The Water of Life Under the Surface of Water Scarcity and Security
“For unnumbered years it has welled from the rock, and flowed away. It does nothing, absolutely nothing, but be itself.”
• Water Footprints and
• Security, Storage and Sustainable Energy
• Morocco, Malawi and the Middle East
• Climate, Communities and Clean Water
• Wastefulness and Weaponization
• Desalination and Desertification
• An Interview with Rosie Stancer
• Bog Snorkelling Championships
• Reader Offer: Saving Ourselves plus news, books, and more…
Nan Shepherd, The Living Mountain
The Geographerwater scarcity
Water is one of those basic requirements of life that is so easy to take for granted, yet without which, of course, we couldn’t survive. It is a fundamental plank of life on Earth, and yet many perhaps do not realise that it is also a (constantly recycling) finite resource, much of it arriving on Earth in the form of ice on meteors, crashing into our developing planet during the Late Heavy Bombardment.
Only around 3% of water is fresh water, and of this, three-quarters is held in glaciers. It is hard to overstate how important the relatively small proportion of fresh water is that we find in our rivers and lochs, our aquifers and atmosphere. This is the precious resource that provides our drinking water, supports so much of our wildlife, underpins our agriculture, fuels our industry and that we rely upon for sanitation. When viewed in this way, it becomes almost unthinkable to waste or pollute it… and yet we do.
Water is such a basic human right and need, such an intrinsic component of life, that it does deserve more care. Its abundance is easy to overlook, and flooding reminds us of the need to manage it carefully. But its scarcity is more of a problem, and in 2022 as much as half of the world’s population is believed to have experienced severe water scarcity for at least part of the year and half of these faced extremely high levels of water stress. Between 2021 and 2022, 1.4 billion people were affected by drought. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goal on water is concerned with how we positively manage and optimise use, minimise waste and avoid pollution of water. But in a heating world, it is perhaps not surprising that water can also be seen as a trigger for, a weapon of, or a casualty of, conflict (this has certainly been evident in recent aggression in Ukraine and in Gaza). In late August, Stockholm International Water Institute’s World Water Week 2024 (worldwaterweek.org) had a theme of Bridging Borders: Water for a Peaceful and Sustainable Future and focused on water cooperation for peace and security in its broadest sense. And then there is the trade in products like food, clothing and energy, which require water; the majority of any household water ‘footprint’ is more likely to be dominated by these indirect uses than it is simply through the use of tap water. There is a need to understand the impact of importing water-hungry goods from other countries, if we are to better manage people’s access to water long-term.
I am grateful to Lexi Parfitt and Dr Nick Hepworth of Water Witness International, with whom we have partnered for this magazine, for helping to secure some thought-provoking articles and helping us showcase such a broad range of perspectives and topics.
Mike Robinson, Chief Executive, RSGS
RSGS, Lord John Murray House, 15-19 North Port, Perth, PH1 5LU tel: 01738 455050 email: enquiries@rsgs.org www.rsgs.org
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Fair water footprints
Dr Nick Hepworth, Executive Director, Water Witness International
Delivering fair water footprints means transforming the way that companies, financiers and governments behave so that they demand evidence of responsible water use as a precursor to business, investment and trade. The Glasgow Declaration for Fair Water Footprints, launched at COP26, commits its 30 founding signatories to taking the radical steps needed to demonstrate a fair water footprint by 2030. They include the governments of the UK, Finland, Austria, Peru, Malawi, Panama and Madagascar, multinationals like Diageo, Unilever and Sainsbury’s, and charities including Earth Guardians, WaterAid and Chatham House.
Meanwhile, our Fair Water Action Fund is helping communities, researchers and journalists in the Global South to investigate and take action on unfair water footprints.
If we are to change the way the world uses water, at the rate needed, we also need to harness the power of people across the UK and Scotland. We are therefore delighted to collaborate with RSGS on this edition of The Geographer, focusing on the global water crisis.
We have brought together news of new initiatives and perspectives from Gaza to Ethiopia, and Peru to Malawi, to help readers get to grips with the world of water. We hope that we can encourage new audiences to take action by joining our campaign for fair water footprints, for a more just, sustainable global water future. Find out more about what you can do, and see our forthcoming reports on the water crises in Peru, Malawi, Côte d’Ivoire and elsewhere, at www.waterwitness.org/campaigning-action.
For Leonardo da Vinci, water was the driving force of all nature. In a time of interlocked nature, climate, water and humanitarian crises, people must be the driving force of change.
Doors Open Day 2024
come along!
14th
September
On Saturday 14th September, the Fair Maid’s House will once again be taking part in Doors Open Day. This year’s theme is ‘Heritage of Routes, Networks and Connections’. The RSGS Collections Team will explore items from our varied and rich collections of artefacts and maps, revealing the intricate connections between people and places that have shaped our geographical heritage. Hear how such items continue to captivate and influence people and their environment, the world over. You don’t need to book for this event: just come along between 12:30pm and 4:00pm to join in!
Starting in September, we have a stellar line-up for our 2024–25 Inspiring People talks programme, all with incredible stories to share. Audiences at our 13 Local Groups across Scotland (Aberdeen, Ayr, Borders, Dumfries, Dundee, Dunfermline, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Helensburgh, Inverness, Kirkcaldy, Perth and Stirling) will hear in person from leading explorers, photographers, communicators and scientists. The first talks of the programme will take place in the week beginning Monday 16th September, with polar researcher Mark Brandon speaking in Kirkcaldy and Glasgow about the beauty of the Poles, why we should save them, and how we can do it. And broadcaster Dr George McGavin speaking in Edinburgh about switching to a career in broadcasting after 25 years in academia, in order to reach a wider audience about biodiversity.
In the first half of the programme, we will also hear from adventurer Mark Evans, sharing the story of recreating Harry St John Philby’s pioneering 1917 journey across Arabia; explorer and author Alice Morrison, revealing the secrets of the Nabateans, a great civilisation based in the Arabian Peninsula at the time of the Romans and the Pharaohs; scientist Dr Ross Barnett looking at some of the many species that have been lost from Britain and Europe since the end of the ice age; cyclist Ed Peppitt, talking about his 3,500-mile cycle to explore the onshore and offshore lighthouses of England and Wales; Kat Jones, reflecting on how circumnavigating
11 designated Green Belts around Greater Glasgow turned into a 300km peri-urban adventure; soil forensics specialist Professor Lorna Dawson, examining evidence from the earth and its role in bringing about natural justice; wildlife researcher Flo Blackbourn, on creating a featurelength documentary film about nature restoration projects and rewilded areas across Europe; cyclist Mark Wedgwood, talking about cycling every OS map in numerical order; and filmmaker Joe French, on running barefoot through the forests and glens around his house to find a return to health and peace of mind.
Tickets for all Inspiring People talks for 2024–25 are now available through www.rsgs.org/events. Tickets are free for RSGS members, students and under18s, and £15 for general admission. Book now to secure your ticket for what promises to be an exceptional line-up of speakers.
the
Altar’s origin altered
August brought the astonishing geological news that the Altar Stone at Stonehenge appears to have originated in the Orcadian Basin in the far north of Scotland, not in Wales as previously believed, begging the question as to how this immense six-tonne sandstone monolith was transported over 450 miles to its destination on Salisbury Plain.
It now seems clear that the Altar Stone’s journey is proof of a high level of societal organisation spanning the length of Britain. This could reinforce a changing perception of the importance and influence of Orkney and the far north of Scotland in ancient British culture as far south as the heart of Stonehenge.
Archaeology fair
In July, Graham Ferguson and Clare Hamilton represented RSGS at an archaeology fair at the Scottish Crannog Centre on Loch Tay. They set up a stall with the express goal of highlighting the connections that RSGS has with archaeology. They spoke to a significant number of enthusiastic members of the public and made great connections with the Scottish Crannog Centre and archaeology groups.
Changing farming
With a new agriculture bill going before the Scottish Parliament, and ongoing plans to restructure agricultural subsidy payments to ensure the sector helps deliver on greenhouse gas emission reductions and plays a protective role for nature, this is a critical time for the farming sector. The purpose of the ministerial advisory board (Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board, ARIOB) is to help sustain the agriculture sector in delivering net zero alongside food and rural jobs. There are four tiers of activities being developed, highlighting what is expected from farmers to continue to receive agricultural subsidy payments in future, with tiers three and four delivering the most for climate and conservation. Mike Robinson remains engaged on ARIOB in his capacity as previous Co-Chair of the Farming for 1.5°C Inquiry.
Flow Country, World Heritage Site
In July, the Flow Country was selected as the UK’s newest UNESCO World Heritage Site during the 46th session of the World Heritage Committee. Recognised as the largest blanket bog on Earth, spanning approximately 1,500 square miles across Caithness and Sutherland, it is now the UK’s 35th UNESCO World Heritage Site and the world’s first peatland to gain world heritage status.
The site will also become Scotland’s first natural world heritage site, joining an elite group of natural UNESCO World Heritage Sites including the Grand Canyon and the Great Barrier Reef. It will be the seventh Scottish site, joining St Kilda and the Forth Bridge, which attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to Scotland.
Africa’s largest seawater desalination plant
June saw the start of construction of the Casablanca seawater desalination plant, the largest of its kind in Africa. The plant will ultimately have an annual production capacity of 300 million cubic metres, and a beneficiary population estimated at 7.5 million inhabitants.
During the first phase (to end-2026), the station should reach a capacity of 200 million cubic metres of treated water per year. A second phase (planned for mid-2028) will see capacity expand by an additional 100 million cubic metres per year, including 50 million for agricultural use.
The project involves the construction of a reverse osmosis seawater desalination plant and the installation of a system to transport the drinking water produced, comprising three pumping stations, three storage tanks and a distribution network of almost 130km of supply pipes. The plant will be 100% powered by renewable energy and its management will be fully automated.
‘Dark oxygen’
Professor Andrew Sweetman, leader of the Seafloor Ecology and Biogeochemistry research group at the Scottish Association for Marine Science, has identified a new source of oxygen production in the deep sea, known as ‘dark oxygen’. This phenomenon occurs in the depths of the Pacific Ocean, where photosynthesis is impossible, challenging the established scientific understanding of oxygen generation on Earth. The discovery, published in Nature Geoscience, even raises new questions about the origins of aerobic life on the planet.
Not the End of the World?
RSGS was at the Edinburgh International Book Festival this August, when Mike Robinson was asked to chair an event with author and data scientist Hannah Ritchie. Hannah discussed her new book, Not the End Of The World (see The Geographer, summer 2024, pg46) and answered questions from live and online audiences.
This was also the title of an event in the Festival of Politics, also in August, with the Scottish Parliament and the University of Aberdeen, in which Mike Robinson and three other panellists were challenged to discuss the scientific realities of a number of wicked problems and their potential solutions.
Meet the Experts
Our Meet the Experts programme is designed as CPD for anyone interested in climate change, climate action and solutions. We are now in our third year, having run more than 30 events with more than 60 different experts, including IPCC Chair Jim Skea, former Minister Patrick Harvie MSP, Monica Lennon MSP, RSGS former President Professor Iain Stewart, and COP26 UN Climate Change High-Level Champion Nigel Topping.
We are delighted to announce dates and subjects for our 2024–25 programme:
• 10th September: Data for Decarbonisation, with Ordnance Survey
• 8th October: Learning from Others, with Scottish Water
• 12th November: COP16 UN Convention on Biological Diversity
• 10th December: Water Footprinting
• 14th January: Adaptation
Events are held on the second Tuesday of each month, from 2.00pm to 3.00pm, and are free to anyone participating in our Climate Solutions courses, or there is a small charge for anyone else who would like to attend. See www. climatesolutionsnetwork.com for details.
Climate Solutions: Digital Sustainability
Do you know your online footprint? Every email, click, AI generation and cloud storage has an impact. Going paperless and changing other wasteful patterns has a huge impact on our use of fossil fuels and overconsumption, but our move to online has a footprint too. The new Digital Sustainability course is the next development in our Climate Solutions programme, available through www.climatesolutionsnetwork.com
Created and led by long-term associates Jump Digital, and supported by RSGS, the course introduces you to what it means, how to assess your footprint, and changes you can make, from simple things like deleting unneeded emails and unsubscribing from unused mailing lists to bigger tasks like reviewing your choice of data centre supplier in favour of those that make use of renewable energy sources.
Climate targets to change
As autumn approaches, the latest resolution of Scotland’s climate targets will be brought before Parliament. The UKCCC reported back in April that Scotland’s 2030 cross-party climate target of a 75% reduction in emissions was now out of reach, because of a lack of action since it was first agreed back in 2019, and so the target is being unpicked along with the need for annualised targets (the proposal is to move to five-yearly targets).
Scottish Ministers insist Scotland remains on course for the 2045 net zero targets, but a lack of action over the past five years has severely hampered progress. This will be a hot topic of discussion; indeed, it was a major reason for the resignation of previous First Minister Humza Yousaf, and will be a real test of the political will to address this ubiquitous concern. Whilst there is strong public support for action on climate change, this isn’t always evident at the political level. RSGS believes that there is still a significant gap in skills and understanding, and a lack of prioritisation and funding available.
Mike Robinson OBE
In July, at a special event at Holyrood, RSGS Chief Executive Mike Robinson received his OBE from His Majesty The King for services to climate change education, in recognition of RSGS’s ongoing work and impact, and a welcome reinforcement of the importance of geography in policy and society in general. The recognition received by Mike and the RSGS team has been wonderful. The overwhelming public response, from politicians and civil servants, educators and business leaders, charity workers and RSGS members, showcases the extensive support for RSGS and the discipline of geography. Hundreds sent their congratulations, and we are deeply grateful to all who expressed their support.
Cateran Trail
Over three days in July, RSGS Outreach Officer Graham Ferguson walked 90km along the Cateran Trail to raise just over £400 for RSGS. The trail follows the old drovers’ routes through Blairgowrie and up to Glen Shee, an area rich in history and geographical beauty. Thank you to everyone who sponsored him.
Blog highlights
read the stories at rsgs.org/blog
We continue to make weekly additions to our blog (www.rsgs. org/blog), covering a range of interesting topics and news about our work. Recent posts include:
The ‘lone and level sands’, and some people who explored them. RSGS Writer-in-Residence Jo Woolf looks at explorers throughout history who encountered desert mysteries. How to make business more sustainable. David Howe considers how businesses can become more sustainable and the opportunities it offers. Why is it flooding? And what can we do to stop it? This spring we have seen a number of extreme local flooding incidents, but what is causing them, and what can we do to stop it?
Shackleton’s last ship. Following the recent discovery of Quest, RSGS Writer-in-Residence Jo Woolf reflects on Shackleton’s final expedition.
Quest wreck discovered
Quest, the ship which carried Sir Ernest Shackleton on his final voyage, was discovered off the coast of Canada in June. The Shackleton Quest Expedition, led by John Geiger FRSGS, Chief Executive of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, found the vessel remarkably well-preserved at a depth of 290 metres. The discovery was made possible by the use of advanced sonar equipment, allowing the wreck searchers to locate the ship in an intact condition.
Corporate climate awards
Our first-ever Climate Solutions Corporate Completion Certificates have been awarded to four organisations that have shown their commitment to climate education and embedding climate action with staff. Infrastructure specialists Scottish Futures Trust, public body NatureScot, housebuilders Cora, and energy specialists Warmworks were the first to receive this award, which recognises senior management commitment to climate education, that at least 90% of employees have completed one of the Climate Solutions courses, and their ongoing commitment to ensuring new employees receive the training.
Supporting systems and staff
Mike Robinson, RSGS Chief Executive 2024 has been a year of considerable internal change at RSGS HQ, and we are grateful to our members, volunteers and supporters for their patience as we continue to respond and adapt to the various challenges. Some of these relate to staff, and others to a long overdue update of computer systems and processes, as we aim to upgrade our contacts and financial systems, to be more streamlined and responsive.
We have made every effort to minimise disruption and continue to deliver services as usual, but inevitably this has not been as smooth as we would have liked, so if any members have experienced any little glitches, please let us know. We are in the process of rolling out a new financial system and a new membership system, and while there has been a steep learning curve and work is still ongoing, we hope these changes will continue to make the charity more efficient as we go forwards.
In June, RSGS Deputy Chief Executive Clare Hamilton (left) visited the Warmworks team to present them with their certificate. She said, “Everyone has a part to play in tackling the climate crisis, and it is great to see organisations like Warmworks taking decisive action to embed climate action within their own business and empowering their supply chain to do the same. We are delighted to support Warmworks on their net zero journey as part of our Climate Solutions Programme, and to welcome them to a network over 100,000 people globally who are similarly committed to implementing the solutions we all need.”
Local Groups’ 140th anniversaries
This talks season marks the 140th anniversaries of RSGS’s Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow Groups. The first speaker in Aberdeen was Henry Forbes, with his talk Mount Stanley & Papua New Guinea, hoping to raise money for a first expedition. In 1884, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow hosted their first talks, with speaker Henry Morton Stanley giving his lecture The Congo as he toured Scotland to receive freedom of various cities, a testament to the connections he had with the Livingstone family, especially RSGS co-founder Agnes Livingstone-Bruce.
Use of the Explorers’ Room
Members are welcome to use the Explorers’ Room in the Fair Maid’s House at any time as a quiet space for work, relaxation or contemplation. During Fair Maid’s House opening hours (12.30pm–4.00pm, Thursday to Saturday, to the end of September 2024) you can just pop in, or outwith these hours just let us know in advance, via enquiries@rsgs.org or 01738 455050. If you would like to consult specific items, please let us know so we can arrange for a member of the Collections Team to be available to help.
This has been more challenging than it might otherwise have proved, because of staff reductions; firstly through the retirement of our Finance Officer Linda, and secondly through another long-term member of our small team of staff, Susan, becoming quite seriously ill. It has meant that we have been short of both capacity and experience for much of 2024 to date. I am pleased to say that Susan is now receiving treatment and we look forward to welcoming her back when she is fit again.
To respond to the challenges, we appointed Nicky Livingston as part-time bookkeeper at the start of the year, to help keep on top of the finances. We welcomed Clare Hamilton as our new full-time Deputy Chief Executive in the spring. Graham Ferguson joined our team as Outreach Officer, working two days a week to help maintain profile and host talks and tours which are helping to drive interest and income.
And we are delighted now to welcome another new full-time member of staff, Jo Donachie. She joins us at what feels like an exciting time of opportunity and renewal, as our Membership Officer, and will be probably the first point of contact in the office, so please take the time to say hello if you are phoning or visiting HQ.
Things are now looking up as we approach the autumn, although there is still a great deal to do. There is still work to do to fully implement the many changes, but with staff capacity picking up, we hope to ensure any further changes are as seamless as possible.
Consultations and catch-ups
RSGS submitted responses to the Scottish Parliament’s education consultation and climate targets consultation over the summer. Mike Robinson met First Minister John Swinney in early August, and was asked by Monica Lennon MSP to support a special advisory group on ecocide in the Parliament. We were asked to feature in a Local Zero podcast on climate and agriculture, took part in the Climate Change Plan Advisory Group, and commissioned a report to unpick the likely economic cost of climate inaction, which we hope to share later this year.
New ‘pufferfish’
We are pleased to announce the installation of a brand-new interactive globe (designed and created by Pufferfish Displays in Edinburgh) at the Fair Maid’s House visitor centre. This upgrade replaces the previous system that has served our visitors faithfully since we opened in 2011. The new globe offers an array of exciting new features designed to enhance the educational experience for all our visitors. They can see how the planets move in the solar system, track global temperatures, and explore geographical features across the Earth.
Sad losses
We are sorry to have to report the deaths of a number of long-standing supporters of RSGS.
Professor William Ritchie OBE FRSGS was an academic coastal geomorphologist, who spent most of his academic career (30+ years) at the University of Aberdeen. He was involved with the RSGS Aberdeen Group, was made an RSGS Fellow in 1980, sat on the Council of RSGS, and was the Chair of RSGS during a challenging period for the Society in Glasgow between 2005 and 2008. He remained a Vice-President until his death earlier this year.
