Figure SPM.5. Summary of global progress in providing basic drinking water services and the disproportionate impact on women in sub-Saharan countries who still lack access to basic drinking water services


But women still spend


1.5 billion people gained access to basic drinking water services


from 2000 to 2015 Source: UNICEF and WHO (2012); WHO and UNICEF (2017).


Many aquifers are depleting rapidly due to overabstraction for irrigation, drinking water, industrial and mining uses (established but incomplete). More sustainable management and better monitoring of surface and groundwater is urgently needed. {9.4.2, 9.9.5}


Promoting water-use efficiency, water recycling, rainwater harvesting and desalination is becoming increasingly important to ensure greater water security and more equitable water allocation for different users and uses. The agricultural sector needs substantial improvements in water-use efficiency and productivity. The industrial and mining sectors also have strong potential for increasing water-use efficiency, recycling and reuse, as well as for limiting water pollution. Broader adoption of water- sensitive urban design, including infrastructure to manage storm water, grey water, wastewater and managed aquifer recharge, would improve water management and urban water outcomes. {9.9, 9.9.3, 9.9.5}


Freshwater ecosystems are among the world’s most biodiverse habitats and valuable natural infrastructures. Wetlands buffer against impact from climate change (both drought and floods) and improve water quality, but 40 per cent of all wetlands have been lost since 1970 through agricultural development, urbanization, infrastructure development and overexploitation of water resources. Severe consequences include the loss of inland fisheries, which affects the livelihoods of millions of people (likely). The total annual economic cost of wetland losses over the 15-year period from 1996 to 2011 has been estimated at US$2.7 trillion (likely). Greater investment, both public and private, would facilitate more sustainable wetland management and restoration. {9.6}


The decomposition, due to human intervention, of peatlands, a type of wetland that stores more carbon than all the world’s forests combined, currently contributes approximately 5 per cent of annual global carbon emissions (established but incomplete). The thawing permafrost in boreal peatlands, agricultural conversion of some tropical peatlands and the


transformation and loss of other peatlands are causing increased carbon emissions, infrastructure damage and wildfires. Protection and restoration of peatlands, including rewetting of drained peatlands, is an important climate change mitigation strategy. {9.6.2}


Innovative and integrated policy mixes are essential to manage interactions between water, food, energy, transport, climate change, human health and ecosystems. Good governance includes integrated water resource management, as illustrated by integrated flood risk management (established but incomplete), ecosystem-based approaches in subnational and transboundary basins (well established), circular economy and other approaches that promote sustainable consumption and production as one approach towards achieving sustainable development (established but incomplete) and substantive progress on decoupling water use from economic growth through increasing water efficiency (established but incomplete). Such approaches support improved land-use planning and cross- sectoral policy coordination between government departments (well established). {9.8, 9.9.4}


Social equity and gender equality remain key aspects for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 on fresh water (well established). Enhanced participatory processes will enable greater knowledge input from local and indigenous communities into decision-making (well established). Goal 6 can only be achieved by engaging the public, private and non-governmental sectors, civil society and local actors, and by taking into account other interlinked Sustainable Development Goals. {20.3, 9.10, 16.4}


Multilateral environmental agreements governing water resources and water-related ecosystem management and climate change can support the embedding of integrated water resource management in the rule of law through national and local legislation. Increased investment in the scope and rigour of standardized water data is essential to improve policy and governance for sound water management. {9.10}


What is happening to our environment and how have we responded? 13


16 million hours per day


collecting water in 25 sub-Saharan countries WOMEN


16 MILLION HOURS


MEN


6 MILLION HOURS


CHILDREN 4 MILLION HOURS


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