Environment and Energy

Water and Climate Change

Achieving sustainable development of water resources in a changing environment.

There is increasing evidence that global climate change and climate variability will affect the quality and availability of water supplies. It is therefore essential for policy makers to take these factors into account when designing new instruments, tools and institutions to provide sustainable livelihoods to the poor within the framework of national planning.

The ability of water management agencies to alter their management practices to incorporate climate change varies considerably between countries. Integrated freshwater-resources development, use, and management strategies, are regarded as the most effective way to achieve sustainable development of water resources in a changing environment with competing demands and is considered key to sustainable development. 

UNDP's Role in Building Capacity for Adaption to Climate Change: It is critical that climate change in water governance be considered in the context of reducing vulnerability of the poor, in maintaining sustainable livelihoods and supporting sustainable development. Interventions will involve existing initiatives on promoting multi-stakeholder dialogue (involving more than just water managers), and address issues relating to development, planning control and fiscal incentives, including subsidized insurance or government relief to hazard prone areas. Additionally UNDP’s role will relate to enhancing mechanisms for strengthening the capacity of governments and civil society organizations to assess the impact of climate variability and change on integrated water resources management, and the formulation of adaptation strategies to integrate the impacts into poverty reduction strategies, and national and local development planning.

“Climate change impacts on water resources in the Pungwe drainage basin in Moçambique and Zimbabwe" an innovative project by UNDP, SMHI and SIDA.

Scientists and world leaders agree that the threat from climate change attributed to human activities is real, serious and that it could have a significant impact on human society and the natural environment. Climate change will lead to an intensification of the global hydrological cycle and will have major impacts on regional water resources. The present scientific consensus is that those areas of the world that are already experiencing water stresses are also those in which rainfall is likely to be even more variable as the climate changes. Climate change is also likely to lead to increased magnitude and fre¬quency of precipitation related disasters, such as floods, mudslides, typhoons and cyclones. Flows in rivers are likely to decrease at low flow periods, as a result of increased evaporation, and runoff in¬crease with high rainfall events and waste overflows, both of which will degrade water quality. In¬creased temperatures and changes in precipitation are projected to accelerate the retreat and loss of glaciers, impacting on the timing of stream flow regimes and thereby downstream agriculture. The semi-arid regions of the developing world, which are already poor and face major water resource management and food security problems, are likely to be the most severely impacted.

UNDP proposes that an essential first step is to understand the potential effects on water availability and flow regimes for particular regions and identify appropriate response measures. Identifying vul¬nerability and potential adaptation needs is a high priority task for UNDP. In brief, our role is to:

• Raise awareness of water and climate issues and mainstream climate change issues into water governance;
• Enhance national capacities in the developing countries to integrate climate change considerations into water resource management and decision making processes;
• Identify and implement appropriate adaptation strategies;
• Support pilot project activities that may offer suitable frameworks and techniques, particularly those that can be replicable in other countries and assist in coping with existing climate variabil¬ity;
• Develop knowledge products from on the ground lessons learned to help guide decision making and promote replication in other countries.

It is against this background that UNDP, in close collaboration with key counterparts, initiated the project “Climate change impacts on water resources in the Pungwe drainage basin” in Moçambique and Zimbabwe.

The final report describes the findings of the important first phase of the project which was directed at evaluating the merits of integrating hydrological and climate modeling exper¬tise to identify possible changes in water availability and extreme hydrological events. It is hoped that the results would form valuable input to continued work with relevant stakeholders to identify, inter¬pret and prioritize potential environmental and socioeconomic impacts for the region so that a range of possible adaptation, risk minimization and coping strategies could be formulated and form the basis for informed decision making for the Pungwe River basin and beyond.

More about UNDP's work on Climate Change