Dr Bill Gray FRSGS was a supporter for nearly 30 years, and a central figure in the RSGS Perth Group for much of that time. As well as being a highly-respected local doctor, Bill was Chair of the Perth Group for 2004–08, and was presented with an Honorary Fellowship in 2009.
Freda Ross FRSGS was made an Honorary Fellow in 2018, in thanks for her long-term volunteering in the Fair Maid’s House and enthusiastic support of RSGS, particularly since our move to Perth. She helped welcome visitors for much of our first decade in Perth, assisting too with exhibitions and producing quizzes and guides for school children. Freda spent a lot of time in recent years keeping the garden in order, so it was fitting that a collection was held at her funeral for the Fair Maid’s House and its garden.
Jim Suttie was a very long-standing member of the RSGS in Aberdeen, and was right-hand man to the Aberdeen Group Chair Iain Rankin. A global expert in grasslands, he worked for the UNFAO and wrote a number of respected papers, particularly in retirement. Jim had an extremely high regard for the work of the RSGS, and we are honoured that he very generously chose to leave a most significant legacy to the Society in his Will of £150,000, which we received in the spring.
Discovery Day: Trains and Railways
On Saturday 28th September, RSGS is hosting another of its popular ‘Discovery Days’ at the Fair Maid’s House in Perth, this time focusing on everything trains and railways! Attendees will hear from the RSGS Collections Team, RSGS Writer-in-Residence Jo Woolf, and train expert David Spaven. Tickets are available to book for tours starting at 11am, 12pm,1:30pm and 2:30pm, via www.rsgs.org/events
28th September book now!
Garvellachs may solve mystery
Researchers at University College London have discovered that the Garvellach islands off the west coast of Scotland are the best record of Earth entering its biggest ever ice age around 720 million years ago. The big freeze, which covered nearly all the globe in two phases for 80 million years, is known as ‘Snowball Earth’, after which the first animal life emerged. PhD student Elias Rugen, whose results were published in the Journal of the Geological Society of London, was the first to date the rock layers and identify them as from the critical period that is missing from all other rock formations. See www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2024/aug/scottish-and-irish-rocks-confirmedrare-record-snowball-earth for more information.
Wildest, Loneliest, Most Desolate
In August, we unveiled a new exhibition at the Fair Maid’s House, featuring portraits of explorers who went missing on expeditions or whose remains were never found.
The images, by award-winning portrait artist Sarah Barnard, are available for sale, alongside her special packs of playing cards featuring famous explorers. Visit the Fair Maid’s House 12:30pm–4:00pm, Thursday to Saturday, until 28th September, to check it out!
Ordnance Survey and RSGS
Ordnance Survey has renewed its long-standing relationship with RSGS, to promote the essential role geography and geospatial data can play in delivering Climate Solutions and helping deliver better outcomes for the public.
The renewal of the three-year sponsorship agreement highlights the shared purpose of the two organisations, who will focus on providing a collective voice to the policy and geospatial community in Scotland on the importance of geography and geospatial information, and continue to share insight and expertise to support the wider network of geography experts and policy makers in Scotland.
The collaboration includes supporting geography-related research and education at all levels, looking at how geographical data can help create policy solutions in areas such as climate change, and promoting the role of geography to support better outcomes for Scottish citizens whether through the promotion of healthy living or support to councils or emergency services.
Resilient water: from triple threat to triple win
Jonathan Farr, Policy Director, Resilient Water Accelerator (WaterAid)
The omnipresence of water creates a unique challenge for policy makers, regulators and investors. How do you manage a resource that is intrinsically linked to almost every part of the economy, public health, food production, energy generation and tourism? This task will only become more difficult as climate change increases the level of unpredictability of rainfall and water systems more generally. Avoiding water stress could very well be the biggest challenge of the next century, as well as a major opportunity.
In a 2023 report on Scotland’s climate resilience, the Committee on Climate Change, the Government climate watchdog, said, “Water scarcity is already a risk in Scotland, with several areas in the east of Scotland on alert for water scarcity in September 2023… [yet] There are insufficient policies and plans in place across all outcomes for water supply, with gaps in drought resilience standards and insufficient leakage reduction targets.”
As this report, and many like it, confirms, water is the front line of the climate crisis: from floods to droughts, 90% of natural disasters are water related [UN, 2015], and research suggests that current business-as-usual water management practices will put at risk US$63 trillion of the projected 2050 global GDP [WWF, 2016]. While this should mean that water be put firmly at the top of the climate agenda, unfortunately only 2.3% of total climate finance a year is going towards ensuring water supplies are resilient to climate change [CPI 2023].
Despite the need for urgent action, water investment continues to face obstacle after obstacle. On one side, there is an investment gap of $200 billion per year in water infrastructure [SYSTEMIQ 2022], and on the other side, any attempt to ensure sustainability means expensive and time-consuming environmental impact studies, collection of complex data, and long-term monitoring of dynamic systems. In some locations this has led to near-paralysis in water development, and globally created what we call a ‘missing middle’ in water infrastructure, where only very small, low-impact projects or extremely large mega-projects can secure funding.
The aim of the Resilient Water Accelerator (RWA), as part of the UK Government’s Just Transitions for Water Security programme, is to embrace this complex challenge; support policy makers and the water sector to collectively understand the water risks they face; and build a shared water vision as the basis for delivering water investment. As part of this, we are working with investors to catalyse increased investment into sustainable, resilient water infrastructure and services.
This approach is already underway in Lagos, Africa’s fastest growing city, where despite being a wealthy, entrepreneurial economy, the city has become a fulcrum for three major aspects of the global water crisis.
Firstly, despite having ample supplies from both surface and ground water sources, Lagos faces ongoing shortages, because the infrastructure needed to ensure people have a reliable source of water is not there. Secondly, water quality also faces huge threats from poorly managed sewage systems, chemical and solid waste, and saline intrusion from the sea. And lastly, with depleting water sources and an estimate of 77 new residents arriving every hour, people are having to rely on informal water supplies such as bottled water, or unregulated boreholes, which can carry a high cost for consumers and the environment alike.
Yet, there is every reason to be optimistic. These problems exist, but the solutions are also well known. In July this year the RWA supported the launch of the Lagos Water Partnership, led by the Governor of Lagos State, to draw all the different water threads together and work towards mobilising private and public finance for water projects that enhance climate resilience and ensure everyone, everywhere has access to clean water.
The RWA is also working in Bangladesh, another fastgrowing economy which faces major water stress. We have just completed a report which estimates that demand from industry is expected to increase by 400% by 2040, largely due to the country’s prominent textile sector. To add fuel to the fire, Bangladesh also faces overlapping water problems driven by the whiplash of droughts, cyclones, flooding, and water poverty hitting the nation, all made worse by climate change, which could further stifle economic growth/progress.
What we are seeing from our work is that the Venn diagram of water, climate and economic risk represents both a triple threat, and the chance for a triple win. From Scotland, to Nigeria, securing investment in water infrastructure and delivering hygiene and sanitation services will transform a country’s future prosperity. It’s the triple win that will create a better future for people and the planet.
“Water investment continues to face obstacle after obstacle.”
The UK’s response to the global water security crisis
Debbie Palmer, Director for Energy, Climate and Environment, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
The world faces an unprecedented water crisis. Accelerated by climate change, growing water insecurity is rapidly undermining the achievement of our global climate and development goals. On current forecasts, global demand for freshwater could outstrip available supply by 40% in 2030. At the other extreme, increasing frequency and intensity of water-related shocks such as floods and droughts undermine health, livelihoods and economic resilience. From both sides, increasing water insecurity heralds ever more difficult decisions about where and who gets priority access to water, with risks for development, geopolitical tensions, conflict, and progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“We aim to deliver strategic, complementary, and synchronised action at all levels.”
governance at the heart. We are supporting integrated initiatives working at the cutting edge of action for water resilient policy, trade and financing to showcase transformative value. This includes through our support to the Just Transitions for Water Security programme (JTWS). This programme is working with climate vulnerable and lower income countries to support vulnerable people better adapt and build resilience to the impacts of climate change and nature loss through improved management and stewardship of water resources.
The JTWS programme is delivered through three pioneering initiatives:
The climate crisis is a water crisis, impacting most the poorest and most vulnerable people. A changing climate is threatening our ability to produce food and energy; stifling economic growth; threatening global health systems; and undermining the fundamental ecosystems and biodiversity on which we are hugely dependent. Water is at the heart of these challenges.
Yet despite water being critical for addressing both the climate and nature crises, very often water remains invisible in our approach to tackle them. For example, whilst much of our focus is on increasing climate finance, little attention is given to where or how these investments could be most impactful. A recent report by Blended Finance Solutions indicates that strategic water investments could deliver over $500 billion a year in economic growth. With 80% of jobs in low-income countries being dependent on water, our growth and development agenda must prioritise halting and reversing the water crisis to deliver triple wins for people, planet and nature.
More fundamental still, food systems (and food security) critically rely on water; poor water management drives environmental degradation and undermines resilience to climate change. Agriculture accounts for 70% of both freshwater use and pollution. Without urgent changes to improve water management, our food systems will become unsustainable, and food and water insecurity will only become more acute.
Addressing water security is as challenging as the situation is grave. The global response is highly fragmented and suffers from weak leadership, poor governance, and limited accountability. The UK is a leading voice calling for a shift away from fragmented smallscale and siloed interventions, towards a comprehensive and holistic systems transformation approach, with
1. The Water Resilience Tracker for National Climate Planning provides policy and technical assistance to governments to enable the design and implementation of inclusive, climateresilient policies and plans which better recognise the pivotal role of water in the climate response.
2. The Fair Water Footprints initiative unites the power of enterprise, government and civil society to stimulate action and investment on water and climate risks in our global supply chains, establishing water stewardship as a business norm, to drive sustainable, resilient, and inclusive growth.
3. The Resilient Water Accelerator brings together private and public investment partners to create a pipeline of data-driven, bankable projects to boost water security and pathways for investment, demonstrating proof of concept for investment into water, and enabling replication at speed and scale.
However, the unique value of the JTWS programme lies in the coordinated consortium approach designed to ensure that our overall impact is greater than the sum of its parts. By bringing these initiatives together we aim to deliver strategic, complementary, and synchronised action at all levels, unlocking transformational change for shared water security, climate resilience and nature where need is greatest.
This programme is just part of our broader work to drive forward a water secure world. Through strategic policy and programmatic engagement, the UK is working with likeminded partners to ensure that water is mainstreamed into key climate processes such as the three COP conferences (climate change, biodiversity, and desertification) and driven up the political agenda. As the impacts of climate change continue to be felt acutely across the world, we must continue to put water at the heart of our work on climate, nature, and development, with far reaching benefits for all.
How fair is your water footprint?
Dr Nick Hepworth, Executive Director, Water Witness International
With two-thirds of humanity facing water scarcity, let us reflect for a second on what water scarcity actually means beyond the textbook definition of ‘demand exceeding supply’. It means turning on a tap to find no water, endless queues, extortionate prices, and arguing with neighbours over who gets what. It means failed harvests, lost income, and not enough money to keep the kids at school. It means empty shelves, food shortages and, in the many places reliant on hydropower, no electricity. It means dry rivers and wetlands, and acceleration of the ecological catastrophe which has seen 85% of global freshwater biodiversity lost since 1970. It means no running water in hospitals, cancelled operations, and dramatically increased disease risks. It means the avoidable deaths of over 800,000 people in low-income countries every year.
As we look back on another damp Scottish summer, these may seem like far-off, remote problems that have little to do with us. But we are all connected to, and share responsibility for, the escalating water crisis through our water footprints, and we can all help trigger fairer water footprints, and a future of shared water security.
Water security is a useful concept because it captures the multiple, inter-related goals of good water management. It is defined as: the reliable availability of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for production, livelihoods, health and ecosystems, coupled with an acceptable level of risk from hazards including drought, flooding, pollution and conflicts.
Emphasis on shared water security is important since security for those upstream must not come at the expense of those downstream, or vice versa. Given that water disasters are its ‘teeth’, water security is central to an effective response to the climate emergency. It also underpins attainment of almost all of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and the World Bank calculates that, without urgent action, a lack of water security will constrain economic productivity by as much as 12% a year by 2050. By comparison, Covid was around 3.5%. Have no doubt, the water crisis is up there as one of the greatest challenges facing humanity.
c4500 BCE to the revolution in urban sanitation courtesy of Chadwick, Snow and Bazalgette, social progress has been tightly interwoven with water, and we’ve been able to keep reasonable pace with accelerating needs and impacts until relatively recently.
“The water crisis is up there as one of the greatest challenges facing humanity.”
In 2024, dire water challenges are almost ubiquitous because of growing demand coupled with poor stewardship of our water resources. On a positive note, the most recent ‘comprehensive assessment’ by leading water scientists concludes that there is enough water on Earth to sustain us all into the future, but only if we (very quickly) get much better at managing, protecting, and sharing water equitably. Despite this imperative, water management globally remains a low political priority and suffers from chronic underfunding, cronyism and corruption. Even where good water policies and laws are in place, they are rarely implemented. Ministers and regulators often complain that it is impossible to enforce against polluting industries and mines, or to control agricultural abstraction by farmers because these water intensive sectors are vital sources of export revenue, growth, and jobs. As an indicator of this governance failure, only 40% of countries are on track to implement ‘integrated water resource management’ (IWRM), a vital mechanism that all countries committed to way back in 2002. Fresh tactics and new approaches are urgently needed, and this is where taking action on water footprints offers exciting potential.
Historically, the human race can claim some success in managing water: from the first irrigation in the Indus Valley
Professor Tony Allan won the Stockholm Water Prize in 2008 for his groundbreaking work on the ‘virtual water’ embedded in the food, commodities, and goods traded and used in the global economy. His work allows us to quantify the ‘water footprints’ of countries, companies, products and citizens, and trace them to river basins of production. A water footprint measures the total amount of freshwater needed to produce a good or service, and includes volumes consumed as blue (withdrawn from lakes, rivers and aquifers), green (rainfall), and grey (polluted) water. Water footprint assessments tell us that, for example, it needs 1,700 litres of water to produce a
The external water footprint of consumption of selected Global North economies.
bar of chocolate, 8,000 litres to make a pair of jeans, and 12,000 litres in the production of a mobile phone.
Importantly, the size of a water footprint isn’t always its most important feature. In many places the water cycle and storage mean there is enough water to use without causing problems. Instead, the big priority is to ensure that the water use in our supply chains is sustainable and equitable; that our use doesn’t cause over-abstraction or pollution.
When we look at how big our water footprints are and where they land, we start to see their importance for global water justice.
Water Witness published new research at the UN Water Summit in 2023 which revealed the profound dependency of countries and consumers in high-income countries in the Global North on water use in the Global South. Typically, between 40% and 80% of our water footprints are ‘external’; for the UK, the figure is 70%. This means that whilst the typical British family uses six bathtubs of the UK’s water each day directly in their home, they also consume 77 bathtubs of other people’s water every single day through the water needed to produce the food, clothes and other goods they consume.
The analysis traces our water footprints to countries in the Global South which face water stress, an increasingly chaotic climate, limited infrastructure, and weak water governance. What’s more, it suggests that as much as half of the external water footprint of the Global North is unsustainable, polluting and draining rivers and aquifers and pushing communities, ecosystems and economies into extreme vulnerability. Our investigations on the ground provide shocking evidence of the human and environmental harms caused by unfair water footprints. In Peru, supermarket demand for yearround fresh fruit and veg is driving the fastest rates of aquifer decline on the planet and a water emergency affecting hundreds of thousands of people. Patterns of water use driven by cocoa and chocolate production in West Africa are locking some of the most climate vulnerable communities on Earth into extreme water poverty without access to safe water, toilets or hygiene. And malpractice in sugar production in Malawi is exacerbating flood and disease risk with deadly results. By demanding a fair water footprint, we can ensure that globalised supply chains support rather than undermine water security, and accelerate progress for inclusive development, water access and climate adaptation. Globalised supply chains are estimated to shape 70% of the world’s water use, employ one in five people globally, and overlap with geographies facing the most difficult water and climate challenges. Given this scale, reach and influence, prioritising fair water footprints has the potential to be transformative. The stuff we’re sold shouldn’t come with hidden human and environmental costs.
“The big priority is to ensure that the water use in our supply chains is sustainable and equitable.”
In Peru, production of asparagus, avocados and fresh produce for supermarkets in Europe and the USA drives rapid aquifer depletion (>1m/year), severe conflict between users, and water scarcity for many thousands of people in the Ica Valley. Mining for export markets causes severe pollution, vulnerability to climate shocks and resource conflict.
Kenya sees significant disparities in levels of access to water between local communities and the farms producing flowers and fresh produce for European supermarkets in Naivasha and Ewaso Ng’iro Basins. This has led to extreme water and climate insecurity, inadequate WASH access, cholera and acute hunger. Pollution and over-abstraction threaten globally important wetlands and ecosystems.
Madagascar is the largest exporter of manufactured clothing to the EU and USA from sub-Saharan Africa. It faces WASH under-provision, poverty and extreme climate vulnerability exacerbated by water conflict, competition and pollution by export apparel and mining sectors upon which the economy and jobs increasingly depend.
Malawi’s key export sectors of sugar, tea and tobacco share high levels of water insecurity with local communities, and the sugar sector in particular is implicated in water conflict and has been shown to exacerbate water-related disasters and flood impacts for communities.
Water and global climate action
David Michel, Senior Fellow, Global Food and Water Security Program, Center for Strategic & International Studies
The global warming crisis is also a global water crisis. Continuing climate change will accelerate the Earth’s hydrologic cycle, increasing both precipitation and evaporation and impinging on fundamental hydrometeorological mechanisms. Elemental patterns and processes such as the onset of the monsoon and the recurrence of El Niño–Southern Oscillation phenomena may shift or falter. Such impacts could scramble the seasonal availability or shuffle the geographical distribution of crucial water supplies. Long-term shifts in the volume, timing, location, and form of precipitation (whether it falls as rain or as snow) could disrupt the freshwater resources available to communities and ecosystems worldwide.
As climate change increasingly upsets world weather patterns, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that warming of 2°C above pre-industrial averages could expose up to three billion people to growing water scarcity. Climate change is also expected to exacerbate extreme weather events. Worsening floods, droughts, and severe storms all manifest through water. One recent analysis calculated that 2°C of warming would double the global population annually exposed to significant river flooding and quadruple the population subject to drought.
climate strategies under the Paris Agreement. To be effective, these measures must be targeted and context-specific. The framework forged in Dubai, however, is notably vague. Specific goals set forth in early negotiating drafts were universally diluted into nominal aspirations for “reducing” water-related risks and “enhancing” water-related resilience.
“COP27 urged countries to integrate water into their climate adaptation efforts.”
COP28 likewise did little to allay developing countries’ longstanding concerns about the lack of funding to help them cope with mounting climate pressures. Poorer developing countries are among the least responsible for global greenhouse gas emissions, most vulnerable to worsening climate impacts, and least able to adapt to them. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), developing nations’ adaptation finance needs are ten to eighteen times greater than flows of public finance from developed states, resulting in funding gaps of USD194–366 billion per year. The water sector especially suffers from this shortfall. UNEP calculates that managing water and flooding represent 30% of developing nations’ adaptation costs (the single largest need) but receive only 15% of international public finance.
Yet it was not until COP27, the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Egypt in 2022, that international negotiators included water in the final agreement of the annual global climate summits. For the first time, COP27 urged countries to integrate water into their climate adaptation efforts. The 28th Conference of the Parties, held last year in Dubai, reinforced and expanded this call. Significantly, COP28 concluded the first ever global ‘stocktake’ of climate action since the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement. The stocktake represents a key component of the Paris ratchet mechanism by which countries are expected to regularly strengthen their engagements over time toward collective climate goals. Negotiators in Dubai pressed both state parties and societal stakeholders to “accelerate swift action at scale and at all levels, to reduce climate-related water scarcity, enhance resilience to water-related hazards, and realise a climate-resilient water supply.”
