UN World Water Development Report 2018 (Part 2)

The Key Messages of the UN World Water Development Report 2018 were:

·      Ecological processes driven by vegetation and soils in forests, grasslands, wetlands, as well as in agricultural and urban landscapes, play a major role in the movement, storage and transformation of water.

·      Nature-based solutions (NBS) use or mimic natural processes to enhance water availability (e.g., soil moisture retention, groundwater recharge), improve water quality (e.g., natural and constructed wetlands,

·      riparian buffer strips), and reduce risks associated with water-related disasters and climate change (e.g., floodplain restoration, green roofs).

·      NBS offer significant potential to address contemporary water management challenges across all sectors, and particularly regarding sustainable agriculture and sustainable cities.

·      NBS contribute to reversing trends in ecosystem degradation, a major cause of water problems worldwide.

·      NBS are essential to achieving the water-related Goals and Targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and directly contribute to meeting several other interdependent Goals and Targets.

·      NBS generate social, economic and environmental co-benefits, including human health and livelihoods, food and energy security, sustainable economic growth, decent jobs, ecosystem rehabilitation and

·      maintenance, and biodiversity.

·      NBS include green infrastructure that can substitute, augment or work in parallel with human-built (‘grey’) infrastructure in a cost-effective manner, providing alternative options for coping with insufficient or ageing water infrastructure while improving system-wide resilience and performance.

·      NBS, like grey infrastructure, have limits: NBS are not a panacea and must be evaluated and deployed based on locality specific conditions.

·      Water management remains heavily dominated by grey infrastructure, such that the considerable potential for NBS is largely under-utilized.

·      The objective is to find the most appropriate balance between green and grey infrastructure that maximizes benefits and system efficiency while minimizing costs and trade-offs.

·      There are emerging innovative options for financing NBS, such as payment for ecosystem services schemes and green bonds.

·      The substantial value of the co-benefits from NBS can tip investment decisions in their favour.

·      Sustainable water security will not be achieved through business-as-usual, and NBS provide an essential means of moving beyond conventional approaches.

India-related story in WWDR 2018

NBS Benefits at Scale – Landscape Restoration to Improve Water Security in Rajasthan, India Unusually low rainfall in 1985–86, combined with excessive logging, led to the worst droughts in the history of Rajasthan. The district of Alwar, one of the poorest in the State, was severely affected. The groundwater table had receded below critical levels and the State declared parts of the area ‘dark zones’, which meant the severity of the situation warranted restrictions on any further groundwater extractions. Tarun Bharat Sangh, a local NGO, supported the local communities to undertake landscape-scale restoration of local water cycles and water resources. With leadership provided by women, who customarily take responsibility for providing their families with safe freshwater, traditional local initiatives for water were revived by bringing people together on the issues of management of forests and water resources. Activities centred on the construction of small-scale water harvesting structures combined with the regeneration of forests and soils, particularly in upper catchments, to help improve the recharge of groundwater resources. The impact has been significant. For example: Water was brought back to 1000 villages across the State. Five rivers that used to run dry after the annual monsoon season are now flowing again and fisheries in them re-established. Groundwater levels have risen by an estimated six metres. Productive farmland increased from 20% to 80% of the catchment. Crucial forest cover, including in farmlands, which helps to maintain the integrity and water-retaining capacity of the soil, has increased by 33%. The return of wildlife such as antelope and leopard has been observed.