Mountains: water towers facing climate change
23.04.2015
His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco honoured a Mountain Partnership side event with his presence during the 7th World Water Forum in Daegu & Gyeongbuk, Republic of Korea, on 13 April 2015, where he expressed his view that mountain areas need more attention in international negotiations and discussions.
Some 40 participants of the one-hour side event called “Mountains: the Water Towers facing climate change” looked at whether mountain areas will still be able serve as the world’s water towers if the climate continues to change. Extremely vulnerable to climate change, mountains, which provide 60-80 percent of the world’s freshwater resources, are affected in many parts of the world, as glaciers are retreating.
A panel of four experts discussed the effects of climate change on water resources in different mountain regions as well as adaptation options.
Dr David Molden of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) drew the attention to changing precipitation patterns in the Hindu-Kush Himalayas which leads to high uncertainties. “Get ready for floods and droughts,” he warned.
“Consider water and energy footprints in planning and decision-making,” urged Dr Dipak Gyawali of the Nepal Water Conservation Foundation (NWCF), recommending high gravity, low fossil-fuel produced water and energy systems. “Gravity is both an enemy and a friend,” he said, “If you use it properly, you do not need to use any energy. It makes water come to you.”
Dr John Matthews of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) invited the audience to think of mountains as a kind of infrastructure. “This infrastructure is changing – often suddenly – and our thinking, use and development of mountains needs to change accordingly,” he said, adding that we need to think seriously about what sustainable development looks like in times of fundamental transformation.
Explaining that water is one of the most important ecosystem services in mountains, Dr Anil Mishra, of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), anticipated the many arenas for global policy action that 2015 is providing:
- Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk in Japan
- Seventh World Water Forum in South Korea
- International Scientific Conference “Our Common Future under Climate Change” Conference “Our Common Future” in France
- The intergovernmental negotiations on the Post-2015 development agenda in the United States
- The 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC in France.
Thomas Hofer, Mountain Partnership Secretariat Coordinator, moderated the side event.
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