Policymakers must now turn this exhortation into action. Unfortunately, the international community has demonstrated a disappointingly patchy record for delivering implementation. The COP28 stocktake, for example, is meant to guide Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans, the state-level formulations of countries’
Even with heightened adaptation efforts, many adverse climate impacts will occur, particularly affecting developing countries. COP28 operationalised a dedicated Loss and Damage Fund to address destruction wrought by climate change. Much of this money will likely go to remediating water-related impacts. Water-related risks generated almost 95% of infrastructure loss and damage caused by natural hazards over the past ten years. In Dubai, several countries pledged USD792 million to the new loss and damage purse. But negotiators left COP28 with no agreement requiring continued funding going forward. By comparison, water, weather, and climate-related extremes are calculated to have inflicted global economic losses averaging USD202 million every day over the past 50 years.
International climate negotiators will next gather for COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024. Azerbaijan has announced its aim to highlight water among the summit’s focal issues. So, too, planners have already labelled Baku the ‘Finance COP’ since new finance goals will dominate much of the agenda. Whether world decision makers will succeed in translating such intentions into execution, though, remains to be seen. Water must be more fully and effectively integrated into global climate policy at all levels. For all countries, climate action must be water action too.
The Last Drop
Tim Smedley, environmental journalist
“We scientists have been warning for ten years that drought and water scarcity would become a problem in Belgium,” Marijke Huysmans, professor of groundwater hydrology (Free University of Brussels) and hydrogeology (KU Leuven, Belgium), tells me. “And we were laughed away, literally: ‘In Belgium it rains all the time!’” But, during the drought of 2020, thousands of homes suddenly had no tap water. “We were on television and in newspapers every day. It was like a trigger in the public perception that this was something serious.” Belgium –famous for rain, peeing fountains and muddy cycling – was recently ranked twenty-second on a list of the most waterstressed countries, above Mexico and Syria. Belgium is a case study in how modern urban development affects groundwater. It’s an immaculately hydrologically drained country. If all roads lead to Rome, then in Belgium all roads, dykes and drains lead to the sea. But the longer dry periods of climate change mean it must now hold some water back, or the taps will run dry. In 2020, Huysmans wrote in her groundwater blog, “Why does Flanders suffer from water shortages? The warm and dry summers of the past few years have made it all too apparent Flanders has water reserves of 1,500m3 per person per annum. This is ‘very little’ compared to international norms.” Generally, less than 1,000m3 per person per annum is considered ‘a severe shortage’. Huysmans continues, “Furthermore, Flanders is a densely populated region... chaotic town planning has meant that large areas are built on or tarmacked or concreted over. 14.5 per cent of the surface area of Flanders is covered in this way.” Combined, these three factors, plus climate change, “create a recipe for water supply issues”. Huysmans says the situation is “getting worse... our groundwater is not doing as well as it should be this time of year. We complain about rain a lot, as I’m sure you do in the UK, but objectively it doesn’t actually rain so much.”
Drought and flood are two sides of the same coin. Dry or tarmacked surfaces also lead to higher flood risk when heavy rains do come – as they did so catastrophically in July 2021, when forty-two people died across Belgium. Climate change is wreaking havoc with the regional rainfall, says Huysmans, and the duration, “intensity and the frequency of the droughts we are seeing now, it’s even worse than the climate models predicted... there is another drought and another drought, and groundwater levels are just going down.”
There’s no clear distinction between groundwater and surface water: rivers and streams are fed by groundwater and, to an extent, vice versa. Huysmans explains: “Many of our small rivers are mainly fed by groundwater: 60–80 per cent of the river water in the small rivers used by farmers, for example, actually comes from groundwater.” Even when we speak, in December, farmers are restricted from pumping water because the levels are still so low. This has happened four years in a row, she says, and has been a disaster. A comparison of shallow groundwater levels between 2000 and 2020 finds decreased groundwater in 70 per cent of measuring stations across Belgium. Water demand is also an issue. Non-essential use of domestic water is typically banned every summer, but Huysmans says certain regions have come very close to having no tap water at all. During very dry and hot periods, the demand for water increases by 50 per cent. “Obviously, that becomes very, very difficult for the drinking water companies.” According to Huysmans, Belgium should be “prepared for both more long periods of drought and more intense rains, because this is exactly what we expect.”
“Belgium [is] an immaculately hydrologically drained country.”
Deep time in real time: planning in a shifting climate
John H Matthews, Executive Director, Alliance for Global Water Adaptation
Our planet’s current period of climate change would have fascinated James Hutton, the Scottish father of modern scientific geology. And I believe his interest would have extended beyond simply the drivers, impacts and processes involved. As he wrote, “The Earth has attained its present state of system and organisation through the action of natural causes of great power.” Anthropogenic climate change is surely a case of enormous power. I also suspect his practical mind and generous spirit would have been interested in how we as a species should respond and prepare for the impacts flowing from that power.
While we must clearly do all we can to reduce the pace of anthropogenic climate change, the concentration of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere is high enough that we are committed to decades of additional climate impacts. According to some credible estimates, these may continue for centuries or several millennia even if we cease our carbon emissions today. To paraphrase Hutton, our present state of organisation is reorganising, evolving and unfolding into new systems. The task of responding to and preparing for climate impacts is a great challenge. Indeed, what might shock Hutton is that we are experiencing geologic-scale change in many regions in much less than a human lifetime. We are experiencing deep time in real time. Rising to these challenges is the new practice of climate adaptation and resilience. The Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA; alliance4water.org) is an international NGO that since 2010 has worked to catalyse knowledge from across the natural and social sciences and disciplines such as engineering and planning to prepare communities, economies and ecosystems for the impacts to come. Much of our work has explored how to develop strategic, systemic approaches for reducing climate-related risks and for actively building climate resilience. While many climate-related hazards are connected to the water cycle, an early insight from AGWA’s crowd-sourcing has been that the shared nature of water resources across economic sectors and ecosystems means that they can also serve as a medium for coherent, lasting climate adaptation. Water can rise to the need for deep resilience.
drastically under-resourced relative to their remit. Through 2024, the WRT’s first phase has reached some 13 countries, ranging from Malawi and Egypt to Nepal, Costa Rica and Brazil. The Tracker team engages across ministries, looking at where policies and decision-making processes do (and don’t) include information about climate change data and climate uncertainties, while encouraging the adoption of the emerging best practices for coherence across administrative boundaries. Water needed for manufacturing or a public utility may also be shared with energy facilities, critical ecosystems and livelihoods, and commercial or subsistence farming, so a dynamic water cycle can stress and bend (or break) these relationships. How can we ensure critical infrastructure, institutions and ecological and economic systems can continue to function even while the Earth system reforms into new configurations that humans today have never experienced?
“We are experiencing geologic-scale change in many regions in much less than a human lifetime.”
While the first phase of the WRT worked across ministries, the second phase will extend to subnational levels to add additional water-sensitive groups including cities and institutions working across food and agricultural systems, such as farmers and foresters. The WRT team is also expanding to include the Sri Lanka-based International Water Management Institute (IWMI), the global engineering firm Arup, and the Dutch knowledge institute Deltares. Building on financial support that has come to include the Dutch and German governments, the UN Development Programme, and the Inter-American Development Bank, the UK government is investing an additional £13 million over the next four years in the WRT. Launching the second phase of the WRT this year in August, the timing could not be better. In 2025, all 190 signatories of the 2015 Paris Agreement under the UNFCCC will submit their next round of five-year climate plans and commitments (called NDCs or nationally determined contributions) at COP30 in Brazil late in 2025. The WRT has already been recognised by groups ranging from recent COP presidencies in Egypt and UAE and funding authorities such as the Green Climate Fund. We have a waiting list of some dozen countries interested in making use of the WRT’s expertise and resources.
Beginning in 2021 with seed funding from the UK government, AGWA launched a new programme aimed at strengthening the capacity and efficacy of national climate planning departments called the Water Resilience Tracker (WRT; waterresilencetracker.cc). Climate planning remains quite new as a function of most governments, with staff often
Despite experiencing impacts more comparable to those seen on the scale of deep time, we hope the WRT can mobilise resilience in ways that can ensure that our economies and ecosystems can continue to thrive and prosper.
The nuanced effect of reservoirs on water scarcity
Jen Steyaert and Dr Niko Wanders, Utrecht University
Across the globe there are over 24,000 reservoir structures in a variety of sizes, ranging from massive lakes to tiny ponds of less than 100 metres across, all serving a different purpose. Of these 24,000 structures, only a quarter of them contain storage larger than 0.1 cubic kilometres and fall into the ‘large’ dam category that contains dams such as the Hoover Dam in the United States and the Three Gorges Dam in China. The majority of these 24,000 structures are small or medium sized dams that contain storage as low as 0.001 cubic kilometres (which is around 400 Olympic swimming pools of water). These dams typically have one of six main purposes: flood control, navigation, hydroelectricity, recreation, water supply or irrigation. We also see that these purposes follow a geographic distribution reflected by the local user needs. More arid regions for example, such as India, the Western US and South Africa, prioritise irrigation, while more humid climates, such as western Europe, Brazil, the Eastern US and southeast Asia, prioritise hydroelectricity and navigation. These uses are a key rationale for why reservoirs have been built for centuries. As early as ancient Rome, reservoirs were used to provide drinking water to nearby cities. More recently, the increase in water availability in more arid regions, such as South Africa and India, due to dam building, promotes population growth and economic output through agriculture. Flood control and navigation support the growing need for protection against floods and drought and enable the transportation of goods and services across river networks throughout the year. In the wake of climate related conversations, ‘clean’ energy in the form of hydropower has grown in popularity to offset the carbon emissions related to fossil fuel burning and extraction. Countries such as Laos in Southeast Asia see increases in hydropower production as an avenue to promote sustainable development and increase economic output.
and security in the region, especially for downstream countries. In addition, the construction of reservoirs can also lead to the potential displacement of populations to make room for large infrastructure projects, as seen in the Three Gorges Dam in China where 1.3 million people were displaced to make room for the large hydropower structure.
“The construction of reservoirs can have positive consequences by increasing water supply and security.”
Hydrologically, reservoirs have large impacts on streamflow. While their main uses are a key factor in providing stable water levels necessary for water availability, protection against flood peaks and decreasing the overall economic and social impact of climate extremes, the social benefits can also result in environmental impacts. 63% of global rivers are fragmented by large dams; however, the large number of medium sized structures suggests that this number is grossly underestimated. River fragmentation negatively impacts biodiversity by blocking seasonal migration, changing water temperatures and removing the variability in streamflow which fish, plants and other aquatic organisms need to repopulate and survive.
However, the construction of reservoirs can also have positive consequences by increasing water supply and security in a variety of locations, also across international borders. In looking at transboundary river agreements such as those in the Colorado River Basin, and along long river systems such as the Mekong, Nile, Rhine, Indus, Mississippi and Orinoco, as well as smaller river systems, dams play an integral part in transboundary water agreements as they provide stable water levels for downstream users. In the majority of cases, it is vital to collaborate as water follows the natural river network and thus upstream actions will have downstream consequences.
That said, the increase in dam building has the potential to create over-reliance on systems that may not be sustainable in the long term. Notable examples include the dams across the Colorado River which are slowly being depleted due to over-allocation of water resources. Another example is the building of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam which has increased transboundary tensions related to water availability
Ultimately, the impact of reservoirs and dams on water security globally is not without its nuances. The increase in potential negative impacts are (in most cases) currently balanced by the positive outcomes. It is important to continue to evaluate the long-term impacts of dam building and their potential consequences, especially as many dams are built for climate regimes that may no longer be accurate with changing climate patterns.
Morocco: where has all the water gone?
Alice Morrison, adventurer and broadcaster
Two years ago, I built a snowman with my neighbours in the Amazigh (Berber) compound I live in, in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco. This year, no snow came at all. We waited all through the winter and there was only the lightest dusting, all of it at above 2,300m. Then in March, two days of rain and snow on the peaks, but still far too little. We are the water basin for Marrakech and the surrounding regions, and if we don’t have enough water then nor will they.
Morocco has been in a state of drought officially for six years, but this is the worst year I have seen for rainfall since I moved here in 2014. Government figures show there has been a 67% reduction compared with an average year.
Bathtime blues
Officials in our region, which includes Marrakech, have acted to try and mitigate the imminent water shortages by shutting hammams (communal bath houses), car washes and even nail salons for part of the week.
This does little to alleviate the pressure on water resources which are consumed primarily by agriculture. It uses well over 80% of Morocco’s water. Agriculture is at the heart of Morocco, and of course food security and the money gained from export are crucial. The sector also provides high employment (31%) and keeps workers and life alive in the rural areas.
Positive power
Morocco is a leader in Africa with regards to renewable energy at a macro and micro level. Xlinks is developing a project to produce solar and wind power in Morocco and transmit it to the UK via undersea cables. If it comes off it will be one of the biggest energy investments on the continent: $20 billion, 3,800km of underwater cable, and 10.5 gigawatts of solar and wind power.
exponentially worse effect at the extremes. If you live at 45°C, the shift to 50°C can be catastrophic. The Sahel is drying out and can no longer sustain the nomads and herdsmen that used to live there, grazing their camels and sheep on the scrubby desert plants of the region.
This has led to massive social change. The nomadic way of life is dying out and people are forced into the cities, where water is supplied. In turn, there is a knock-on effect for migration as economic migrants head north, hoping for a better future.
Sahara crossing
I witnessed all this when I crossed Morocco and the Sahara in 2020 on foot with six camels (including my favourite, Hamish) and three Amazigh guides. In the north, we could sustain ourselves with water from streams in the mountains and then wells. As we walked south, the water dried out.
We followed a route from well to well and sometimes it took us two weeks to get to the next one. We had to rely on the generosity of the nomads we met for the times in between. They have adapted cleverly by using giant plastic water containers which they fill from water trucks brought out from the cities. They also buy feed for their animals which is subsidised by the government.
The use of solar power is very widespread with small farmers too, like my friend Lhou, who has taken out a bank loan to buy panels to power his well.
But Morocco has not yet been able to mimic that success with water resources. The government is trying, though. A huge new desalination plant in Casablanca to provide potable water is underway, with eight further plants planned along the coastline and a series of new dams to be built between important water basins.
Drip irrigation is also being heavily subsidised and promoted to farmers. This gives 90% of water to the plants, as opposed to the 40–50% of normal irrigation. The huge caveat is that the farmers’ use of water overall must be reduced or they will deplete supplies more quickly. Naturally, this is a hard sell to rural landowners who want to use the saved water to grow more.
Catastrophic temperatures
The situation gets even more dire as you go south into the true Sahel. The tragic truth is that climate warming has an
We never left a nomad tent empty even when their supplies were running low, and if they had plenty, they would let us water the camels.
The kindness of strangers
One day will stay forever in my mind. A Sahrawi (Saharan) called Mohammed drove up to us in his ancient Land Rover, partially held together by string. He opened his water store for us and our camels drank thirstily. Then, out of the blur of the sandstorm, dozens of camels came trotting towards us. They had heard his engine and knew it meant water.
Living in Morocco, I am forced to watch this part of the planet drying out and I wonder how much of this community and culture will be left in twenty years or fifty years. Or whether life will be sustainable across this part of Africa at all?
When I come back to Scotland and my feet squelch down my parents’ garden I feel incredible relief. That water anxiety lifts and my eyes feast themselves on green grass and an abundance of flowers.
There has to be a change. Morocco and the Sahel are suffering for the sins of others. Russia, USA and China are the worst offenders according to the Climate Change Index, whereas Morocco is number nine of the best actors. Unless there is a global shift, the future for my beautiful valley of Imlil looks bleak.
Alice Morrison’s latest series for the BBC, Arabian Adventures, is available on iPlayer. Her book, Walking with Nomads, is available at all good bookshops.
“Morocco has been in a state of drought officially for six years.”
Enhancing adaptation for water security and inclusion
Dorcas Pratt, Deputy Director, Water Witness International
It’s not a secret that climate change is increasing water insecurity for people across the planet, largely through erratic rainfall patterns, floods and droughts. One in three people living in Africa experience water scarcity, with women, children and other marginalised groups being disproportionately affected. Approximately half the world’s population face severe water scarcity for at least part of the year. 771 million people (equivalent to more than the entire population of Europe) lack basic drinking water and half of them live in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the latest global report on water, sanitation and hygiene. Achieving water security is a major challenge to take on as we tackle climate change.
Surprisingly, most water security related decisions and plans in many countries are made without consideration of present and future climate change, despite the fact that climate impacts already incur and will continue to incur serious water challenges affecting people’s lives, the environment and the economies of these countries. As part of the adaptation agenda, there need to be improvements in decision making around water resources to make adaptation more effective and equitable in policy and practice.
The innovative BASIN partnership
game’ and so shape behaviour, could make greater space for individuals in these processes. Earlier research in Malawi and Tanzania has shown the impact of national leadership and international funding on climate adaptation policies.
BASIN’s case studies in Burkina Faso, Malawi and Tanzania will examine behavioural factors at individual and organisational levels, for example:
1. Strengthening resilience to climate extremes. This involves understanding how marginalised communities adapt to local floods, considering risk perception, income, gender, perceived effectiveness, and costs of adaptation methods, along with factors like fatalism and denial.
2. Enhancing climate resilience through multi-level governance. This involves using organisational theories to understand how governance structures motivate staff and influence decision making, balancing extrinsic (policies, infrastructure) and intrinsic (agency, capacity) motivations.
“There need to be improvements in decision making around water resources.”
This urgent need for action drove Water Witness to jointly design an innovative partnership between four universities, three partner NGOs and a knowledge broker: the London School of Economics, University of Malawi, Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology, United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, WaterAid, Shahidi wa Maji, and Kulima Integrated Development Solutions. The initiative is the Behavioural Adaptation for water Security and INclusion (BASIN) project, part of the CLimate Adaptation and REsilience (CLARE) programme supported by the UK and Canadian governments. Why behavioural and psychological approaches?
Adaptation, adapting to life in a changing climate, is fundamentally about behaviour change. However, current insights in behavioural and psychological science (BPS) in understanding behaviour change have limited application both in water research and in sub-Saharan Africa, being primarily based in Western societies. The aim of BASIN’s action research is to explore the contribution BPS can make to enhancing equitable and climate resilient water security in sub-Saharan Africa.
There are several areas where BPS approaches are used in water research, such as water conservation, perceptions of water quality, climate change impacts, and mental health (often related to flood and drought-associated stress). However, these approaches often overlook political, power, and gender dynamics, which are essential in addressing root causes of water insecurity. While these factors are commonly included in water governance research to address water insecurity, that research often lacks consideration of behavioural and psychological factors.
Bridging these gaps is a key aim of the BASIN programme. For example, political economy analysis, which looks at the interaction of institutions to establish the ‘rules of the
Access and inclusion
Access and inclusion are vital for water security for all. This requires effective management and equitable distribution of water as influenced by social and political values.
The BASIN programme emphasises integrating gender, equality, and inclusion in water security through political analysis, understanding how diverse identities affect risk perceptions and behaviour. BASIN’s research will examine how institutional practices (re)produce inequality, and how more inclusive water security and equitable adaptation can be supported.
The future
Over the next three years, through BASIN we will apply BPS insights to adaptation behaviours and practices around water at multiple levels (individual, organisational and political) to improve the effectiveness and equity of adaptation. Water Witness and partner NGOs will use the research findings to inform adoption of new practices and in wider national and regional policy advocacy.
In summary, BASIN aims to fill an important knowledge gap by studying the factors that influence individual and organisational behaviours. This will help to improve policies and practices to better address current needs and environmental challenges, with the particular objective of maximising benefits for those who are most vulnerable to climate change and water insecurity.
BASIN is funded by UK aid from the UK government and by the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada as part of Climate Adaptation and Resilience (CLARE) research programme. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the UK government, IDRC or its Board of Governors.
Building resilient futures in Malawi
Walter Chinangwa, Country Lead Malawi, Water Witness International
Malawi is known for its stunning landscapes and warmhearted people. But as a nation we are facing a formidable challenge: the increasingly severe impacts of climate change. From erratic rainfall and higher temperatures to devastating floods, the environment’s changing patterns are jeopardising the livelihoods and well-being of Malawians, particularly in rural areas.
