Water for sustainable development
22.03.2015
World Water Day provides us an opportunity to join our friends and colleagues from the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region and the rest of the world in creating awareness about the important role of water in ensuring people’s welfare and achieving sustainable development. This year’s theme 'Water and Sustainable Development' reminds us of the significance of the region's water resources, and the need to manage these resources to ensure economic vitality, environmental integrity, and social equity.
Water is integral to all aspects of life. Within the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, millions of people directly depend on water resources for their livelihoods and to sustain the functioning of many important ecosystem services. Downstream, more than one billion people rely indirectly on water from the Hindu Kush Himalayas for food, energy, and domestic use. Water directly contributes to national economies, as well as to income generation at the local level. Further, the region’s water resources play a significant role in global food security. They supply 75–90 percent of the water for over half of Asia’s cereal production and for nearly 25 percent of the world’s cereal supply. The Indus River system provides irrigation to about 144 900 hectares of land, while the Ganga basin supports the irrigation of 156 300 hectares of agriculture land.
Despite the paramount importance of water, water management in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region remains a complex and challenging task. For instance, the total hydropower potential of the HKH region is more than 500 000 Megawatts. But several countries have been able to tap only a small fraction of their potential, while at the same time facing many hours of scheduled power cuts every day. A primary factor behind the region's sluggish hydropower development is that the majority of users do not live in the areas upstream with high hydropower potential. Strong technical and political barriers often separate upstream and downstream areas. However, recent trends in the SAARC forum, such as the 2014 agreement for energy cooperation, have signaled a positive change.
As part of our efforts to bring energy security, we have initiated an ‘energy portfolio’ at International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), under which we will develop knowledge products for sustainable hydropower development in the region that benefit upstream as well as downstream communities, and are environmentally sound. We are also leading an important study on the impacts of climate change on water availability and hydropower that takes into account climate change, cryosphere dynamics, and social and economic factors.
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Message from the Director General of ICIMOD for World Water Day 2015
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