Severe lack of water affecting two-thirds of the global population for at least part of the year is manifesting into complex challenges, the United Nations food security agency has warned, calling for urgent and comprehensive adaptation efforts to address the situation.

The worst impacted are those dependent on agriculture, explained José Graziano da Silva, the Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), noting that some among them, especially the poorest, may see no alternative to migrate and in search of better livelihoods.

“Migration should be a choice, and not the only remaining option,” he stressed.

Exploring this intricate linkages in its new report, Water Stress and Human Migration, the UN agency also found that full information on these dynamics is lacking for India, Central Asia, the Middle East and central Sahel – areas expected to be hit with above-average surface temperature increases and worsening water scarcity in the next 30 years.

Furthermore, inadequate infrastructure coupled with rising temperatures, human demand (such as for agriculture, energy and industrial sectors) and greater rainfall extremes are expected to add to the water stress.

“While some studies demonstrate a correlation between water stress and higher outmigration, the causal interaction is still not clearly understood,” states the report, underscoring the importance to ensure that the water scarcity and migration does not become a case of “mutual aggravation.”

Adapting to water woes can help ease burden

Better adaption strategies, including ones that account for climate change impacts, to mitigate the compulsion to migrate is therefore vital.

“Analyzing water scarcity trends and engaging in preparedness are particularly valuable, allowing time to intervene to mitigate pressure for forced migration,” said Eduardo Mansur, a senior FAO official on water and land issues.

“Enabling proactive adaptation is a more effective and sustainable strategy than offering a reactive humanitarian response in the face of large-scale distress,” he added.

At the same time, the report also highlights that migrants can positively contribute to water management and development in both origin and host communities through good practices, skills and knowledge transfer, and the use of remittances.

In addition, it also calls for increased attention to the concept of environmental migration as well as more data to understand and pre-empt trends in a timely way.

The launch of the report comes ahead of the with World Water Day observed annually on 22 March as well as the World Water Forum, currently underway in the Brazilian capital, Brasilia.

The theme for this year’s World Water Day is ‘Nature for Water’ which exploring nature-based solutions to present-day water challenges.

The United Nations in Syria is appealing urgently for help to ease the catastrophic situation for tens for thousands of people impacted by fighting in Eastern Ghouta, outside Damascus, and the northern town of Afrin.

Having seen first-hand the desperate conditions of people from east Ghouta and Afrin, who are tired, hungry, traumatized and afraid, we need to provide them with urgent aid,” Ali Al-Za’tari, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria, said Monday.

“These civilians are facing harrowing humanitarian conditions,” he continued. “Many remain trapped by conflict inside East Ghouta and Afrin. All are in desperate need.” The fighting in both places has killed hundreds of civilians in the past month and displaced tens of thousands.

Insecurity and fierce hostilities continue to endanger the people of East Ghouta, which UN Secretary-General António Guterres has referred to as “hell on earth.”   

Most of those interviewed had some health conditions, likely due to years of lacking medicine and health care.

Meanwhile, nearly 100,000 people have been displaced by hostilities in Afrin District. The majority, some 75,000 people, have fled to Tal Refaat and the remainder to Nubul, Zahraa and surrounding villages.

The massive influx of internally displaced people is putting a strain on host communities, which are already overwhelmed. All 16 schools in Tal Refaat are being used as internally displaced shelters, resulting in the interruption of education.

Since 11 March, some 25,000 people have reportedly left East Ghoutam and on a daily basis UN teams have been visiting Dweir, Adra and Herjelleh in Rural Damascus where they are sheltering. All of these sites are well over capacity, with more people continuing to arrive on a daily basis.

“We appeal to Member States to provide much needed supplies and funding,” underscored Mr. Al-Za’tari.

The UN and its partners, notably through the tireless efforts of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, are fully mobilized to deliver aid on the spot.

“We appeal to all parties to facilitate access to all people in need; and to protect civilians, medical workers, service providers and humanitarian workers,” he concluded.

With five billion people at risk of having difficulty accessing adequate water by 2050, finding nature-based solutions, such as China’s rainwater recycling, India’s forest regeneration and Ukraine’s artificial wetlands, is becoming increasingly important, according to a United Nations report released Monday at the world’s largest water-related event in Brazil.

“We need new solutions in managing water resources so as to meet emerging challenges to water security caused by population growth and climate change,” said Audrey Azoulay, head of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in the foreword of the UN World Water Development Report 2018.

“If we do nothing, some five billion people will be living in areas with poor access to water by 2050,” she added.

Goal 6 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development seeks to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all and, also access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all by 2030.

The report notes that the global demand for water has been increasing and will continue to grow significantly over the next two decades due to population growth, economic development and changing consumption patterns.

Due to climate change, wetter regions are becoming wetter, and drier regions are becoming even drier. At present, an estimated 3.6 billion people, nearly half the global population, live in areas potentially water-scarce at least one month per year, and this population could increase to some 4.8 billion to 5.7 billion by 2050.

The number of people at risk from floods is projected to rise from 1.2 billion today to around 1.6 billion in 2050, nearly 20 per cent of the world’s population. The population currently affected by land degradation, desertification and drought is estimated at 1.8 billion people, making this the worst natural disaster based on mortality and socio-economic impact relative to gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.