Malawi’s high dependence on rain-fed agriculture, narrow economic base, and reliance on biomass for household energy make it highly susceptible to climate shocks. The devastating floods in January 2022, which displaced over 99,000 households, and Cyclone Freddy in 2023, which uprooted more than 659,000 people, underscore the urgency for robust climate resilience and adaptation measures. Cyclone Freddy left almost one million people in need of urgent WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) as it destroyed water supply infrastructure and sanitation facilities. During this period, from January 2022 to August 2023, Malawi faced a public health emergency with its worst recorded cholera outbreak, a disease spread through dirty water. As climate change intensifies, the need for resilient solutions becomes ever more critical.
The Climate Just Communities (CJC) programme is a flagship initiative under the Scottish Government’s Climate Justice Fund, supporting locally-led projects in Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia. In Malawi, the programme builds on the legacy of the Climate Challenge Malawi Programme (CCMP) and the Climate Justice Innovation Fund (CJIF), both of which wrapped up in 2021. This innovative programme is delivered by a consortium of partners including IIED, Link Education International, and Water Witness International.
The CJC programme is not just about addressing immediate needs; it’s about empowering communities to build resilient futures. Working with local development partners to prioritise locally-led solutions, the programme focuses on five core thematic areas:
1. Focus on Vulnerable Populations. Our interventions are particularly targeted at the most vulnerable segments of the population, including women, children, people with disabilities, the elderly, female-headed households, childheaded households, and smallholder farmers. Implemented across seven districts frequently affected by floods, the programme mainstreams gender and disability inclusion in all its activities, ensuring that no one is left behind.
2. Disaster Risk Management. This includes developing early warning systems and preparedness plans to mitigate extreme weather impacts, as well as sustainable resource management. We also put young people at the heart: developing school disaster management plans, and ensuring the safety and continuity of education after disasters.
3. Livelihood Security. By promoting climate-resilient agricultural practices and encouraging the use of renewable energy sources to reduce biomass dependence, the programme looks at both adaptation and future resilience. We also increase livelihood security by enhancing access to financial services and developing market systems for livelihood diversification.
4. Loss and Damage. Addressing the immediate and longterm impacts of climate-induced losses. Our schools resilience work also feeds into this, ensuring children don’t lose out on education and skills for the future.
5. WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene). Ensuring access to safe, potable water and hygiene isn’t just about providing taps and toilets, but making sure the infrastructure is sustainable and resilient. Universal access to safe water and decent toilets is a human right.
Through the CJC programme, Malawi is on a path to building stronger, more resilient communities.
In essence, the programme represents more than just an intervention; it embodies a movement towards sustainable development and climate justice. It’s about giving communities the tools and knowledge they need, not just to survive in the face of climate change, but to thrive.
Malawi’s journey towards resilience is a testament to the power of community, collaboration and commitment. With the support of initiatives like CJC, the future looks not just hopeful, but bright for the resilient communities of Malawi.
“Cyclone Freddy destroyed water supply infrastructure and sanitation facilities.”
An interview with Rosie Stancer
Jo Woolf FRSGS, RSGS Writer-in-Residence
Rosie Stancer (rosiestancer.com) is best known for her expeditions in the Arctic and the Antarctic, but in 2021 she and her former polar team-mate, Pom Oliver, embarked on a crossing of the Earth’s youngest desert, the Aralkum, in Central Asia.
The Aralkum Desert occupies a region that formerly contained the Aral Sea. This saltwater lake was once the Earth’s fourth largest body of inland water, extending over 26,000 square miles and supporting a thriving fishing industry. In the 1960s the Soviet Union diverted the region’s two major rivers, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, for crop irrigation, leading to a dramatic drop in water levels and widespread desertification. Some estimates suggest that the Aral Sea is now a tenth of its original size.
What was your purpose in crossing the Aralkum?
The Aralkum has been described by the United Nations Development Programme as the most staggering environmental disaster of the 20th century. Our objective was to see for ourselves the impact of the draining of this remote inland sea on the environment and its communities, and the efficacy of any measures being undertaken to alleviate the damage.
You completed the 600km crossing in 17 days, and the temperature often rose above 50°C. How did you cope, and what other hazards did you face?
Pom and I both suffered from the heat, with very little shade aside from bashas or shelters that we constructed, or the odd tamarisk bush. Ground conditions were too challenging to navigate by night. Old polar habits die hard, and we had packed our traditional rations, largely made up of a mixture of nuts that became impossible to swallow with dry mouths. Nor could we verbally communicate as our voices were reduced to croaks, so we communicated by sign language with our walking poles, like a pair of old desert beetles waving their antennae.
atmosphere made us both extremely unwell. Ultimately, Pom became so incapacitated that she had to be evacuated, although she had the grit to return and complete the final leg with me.
Post-expedition, Pom underwent tests which revealed traces of arsenic and cadmium, the latter being a Group 1 carcinogen. This toxicity is, in part, caused by winds picking up pesticides and herbicides and swirling them around, polluting the land, the crops, the water and the people. There is a high rate of lung cancer, kidney and liver disease. Most women suffer from anaemia and there’s a high rate of infant birth defects and mortality. Average life expectancy is a measly 66 years.
This is compounded by a more sinister reason. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union was toying with biological weaponry on the then island of Vozrozhdeniya in the Aral Sea. Anthrax, smallpox, bubonic plague and a cocktail of other pathogens were being experimented with, and were not disposed of efficiently when suspicious rumours drove the scientists elsewhere. Traces of these pathogens have penetrated the ecosystem and spread far beyond the Aral region.
How did you get access to safe drinking water?
Our daily water intake needed to be at least five litres, meaning that our loads were going to weigh in excess of 100 kilos each. Because we couldn’t carry this weight, I fashioned desert carts out of polar sledges, placed atop a wide axle with big fat tyres. To each one I attached an old sledging harness and we hauled away, with ample water supplies sloshing behind.
What has happened to the fishing communities that depended on the Aral Sea for their livelihoods?
We passed through several abandoned fishing villages, now many miles from any shoreline. Many seemed desolate, forlorn places with no apparent care invested in them. However, we did meet some people, especially younger generations, who spoke with cautious optimism. They are keenly aware that the Kazakhstan government has been proactive, most notably with the construction of the Kokaral Dam, largely funded by the World Bank. This has led to a partial restoration of the northern part of the Sea and has brought about the return of indigenous fish. In turn, this has drawn back many young people with the prospect of being able to resume their once-lucrative fishing occupation.
“Water has become a source of competition over the irrigation of cotton or ‘white gold’.”
There were also scorpions, spiders and snakes, but the real perils were more insidious. Besides there being absolutely no fresh or safe water sources to drink from, the toxic
Other measures, including the planting of saxaul trees to hold back further desertification and the promise of an extension to the dam, offer further hope. This is, however, still under negotiation and there is a whiff of disillusionment at the apparent lack of progress on the dam extension in the eyes of the Aral people. Political waters run deep, and negotiations with other countries that form the Aral basin (Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan) are complex. Water from the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya rivers has become a source of competition over the irrigation of cotton or ‘white gold’.
In 2023, you, Pom Oliver, Arabella Dorman and Lee Watts crossed the Sinai Desert in the company of Bedu people. How are the lives of the Bedu being affected by changes in climate and environment?
The Bedu are adept at adapting to evolving conditions. Greed is not in their make-up; they respect nature, their environment, their livestock and all creatures, whether domestic or wild. I believe this allows them to seamlessly and acceptingly adjust their ways; these days, most notably, in terms of water storage. In their eyes, the biggest threat comes not from nature and climate change affecting their water sources, but man and his greed, with misuse and diversion of water. This is happening the world over, but we saw a particular manifestation in the Sinai, where precious water sources were being diversified to irrigate opium crops. What have you learned about the effects of human activity on water resources?
The Aral illustrates how an apparently localised tragedy can hold global implications. Approximately two million tons of salt and sand are transported every day by the desert winds of the Aral and dumped within a radius of some 300km. This reduces land available for planting, damages pastures, and causes lack of livestock forage. The toxicity penetrates the food chain and poisons any remaining water sources. Traces of Aral toxins have been found as far afield as Antarctica in the blood of penguins, and in the glacial waters of the Arctic Circle.
Of course, the Aral disaster was also about the repercussions of water diversion to nourish lucrative but thirsty cotton crops, in order to sate our own desire for fast fashion. So maybe we should look to ourselves and our material wants as the root of the problem before so readily wagging our fingers at others?
Human plundering of vital resources, specifically water, is not just a regional problem, it’s a global one. In the words of John Muir, “if one tugs at a single thing in nature, you find it is attached to the rest of the world.”
The Aralkum expedition was Part One of your Desert Trilogy, and the Sinai expedition was Part Two. What is the Desert Trilogy about, and where will Part Three take place?
The mission behind each part of the Desert Trilogy is to find out how climate change is impacting these environments and their communities, and provide them with a voice from which we can learn, rather than the rhetoric of politicians and the jargon of scientists. Part Three will take place in the Middle East, and will examine the impacts of climate change on desert people, what we can learn from them and their own ways, past and present, to help build a sustainable future.
“The Aral illustrates how an apparently localised tragedy can hold global implications.”
Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega and Élise Cassignol, Institut Français des Relations Internationales
Water desalination is gradually emerging as the leading solution to cope with increasing water stress; that is, the imbalance between water demand and quantities available. The United Nations estimates that by 2025 two-thirds of the world’s population will be affected by such challenges. The causes of water scarcity are multiple, including climate change, intensive agriculture, and population growth. This requires states to rethink their water policies, which are central to preserving their stability, resilience and sovereignty.
A real ‘boom’ in desalination industries is at work. The majority of Gulf countries now largely depend on desalinated water for their inhabitants’ consumption: in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), 42% of drinking water comes from desalination plants producing more than seven million cubic metres per day; in Kuwait it is 90%, in Oman 86%, and in Saudi Arabia 70%. In 2022, there were more than 21,000 seawater desalination plants in operation worldwide, almost twice as many as a decade ago, and the sector’s capacity is growing at between +6% and +12% per year.
Cebu in the Philippines, Cape Verde, the Canary Islands and the Maldives are increasingly using desalination capabilities. There are many industrial players of varied size, although some have emerged for more than ten years as undisputed market leaders: in France, they include Engie and Veolia, whose merger with Suez opened up new prospects in the Americas, the Middle East and Europe; but there is also IDE Technologies, the Israeli champion of desalination; Korea’s Doosan Heavy, China’s Abengoa, and Spain’s Acciona.
More recently, companies in emerging countries have distinguished themselves by obtaining large-scale contracts. This is particularly the case of Gulf players like the Emirati company Metito and the Saudi firm Advanced Water Technologies. Egypt also has industrial actors. Overall, the technology of reverse osmosis is largely mastered, while production differentiation concerns capacity, operational costs, electricity consumption and plant life.
“A real ‘boom’ in desalination industries is at work.”
By 2030, desalination capacity in Middle Eastern countries is expected to almost double, as part of plans announced in the region to prepare these economies for their transition to ‘post-oil’ and to foster resilience. Saudi Arabia’s desalination capacity is set to increase from 5.6 million m3 per day in 2022 to 8.5 million m3 per day in 2025, and it will have to cover more than 90% of the country’s water consumption. The same holds for the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Israel, where the production of desalinated water will more than double by 2030.
With the rise of available solutions to meet all such needs, these technologies are now in demand on virtually every continent, while the Middle East today represents only 50% of installed capacity worldwide.
In Africa, large-scale projects have recently been announced in Algeria and Morocco, countries that until now have had sufficient resources. Other countries such as Ghana, Senegal and Kenya supply many cities with desalinated seawater. This is also the case for Cairo. In the Indo-Pacific region, particularly in China and India, the needs for desalinated water are increasing, driven by growing industries and decreasing available water. In 2020 alone, the construction of more than 35 desalination plants was announced in China, as well as six in the Philippines, and six in Taiwan. In the Americas, the west coast of the United States stands out with important projects in California, and Texas is not far behind. In Latin America, new projects are emerging in Peru and Chile, driven mainly by the needs of the mining industry, while in Mexico the demand for desalinated water notably comes from the population. Finally, island areas stand out for their strong needs for desalinated water:
Desalinating seawater is an expensive, energy-intensive process that releases significant amounts of greenhouse gases in most countries that have a very intensive CO2 electricity mix. Desalination plants generally use lots of electricity, with variations depending on the technologies employed. Thermal desalination processes, used less and less, consume more than five kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy per cubic metre of desalinated water produced. By contrast, the reverse osmosis desalination process, now the most widespread, can desalinate 1m3 of water with an average of between 2.5 and 3 kWh, the record being set by a Saudi plant at 2.27 kWh. Desalination plants in the Middle East have largely benefited from an energy mix based on fossil fuels that permit cheap desalination. Electricity consumption for water desalination increased threefold in Saudi Arabia during the period 2005–20, reaching about 6% of the kingdom’s total electricity consumption, or about 17 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2020. It is equivalent to the annual production of a large nuclear power plant. Doubling desalination capacity will therefore boost electricity demand and associated greenhouse gas emissions if the electricity mix remains largely dominated by hydrocarbons. The demand for gas and oil to produce this electricity would also increase. Several Gulf countries are beginning to mobilise renewable energy sources, such as the Al Khafji reverse osmosis plant in Saudi Arabia, which desalinates 60,000m3 every day, and which is powered by photovoltaic panels. Finally, there are also power stations that operate using wave and geothermal energy.
Another issue with desalination concerns the management of brines; that is, the remaining water, heavily loaded with the salt particles that have been separated from seawater, is often released into the sea, causing increased salinity levels in coastal waters.
How to improve performance along the entire water chain is the last key issue, not just at the production level. Losses in transmission and distribution networks from factories to final consumers are extremely high, reaching levels of more than 50% in most Gulf countries.
The use of desalination seems inevitable and destined to experience a very strong expansion. It is therefore urgent for these production processes to remove their dependency on fossil fuels because the doubling of installed capacity in the Middle East by 2030 is set to lead to a significant increase in emissions, unless electricity mixes become greener, as in the UAE which has deployed nuclear power in particular.
Two solutions are thus required: on one hand, the setting up of desalination plants powered by low-carbon energy sources (fields of solar panels, concentrated solar power, wind turbines, wave energy, or even nuclear power), possibly with combined cycle power plants for back-up capacity. The aim is therefore to decarbonise electricity mixes to ensure plants provide low-carbon water supplies. On the other hand, the construction of infrastructures of this kind must not replace a policy of energy efficiency, the optimisation of desalination plant fleets, the search to cut losses and waste, reducing consumption subsidies as well as the collection and treatment of wastewater. Improving water sector governance and encouraging sustainable water use policies in industry,
“Desalinating seawater is an expensive, energyintensive process.”
agriculture and the residential sector, are essential.
Water governance, and the development of a sustainable industry across the globe, is becoming central to achieve several Sustainable Development Goals and avoid fuelling additional environmental degradations, as this industry is set to boom in the coming decade.
FURTHER READING
The full report is available at www.ifri.org/sites/default/files/ atoms/files/eyl-mazzega_cassignol_desalination_us_2022.pdf
There is something remarkably evocative about Diane Tuft’s photographs chronicling landscape change and the effects of climate change. Since the late 1990s, she has travelled to some of the most remote and vulnerable parts of the world, exploring the visual effects of our changing climate. Her images are often surreal, requiring pause and contemplation, a second look to solidify the meaning of the composition.
Her most recent work, Entropy, focuses on water. She uses her lens to contrast global sea-level rise with water depletion in Utah’s Great Salt Lake, revisiting areas she photographed in 2005. Since that time, the volume of water has shrunk by a third, dropping 23’ in elevation since its high stand in 1986.
Entropy highlights coastal regions across the globe that are imminently threatened or already impacted by climate change, from the Florida Keys and Bangladesh to Chesapeake Bay, Kiribati and the Marshall Islands.
The book illustrates the ecological changes she observed, with the kaleidoscope of vibrant colours that make her images so compelling being attributable to the increased concentrations of minerals such as mercury, arsenic, selenium, lead, lithium, magnesium, iodine, strontium and bromine and their exposure due to the diminished water level.
The collection is described as “a photographic exploration detailing the poetry and fragility of nature amidst the tragedy of climate change”. It features essays by Stacey Epstein PhD and Bonnie K Baxter PhD. Entropy is available from Monacelli Press, and we are delighted to be able to feature some of the photographs in this edition of The Geographer
Chopin’s Prelude
Jones Island, Chesapeake Bay.
Scattered Epitaphs.
Turning the tide: leading global efforts to restore our land
Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
In a world grappling with multiple crises, the plight of our land often goes unnoticed. We rarely think about how our everyday choices affect land and water resources. For example, it takes 2,700 litres of freshwater to produce a single cotton shirt; enough to meet a person’s drinking needs for two and a half years. Although our land can produce enough food to feed twice the world’s population, 2.4 billion people remain food insecure while a staggering 30% of all food produced goes to waste.
Healthy land is essential for growing nearly 95% of our food, providing shelter, creating jobs and protecting us from disasters such as droughts, floods and wildfires. Soil, which is home to 25% of the world’s biodiversity, supports a complex ecosystem. Yet we lose an area of land equivalent to four football pitches to degradation every second, while it takes centuries to build just one centimetre of topsoil. The degradation of fertile soils can have serious consequences for food security, water supplies and biodiversity.
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) serves as a vital protector of our planet’s land resources, working diligently to address these critical but often overlooked issues. The UNCCD helps countries and communities restore, conserve and sustainably manage land and water resources. It brings together decision makers, scientists, civil society and the private sector from 197 Parties to transform land use and management practices to ensure healthy lives and sustainable livelihoods for all.
systems. By promoting sustainable agricultural practices, the UNCCD ensures continued food production without depleting land resources, which is critical to feeding a growing global population while maintaining the health of ecosystems. In addition, healthy land plays a key role in combatting climate change by absorbing greenhouse gases and serving as a vital line of defence against its devastating impacts.
Land restoration is critical to stabilising our climate and ensuring a liveable future for an estimated ten billion people who will be sharing our planet by 2050. Beyond environmental protection, the UNCCD empowers communities, especially women and youth, to manage land and associated resources. At the moment, however, access to land is deeply inequitable, with less than one-fifth of the world’s land owned by women. When it comes to youth, the situation is even worse: For example, less than 10% of young people own land in sub-Saharan Africa, where 70% of Africans are under 30.
This empowerment improves livelihoods and builds resilience to climate impacts. By supporting local communities, the UNCCD ensures that the benefits of land restoration are felt at the grassroots level, promoting sustainable development from the bottom up.
“The UNCCD ensures continued food production without depleting land resources.”
Caring for the land is an intergenerational responsibility. Our ancestors had a deep connection to the land, but this connection is weakening as more people move to urban areas and fewer choose to work the land. There is an urgent need to create employment opportunities for young people, especially in rural areas.
A major impact of the UNCCD is the transformation of food
Desertification and drought also contribute to forced migration, with millions of people at risk of displacement each year. Preventing land degradation is critical to addressing conflict and instability. Indigenous peoples, who account for about half a billion people worldwide, are often disproportionately affected by land degradation. They face barriers to the recognition of land rights and equal participation in decision making. Despite economic disadvantages, they are among the richest holders of natural capital and play a key role in environmental protection, particularly in long-term sustainable land restoration. Research shows that areas managed by local communities have lower rates of deforestation and land degradation.
“Caring for the land is an intergenerational responsibility.”
through reforestation, ecosystem restoration, organic farming, eco-tourism, green industry and solar energy. This transformation has benefitted more than 100,000 local people, lifting them out of poverty. The Middle East Green Initiative (MGI), led by Saudi Arabia, plans to plant 50 billion trees across the Middle East, revitalising 200 million hectares of degraded land. For its part, the G20 Global Land Restoration Initiative aims to halve land degradation by 2040. These initiatives demonstrate a global commitment to tackling land degradation and water scarcity, inspiring hope and demonstrating the power of collective action.
Global efforts to combat desertification are intensifying, driven by growing recognition of the serious impacts of land degradation on climate, biodiversity, food and water security, and prosperity. Celebrating its 30th anniversary, the UNCCD is at the forefront of these efforts, addressing land and drought issues worldwide. The UNCCD’s ultimate goal is to achieve land degradation neutrality (LDN) by 2030, which means restoring degraded land, preventing further degradation and promoting sustainable land management practices.
