COP21

Since it is the beginning of the New Year, I thought I would recap on the last and summarise a very important event that 2015 will no doubt be remembered for. COP21.

The world signed its first legally binding universal deal to tackle Climate Change by committing to keep global temperature rise below 2°C! Hurrah! Whilst this deal is a huge step in the right direction to ensuring climate justice, alarm bells rung when I glanced over the final adopted text... there was no mention of water.

Looking back, it seems ironic that the very inspiration for this blog is fundamentally being ignored on the biggest scale of all. If I’m honest, I was surprised. After a fantastic year for water with the adoption of Goal 6 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals, I remained optimistic that Paris would address a range of issues on freshwater resources and their management. The IPCC report (2013) summarised that semi-arid and arid areas were in particular danger as there was high confidence that their water resources would suffer. This, coupled with the high confidence that groundwater recharge is decreasing, will leave these regions under great water-stress. In addition, with rising populations putting greater pressures on the fight for resources, these countries are the ones that will feel the full effects of Climate Change the most. 

With such great confidence on the impacts Climate Change is having on water resources, I find myself asking why we haven’t taken the management steps on a global scale to address these issues. Whilst COP21 may have been deemed a success and the first step to the end of the fossil fuel era, we are still a long way from dealing with the stresses being placed on our water resources.