“Water for Peace: Official Celebration of World Water Day 2024”: A Few Points for Academic Purposes from the United Nations World Water Development Report

Water is one of the planet’s important resources. Without water, no living being can survive. In our childhood, we never considered purchasing water from the market. Wherever water was available, we used to drink it. Now, bottled water, mineral water, etc., are popular words.
Presently, the availability of clean water is an issue in many countries and places in India. I am a senior citizen and retired Professor (retired from an academic organization of the Government of India). During my service period and even after retirement, I traveled across India and abroad and observed that in many places in our country and some countries in Africa, the availability of clean water is an issue.
In 2024, World Water Day aims to highlight the benefits of water management as a channel for peace, showcasing effective mechanisms and tools to enhance cooperation and prevent water-related disputes. The official UN celebration of the day was held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France.
The 2024 edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report highlights how developing and maintaining water security and equitable access to water services is essential to ensuring peace and prosperity for all. I am presenting the following lines collected from unesco.org/reports/wwdr/en/2024 so readers can understand water issues.
It is observed from the Report that “equitable access to water resources, to safe and affordable water supply and sanitation services, and to the multiple benefits they generate are essential to building and maintaining prosperous and peaceful societies. Recent events, from global epidemics to armed conflicts, have emphasized that the socio-political conditions under which water is supplied, managed, and used can change rapidly”.
Further, “water management needs to consider the new economic and social realities, including climate change and geopolitical changes and their implications on our water resources. Leveraging water for prosperity and peace therefore requires actions beyond the water domain”. The Report has stated that water nurtures prosperity by meeting basic human needs, supporting livelihoods and economic development, underpinning food and energy security, and defending environmental integrity as mentioned below:
A) Economic prosperity is the capacity of an individual, company, or society to improve its economic performance and/or standards of living. Particular focus is on countries’ economic performance, including their overall productivity, water productivity, and income equality.
B) Social well-being—the sufficiency of water services to support all individuals’ health and welfare, including safe drinking water, food security, and cultural integrity.
C) Environmental integrity – the ability of the environment to maintain biophysical functions or services that support resilience and security under changing climate and social conditions.
The impacts of climate change, geopolitical unrest, pandemics, mass migration, hyperinflation, and other crises can exacerbate water access inequalities.
These trends and events also create policy windows, which can be used to enhance resilience and forge adaptive capacity. Fostering prosperity through water contributes to the achievement of peaceful outcomes. Some important Facts and Figures are:
a) 2.2 billion people had no access to safely managed drinking water in 2022
b) About 80% of jobs are water-dependent in low-income countries where agriculture is the main source of livelihood
c) 72% of freshwater withdrawals are used by agriculture
d) US$832 billion in economic losses were caused by floods in 2002–2021
e) 1.4 billion people were affected by droughts in 2002–2021
f) A 10% increase in global migration between 1970–2000 was linked to water deficits.
I am concluding by quoting from the Report: “Developing and maintaining a secure and equitable water future underpins prosperity and peace for all. The relationship also works in the opposite direction, as poverty, inequality, social tensions, and conflict can amplify water insecurity.”
Prof Shankar Chatterjee, Hyderabad