Countries around the world are taking bold steps to restore land health. In Africa, the Great Green Wall initiative aims to restore 100 million hectares of degraded land by 2030, creating jobs and improving food security. China’s Kubuqi Desert, once a barren wasteland, has been transformed
Looking ahead, our vision for combatting desertification focuses on creating resilient ecosystems and sustainable livelihoods. This involves holistic ecosystem management, empowering local communities, developing sustainable land management practices and harnessing technological advances. Education and awareness of the importance of land restoration and sustainable management are also crucial.
The UNCCD COP16 in Riyadh (2–13 December 2024) will be the largest and most ambitious global summit on land and drought to date. Together, we will work towards land degradation neutrality targets, drought resilience frameworks and stronger agri-food systems to unlock a multi-billion-dollar land restoration industry. Our collective success will depend on each country’s ambition and willingness to renew our relationship with the land, for present and future generations.
The water issue in Ica: from miracle to environmental disaster?
Dr Eduardo Zegarra, Senior Researcher, Group for the Analysis of Development (GRADE)
The question of land has been a classic theme in the literature on agrarian and development economics. The discussion on the appropriation and distribution of land to produce food has been a crucial issue in economic science since the first economists called ‘physiocrats’, who proposed that all wealth came exclusively from land (Adam Smith would extend it to labour, and later the neoclassicists to capital). It should be said that modern economic science was born in Europe, which has mostly rainfed agriculture, with the exception of some more arid areas towards the Mediterranean where irrigation is important (such as in Spain). What happens is that in areas where agriculture is basically under irrigation, such as the Peruvian coast, the crucial resource for production is water, even more so when the source is underground, as is the case of the Ica Valley, the centre of Peru’s agro-export boom in the last two decades.
decade. These data are fundamental and clearly tell us that the problem of over-exploitation of the Ica-Villacurí aquifer has been worsening every year, with a trend that will probably lead us to a systemic collapse. The graph itself points to the case of some wells that are no longer useful due to salinization problems.
“Large agro-export companies are over-exploiting the aquifer at a dizzying rate.”
The possibility of collapse is not low. The total volume of products exported from the Ica valley (grapes, asparagus, avocados and onions) went from 116 to 277 thousand tons between 2009 and 2019, an increase of almost 140%. It is clear that this is the main cause of over-exploitation of the aquifer and, if it is maintained or projected forward, it can lead us, as we have already said, to an environmental catastrophe of unsuspected consequences.
The issue of water in the Ica Valley is a central issue for the country, since we are talking about a territory in which important economic and social activities depend crucially on groundwater. Ica is located on top of the most important aquifer in the country, which has historically sustained the development of this region. Today, two decades after the beginning of a new cycle of export expansion (Ica had others in the past based on cotton for much of the 20th century), there are growing indications that the current agro-export cycle is not environmentally sustainable; that is, that large agro-export companies are over-exploiting the aquifer at a dizzying rate.
According to forthcoming Water Witness research, groundwater extraction rates had already exceeded the sustainable extraction limit in the early years of the agroexport boom in the 2000s, and as early as 2009–10 the water authority declared a ban on new groundwater rights which had little effect on controlling the problem. The study had made a first assessment at that time and was already raising alarms about the future of continuing doing the same. More than a decade later, the same team finds that the situation has worsened, and the outlook is very complicated for the current decade. In short, the study concludes that it is highly likely that in the next ten years we will witness the collapse of the Ica-Villacurí aquifer, where it will no longer be possible to use groundwater at a reasonable cost, and Ica would lose its main (and almost only) source of water to live, produce and prosper.
In this regard, the study I mention presents this evolution in a single graph. Data are taken from ANA’s (Autoridad Nacional del Agua, Peru’s national water authority) observation wells between 1997 and 2022, and the reduction in depth is general and with a tendency to accelerate during the last
I am one of those who think that it is possible to generate economic and social development based on processes of capitalist accumulation, if they are adequately regulated by the State and society so that these respect fundamental physical and social limits. In my opinion, this is not the case in the Ica Valley, and the unbridled and uncontrolled growth of the corporate agro-export sector in this territory has already become the greatest threat to a possible and viable future for hundreds of thousands of Iqueños and Peruvians of all ages. I hope I am wrong, although I think there is little doubt in terms of how much is at stake for our society if we are not able to discuss and act on this ticking time bomb.
Exploring water in Arabia
Mark Evans FRSGS, Outward Bound Oman
When RSGS Livingstone Medallist Bertram Thomas reached Doha in February 1931, he had been travelling on foot and by camel for some 53 days on a journey that saw him become the first European to cross the largest desert on Earth: the Rub’ Al Khali, or Empty Quarter. Thanks to the swashbuckling exploits of TE Lawrence and filmmaker Lowell Thomas, the focus of many explorers was on the sands of Arabia, so news of his arrival in Doha made the front page all around the world, from the New York Times to the Sydney Herald Thomas, like the more famous desert explorer Wilfred Thesiger (who travelled in the same sands some 14 years later), was heavily dependent on the knowledge of his Bedouin companions who acted as guides, camel handlers and so much more. Like Thesiger, Thomas started his journey with a rigid travel plan in his mind: to ride for an hour, take a short break, push on for another hour, and repeat. Both explorers soon discovered that their Bedouin companions saw the world through a different lens; they knew that success depended on the health of their camels. When grazing was discovered, however sparse, belongings would be offloaded, the camels would have their fill, and the lengthy process of reloading would start again. Progress and success were not measured in marches, but in grazing. And water. As they were journeying into terra incognita, the only people who knew the location of the few waterholes were the Bedouin. Stopping off at waterholes was critical to the survival of the camels, and therefore the humans, but it was also a time of real danger. Tribal infighting meant that waterholes fed by underground aquifers were jealously guarded, and lookouts were posted to keep an eye out for thirsty travellers. The map that cartographers at the RGS drew up in 1932 after working through Thomas’s field diary was determined by waterholes. Both Thomas and Thesiger were fortunate; they travelled at a time when what is the biggest sand desert on Earth was populated by several tribes, all of whom had to keep the waterholes open for their own survival. Today, the Empty Quarter is much emptier, the desert tribes having migrated to the periphery of the sands, where blacktop roads, electricity and air conditioning make for an easier life. The vast majority of the waterholes are now long abandoned, and full of sand, and very few people today know the exact locations.
For the modern-day explorer, locating those that remain is a real challenge. Despite meticulous diary notes, Thomas used
a sextant to identify his approximate location. He might never have been lost, but in today’s world of satellites and GPS fixes, he also never really knew exactly where he was. Our own 2016 journey in his footsteps (the first for 85 years) saw us struggle to find the majority of the waterholes that he visited. Of those that we did find, a good number were perfectly drinkable, whilst an equal number were sulphurous and rejected by even the thirstiest of camels. With modern-day camels incapable of carrying the heavy loads borne by their predecessors, a journey to retrace the footsteps of Thomas and Thesiger today requires a 4WD to carry as much water as it can, but even they cannot carry enough; finding wells or arranging resupply remains a key logistical consideration.
The book Thomas wrote at the end of his journey was called Arabia Felix (Arabia the bountiful, the welcoming), a title inspired by what he saw at the start of his journey in southern Oman which, along with the south coast of Yemen, is the only place in Arabia touched each summer by the Indian Ocean monsoon (or Khareef in Arabic). Three months of cloud and light drizzle transform southern Arabia into a verdant oasis of life. It is here where the frankincense grows, where the last remaining Arabian leopards cling on, where wolves and hyenas still roam, all of which attracted in summer 2023 nearly one million visitors to the Khareef festival, an annual event that is hugely important to the local and national economy of Oman. As evidenced by the discovery of ancient lithic hunting tools, the impact of the monsoon was once felt much further north into the great desert. No one is sure what the impact of climate change will be on the Khareef in the coming years; some modelling shows opportunity for Oman through increased amounts of rainfall, induced by increasing sea temperatures, but that will come in the form of destructive tropical cyclones, each of which cause millions of rials worth of damage to infrastructure and property and necessitate the evacuation of large numbers of people from coastal communities to shelter safely inland.
In the next two decades, water will likely become as important as oil to the future of countries in the Arabian Gulf; four of the six most water-scarce countries in the world are in the Gulf, and rapidly rising populations are pushing leaders to address the issue in the face of climate change, a scenario that is a far cry from the Arabia of the early explorers celebrated by the RSGS.
“Three months of cloud and light drizzle transform southern Arabia into a verdant oasis of life.”
Scarcity and water cooperation
Melissa McCracken, Assistant Professor of International Environmental Policy, The Fletcher School, Tufts University
You have probably seen news articles about water scarcity and how it will increase negative social and environmental impacts, particularly conflict. These narratives are common in public media and political rhetoric; for example, US VicePresident Harris stated in 2021, “For years, there were wars fought over oil; in a short time, there will be wars fought over water.” These narratives focus on water scarcity, mainly due to our changing climate. The challenge with thinking about water scarcity in this manner is that we tend to take a narrow view, where water scarcity is a physical lack of water (physical water scarcity). However, water scarcity also results from socio-economic factors, such as governance and inequality, when enough water is available to meet demands (economic water scarcity). The framing of physical water scarcity enables blame to be placed on a ‘lack of rain’ or climate change, thereby avoiding considering how our use, governance, or water resource management could contribute to the water scarcity experienced.
Unpacking this there are 313 internationally shared river basins globally, contributing around 60% of the world’s freshwater flow to over 50% of the world’s population, and nearly 600 transboundary aquifers. While still present today, the ‘water wars’ narrative arose in the 1980s out of the neo-Malthusian arguments on environmental degradation. However, the majority (c67%) of interactions over transboundary water have been cooperative. In fact, the first and last war over water between states was nearly 5,000 years ago, between Sumerian city-states Lagash and Umma. When conflict does occur in transboundary basins, it is usually at a low intensity, often verbal or written statements, far below war.
as the construction of large infrastructure. Research has shown that having adequate legal and institutional mechanisms can help prevent a disturbance from escalating to conflict and even help to turn the conflict potential into the potential for cooperation.
Similar trends are visible at the national and subnational level, where water is more often the source of cooperation through formal and informal water governance mechanisms; however, compared to the international level, there is more conflict between actors, often due to weak governance mechanisms. Findings at the national and sub-national scales are less well understood, as conflict, cooperation and institutional capacity data are very challenging to monitor, particularly at the sub-national scale.
“There is more cooperation than conflict over water.”
The fact that there is more cooperation than conflict over water is promising! Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Just because we know that having adequate institutional capacity in place can help reduce the potential for conflict does not mean that we can assume that all cooperation is ‘good’. Cooperation does not automatically lead to sustainable or equitable sharing, development or protection of water. Cooperation can be both constructive and help to meet these goals as well as destructive, such as when states cooperate to over-allocate a river or an agreement enshrines inequities in who has access to the resource.
When examining the drivers of transboundary water conflict, it is generally not water but other factors that are the primary drivers, such as a history of conflict or fragility to socio-economic development challenges. Often, we see that water scarcity actually contributes to more cooperation than conflict, up until a particular threshold, as states perceive greater benefits to cooperating in arid environments than through conflict or unilateral action. Rather than being tied to the amount of water available, the likelihood
Therefore, as we move forward in addressing the challenges facing water resources, including water scarcity but not limited to it, we need to think about developing effective cooperative processes at both the interstate, national and sub-national levels. I define an effective cooperative process as resulting in sustainable and equitable outcomes for both humans and the ecosystem. This perspective extends beyond the legal and institutional mechanisms that research has tended to focus on. To have effective water cooperation, we need achievable outcomes that meet the equitable and sustainable goals for the resource, which are established through positive relationships between the actors. Trustbuilding, capacity-building, transparency and communication are necessary, in addition to the legal and institutional mechanisms to maintain effective cooperative processes in the face of the coming challenges.
To conclude, awareness of findings on shared waters is particularly important, as we are seeing the environmentally deterministic ‘water wars’ narrative re-emerge. The narrative has evolved to emphasise climate change, with water scarcity being a cornerstone. Recent headlines claim that climate change will lead to ‘climate wars’. As with the ‘water wars’ narrative in the 1980s, the climate change iteration should be taken cautiously. Considering water scarcity and climate change in the context of conflict in such a generalised manner can cloud our ability to see the complexities in the social, political, and environmental systems that together drive conflict or allow for equitable and sustainable cooperation. By limiting our perspective of climate change and water scarcity to a physical lack of water and a direct cause of conflict, we limit our creative and innovative ability to develop solutions to address the challenges facing our shared water systems.
Water scarcity in Jordan: challenges and solutions
Dr Alsharifa Hind Mohammad, Associate Researcher, Groundwater and Water Quality, Water, Energy and Environment Center, University of Jordan; Professor Iain Stewart, El Hassan Research Chair in Sustainability, Royal Scientific Society, Jordan
In the heart of the arid Middle East, Jordan is in the grip of an escalating water crisis that poses a significant threat to its socio-economic and environmental stability. It is a nation that relies heavily on groundwater resources as its primary water source, supplemented by inadequate surface water from rivers like the Jordan River. However, both these sources are under immense stress from increasing people pressure.
“Jordan is one of the most water-poor countries in the world for renewable freshwater.”
In 2023, Jordan’s population reached approximately 11.5 million, with more than 90% living in urban areas. Jordan holds the second-highest global rank in refugees per capita, with around 730,000 refugees registered with UNHCR, mainly from Syria, living predominantly outside of camps. Additionally, over 2.5 million Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA, many holding Jordanian citizenship, contribute to the country’s demographic complexity.
Despite the return of 3,500 refugees to Syria in 2023, a survey conducted early in the year indicated that 97% of refugees do not intend to return within the following year. This demographic pressure intensifies the strain on Jordan’s limited water resources, further exacerbating the country’s water scarcity issues.
Jordan is one of the most water-poor countries in the world for renewable freshwater, with around 61 cubic metres per capita in 2021, significantly below the international water poverty line of 500 cubic metres per year. The Jordan River, a historically vital water source for the country, has seen a drastic reduction in flow due to upstream diversions by Israel. The Yarmouk River faces the same struggle along Jordan’s northern border; the average flow of the Yarmouk River was 495 MCM (million cubic metres) annually in the 1950s and has been decreasing since then to reach a value of 83 MCM presently, which has also encountered the stress of diversion by Syria. This has led to diminishing water availability and quality, thereby contributing to the decline of the Dead Sea.
Groundwater, constituting over 60% of Jordan’s water supply, faces rapid depletion and contamination. Over-extraction has led to declining water tables, increased salinity, and ecological damage, such as the drying of the Azraq wetland oasis in the east of the country (see The Geographer, autumn 2023, pp12–13). Climate change exacerbates these challenges through higher temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, and more frequent droughts, collectively threatening agricultural productivity, water availability, and overall water security. Addressing Jordan’s water scarcity necessitates a comprehensive approach embedded in sustainable development principles and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Strategies must contain improved water management practices, enhanced water-use efficiency, and innovative solutions to augment water supply.
As Jordan’s renewable water resources decline, securing additional supplies from non-conventional sources becomes more essential. At a national level, the foundation of this strategy lies in the desalination option through the new National Conveyance Project: the Aqaba–Amman Water Desalination and Conveyance Project (AAWDCP). The AAWDCP stands as Jordan’s largest national desalination initiative. Upon its completion, the project will generate 300 million cubic metres of desalinated Red Sea water annually. Its direct goals include securing a sustainable drinking water supply for the country, ensuring cost-effective desalinated
water conditions, fostering economic development in Jordan, and encouraging private sector engagement in the water sector.
Beyond desalination, a wide range of other potential water supply options are being explored. Below the surface, there is an increasing research focus on the potential for exploiting deep brackish water resources to match the elevated demand on the limited available water resources. There has also been a concerted effort to significantly expand the utilisation of treated wastewater for irrigation, which seems to offer substantial potential for maximising resource efficiency and alleviating pressure on precious freshwater sources. Rainwater harvesting, through enhanced infrastructure such as check dams, can locally boost water availability, particularly in rural areas with limited access to conventional sources. Such bottom-up efforts link to topdown climate adaptation strategies which are essential for promoting resilience against climate change impacts, and crucially include investments in resilient infrastructure, earlywarning systems for droughts, and integrating climate risk assessments into water management planning.
Jordan’s water scarcity is a complex and pressing issue that demands immediate and sustained action. Declining surface and groundwater resources, compounded by climate change, present formidable challenges. However, with comprehensive and integrated water management strategies, Jordan is working hard to mitigate the impacts of water scarcity and build a sustainable water future. Collaborative efforts at national, regional and international levels will be crucial in addressing this critical issue and ensuring water security for future generations of Jordanians.
FURTHER READING
Ministry of Water and Irrigation, National Water Strategy 2023–2040 (2023) (mwi.gov.jo/EBV4.0/Root_Storage/AR/ EB_Ticker/National_Water_Strategy_2023-2040_SummaryEnglish_-ver2.pdf)
M El-Fadel, M Zeinati, D Jamali (2019) Climate Change and Water Resources in the Middle East: A Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment (Environmental Science & Policy, 2) A Jägerskog, G Moammar (2019) Water Scarcity Challenges in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) (Middle East Policy, 26)
Image from Shutterstock
Voices of change: women leading the way
John Emmanuel, Programme Officer, Shahidi wa Maji, Tanzania
Women are at the heart of the global water crisis. Women and girls bear the burden of spending countless hours daily collecting water, have to give birth in healthcare facilities without clean water, and are disproportionately vulnerable to climate-related risks like droughts and floods. When droughts cause food scarcity, women sacrifice their own food intake so their children and families can eat. In times of floods and climate disasters, women typically prioritise the safety of their loved ones, often being the last to escape from danger.
Fair Water Footprints: everything
Anum Farhan, Project Manager, Environment and Society Programme,
Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire produce nearly two-thirds of the world’s cocoa, the main ingredient in a chocolate industry worth over $100bn annually. Yet it takes an estimated average of 1,953 litres of water to produce a 100g bar of chocolate. The chocolate we savour could be fuelling a crisis. Where irrigated cocoa plantations replace moisture-retaining natural forest, this intense water consumption can drain local sources, leaving smallholder farmers and communities to face shortages of clean water, inadequate sanitation, and even forced labour. The industry’s growth has come at the cost of severe environmental and social damage to the region.
“More equitable, effective and longterm outcomes can be achieved.”
The combination of climate, water, food security and environmental degradation is a gendered challenge. But here in Tanzania women are taking the lead in facing these challenges in a unique way with support from Shahidi wa Maji, a Tanzanian civil society organisation dedicated to sustainability, equity and accountability in water resource management.
By harnessing the power of the media, women across Tanzania are securing water justice.
The Wami Ruvu River Basin, covering 65,000km2 of Tanzania, is experiencing a decline in water resources as a result of climate change. Industrial activities are compounding the issue, causing water pollution and impacting the quality of water available. This has led to increased competition for water resources among different users, including women from pastoralist and farming communities.
To address this, Shahidi wa Maji has been working alongside women to equip them with knowledge about water resources and how to use the media to hold authorities accountable and claim their water rights. “We did not know how to report it or who to report it to. But now we know that we have a responsibility to monitor and report any concern through platforms like media and hold authority accountable,” said Katarina Alois of Kipera village, Morogoro district.
In Kipera, the advocacy efforts led by women have generated substantial improvements in the water quality of the Ngerengere River, by using local radio to raise concerns about water pollution. Through local radio programmes, women have been raising concerns about the impact of water pollution caused by discharging wastewater into the river, and how this has caused risks to their health and livelihood. Following the women’s advocacy, authorities investigated the factories responsible for discharging untreated wastewater into the river and ordered them to treat their wastewater before discharging.
“Before, duty bearers were very slow to respond and take appropriate action. After starting to use the media to raise our issue, it creates a sense of urgency and increases the pressure on duty bearers to act quickly. We believe it’s this approach that brings greater attention and creates public pressure for change,” said Daima Oloshon of Mbwade Village, Kilos district
When women actively participate in water resource management and can access the channels to hold authorities to account, more equitable, effective and long-term outcomes can be achieved. So far, Shahidi wa Maji’s approach has helped more than 145 women across Tanzania speak out and create lasting change.
