the eyes of people with national water leadership responsibility.
Launched on Monday 29 November at the XVII World Water Congress of the International Water Resources Association in Daegu, Republic of Korea, the inaugural Global Water Policy Report 2021: Listening to National Water Leaders is the result of a comprehensive survey of Ministers, top officials and other national water leaders in 88 countries.
Among their many messages, they are saying:
The Global Water Policy Report 2021 is based on the experiences and perspectives of people who have responsibility for achieving ‘sustainable water for all’ in their countries across all regions, with a combined population of over 6 billion people – 75 percent of the world’s population.
At the report’s launch, project team chair Mr Tom Soo thanked Ministers, top officials and other national water leaders for sharing their experiences and perspectives.
“Water Policy Group deeply appreciates the time you have contributed to this project, and through that your commitment to better water outcomes everywhere,” Mr Soo said.
The Global Water Policy Report 2021 was prepared by the Water Policy Group in partnership with the University of New South Wales Sydney Global Water Institute.
Media enquiries: Trish Dalby | p.dalby@unsw.edu.au
National water leaders from 88 countries across all global regions collectively view climate change as the greatest risk to maintaining or achieving good water management in their countries
These results come from a comprehensive survey of national water leaders aimed at better understanding what makes the achievement of sustainable water for all so difficult.
Out of nine different risks, ‘Climate change reducing water supply or increasing flood and drought risks’ is the most frequent ‘first ranked’ risk and features in the ‘top three’ risks for the great majority of countries – regardless of their economic status. Risks of water-based disasters of droughts and floods are the third and fourth ranked, in effect adding to the climate risk profile.
More results of the survey will be included in the 2021 Global Water Policy Report, to be launched by the Water Policy Group and the UNSW Global Water Institute on 29 November 2021 at the XVII World Water Congress in Daegu, Republic of Korea. You can register your interest in the report here.
Water ministers and other national water policy leaders from all regions of the world have seized the opportunity to contribute to a landmark global report on water policy, set to be released this year.
The inaugural Water Policy Report will reveal the key social, political, financial and structural barriers inhibiting better progress on water issues, as identified through the 2021 Water Leaders Survey.
Those invited to complete the current Water Leaders Survey include water ministers and heads of national water departments and agencies as well as other persons with national water leadership roles.
Tom Soo, Chair of the Water Policy Group project team, said that the response from national water leaders has been very positive.
“Water leaders worldwide have embraced the opportunity to contribute anonymously to the Survey and to share their personal experience,” said Mr Soo.
“Officials responsible for guiding national water management will be able to use the Water Policy Report to determine which of their particular challenges are shared by other countries and, therefore, provide an opportunity to learn from their experiences.”
The survey asks for the opinions and perspectives of national water leaders on many topics within their responsibilities, including risks to maintaining or achieving good water management in their country, how COVID-19 has affected national water outcomes and the relative importance in their country of the five accelerators in the United Nations SDG6 Global Acceleration Framework. The survey also contains questions specific to groundwater challenges, aligning with the theme of the next United Nations World Water Development Report.
“The Water Policy Report will be based on the aggregated responses of national water leaders in each UN geographic region and show challenges and constraints at both the global and regional levels. As such, the Report will provide new and genuine insight about the issues governments are facing in their pursuit to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6”, Mr Soo said.
The project is being led by the Water Policy Group with support from the University of New South Wales Global Water Institute.
The Survey will close in August 2021. National water leaders from all countries are invited to participate.
Questions about eligibility and survey access can be directed to survey@waterpolicygroup.com.
Water Policy Group
8 July 2021
The sustainable management of water is persistently difficult to achieve, yet is necessary for success in health, education, food security, economic growth, environmental quality and adaptation to climate change. Water is indeed essential for all life.
Why have governments not given water higher priority and more attention? What is it about water that makes progress so challenging?
Water Policy Group, with support from the University of New South Wales Global Water Institute, is seeking to better understand the true constraints to progress and investigate the ‘political will’ that is often identified as a key constraint to progress.
Water Policy Group’s newly launched Water Leaders Survey is gathering data on the experiences and opinions of national government ministers and top-level officials responsible for water to establish what is holding them back. Aggregated responses at the global and regional level will be analysed to identify the core challenges and constraints and Water Policy Group will report its findings in the 2021 Global Water Policy Report. Individual survey responses and countries will be confidential and not identified in the Report.
The Survey and the Report will focus generally on constraints to sustainable water management and specifically on groundwater to contribute to the United Nations water theme for 2022. The project will be repeated regularly in future years with the general questions remaining constant, enabling trends to be revealed, and the specific questions focused on the upcoming United Nations water theme.
Mr Tom Soo, Chair of Water Policy Group’s project team, says, “This survey and report aim to go where no one has gone before, to better understand why so many countries struggle to achieve sustainable and equitable water access.
“Our hope is to equip governments with information about the political factors that limit progress so that a common understanding of these factors might help to overcome them.”
For further information about the 2021 Global Water Policy Report: Water Leaders Survey, or to request an invitation to complete the survey, please contact any member of Water Policy Group or email us at survey@waterpolicygroup.com.
The 2021 Global Water Policy Report: Water Leaders Survey is being conducted with support and assistance from the University of New South Wales Global Water Institute.
Water Policy Group
10 March 2021
In collaboration with the University of New South Wales, Water Policy Group is currently collecting responses to the 2021 Water Leaders Survey. Responses to this confidential survey will be combined with all others to provide a regional and global understanding of water policy issues in order to prepare the Global Water Policy Report.
For more information on confidentiality, consent and ethics: Global Water Policy Report – Survey Participant Information Statement
As part of the 2020 Water for Food Webinar series of the University of Nebraska’s Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute, Water Policy Group presented a webinar on Advancements in Agriculture Water Management and Regulation. The webinar discussed innovative approaches to water management and regulation in the agricultural sphere related to water quality and water use efficiency.
Water Policy Group member Anne Castle recently took part in a roundtable discussion on what the Biden administration might mean for water.
The discussion, which occurred on Circle of Blue’s ‘Speaking of Water’ podcast, featured Castle and two other U.S. water experts: Heather Cooley, Director of Research at the Pacific Institute; and Eric Schaeffer, Executive Director of the Environmental Integrity Project and former lead of the EPA Office of Civil Enforcement.
When asked about changes the Biden administration could make that would have significant leverage for water policy, Castle said that she hopes to see increased emphasis on long term impacts through actions such as considering the effects of climate change, rejoining the Paris Climate Accord and rethinking Trump administration policies that emphasise short term energy development.
“If we take long term impacts into account on environment, water and equity, I think that shifts the mindset to look at how various individual projects and proposals are going to impact our entire economy and population over the long term.”
