2022: The Year to Elevate the Value of Water
The key to understanding the relationship is learning to appreciate the preciousness of what we have. We must learn to more clearly see the water-related challenges around us and improve our understanding of the essential role water plays for overcoming some of the greatest development obstacles of our time. To put it simply: we must learn to value water.
There are unfortunately good reasons to remain concerned for our common future when moving into the new year. The report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, earlier this year, describes a situation far worse than what we assumed back in 2015 when the Paris agreement was adopted. The climate models we have been using do not capture the pressure we put on the Earth, and an increasing number of studies suggest that we are pushing the world’s eco systems to the brink of collapse.
But despite this bleak outlook, I persist in my belief that there are also good reasons to remain hopeful, as we now make our pledges and wishes for 2022. We still have in our power to make a difference, to tackle serious water- and climate-related issues, to co-operate over shared resources, and to leave a better world to the generations to come.
“We must learn to more clearly see the water-related challenges around us and improve our understanding of the essential role water plays for overcoming some of the greatest development obstacles of our time. To put it simply: we must learn to value water. ”
Nature is no doubt at the heart of this equation
Let us start by renegotiating our entire relationship with the natural environment. We all have a duty to ensure that our activities do not have a negative impact. But it does not stop there. We must also work to restore and recover lost biodiversity and ecosystems. In realizing a more resilient future: we should work with, not against nature.
We should also see water as an opportunity for collaboration. All sectors of society must come together to bring about the lasting change our planet needs. As our most precious resource, water serves as a connector. Water can be a catalyst for rebuilt trust in one another; a shared water resource is primarily a ground for co-operation, not for conflict.
World Water DAY – let 2022 be the year when we elevate the value of water.
Source: https://siwi.org/latest/