The water embedded in our supply chains extends far beyond chocolate. Everything we use has a water footprint, the water used for production, and much of this water is sourced from overseas. While many of us are aware of our direct water use at home, the hidden water embedded within the food we eat, the clothes we buy and the electronic products we consume is often overlooked. The average UK household indirectly consumes a staggering 4,645 litres of water every day through imported goods. Wealthy nations like the UK have externalised their water footprints by importing water-intensive goods from poorer countries. According to a recent study, 70% of the water used to make products consumed in the UK is dependent on water from outside its border; 40% of that portion is from moderately to severely water scarce regions. From the cotton fields of Pakistan to the tea plantations of Malawi, our consumption is putting immense pressure on already scarce water resources.
This level of water use destined for exports to rich countries is unsustainable. Export-dependent countries where our chocolate comes from, like Côte d’Ivoire, often lack strong governance and conservation measures, and are facing resource depletion, ecosystem degradation, and social and political unrest from the decline and pollution of their water resources. Poor mining practices in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, have polluted rivers, contributing to lack of clean drinking water and triggering civil unrest. These challenges not only threaten the well-being of millions but also pose significant risks to global supply chains and economic stability. The scale and injustice of the global water crisis demands a fundamental shift towards fairer water footprints.
A pathway to transform water use in our global economy for good
At the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference, COP26, a coalition of 23 governments, businesses and civil society organisations united in recognising the power of water footprints to understand, communicate and stimulate action for water security. Together, they formed the Fair Water Footprints partnership (www.fairwaterfootprints.org) to ensure that our supply chains support, rather than undermine, shared water security and climate resilience.
Globalised supply chains are a dominant force shaping our world, influencing over 70% of global water use and pollution, employing nearly one-fifth of the world’s population and reaching regions most vulnerable to water scarcity. This immense power makes them a critical lever for positive change. This partnership seeks to transform the most ‘thirsty’ supply chains (food, textiles and minerals) by prioritising the fairness of our water footprints through supporting good water governance, creating incentives for sustainable production, and strengthening accountability across the entire value chain.
Supply chains built on unfair water footprints pose significant economic risks: water insecurity could constrain economic productivity by as much as 6% of GDP a year by 2050. But by valuing water appropriately, businesses can unlock water-related opportunities worth at least $436 billion through increased efficiency, climate resilience and innovation. The Fair Water Footprints partnership seeks to maximise these opportunities and strengthen collaboration to protect water resources, drive economic growth and build resilience.
A platform for innovation and impact
Transformative action is already happening. In Côte d’Ivoire, Earth Guardians are investigating the water footprint of cocoa production, shedding light on the human and environmental toll of globalised chocolate production and advocating for policy change. Together with Water Witness, they are advocating on behalf of vulnerable communities and generating momentum for change through a widespread public awareness campaign. Businesses are also embracing fair water footprints as not only a moral imperative but a strategic advantage to reduce risk and remain competitive.
The WRAP Water Roadmap is bringing together 60 food and drink retailers, supermarkets and businesses to stimulate action affecting
as much as half of the UK’s fresh food. Governments in Finland, the UK, Austria, Malawi, Madagascar, Panama and Peru are at the forefront of mainstreaming fair water footprints across government. By committing state-owned companies to responsible water management and incorporating water criteria into government procurement, these countries are demonstrating strong leadership. Notably, Finland has committed to an ambitious goal to become the most responsible water steward in the world by 2030 and the UK has invested £34 million to their Just Transitions for Water Security programme, which will in part support delivery of fair water footprints.
“Transformative action is already happening.”
The Fair Water Footprints partnership represents a bold vision for a water-secure future. By harnessing the collective power of governments, businesses and civil society, we are identifying critical opportunities to transform global supply chains into engines of positive change. Through collaboration, innovation and accountability, we are building a world where water is valued, protected and equitably shared. We invite partners who share this commitment to join us in this urgent endeavour.
“This partnership seeks to transform the most ‘thirsty’ supply chains.”
Water scarcity goes underground
Scott Jasechko PhD, Associate Professor, Bren School of Environmental Science
and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
As the world’s largest stock of liquid freshwater, groundwater provides a vital water supply to homes and farms worldwide. Although its volume is vast, groundwater reserves are declining. These declines are causing lands to sink and wells to run dry, posing substantial water management challenges. In most cases, these declines are the result of groundwater withdrawals from wells.
Wells have been used by humans for thousands of years. They take a variety of forms, all of which involve excavating earth. Today, wells supply about half of humanity with drinking water. They also supply ~40% of global irrigation, highlighting their importance for food production.
Unfortunately, this extensive reliance on wells is depleting groundwater stocks in some areas. What’s worse, groundwater level observations show that the rate of groundwater decline has accelerated in the 21st century in many areas, especially in dry climates where large swaths of land are used to irrigate crops. Accelerated groundwater declines are causing problems. For one, wells are running dry. As wells dry up, domestic water access and irrigation projects can be jeopardised. While those who can afford to do so may drill deeper wells, those who cannot afford a new well may lose access to groundwater. Secondly, groundwater declines are causing some land surfaces to sink. Groundwater pumping has long been implicated as one of the foremost drivers of land subsidence. As groundwater is pumped, underground clay layers can compress. This compression of clay layers often causes the overlying land to sink. Land sinking already poses a major threat to many coastal cities because it increases flood risks, which are also growing due to global sea level rise.
land subsidence. Three examples of ways that groundwater depletion has been addressed include 1) intentionally replenishing groundwater, 2) switching to alternate water supplies, and 3) establishing and implementing policies.
“Groundwater reserves are declining, causing lands to sink and wells to run dry.”
1) The intentional replenishment of aquifers, known as ‘managed aquifer recharge’, has been applied for many decades. It involves deliberately moving water underground to add to groundwater storage. This may be accomplished by building large ‘infiltration basins’, which act as leaky lakes that allow water to be banked underground. In other areas, managed aquifer recharge involves pumping water down into the underground using wells, a reversal from the more common use of wells: to pump water up. These injection wells insert water into the subsurface where it might be recovered later by pumping it back up. One of the challenges that some managed aquifer recharge projects face is water access. These projects often rely on transporting river water long distances or treating municipal wastewater, both of which have high energy demands. Nevertheless, managed aquifer recharge projects remain a key tool for combatting the growing problem of groundwater depletion.
2) Another way that groundwater declines have been halted is by switching water supplies. For example, some cities have addressed groundwater depletion by shutting off their pumping wells and switching their water supply to water from large rivers flowing through city centres. Other cities have reduced pumping after setting up a pipeline to draw water from rivers located farther away. These cases demonstrate the potential for water-supply-substitution to address groundwater depletion. However, some of these substitution methods risk exacerbating surface water scarcity if the rivers they rely on are also running low on water.
Groundwater depletion is widespread but it is not unavoidable. There are places that have addressed this issue, and in doing so have refilled groundwater stocks and arrested
3) Some policies can help to stop groundwater declines. These policies may include direct measures, such as placing limits on the drilling of new wells, restricting the volumes drawn from existing wells, or increasing the price for water extraction. These strategies may also indirectly influence groundwater use, for example by creating incentives to grow specific crops that require less water per unit land area. Together, these approaches demonstrate the potential for policymakers to help address groundwater declines.
Groundwater declines can be slowed or stopped, even reversed. There are dozens of places around the globe that have successfully addressed this issue. Unfortunately, these good news cases are outnumbered by cases of rapid and accelerating groundwater declines, stressing that much work remains to be done to address the problem of global groundwater depletion.
Groundwater well at the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve in California, USA.
Water scarcity in Scotland: really?
Dr Sarah Halliday and Dr Richard Gosling, University of Dundee
Scotland has a global reputation as a ‘wet’, water-rich nation. Often when we think of Scotland, it evokes images of our beautiful lochs and rivers, and notions of an abundance of water. It can therefore be challenging to understand that Scotland is vulnerable to periods of water scarcity. However, across Scotland water scarcity is a real and increasing risk.
Each year since 2018, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has declared moderate to significant water scarcity in a number of different regions, including both the west and east coasts. These events have resulted in significant impacts for our freshwater ecosystems and our water-dependant industries.
“Some distilleries in the highlands had to cease production due to insufficient water.”
Most domestic properties receive their water from Scottish Water, but a small percentage of properties access their water from a private supply, such as a spring or shallow borehole (3.6%).
In July 2021, some distilleries in the highlands had to cease production due to insufficient water. In August 2022, SEPA restricted water abstractions for the first time in the Tweed and Eden catchments, directly impacting agricultural crop irrigation. There have also been reports of toxic blue-green algal blooms in some lochs and reservoirs as water levels have fallen to historic lows, and mass fish kills due to high water temperatures and reduced flows.
What causes scarcity?
Water scarcity occurs when access to water, of sufficient quality, to meet both human and ecological needs becomes limited. It is controlled not only by the supply of water from rainfall but also by the demand for water within a region.
Our changing supply
Across Scotland, rainfall rates are highly variable. The water supply can vary across Scotland by over 3,000mm annually, with some areas wetter than the Amazon rainforest whilst others are drier than East Anglia. In addition, much of our annual rainfall can be delivered in short-duration, high-intensity events, leaving long spells with little to no rainfall. The capacity to capture and store water during times of excess supply also varies from region to region and can be limited particularly within our island communities.
Recent data indicate that Scotland has experienced an increase in meteorological droughts, particularly in the spring and summer. This trend has been linked to broader climate changes, such as higher temperatures, which increase evapotranspiration, exacerbating dry conditions. Future projections suggest that these patterns will intensify, with hotter, drier summers becoming more common by the mid21st century, leading to more frequent and severe droughts.
Our changing demand
The demand for water in Scotland spans sectors including domestic, agricultural, and industrial uses. Our natural ecosystems also have water requirements to maintain biodiversity and ecological health. Reduced water flows and levels can lead to habitat loss, reduced biodiversity, and decreased water quality, due to higher temperatures and increased pollution loads.
These can be highly vulnerable to extended periods of dry weather. In the 2018 heatwave, 500 failures of private water supply required bottled water provision as an emergency supply. Although overall water abstraction for public use has decreased in recent years due to improved efficiency and reduced leakage, the amount of water being used in domestic settings is increasing. Since Covid, average domestic demand has risen to 180 litres per person per day (lpd), significantly higher than other European countries (eg, Germany = 125lpd). However, many households significantly underestimate their water use.
Many of our key industries are also dependent on high-quality, reliable water supply. For example, since 2010, there has been a major expansion of the distillery sector in Scotland, with 22 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities now having a distilling business presence. Water management can be a challenge in the small catchments many distilleries rely on, where there are limited alternative sources and where supplies can be servicing other uses such as rural homes, tourist sites, crop irrigation and hydropower generation.
Managing water scarcity
Addressing water scarcity in Scotland requires a multifaceted approach that considers both supply and demand. This includes improving water use efficiency, enhancing drought resilience, and safeguarding natural ecosystems. While there is much to be done at the government and corporate levels to improve water use efficiency, there is also much that can be done at the individual level to promote improved water stewardship. Our water resources are precious, and we need to treat them as such. Thinking about how we each personally use water in our home and work, and the positive changes we can make to reduce this, is a great way to address how we can help our water resources become more resilient to the changes ahead.
Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas: visualising the extent of global water
Samantha Kuzma, Liz Saccoccia and Marlena Chertock, World Resources Institute (WRI)
Data from WRI’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas (www.wri.org/ aqueduct) show that 25 countries, housing one quarter of the global population, face extremely high water stress each year, regularly using up almost their entire available water supply. And at least 50% of the world’s population (around four billion people) live under highly water-stressed conditions for at least one month of the year, jeopardising people’s lives, jobs, food and energy security.
Without better water management, population growth, economic development and climate change are poised to worsen water stress. So, what’s causing growing water stress and which countries and regions will be impacted the most?
Across the world, demand for water is exceeding what’s available. Globally, demand has more than doubled since 1960. Increased water demand is often the result of growing populations and industries like irrigated agriculture, livestock, energy production and manufacturing. Meanwhile, lack of investment in water infrastructure, unsustainable water use policies, or increased variability due to climate change can all affect the available water supply.
A country facing ‘extreme water stress’ means it is using at least 80% of its available supply; ‘high water stress’ means it is withdrawing 40% of its supply. Without intervention, such as investment in water infrastructure and better water governance, water stress will continue to get worse, particularly in places with rapidly growing populations and economies.
By 2050, an additional one billion people are expected to live with extremely high water stress, even if the world limits global temperature rise to 1.3°C to 2.4°C by 2100, an optimistic scenario.
Global water demand is projected to increase by 20–25% by 2050, while the number of watersheds facing high year-toyear variability, or less predictable water supplies, is expected to increase by 19%. For the Middle East and North Africa, this means 100% of the population will live with extremely high water stress by 2050.
“Across the world, demand for water is exceeding what’s available.”
That’s a problem not just for consumers and waterreliant industries, but for political stability. In Iran, for example, decades of poor water management and unsustainable water use for agriculture are already causing protests, tensions that will only intensify as water stress worsens.
Our data shows that 25 countries are currently exposed to extremely high water stress annually, meaning they use over 80% of their renewable water supply for irrigation, livestock, industry and domestic needs. Even a short-term drought puts these places in danger of running out of water and sometimes prompts governments to shut off the taps. We’ve already seen this scenario play out in many places around the world, such as England, India, Iran, Mexico and South Africa. The most water-stressed countries are Bahrain, Cyprus, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman and Qatar. The water stress in these countries is mostly driven by low supply, paired with demand from domestic, agricultural and industrial use. In the Middle East and North Africa, 83% of the population is exposed to extremely high water stress, and in South Asia, 74% is exposed.
The biggest change in water demand between now and 2050 will occur in sub-Saharan Africa. While most countries in sub-Saharan Africa are not extremely water-stressed right now, demand is growing faster there than any other region in the world. By 2050, water demand in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to skyrocket by 163%; four times the rate of change compared to Latin America, the second-highest region. This increase in water use, mainly expected for irrigation and domestic water supply, could foster major economic growth in Africa; projected to be the fastest-growing economic region in the world. However, inefficient water use and unsustainable water management also threaten to lower the region’s GDP by 6%.
Meanwhile, water demand has plateaued in wealthier countries in North America and Europe. Investment in water-use efficiency has helped reduce in-country water use, but water use and dependencies extend beyond national boundaries, and the water embedded in international trade from lower-middle income countries to high income countries will increasingly contribute to rising water stress in low and lower-middle income countries.
Increasing water stress threatens countries’ economic growth as well as the world’s food security. According to data from Aqueduct, 31% of global GDP (a whopping $70 trillion) will be exposed to high water stress by 2050, up from $15 trillion (24% of global GDP) in 2010. Just four countries, India, Mexico, Egypt and Turkey, account for over half of the
water stress
exposed GDP in 2050.
Water shortages can lead to industrial interruptions, energy outages and agricultural production losses. In India, a lack of water to cool thermal powerplants in 2017–21 resulted in 8.2 terawatt-hours in lost energy, enough to power 1.5 million Indian households for five years. Failing to implement better water management policies could result in GDP losses in India, China and Central Asia of 7–12%, and 6% in much of Africa by 2050 according to the Global Commission on Adaptation.
Global food security is also at risk. Already, 60% of the world’s irrigated agriculture faces extremely high water stress, particularly sugarcane, wheat, rice and maize. Yet to feed a projected ten billion people by 2050, the world will need to produce 56% more food calories than it did in 2010, all while dealing with increasing water stress as well as climate-driven disasters like droughts and floods.
“Solving global water challenges is cheaper than you might think.”
It’s good to understand the state of the world’s water supply and demand, but water stress doesn’t necessarily lead to water crisis. For example, places like Singapore and Las Vegas prove that societies can thrive even under the most water-scarce conditions by employing techniques like removing water-thirsty grass, desalination, and wastewater treatment and reuse.
In fact, WRI research shows that solving global water challenges is cheaper than you might think, costing the world about 1% of GDP, or 29 cents per person per day from 2015 to 2030. What’s missing is the political will and financial backing to make these cost-effective solutions a reality.
Every level of government, as well as communities and businesses, must step up to build a water-secure future for all. The world will ultimately require an all-of-theabove approach, as well as solutions specific to individual catchments and regions. These findings may be daunting, but with the right management, every country can prevent water stress from turning into water crisis.
Wringing the moors dry at Eaglesham
Chris Fleet FRSGS, Map Curator, National Library of Scotland
Eaglesham in East Renfrewshire was laid out as a planned village in the 1760s by the 10th Earl of Eglinton. Although the Kirkton Burn, which ran through the new village, had a good fall and provided a source of limited water power, it was completely inadequate for powering industrial mills encouraged from the early 19th century. The new Orry Mill in the 1820s was powered by a water wheel over 15 metres in diameter, equal in height to the five-storey mill building. It was one of the largest in the country at the time, requiring 740 cubic metres of water per minute to power it.
This manuscript map shows the solution to this new water scarcity problem under the direction of the celebrated civil engineer, Robert Stevenson: a series of reservoirs on the moors above Eaglesham. The new Dunwan Reservoir covered over 100 acres of former grazing land, and connected in with smaller reservoirs just above Eaglesham through a long man-made lade, the Revoch Cut (also clearly shown on the map). This was a major water-management scheme, predating Robert Thom’s works at Rothesay and Greenock and which (in the words of a local historian) literally “wrung the moors dry.”
In practice, the reservoirs survived long after the mills they were built for. The main Orry Mill in Eaglesham was destroyed by fire in 1876, and the reservoir thereafter supplied drinking water to the Paisley environs. In the 1930s, a new higher dam was built to enlarge the Dunwan Reservoir, which still supplies drinking water today.
As well as showing the value of mapping for mitigating water scarcity, the map (with its transverse sections) is also a useful reminder of how much work it involved to survey river catchments for water capacities before Ordnance Survey’s levelling work in the mid-19th century.
the National Library of Scotland. View online at maps.nls.uk/view/218517347)
James Lamb (surveyor), James Ritson (draughtsman), Plan of Dunwan Reservoir near Eaglesham and of the lands which drain their water into it (1827) (Image courtesy of
Weaponization of water in Gaza and Palestine
Barbara Schreiner and Isabel Castro Dominguez, Water Integrity Network
Israel’s recent bombardment of Gaza has destroyed four out of the six water treatment plants, leaving the remaining two operating at just 10% capacity. This, combined with the throttling of the piped water from Israel, has significantly exacerbated the Palestinian humanitarian catastrophe. Currently, Gazans survive on between two and three litres of water per day for drinking, washing and cooking, despite the WHO guidelines of 15 litres as the minimum. Since the crisis began, the absence of clean water has resulted in over half a million cases of diarrhoea due to drinking contaminated water, together with outbreaks of hepatitis A and an increase in cholera cases. Beyond immediate health issues, the water crisis has severely limited hospitals’ ability to treat illnesses and injuries, increasing the deaths from untreated conditions.
Despite the Israel Defense Forces’ assertion that their actions are aimed at targeting Hamas members, the weaponization of water predates the Hamas governance in Gaza and long predates 7th October 2023. For decades, Israel has appropriated water from Palestine and deliberately hindered water development projects. Even before the total blockade and bombardment of the Gaza strip, conditions were dire for Palestinians. Water has been, and continues to be, one of the most significant development challenges that Palestine faces.
control over all water resources in Palestine and Israel since 1967. Approval for any Palestinian water development project must come from the Israeli administration, a process that is almost always denied.
Consequently, Palestinians are dependent on the water provided by Israel, which is insufficient for their needs. In December 2023, the Mayor of Bethlehem told us how people in the 23 illegal Israeli settlements surrounding Bethlehem get 250 litres of water per person per day as opposed to the 65 litres per person per day in Bethlehem. Bethlehem municipality is forbidden to tap into the groundwater under the city: the water is controlled by Israel.
“Israel has maintained control over all water resources in Palestine and Israel since 1967.”
