Nairobi, August 28, 2024 – Half of the world's countries have one or more freshwater ecosystems – rivers, lakes or aquifers – degraded. River flows have declined dramatically, surface water bodies have shrunk or disappeared, ambient waters have become more polluted and water management is off track. These are some of the findings of three reports tracking progress on freshwater, released today by UN-Water and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Published every three years, the report series focuses on progress towards achieving Clean Water and Sanitation for All (SDG 6) through protecting and restoring freshwater sources. Based on an even larger dataset than ever before, the report reiterates a call to scale up support for Member States to address the challenge through a UN system-wide water and sanitation strategy and the accompanying upcoming Joint Implementation Plan.
“Our blue planet is rapidly losing healthy freshwater bodies and resources, with dire prospects for food security, climate change and biodiversity,” said Diana Kopanski, Director of the Freshwater and Wetlands Unit in UNEP's Ecosystems Division. “At this time of crisis, global political commitment to sustainable water management has never been higher, including the passage of a water resolution at the last UN Environment Assembly in February, but it has not been matched by the funding and action needed. Tailored protection and restoration policies have prevented further loss, showing that degradation can be reversed – and we need more of them.”
Widespread deterioration
The report finds that 90 countries in Africa, Central Asia and Southeast Asia are experiencing degradation of one or more freshwater ecosystems. Other regions, such as Oceania, are seeing improvement. Pollution, dams, land conversion, overpumping and climate change contribute to the degradation of freshwater ecosystems.
Climate change and land use impacts have led to declines in river flows in 402 watersheds around the world, a five-fold increase since 2000. However, river flows have increased in far fewer watersheds.
Mangrove loss due to human activities (e.g. aquaculture and agriculture) poses risks to coastal communities, freshwater resources, biodiversity and climate due to their water filtration and carbon sequestration properties. Although significant mangrove losses have been reported in Southeast Asia, the overall net rate of deforestation has plateaued over the past decade.
Lakes and other surface water bodies are shrinking or being lost entirely in 364 watersheds around the world. High levels of particles and nutrients in many large lakes, mainly due to land clearing, urbanization and certain weather events, can lead to algae blooms and low-oxygen water.
Nevertheless, reservoir construction has contributed to a global net increase in permanent water, primarily in regions such as North America, Europe, and Asia.
Low level of water quality monitoring
The poorest half of the world provide less than 3% of global water quality data points and only 4,500 lake water quality measurements out of around 250,000, highlighting the urgent need to improve monitoring capacities.
A data shortage of this magnitude means that by 2030, more than half of humanity will live in countries where there is insufficient water quality data to inform management decisions to address droughts, floods, and the impacts of wastewater and agricultural runoff.
Areas where good data are available show that freshwater quality has declined since 2017. In areas where data is scarce, the signs are less encouraging.
The report's authors recommend the expansion and development of regular government-funded monitoring programs, as well as the incorporation of citizen science into such national programs, and exploring the potential of satellite-based Earth observation and modeled data products to fill data gaps.
Water resources poorly managed in over 100 countries
Balancing the competing needs of society and the economy for sustainable water access requires integrated water resources management (IWRM) to be implemented in all sectors, at all levels and across borders by 2030.
47 countries have fully or nearly reached IWRM, 63 need to accelerate implementation, and 73 have limited IWRM capacity. At the current reported rate of progress, the world will not achieve sustainable water management until 2049. This means that by 2030, at least 3.3 billion people in more than 100 countries could have ineffective governance frameworks to balance competing water demands.
Solutions include freeing up funds through revenue generation and cost recovery arrangements, investing in infrastructure and management, coordinated action, building institutional capacity and improving monitoring networks.
Notes to editors
About the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
UNEP is the world's leading environmental organization. It provides leadership on environmental protection and encourages cooperation in protecting the environment.
It allows us to improve the quality of life of our nation and its people without compromising the quality of life of future generations.
About UN-Water
UN-Water coordinates the UN's work on water and sanitation. It comprises UN Member States and international organizations working on water and sanitation issues. UN-Water's role is to enable Member States and partners to “speak as one” to water-related challenges.
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United Nations Environment Programme News and Media Unit