The WBCSD on Water
Everyone understands that water is essential to life. But many are only just now beginning to grasp how essential it is to everything in life – food, energy, transportation, nature, leisure, identity, culture, social norms, and virtually all the products used on a daily basis.
With population growth and economic development accelerating demand for everything, freshwater is becoming scarcer, and the full value of water is becoming increasingly apparent. Every human needs water, but how is water distributed fairly within a local community, and who decides?
Access to freshwater is a local issue. If you save water in one part of the world, it will not be made available elsewhere; and if you withdraw water and consume it, it will become unavailable for others to use. So companies not only need to think about how much water they are using and consuming, but also what the local freshwater situation is around their sites.
As indicated by growing media focus, water is increasingly recognized as a critical sustainable development issue, right alongside energy and food security. Globally, per capita availability of freshwater is steadily decreasing and the trend will inevitably continue as the world's population swells towards 9 billion, emerging economies increase consumption levels and climate change unfolds.
Many regions of the world are reaching a point of “water stress” where water resources can no longer support the demands of human populations. Nearly 20% of the world's population lacks access to safe drinking water and 40% is without adequate sanitation. Water withdrawals from rivers and lakes has doubled since 1960 according to the UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) – a four-year, international, scientific appraisal of the conditions and trends in the Earth's ecosystems completed in 2005.
Different businesses will be challenged in different ways. But what is certain is that all businesses will be affected either directly or indirectly by uncertainties, tensions and dilemmas in their use of water over the next few decades. Scarcity usually encourages better management of resources. Consequently, external demands on companies to demonstrate “sustainable water management” are growing fast.
At the same time, the worldwide water and sanitation situation creates new opportunities for business to contribute with sustainable solutions through know-how, new technologies and innovative products, while at the same time creating new markets.
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