The current lack of water in Gaza can be primarily attributed to the destruction of water infrastructure, the lack of fuel and electricity to power water treatment plants, and the closure of water pipelines by Israel. Historically, several other factors have contributed to the water crisis, which has been decades in the making. These include the blockade of materials needed to upgrade and maintain existing water infrastructure, insufficient funding from the international community for expensive and largescale projects due to the risk of them being bombed, and the reduction in both the quantity and quality of water from Gaza’s sole underground source.
The aquifer on which Gaza lies has been heavily depleted, primarily by Israel, which, unlike Gaza, has surface water sources, access to other aquifers, and extensive desalination infrastructure. This over-exploitation of the aquifer has led to 97% of its water being unfit for drinking due to high salinity. While the weaponization of water is most severe in Gaza, it extends across Palestinian territory. Israel has maintained
Since the occupation of the West Bank in 1967, Israel has laid claim to Palestinian water through a series of so-called water-sharing agreements. However, there is no water justice in these agreements. Israel prevents Palestinians from accessing the resources of the Jordan River. The other major source of water is the Mountain Aquifer which is shared according to the 1995 Oslo interim agreement in which Israel was granted 71% of the water and Palestinians only 17%. This artificially created situation of extreme water scarcity profoundly affects the human and economic development of Palestine. Water has been used to gain leverage over Palestine: by reducing the amount of water available to Palestinians their lands have become unusable, which has enabled Israel to claim them; also, there is a significant psychological and physical toll on a population that has restricted access to water for irrigation and for drinking water. This is not by accident. Donna Hertzog argues that water has been a critical element of the Israeli state-building project. By making life increasingly difficult, these policies intend to pressure Palestinians into leaving their lands unfarmed, facilitating Israeli settlement expansion.
In October 2023, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation, Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, said, “I want to remind Israel that consciously preventing supplies needed for safe water from entering the Gaza Strip violates both international humanitarian and human rights law.” As we have raised in this piece, the issue in Gaza is particularly severe, but the weaponization of water across Palestine needs to be addressed by the international community, as a matter of urgency.
Image from Shutterstock
Fair Water Action Fund: a new frontier for water justice
Esayas Samuel, Regional Programme Manager (Africa), Water Witness; Viktoria Nemeth, International Programme Officer, Water Witness
In a world of limited African-led funding initiatives, there is a strong need for support that truly drives local change and takes on the systemic and structural drivers of poverty, climate change and water injustice. The global funding landscape for investigative action research and evidencebased advocacy is limited, and in general funding initiatives tend to be headquartered in the Global North. Even the best approaches can struggle to genuinely include voices from the Global South, when fighting pressing issues affecting those communities most directly. This lack of local support does not only stifle innovation but cannot be genuinely locally-led without the voices, and solutions, of those who are living every day with these challenges.
In recognition of this gap Water Witness, with funding from the Swedish Postcode Lottery Foundation, Hewelt Foundation, and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, has set up the Fair Water Action Fund. This new initiative is specifically designed to address urgent water and climate crises, focusing on the Global South, led from the Global South. It will support civil society, research institutions, media organisations and individual investigators with not just funding, but technical, legal and other practical advice.
marginalised populations. The OECD states that nine out of ten natural disasters are water-related, with one in four people globally at risk from severe flooding or drought. Additionally, 80% of the world’s wastewater is discharged without treatment. Globally, 300–400 million tons of heavy metals, solvents, toxic sludge and other wastes from industrial facilities are dumped into the world’s waters each year.
“This new initiative will support civil society, research institutions, media organisations and individual investigators.”
By providing funding, technical and legal support to researchers, investigative journalists and civil society organisations to investigate where water governance is going wrong, finding robust evidence and building out the evidentiary chain to identify the levers for change, and leading from the local level to recommend and advocate for evidencebased solutions, the Fair Water Action Fund can boost Global South capacity and impact for water justice.
Our goal is to amplify local voices, strengthen accountability, and drive evidence-based advocacy for better water governance. Putting power in the hands of people closest to the issues is how we can make a difference in overcoming the crises facing water, climate and inequality that are inextricably intertwined today.
Almost two-thirds of the world’s population lives in areas that experience water stress, mainly concentrated in Asia, subSaharan Africa and Latin America. Although nations agreed to improve water management years ago, strategies and plans are only in place for 40% of countries, and less than half report progress towards implementing all their stated commitments. As a result, an estimated eight out of ten rivers no longer reach the ocean year-round, starving deltas downstream, and raising opportunity for geopolitical tensions in the case of transboundary water.
Climate change amplifies this by distorting the allocation of water and increasing floods and droughts, with catastrophic results for some of our poorest and most socially
Our initial round of funding will be accepting applications from Africa, where we will support projects that take a close look at water management and the roles of governments, private sector, financial institutions and civil society, seeking accountability from actors responsible for water management, and empowering local voices to take the lead.
Designed with input from researchers, investigative journalists, community leaders and civil society activists from ten African nations, the holistic approach of funding, technical and legal support is a result of understanding of gaps to facilitating transformative change. The Fair Water Action Fund offers comprehensive support by combining financial grants of between £3,000 and £36,000 with technical and legal assistance. Its technical support includes guidance on establishing effective water accountability frameworks, water accountability monitoring, budget analysis for water security, investigative journalism, water security scoping analysis, and project monitoring, evaluation and learning. This support aims to enhance grantees’ capacities through tailored guidance, training and resources. The legal support empowers grantees to leverage legal mechanisms for advancing water justice. Services include legal research, policy strategy, training, document review and networking. Additionally, the Fund supports litigation strategies and helps in legal representation to uphold water security and rights, ensuring that court outcomes contribute to improved governance and sustainable development goals.
To learn more about the Fair Water Action Fund, or to explore partnership opportunities, please visit www.waterwitness. org/fair-water-action-fund or contact actionfund@waterwitness.org
A water scarce Scotland: what role could groundwater play?
Kirsty Upton, British Geological Survey
Type ‘Scotland’s Climate’ into AI image generation software and it conjures up images of water: lochs, mountain streams, clouds, dramatic coastlines. Lots of water. But over the last few years, parts of Scotland have increasingly experienced water scarcity as a result of prolonged dry spells. During these periods, we have seen significant lowering of river, loch and groundwater levels, with associated impacts on water supply and the environment. In some areas, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency have had to implement restrictions or suspend water abstraction for important economic activities, such as hydropower and agricultural production. During these prolonged dry periods, most notably in 2018, 2022 and 2023, many private water supplies ran dry, leaving households without running water for days or weeks at a time.
Water scarcity is not a new phenomenon in Scotland. However, the frequency and severity of water scarcity is projected to increase, with drought conditions occurring every one in three years by 2040 (compared to one in 20 years over the historic baseline period). In some parts of the country, water scarcity is being experienced for the first time.
A recent project led by the James Hutton Institute, in partnership with the British Geological Survey, Aberdeen University and SAC Consulting, investigated the potential impacts of water scarcity on the agricultural and distilling sectors in Scotland. We found that many water users, particularly in Eastern Scotland, are already feeling the impacts of increasing water scarcity. The research points to an urgent need for clear advice, funding, and partnerships to support water users adapt to climate change.
One adaptation option, already highlighted in Scotland’s National Water Scarcity Plan, is the use of groundwater as an alternative, and potentially more resilient, water source. Groundwater is already an important and valuable natural resource in Scotland. It provides the majority of private water supply, supports public water supply for several major towns, provides around half the water used for crop irrigation, and is widely used by industries such as distilling, brewing and bottled water.
Groundwater also provides baseflow to many of Scotland’s rivers. However, compared to surface water, which provides 95% of the water used for public supply in Scotland, groundwater is relatively poorly understood. In many areas, there are major gaps in our understanding of the amount of groundwater available for supply and its resilience to drought.
drought. In Ethiopia, for example, boreholes exploiting groundwater have been found to provide the most reliable source of water to rural communities when other sources, such as rivers, springs, and shallow wells, fail during drought. This brings significant benefits to those communities reliant on groundwater. Where other water sources fail, communities experience increased collection times, reduced agricultural productivity and food security, reduction in school attendance, and negative health impacts.
So what role could groundwater play in adapting to future water scarcity in Scotland?
Groundwater is not an infinite resource. To understand the potential role it could play in supporting more resilient supplies in Scotland, we need to quantify groundwater storage, groundwater recharge, and groundwater use. Where groundwater storage (the amount of water that is stored underground in the pore spaces and fractures within rocks) is relatively high, aquifers have greater capacity to support continued groundwater abstraction through droughts.
Groundwater recharge (the amount of water that infiltrates the ground to replenish storage) determines the amount of water that can be abstracted sustainably without causing long-term depletion or environmental degradation.
A combined analysis of storage and longterm average recharge in Scotland highlights those parts of the country that are relatively more or less resilient to drought and long-term groundwater depletion. In Eastern Scotland, where the majority of abstraction for agriculture and distilling takes place, long-term average recharge is relatively low. In this region, significant storage within sandstone aquifers can provide a buffer during dry periods, making abstractions from these aquifers potentially more resilient to drought. Conversely, abstraction from relatively low-storage aquifers, such as those found within old crystalline rocks and many superficial deposits, will be more vulnerable to drought. In the west of Scotland, where long-term average recharge is relatively high, we would expect low-storage aquifers to continue to be able to support small-scale abstraction, but these sources will remain vulnerable to prolonged dry periods.
“Many water users are already feeling the impacts of increasing water scarcity.”
More than half the world’s population are now estimated to rely on groundwater for drinking, and in parts of the world that experience water scarcity, groundwater often provides a secure supply of water during
This analysis provides a useful framework for assessing the potential for groundwater to support adaptation to increased water scarcity in Scotland at a national scale. What’s needed next is a more detailed understanding of Scotland’s groundwater systems at a catchment and aquifer scale. This will determine where and when groundwater could provide increased resilience for water users, particularly those vital Scottish industries such as agriculture and distilling.
‘Taps
Aff!’ The unexpected challenge of water scarcity in Scotland
Dr Laura Major, Research Fellow, University of Strathclyde; Dr Elizabeth Lawson, postdoctoral researcher, Newcastle University; Dr Jen Roberts, Deputy Director, Strathclyde Institute for Sustainable Communities
“This is the river. Water, that strong white stuff, one of the four elemental mysteries, can here be seen at its origins. Like all profound mysteries, it is so simple that it frightens me. It wells from the rock, and flows away. For unnumbered years it has welled from the rock, and flowed away. It does nothing, absolutely nothing, but be itself.” (Nan Shepherd, The Living Mountain)
Revisiting Nan Shepherd’s beloved book The Living Mountain reveals it is as much about water, perhaps even more so, than the earthier features of the Cairngorm mountains. The focus is fitting. Scotland is renowned not only for its landscapes but also for its waterscapes and weatherscapes. When people think of Scotland, they often imagine mountains alongside rivers, lochs, peat bogs and, with humour or exasperation, rain. Even whisky, for which Scotland is famous, is called uisge beatha in Scottish Gaelic, meaning ‘water of life’. Such is the connection between Scotland and water that the Scottish Government’s national water resources management programme proudly calls Scotland the ‘Hydro Nation’.
land use, which can affect river catchments, shift groundwater distribution, and directly alter what is mixing with the water. There have also been changes in the ways we use water in our homes, alongside increasing seasonal shifts in population size, including the influx of holidaying visitors during the summer when water supplies are most vulnerable. Scotland is also resting some of its economic development hopes on the growth of industries that have high water usage.
It is obvious that these issues cannot be resolved with technology alone. Ensuring a reliable water supply involves much more than just water; it is driven, for example, by the relationships between people within local water communities, and across government. Actions taken in areas unrelated to water can easily cascade down to the tap.
“Significant intervention is needed to make water safe for drinking.”
What may surprise you therefore is that Scotland is facing a water scarcity crisis. Reader, we hear your laughter, albeit dampened, amid what has so far been a wetter than average spring and early summer 2024. Hear us out. Over the last decade, water scarcity events in Scotland have increased, with predictions for further frequency and severity each year. By the end of summer 2022, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency reported that much of the country was managing a scarcity event. In 2023, the situation did not improve, with numerous reports of water supplies running low.
Water scarcity events frequently impact rural communities first. Although rural areas in Scotland may be the wettest parts of the country, this proximity does not guarantee easy access to usable water. Artificial systems are often needed to ensure water flows from source to tap, with rural properties sometimes requiring miles of delivery pipes. Despite Scotland’s reputation for pristine natural resources, significant intervention is needed to make water safe for drinking. For many communities, reliable water access is a year-round challenge.
In rural Scotland, much of the supply is managed by the public-owned Scottish Water, typically via small treatment plants. There are also numerous private water supplies, which are the responsibility of individual property owners. These private supplies use water from local sources like burns, wells and boreholes. Both public and private supplies are vulnerable to water scarcity events, and some are now routinely struggling to draw sufficient water from sources that were once plentiful.
The cause of these events is not fully understood, but climate change is altering weather patterns, affecting rainfall frequency and location, and increasing evaporation. These changes result in lower water levels and new weather extremes, including intense, brief periods of rain that can be destructive.
These challenges are not just environmental, they are deeply interconnected with social change. This includes changes in
Scotland is increasingly aware of its water management challenges. Regulators, policymakers and public bodies are developing strategies for both short-term crises and longterm concerns. However, efforts must consider the specific needs and desires of local communities. The solution is not so simple as waiting for rain or asking people to limit water use. Our research shows a complex water culture must be understood for meaningful change. We investigate how practices, beliefs, man-made objects, the natural environment and policies interconnect to create Scotland’s unique and ‘living’ waterscape.
FURTHER READING
Taps Aff: Voicing Experiences with Water Scarcity in Rural Scotland aims to document lived experiences of water scarcity (www.waterscarcitystories.co.uk)
Harnessing the power of water on the journey to net zero
Neil Lannen, Director of Hydro Asset Management, SSE Renewables
For over 80 years, Scotland’s hydro-electric power stations have harnessed vast natural water resources to help power homes and businesses across the country. Today, this original source of renewable energy is still being used, and is more important than ever as the UK makes the transition to net zero. At SSE Renewables, we own and operate a vast portfolio of renewable energy assets. Hydro sits right at the heart of this.
The visionary Hydro Electric Development (Scotland) Act was introduced in 1943, marking the construction of some of the country’s most iconic power station sites. A total of 54 power stations, 78 dams and over 300km of underground tunnels were constructed by the energy pioneers of the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board, bringing power to the Scottish glens for the first time, transforming the way people lived and worked.
needed. This will complement Coire Glas, further strengthening Scotland’s energy security and providing additional flexible energy that will be critical in achieving net zero carbon emissions.
“We are actively seeking investment opportunities for hydro generation.”
The majority of those original sites are still in operation today and, at SSE Renewables, we are proud to be the custodian of hydro’s rich history and heritage across Scotland. These hydro stations, built to last in the 1950s and 60s, now stand ready to play their part in a net zero future.
Pumped storage hydro, for instance, will play a vital role in the journey to decarbonisation. The technology works by using two reservoirs of water at different elevations over a short distance, generating power as water moves down from one reservoir to the other, passing through turbines to produce electricity. Excess renewable energy, which would otherwise go to waste at times of low demand, can then be used to pump water back up into the upper reservoir, meaning this surplus renewable power can be captured and stored, like a giant natural battery. It can then be released back down on those still, cold and grey days when the wind doesn’t blow, or the sun doesn’t shine. This flexible technology will be critical to an increasingly renewables-led energy system in the UK in the years ahead.
Our flagship £1.5bn+ pumped storage hydro project at Coire Glas, if constructed, could become Britain’s biggest natural battery, and would nearly double the country’s current flexible electricity storage capacity. If built, Coire Glas would be capable of powering around three million homes for 24 hours, and would be one of the biggest investments and engineering projects in the Scottish Highlands and the UK. The project would bring hundreds of jobs to the region and inject millions of pounds in direct supply chain support into the economy.
In addition to our commitment to new pumped storage projects like Coire Glas, we also plan to convert our existing Sloy Power Station on the banks of Loch Lomond to pumped storage hydro. Sloy, which is Britain’s largest conventional hydro power plant (152.5 MW) and the first scheme to be built by the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board, could be transformed into a pumped storage scheme by introducing new pumps located in the grounds of the power station. These pumps would move water from Loch Lomond to Loch Sloy during times of low demand or oversupply, to store energy and release it back when it is most
But the benefits of hydro go further than its role in generating clean energy and storing it for when it’s needed. Our sensitive management of water across the hydro schemes for which we are responsible continues to contribute positively during periods of water scarcity and flooding. During flood scenarios, our storage reservoirs can play a critical role, impounding water and storing it until the peak flood has passed to minimise the effects on properties and communities downstream. And during prolonged dry spells, our sensitive management of water helps maintain higher flows in many rivers for longer than if hydro schemes weren’t in existence. This positive support for river flows helps protect biodiversity in the catchments in which we operate.
Last year, SSE celebrated 80 years of hydro. This year, we are continuing to invest in our existing fleet, with the £50 million refurbishment of Tummel Bridge Power Station nearing completion. The Perthshire station is currently undergoing a comprehensive refurbishment, involving the replacement of the turbines which had been in operation since the power station started producing energy in 1933. The project will increase the facility’s potential output from 34 to 40 Megawatts, and ensure the station can remain part of Scotland’s energy mix for generations to come.
At SSE Renewables, we are actively seeking investment opportunities for hydro generation, including the repowering of existing hydro power plants, adding pumping capability to existing stations and identifying suitable partnerships to develop new pumped storage. This investment will continue to ensure our hydro fleet, harnessing the power of water, continues to play a critical role in the net zero transition and beyond.
Sloy Power Station, autumn 2023.
Water and renewable energy transitions
Professor Alida Cantor, Associate Professor of Geography, Portland State University; Professor James Blair, Associate Professor of Geography and Anthropology, Cal Poly Pomona; Professor Dustin Mulvaney, Professor of Environmental Studies, San José State University; Professor Kate Berry, Professor of Geography, University of Nevada, Reno; Noel Vineyard, PhD Candidate in Geography, University of Nevada, Reno
Addressing climate change is a crucially important endeavour that requires making significant changes to energy systems. But, energy is fundamentally intertwined with water in important and under-recognised ways. This means that transitioning towards renewable energy, even one that cuts carbon emissions, could impact local water resources and communities in unanticipated ways.
Renewable energy transitions – while critical to decarbonisation – are impacting water use, water quality, water governance, and cultural values of water. Our team of researchers views these tensions as inherently geographic questions of human-environment relationships, resource management, and place-based connections. Any emerging impacts to water can be a matter of environmental justice, raising questions of who benefits and who bears the burdens of the energy transition. How can water and energy resources be developed and managed in ways that are more just, sustainable and equitable for disadvantaged communities and biodiverse ecosystems?
involves pumping brine into shallow evaporation ponds, which exacerbates water depletion in close proximity to protected wetlands, leading to protests by Indigenous communities.
The third lithium extraction method, DLE, is new; while its proponents claim it avoids the negative impacts of openpit mining and brine evaporation, DLE still uses significant quantities of freshwater.
The processing of lithium chemicals, manufacturing of batteries, use phase, and disposal (or recycling) all add further water impacts that call for further investigation.
“Lithium development can have considerable local and regional impacts on water.”
One leading example in energy transitions to illustrate these new challenges to water is lithium, a key ingredient for electric vehicle (EV) batteries. Growing demand for EVs has led to an increase in lithium mining around the planet, with operations expanding on every continent except Antarctica. Our research shows that lithium development can have considerable local and regional impacts on water and society throughout its life cycle.
Methods for extracting lithium include open-pit mining, brine evaporation, and novel direct lithium extraction (DLE). Though distinct in how they take lithium from Earth, each of these ‘upstream’ processes can bring water-related impacts to local communities and watersheds. Open-pit lithium mining currently accounts for more than half the world’s production, with Australia supplying the bulk of lithium. Open-pit mining impacts groundwater and can cause significant drawdowns of aquifers; the process also creates large quantities of waste rock, air pollution and disturbed habitat, each having lasting implications for water quality and quantity. Brine evaporation is the predominant lithium extraction method in the arid Andean salt flats of Chile and Argentina. Brine evaporation
Lithium processing is one of the most water-intensive phases in the lithium life cycle, particularly for lithium sourced from open-pit mining or DLE. There are also concerns about exposure to wastewater and use of problematic chemical contaminants, such as trichloroethylene (TCE), in the lithium battery supply chain and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) generated in the manufacture of lithium-based batteries. Even at the end of the life cycle, recycling and disposal can result in water quality hazards.