The UNESCO Director-General said the report proposes solutions that are based on nature to manage water better.

The report notes that reservoirs, irrigation canals and water treatment plants are not the only water management instruments at disposal.

So-called ‘green’ infrastructure, as opposed to traditional ‘grey’ infrastructure, focuses on preserving the functions of ecosystems, both natural and built, and environmental engineering rather than civil engineering to improve the management of water resources, the report says.

In 1986, the province of Rajasthan in India experienced one of the worst droughts in its history. Over the following years, a non-governmental organization worked alongside local communities to regenerate soils and forests in the region by setting up water harvesting structures. This led to a 30 per cent increase in forest cover, groundwater levels rose by several metres and cropland productivity improved.

Danilo Pinzon/World Bank

A wastewater treatment facility in Manila, the Philippines.

Faced with an ever-increasing demand for water, China recently initiated a project, entitled ‘Sponge City,’ to improve water availability in urban settlements with the aim of recycling 70 per cent of rainwater.

Over recent years, Ukraine has been experimenting artificial wetlands to filter some pharmaceutical products from wastewater based on evidence that wetlands alone can remove 20 to 60 per cent of metals in water and trap 80 to 90 per cent of sediment from runoff.

“For too long, the world has turned first to human-built, or ‘grey,’ infrastructure to improve water management. In so doing, it has often brushed aside traditional and Indigenous knowledge that embraces greener approaches,” writes Gilbert Houngbo, Chair of UN-Water and President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in the foreword of the report.  

Despite emerging initiatives, the use of nature-based solutions remains marginal and almost all investments are still channelled to grey infrastructure projects, the report points out.

The report is the fruit of collaboration between the 31 UN entities and 39 international partners that comprise UN-Water.

The report, whose publication coincides with World Water Day annually observed on 22 March, was presented at the World Water Forum, which kicked off Monday and runs through Friday in Brasilia.

The Forum aims “to promote awareness, build political commitment and trigger action on critical water issues at all levels.”

Also on 22 March, the UN will launch the International Decade for Action: Water for Sustainable Development 2018 to 2028, which aims to further improve cooperation and capacity-building towards the SDGs.

Holding up a picture of a mother who lost two of her children, as well as her husband when their village in restive eastern DRC was attacked and burned down by armed militia in January, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock – who undertook a mission the country last week – explained:

“This is Mwasi Kallunga and her seven children, including her 18-month-old baby. You all have this picture in front of you […] They fled, walked for two straight days and now live in squalid conditions under a plastic sheet in a tiny so-called shelter in a congested, cramped, unsanitary, hilly camp at constant risk of fire and flood.”

Across the country, over 4.5 million people are displaced and most among them cannot even contemplate returning home due to the scale of violence and insecurity.

Furthermore, over the last year, humanitarian needs have doubled and an estimated 13 million people are in need of assistance, including 4.6 million acutely malnourished children – about half of them suffering severe acute malnutrition.

‘There is despair, but there is also hope’

In spite of the overwhelming challenges, the selfless solidarity of many Congolese families is remarkable, stated Mr. Lowcock, who is also the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.

“They have so little, yet they welcome their brothers and sisters from within and outside the country into their homes when those people are displaced by violence.”

The same solidarity is needed from the international community, he urged, stressing that the humanitarian situation in the DRC has to be kept on the agenda and solutions to the root causes of the worsening crisis – including on the political front – must be found.

“I asked [Mwasi] about her hopes for the future. She wants to be resettled, given a small plot of land to farm, and to get her children back into school. It’s not so much to ask for, is it?”

At a time when resources for refugees from Syria is declining, the top United Nations humanitarian official in Lebanon, the country host to some 1.5 million Syrian and several thousand Palestinian refugees, has launched a funding allocation to ensure that critical relief programmes can be sustained.

“Preserving the stability of Lebanon means preserving tolerance, diversity and stability in the region,” said Philippe Lazzariniat, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Lebanon, warning that the needs of the affected communities are fast outpacing the resources and capacities.

“More than ever, international solidarity needs to match the hospitality of Lebanon as host country. No country in the world can – or should – carry alone the challenge that Lebanon is facing. Responsibility-sharing is key.”

Launched Monday, the $6.5 million Standard Allocation, will fund support programmes for Palestinian refugees from Syria, persons with specific needs, and sexual and gender-based violence survivors (the three most vulnerable groups).

According to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the call for proposals under the Allocation will remain open until 6 April. Most of the funds through the Standard Allocation process will be used for priority projects in line with the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan.

In addition to the Crisis Response Plan, the Lebanon Humanitarian Fund has allocated over $40 million to support the humanitarian response in Lebanon since 2014, filling in with vital funds to sustain support for more than 850,000 individuals, including Syrian and Palestinian Refugees, as well as vulnerable Lebanese – 55 per cent of whom are women and girls.

However, lack of funding remains a major challenge and overall funding for the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan have fallen for three consecutive years.

In 2017, of the $2.75 billion needed, only 43 per cent was received. In 2016 and 2015, funding level stood at 46 and 54 per cent, respectively.