water resources management (IWRM), as
environmental degradation; infrastructure and
measured by indicator 6.5.1 (United Nations
industrialization (SDG 9), as GVA should increase
Environment Programme [UNEP], 2021).
with sustainable industries; cities and human settlements (SDG 11), as improved accessibility
However, it should be noted that in most cases,
to domestic water supply and ecosystem health
devising policies that aim to move water from
should help prevent water-related disasters; and
one economic sector to another to increase
consumption and production (SDG 12), which
the value of water-use efficiency would be
should become more efficient.
ineffective. If a country’s general development becomes unbalanced due to its use of water
Increasing values in a time series indicate that
resources, other SDG indicators will signal
economic growth is decoupling from water use.
problems and changes needed, since such
It does not necessarily indicate a decline in total
unbalancing would likely jeopardize food
water use or a reduction of the impact of water
security and livelihoods in developing countries,
use (though it must be compared with indicator
particularly those with an agricultural matrix
6.4.2 results to confirm this).
heavily focused on subsistence (which is not visible in this indicator, but would be captured by other related indicators). Indicator 6.4.1 specifically addresses the target component “substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors”, comparing the
1.5. Setting the scene: lessons learned for the new reporting period and capacitybuilding initiatives
value added of an economy with the volumes of water used by the same economy, including
Indicator 6.4.1 had not previously been
losses in distribution networks. Increasing
monitored worldwide as part of the MDGs
water-use efficiency over time means decoupling
and was introduced in the SDG process. As
economic growth from water use across the
such, an entirely new methodology had to
main water-using sectors, which are agriculture,
be built to monitor the indicator. Despite not
industry, energy and services.
being monitored previously, statistical data were generally available and updated from
This is strongly interlinked with sustainable
governmental sources for the variables included
food production (SDG 2), as incomes should
in the methodology.
increase with improvements in efficiency and value addition to food production; gender
The first phase of the UN-Water Integrated
equality and natural resources (SDG 5), as
Monitoring Initiative for SDG 62 (2015–
reforms to increase water-use efficiency should
2018) focused on developing monitoring
also complement efforts to secure women’s
methodologies and other support tools for the
rights and access to markets; economic growth
indicators of the aforementioned targets.
(SDG 8), as resource efficiency should result in economic growth being decoupled from
2
The UN-Water Integrated Monitoring Initiative for SDG 6 brings together the United Nations organizations that are formally mandated to compile country data on the SDG 6 global indicators, and builds on ongoing efforts such as the World Health Organization (WHO)/United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP), the Global Environment Monitoring System for Freshwater (GEMS/Water), FAO’s global information system on water and agriculture (AQUASTAT) and the UN-Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS).
PROGRESS ON CHANGE IN WATER-USE EFFICIENCY - 2021
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