1 / 36

Global water?

This world’s water - have we got enough? Mike Young Executive Director, The Environment Institute. Global water?. Energy Health Climate change Supply People Challenges. Energy. World Primary Energy. Australia. Where could we go?.

malachi-ashley
Download Presentation

Global water?

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. This world’s water - have we got enough? Mike Young Executive Director, The Environment Institute

  2. Global water? • Energy • Health • Climate change • Supply • People • Challenges

  3. Energy

  4. World Primary Energy Australia

  5. Where could we go?

  6. Technology cost comparisons – should nuclear be part of the mix? Nicholson, Biegler & Brook (2010) “How carbon pricing changes the relative competitiveness of low-carbon baseload generating technologies” Energy doi: 10.1016/j.energy.2010.10.039

  7. Australian Greenhouse Gas Emissions

  8. Water

  9. Health • 3,900 children under 5 die every day from water supply & sanitation related diseases • MDG to halve the number people without access to drinking water and sanitation by 2015 • Drinking water goal expected to be met • Sanitation goal will not be met

  10. MDG Sanitation Target Progress

  11. Global flow and use 70% Agriculture, 20% Industry & 10% Urban After Molden 2007

  12. Global water scarcity After Molden 2007

  13. International Trade After Hoekstar & Chapagain 2007

  14. Causes increasing water scarcity • Adverse climate change • Population increase • Increased living standards • Over-exploitation • Declining water quality

  15. Threats to Biodiversity and Water

  16. Climate

  17. Getting hotter

  18. Has been getting drier in south & east

  19. - 1% - 3%

  20. Users Environment River Flow With half as much water, how much can you use? Users Users Environment Environment River Flow River Flow

  21. Global impacts of climate change • Some areas get wetter and warmer • Some areas get drier and warmer • The aggregate affect of climate change on water supplies is expected to be negative. • By 2030 child malnutrition is predicted to increase by 20%.

  22. People

  23. World Population

  24. One more Australian every 1 minute 18 seconds Source: ABS, 2008

  25. An emerging gap

  26. Water scarcity gap – billions m3 After 2030 Water Resources Group

  27. MENA = Middle East & Northern Africa

  28. Water stressed people After OECD 2009

  29. The reality • Failure to provide reliable access to water and sanitation services is one of humankind’s greatest failings. • By 2030, over half the world’s population is expected to be living in a water stressed region. • Demand is growing and supply costs are rising. • Health and quality of many rivers and aquifers is declining. Restoration is a non-trivial challenge! • The aggregate affect of climate change on water supplies is expected to be negative. • By 2030 child malnutrition is predicted to increase by 20%. • The rate of change necessary to close the gap is an order of magnitude faster than has been achieved in recent times.

  30. Avoiding the crisis • Parallel investments in governance, the development of taxation systems, the removal of market distortions and freer trading arrangements for agricultural products. • Freer international trading arrangements will significantly reduce the costs of facilitating adjustment and attaining MDG targets. • The early introduction of greenhouse gas trading or taxation arrangements will reduce the costs of achieving a transition • {Gravity is cheap.}

  31. Pricing arrangements • In India, 15% of food is produced from subsidised groundwater depletion. • Subsidies need to be phased out. • In many cases, the poorest of the poor would be better off paying the full cost of supply • The cost of obtaining access to water from other sources a central source and the impact of unsanitary conditions on them is enormous.

  32. Governance Corruption has been estimated to be raising the cost of achieving the MDG by $50 billion per year

  33. Financing investment (3 T’s) After Marin and OECD 2009

  34. Seven global observations • When water is mismanaged, economic growth and development is inordinately difficult. • Globally, there appears to be under-investment in water. • When accelerated investment is coupled with improvements in governance and water policies, the amount that needs to be invested in the water can be reduced significantly. • For many people, the lack of access to reliable clean water and adequate sanitation services means that these people cannot participate in a green economy. • Investment in the development of water entitlement and allocation systems designed to both ensure the maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystem services and, also, to facilitate adjustment in the way water resources are used can be expected to pay long-term dividends. • The cost of resolving the constellation of water scarcity crises emerging around the world depends upon the extent of commitment to water policy reform and the development of improved governance arrangements. • The resolution of global water supply problems is heavily dependent upon the degree to which agricultural water use can be improved

  35. www.adelaide.edu.au/environment www.myoung.net.au

More Related