/
Foreword from the President and CEO Nelson and I welcome you to this second 2021 State of the World report entitled, Establishing the value of water - the business case for change. The first report, Time to $ Tn-vest, published on 18 February 2021, focused primarily on the significant scale of the investment needed to meet the world’s infrastructure requirements including meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While the first report mentioned strategies to raise the necessary funds, we also noted that engineers have the ability to reduce financing requirements through prudent use of their innovative skills. This second report continues with such ambition, exploring and addressing the world’s water challenges, the financial and social value we need to place on water and the business case for action. This report therefore builds upon the themes included in the Time to $ Tn-vest report as well as the 2015 State of the World Report on Water Challenges.
William Howard President, FIDIC
It is important that we clarify that for convenience, we use the term “water” in this report in the broadest sense to include all elements of the world’s water resources including potable water, wastewater, stormwater and our oceans. This report also addresses the myriad of related water challenges due to climate change. This report also touches on the impact of Covid-19 in the short and longer terms which, as noted in our first report, may well have created an increased awareness that global crises can occur. Hopefully, we can build on this awareness and make significant progress toward meeting infrastructure needs. The world has changed dramatically in the past 12 months. Covid-19 has not only changed working patterns but has also reduced economic activity to lows never seen before. This will add to the challenge of financing infrastructure requirements. While FIDIC will continue to address many issues in our future State of the World reports, the choice of “water” as the first ‘technical’ subject is appropriate due to its importance to human life, ranging from the billions of people without adequate basic drinking water and sanitation to the growing water scarcity problem throughout the world. All this also takes place in a world where the direct and indirect connection between climate change, environmental sustainability and water challenges is changing rapidly.
Dr Nelson Ogunshakin OBE Chief Executive Officer, FIDIC
Since the FIDIC 2015 State of the World Report on Water Challenges was published, some progress has been made but much more needs to be done. This report discusses how some of this progress is the result of more attention being paid to our water challenges which, in turn, are also developing due to goals set such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals which put in place clear targets for 2030, two of which (Goals 6 and 14) are directly concerned with water. FIDIC and the infrastructure sector more widely needs to communicate more clearly the importance of all elements of water in our daily lives and if the investment required is to take place, the economic and social value may need to adjust. It should not be underestimated that the challenge of providing universal services in the water sector is not a small one and it will require government decision-makers and the public sector to invest more in solutions and for the private sector to also step up and invest to play its role. This report is part of our effort to more broadly communicate ‘state of the world’ issues which engineers can help address. This report includes discussion of issues related to the value and pricing of water services, which going forward must meet a very important, delicate and critical balance, between providing services universally to meet the SDGs, improve livelihoods, food, energy, health etc as a necessity but
/2