Lithium has different impacts on water and society across its life cycle, depending on specific place-based geographies, as well as the mode of extraction or processing. Similarly, other renewable energy-related infrastructures and technologies hold the potential to change how water is used and impacted, with uneven burdens or benefits on communities and environments. We are not trying to make the case that energy transitions should not happen. Renewable energy development, including lithium, will be needed to electrify transportation and decarbonise electricity to fight climate change. Nonetheless, it is crucial to understand impacts on water and communities throughout energy life cycles in order to find ways to avoid shifting unnecessary burdens from one place to another.
The saying ‘water is life’ spans many cultures around the world. Clean, healthy, and abundant water is fundamental for humans and all other living things. For a just and sustainable energy transition, we need to think holistically about water and society.
JJ Blair, N Vineyard, D Mulvaney, A Cantor, A Sharbat, K Berry, E Bartholomew, AF Ornelas (2024) Lithium and water: Hydrosocial impacts across the life cycle of energy storage (Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, wires. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wat2.1748)
JJ Cousins, A Cantor, B Turley (2024) Water throughout the green energy transition: Hydrosocial dimensions of coal, natural gas, and lithium (Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/wat2.1751)
Carrying the legacy of Martin Moran
Hazel Moran, Director of Communications, Martin Moran Foundation
The Martin Moran Foundation (MMF) was established to honour the legacy of Martin Moran, a mountaineer, explorer and British Mountain Guide who inspired many people through his adventures. Following Martin’s passing in 2019, his family was deeply moved by the outpouring of tributes and stories shared by those who had been inspired by his achievements and experiences in the mountains. This inspired his family to continue his legacy by creating a charity focused on inspiring young people through mountain adventures.
Founding MMF
After Martin’s death, his wife Joy and children Hazel and Alex sought to find a meaningful way to honour his memory. They realised that supporting the next generation of mountaineers, especially those without access or privilege, was a core value they all shared. Thus, the Martin Moran Foundation was born in 2021, with a mission to inspire young people through mountain adventures, climbing, and community in wild places.
Running the charity
Through partnerships with Glenmore Lodge and other organisations, MMF provides further training and qualifications. They also offer financial support for activities such as annual passes to climbing walls or advice on weekend adventures.
Measuring impact and success stories
“MMF focuses on providing opportunities for young people.”
Staying in touch with participants allows MMF to witness the long-term impact of their programmes. The foundation celebrates every achievement, from continued engagement with the outdoors to improvements in mental health and new friendships formed through shared adventures. Notable success stories include Andy, a participant who earned his Summer Mountain Leader award through the scholarship scheme, and Abdoul, who now regularly climbs at his local wall in Glasgow.
Challenges and aspirations
Each family member plays a vital role in the foundation: Joy serves as the CEO, Hazel as the Director of Communications, and Alex as the Director of Operations. Together, they manage the day-to-day operations and strategic direction of MMF, ensuring that Martin’s legacy continues to inspire and empower young adventurers.
Supporting young adventurers
MMF focuses on providing opportunities for young people aged 16–18 who face barriers to accessing the outdoors. They collaborate with teachers, youth leaders, social workers, and organisations across the UK to identify and nominate suitable candidates. These young adventurers may come from under-represented groups, face financial challenges, struggle with mental health issues, or lack family support.
Each year, MMF works with ten young people, offering them a tailored and fully funded week of mountain adventure in the Cairngorms. Participants learn essential skills such as rope work, mountain safety, scrambling, rock climbing and navigation. The goal is to leave them confident and equipped to continue their mountain adventures independently. At the end of the programme, participants receive all the necessary gear to support their ongoing pursuits.
Continuing support and community
MMF’s commitment to the young people doesn’t end with the initial programme. The Foundation offers a scholarship scheme and maintains a community group where past participants can stay connected.
Like many charities, MMF faces challenges in securing consistent funding. Despite keeping the organisation small to ensure sustainability, funding remains a significant hurdle. The foundation relies on donations and fundraisers, with supporters undertaking various challenges to raise funds. Looking ahead, MMF hopes to expand their programmes if funding allows, continuing to support young people in finding adventure and building resilience through their mountain experiences. The scholarship scheme remains a cornerstone of their future plans, providing ongoing support to help participants pursue their outdoor passions.
How to get involved
You can support MMF by making a donation on their website (www.martinmoranfoundation.co.uk) or by undertaking fundraising challenges. Whether it’s tackling the Martin Moran Round or embarking on a personal adventure, every contribution helps remove barriers to mountain experiences for young people. Follow the foundation’s journey and get involved via their website or social media @ martinmoranfoundation
The Martin Moran Foundation stands as a testament to Martin’s enduring impact, fostering a new generation of mountaineers who are inspired, equipped and supported to explore the wild places that Martin loved so deeply.
Exciting developments on the geospatial skills agenda
Bruce Gittings, University of Edinburgh and AGI Scotland; Jenni Doonan, Fife College; Ashley Stewart, Location Data Scotland
In the spring edition of The Geographer, we laid out the opportunities available through GIS and geospatial technologies. We argued that geographers have never before had such an obvious (and exciting) career path. The use of geospatial in government and industry is flourishing with growing interest across a range of sectors. The global geospatial market size was estimated to be $452 billion in 2022 and is forecasted to grow at 14.6% annually to be $681 billion in year 2025, with even faster growth of 16.1% to reach $1.44 trillion by 2030. In the UK there are already more than 31,000 geospatial jobs. Whenever the question is ‘where is?’ then geospatial (and geography) are inevitably the answer. Yet, we have demonstrated genuine concern as to whether Scotland, and the UK more broadly, can meet this demand for skilled staff.
Since our earlier article, we have been working with Fife College to map out a skills training programme that meets the needs of the geospatial industry in Scotland, including a survey to industry. A successful meeting with a broad range of stakeholders was held in the Scottish Government’s Victoria Quay offices to follow up on the round-table events held previously. This launched the Geospatial Skills Roadmap (locationdatascotland.com/geospatial-skills) we have been developing for some months and invited comment and additions, as well as beginning the process of designing an appropriate curriculum.
geospatial skills, with support from the university’s experts in this field. University of Edinburgh’s Bayes Centre and Fife College are already partners in the Data Driven Innovation programme within the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal and have already been delivering upskilling programmes in data science. This initiative builds on the Data-Driven Innovation and Skills elements of the City Region Deal to develop a talent pipeline to support the growth of the sector and the exciting careers it presents.
“Whenever the question is ‘where is?’ then geospatial (and geography) are inevitably the answer.”
We realised there was a valuable and indeed necessary conjunction between geospatial and the developments happening in the space industry in Scotland. Scotland is already one of the biggest employment clusters in the UK for space-related industries. As many will be aware, there are spaceports planned or under construction at Machrihanish, North Uist, Prestwick, Sutherland and Unst, together with several companies involved in satellite and sensor design. However, it is in the data processing that GIS and satellite imaging comes together; it is geospatial tools which are required to meaningfully analyse, visualise and disseminate datasets collected using satellite platforms. A number of companies, together with analysts in local and central government, routinely make use of satellite imagery in conjunction with other forms of data in GIS-related tasks and map production. Applications are broad, from precision agriculture through planning, logistics, balancing electricity production with demand, managing our forests and natural environment to forming the basis of a plethora of smartphone apps. In addition to the figures for the geospatial sector presented above, the space sector is currently worth over £16.4 billion per year to the UK economy and employs 45,100 people. In this context, Fife College and the University of Edinburgh, with support from Location Data Scotland, successfully bid to the UK Space Agency, securing more than £500,000 in funding to help bridge the skills gaps that we have identified in both the space and geospatial sectors.
Edinburgh will involve itself primarily in satellite remotesensing training, while Fife College will take the lead on
This new training programme, known as ‘Space Bridges’, will appeal to a diverse range of skilled professionals and tradespeople, from insurance managers to electricians, to take up opportunities within the UK’s growing space and geospatial sectors. Starting in autumn 2024, Fife College will establish a Geospatial Foundation Skills Programme, consisting of five units of learning, that will provide a nongraduate pathway into geospatial careers. This initiative will also encourage diversity in the sector; bringing a technician-level skillbase to work alongside graduates, including those who want to work part-time or wish to retrain, or consolidate existing skills. The training will ensure students learn about geospatial systems, utilising space data, maps, and other location-based information created by national and international agencies. The four-month programme will be delivered face-to-face at Fife College and include guest speakers, industry visits and an opportunity to complete a project in partnership with industry.
The course is free thanks to the funding from the UK Space Agency. It will be open to school leavers or those looking to return to education. Fife College will reach out to local job centres, work with schools to explain the offering to pupils, whilst also engaging with Fife Council and the Scottish Government in relation to placements and potential employment. Initially the qualification will be certificated by Fife College, but with success we will explore accreditation with the SQA / Qualifications Scotland. This remarkably fast progress will allow us to move our geospatial skills agenda forward at pace and provides an exceptional opportunity to learn about data collected from space and its positive impact on our lives in Scotland.
Image from Shutterstock
Wild Mile Chicago: the world’s first ever floating eco-park
Sage Rossman, Community Outreach and Programs Manager, Urban Rivers
As a visitor to Chicago, the river might not be first on your list of things to see. Just a few decades ago, this would’ve been a reasonable instinct: as with most urban waterways, it has historically served as little more than a backdrop to the city’s industrial scene. As industry moved gradually from our waterways to our roads, federal and local organizations made efforts to clean the rivers. Whether legislation to prevent industrial dumping or infrastructural projects to divert sewage overflows, these measures have immensely improved water quality in recent years.
Unfortunately, the industrial infrastructure remains. Much of the river is channelized (artificially widened and deepened) with metal seawalls lining the edges. Human access points are few and far between, and where raw river edge can be found, it’s usually the product of neglect rather than intentional restoration. In this hostile environment, both humans and wildlife struggle to find a foothold.
The Wild Mile, a floating eco-park being built on the Chicago river’s north branch, provides this foothold. The park is composed of floating docks winding through lush gardens of native wetland species, and is accessible from street level. Administered by the non-profit organization Urban Rivers, the Wild Mile functions as a public park to be enjoyed by city dwellers.
complicated) lifecycle. Throughout the year, the submerged modules also host nesting fish, sunbathing snapping turtles, and curious muskrats foraging for food.
“The Wild Mile functions as a public park to be enjoyed by city dwellers.”
Hosting one of the most diverse collections of native plants in Chicago, the floating artificial wetlands provide high-quality, biodiverse habitat for a range of river-dwelling species. Beavers and muskrats can be seen foraging for food, and over 100 species of birds have been spotted from the boardwalk. Under the gardens, macroinvertebrates such as aquatic insects and snails make their home in the gardens’ lush root networks, which grow through the gardens’ physical pontoon structure and extend 2–3 feet into the water below. Fish feed on these small organisms, and shelter from predators beneath the gardens.
The wetland plants’ roots hang freely in the water column, where they thrive entirely on nutrients from the river. By pulling excess phosphorus and nitrogen from the water column, they buffer the rest of the ecosystem from the negative impacts of nutrient runoff, such as harmful algal blooms. These plants sequester heavy metals such as lead, which are often concentrated in urban waterways as a result of their industrial history.
The Wild Mile also incorporates aquatic habitat in the form of submerged modules; baskets that are suspended a few feet beneath the water and are exposed to the flow of the river. They host freshwater mussels, an ecologically crucial species that would otherwise struggle to survive in the soft, muddy bottom of an industrialized waterway. The baskets are designed to support the mussels through their entire (rather
Such species might be commonplace in the suburbs. With an extensive network of parks and forest preserves, Chicago is a national leader in public greenspace. However, many of the urban parks consist of monoculture grass lawns, and the preserves with greater biodiversity are often inaccessible to city dwellers who don’t own a car. The Wild Mile brings a thriving, biodiverse section of wildlife deep into the heart of the city, using rivers as an innate connector. Year-round, kayakers launch out of the park’s built-in boat launch, local residents picnic during their lunch break, and community scientists collect water samples. Partially natural foot traffic and partially structured programmes run by Urban Rivers, the Wild Mile has become a hub for research, recreation, and education. The floating park’s ‘learning platform’, initially intended to host large student groups, has seen over 6,000 programme participants and 60,000 overall visitors since its inception in 2022.
As our global climate warms, city dwellers in urban heat islands seek reprieve. Greenspace and bluespace access provide this crucial escape from temperatures, and have been shown to decrease crime and improve mental health. Many midwestern greenspaces flood and become unusable after extreme weather events, which are increasing with climate change. Though the Chicago river can fluctuate by more than ten feet during these events, the floating parkspace is designed to rise and fall with the water.
Both climate-centric and climate-resilient, the Wild Mile follows a long history of exclusivity and privatization along urban waterways. While hurdles remain, the project is a success story in design, community engagement, and equitable access to natural resources. The concepts behind it can be easily copy-pasted to urban waterways around the world, as both physical and social barriers to access are relatively universal. Though some would call it overly optimistic, the modern Chicago visitor can easily envision a future where urban rivers serve as wildlife sanctuaries and meaningful gathering spaces for all.
To learn more about the Wild Mile, as well as Urban Rivers’ other projects and pursuits, visit urbanriv.org or email team@urbanrivers.org
Ken Chamberlain, Committee Chair, World Bog Snorkelling Championships
Blessed with topography and moist prevailing winds, Waun Rydd near Llanwrtyd Wells, Mid Wales, is ideally suited to bog country. Southwest winds force air to rise at least 150m and compress through several cols as it reaches the northern boundary of Carmarthenshire, only for it to gradually fall and expand to flow over the Cledan catchment. The Cledan runs less than 8km from its source until it joins the Irfon and then onto the Wye at Builth Wells. Falling quickly at first, the Cledan then meanders through the flatter area of Waun Rydd to find a narrow exit channel to the Irfon. The water takes a long time to drain from the bog. Waun Rydd is surrounded by sheep farms and increasingly forestry in the cup of the head of the valley.
In this bucolic landscape, each August bank holiday, mayhem breaks loose; it’s time for the annual Bog Snorkelling World Championships! Despite being an SSSI, Green Events has a licence from Natural Resources Wales to disturb the bog no more than three times a year; apparently this disturbance actually stimulates flora and fauna regeneration around the bog. The bog is used on both the Saturday and Sunday of the Welsh late August bank holiday weekend, the third day regularly being used for an itinerant film crew.
allowed, and the swim is 120 yards: two lengths of the bog. Very occasional glances above water level are allowed, but excessive ‘looking’ will result in an ineligible time.
There are feeder events that send snorkellers to the world championships; Sweden normally sends a strong team and typically there are competitors from multiple continents. A new world champion is crowned each year and the fastest time is recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records.
The current world champion and record holder is Neil Rutter, with a time of one minute 12.34 seconds. To quote Neil after his 2023 win, “It is, as it’s intended, a completely mad, daft environment. It’s not meant for anyone like me to be taking it seriously. And the fact that I do it makes me the idiot in the situation.” Another important award category is fancy dress!
The main championships attract nearly 200 entrants each year, with the two competition bogs busy from 10am until nearly 4pm.
“In this bucolic landscape, each August bank holiday, mayhem breaks loose.”
Of course, you may ask ‘why?’ If you were to acquaint yourself with the residents of Llanwrtyd Wells you would quickly change your question to ‘why on earth not?’ Green Events has generated many events to help bring visitors to the area after the much-loved pony trekking businesses waned in the early 1980s. There was a running event (man vs horse), several walking events, a mountain biking event (with beer), but no swimming event. The Irfon in spate is too fast flowing and in summer not deep enough; fortunately, a local farmer offered to dig a trench in his bog to be used as a ‘swimming pool’.
A set of rules was generated appropriate to the quirky/oddball nature of the town. The trench allowed a 60 yard ‘swim’, but just swimming really wasn’t odd enough, hence snorkelling is required. This had the added bonus of not allowing a competitor to see where they were going once the water had been stirred up. The trench is quite narrow, and to protect the side walls doggy paddle is the only arm stroke allowed. Flippers are
The weekend on the bog includes not only the world championships on the Sunday, but also wife/partner carrying, husband/partner dragging, and ditch racing, along with all-day music, food and drink. On Saturday, events include the Bogathlon (mini sprint triathlon using the bog and ditch), MTB bog snorkelling (we provide the bike full of shot and a weighted jacket!) and bog belly flopping. If you happen to be around, just follow the frog to the bog or hop on the free shuttle from the centre of town (by the red kite).
Slow Burn
The Hidden Costs of a Warming World
Robert Jisung Park (Princeton University Press, April 2024)
Drawing on a wealth of new data and cuttingedge economics, environmental economist Park investigates how the physical phenomenon of climate change interacts with social and economic institutions. When wildfires blaze, what happens to people downwind of the smoke? When natural disasters destroy buildings and bridges, what happens to educational outcomes? Viewing climate change as a slow and unequal burn puts dollars and cents behind the case for aggressive emissions cuts and helps identify concrete steps that can be taken to better manage its adverse effects.
Limitarianism
The Case Against Extreme Wealth
Ingrid Robeyns (Penguin, January 2025)
We notice when the poor get poorer, when there are more rough sleepers and food bank queues start to grow, but if the rich become richer, there is nothing much to see in public. Philosopher and economist Robeyns exposes the true extent of our wealth problem. In moral, political, economic, social, environmental and psychological terms, she shows, extreme wealth is not only unjustifiable but harmful to us all, the rich included. She offers a breathtakingly clear alternative: placing a hard limit on the wealth that any one person can accumulate.
Reader Offer – 30% discount
Saving Ourselves From Climate Shocks to Climate Action
Dana R Fisher (Columbia University Press, March 2024)
We’ve known for decades that climate change is an existential crisis. For just as long, we’ve seen the complete failure of our institutions to rise to the challenge. Fisher argues that there is a realistic path forward for climate action. She considers when and how activism is most successful, identifying the importance of creating community, capitalising on shocking moments, and cultivating resilience. She offers timely insights on how social movements can take power back from deeply entrenched interests and open windows of opportunity for transformative climate action.
Inheritors of the Earth
How Nature Is Thriving in an Age of Extinction
Chris D Thomas (Penguin, June 2018)
From Costa Rican tropical forests to the thoroughly transformed British landscape, nature is coping surprisingly well in the human epoch. Ecologist and environmentalist Thomas takes us around the world to meet the enterprising creatures that are thriving in the Anthropocene, questions our persecution of ‘invasive species’, and shows us that we should not treat the Earth as a faded masterpiece that we need to restore. Combining a naturalist’s eye for wildlife with an ecologist’s wide lens, he re-examines humanity’s relationship with nature, and reminds us that the story of life is the story of change.
On Time and Water A History of Our Future
Andri Snær Magnason (author), Lytton Smith (translator) (Serpent’s Tail, Main edition, June 2021)
Icelandic author and activist Magnason writes of the melting glaciers, the rising seas and acidity changes that haven’t been seen for 50 million years. These are changes that will affect all life on Earth. Taking a path to climate science through ancient myths about sacred cows, stories of ancestors and relatives and interviews with the Dalai Lama, he allows himself to be both personal and scientific. The result is an absorbing mixture of travel, history, science and philosophy.
How to Build a Habitable Planet
The Story of Earth from the Big Bang to Humankind
Charles H Langmuir, Wally Broecker (Princeton University Press, revised and expanded edition, April 2012)
Readers of The Geographer can buy Saving Ourselves in hardback for only £11.89 (RRP £16.99) ). To order, please visit cup.columbia.edu and quote discount code ‘RSGSF’ at the checkout.
Geochemist Langmuir expanded Earth scientist Broecker’s classic account of how our habitable planet was assembled from the stuff of stars, interweaving physics, astronomy, chemistry, geology and biology to create this sweeping account which tells Earth’s complete story, from the synthesis of chemical elements in stars, to the formation of the Solar System, to the evolution of a habitable climate on Earth, to the origin of life and humankind. The book also addresses the search for other habitable worlds in the Milky Way and contemplates whether Earth will remain habitable.
