What does water resilience look like in practice?
Three ways that national governments can use water to increase resilience to climate change
Water is now at the top of the global climate action agenda. From rising sea levels and floods to droughts and water scarcity, the impacts of climate change are being felt most acutely through water.
But there is also recognition that water is a key enabler for building resilience, supporting adaptation, and driving emissions reductions. ‘Building Resilience for Cities, Infrastructure and Water’, one of six thematic axes at COP30 in Brazil, hints at this reality. Looking at national climate strategies, it is easy to see why: mitigation and adaptation plans often imply intensifying water use, for example increasing irrigation to mitigate the impacts of drought on agriculture.
Since a vast majority of climate change impacts are felt through the water cycle, most adaptation measures involve water and its sound management. Therefore, it is vital to address the resilience of this resource in a systemic way. But what does this look like in practice?
The Water Resilience Tracker (WRT) team works with countries around the world, identifying how water can be a solution that creates resilience to climate change. As part of this support, countries are provided a Guidance document including practical examples of how water resilience can be embedded in national climate and development plans. WRT has summarized some of these examples in a newly released publication.
Knowledge Brief
1. Address the three dimensions of water: as a risk, as a sector, and as a resource
The first thing WRT looks at is the ways in which water is explicitly addressed in national strategies relating to climate change.
For example, Rwanda's first Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), submitted following the Paris Agreement, recognises the risks posed by climate impacts on water: "Changes in temperature and precipitation and their distributions are the key drivers of climate and weather-related disasters that negatively affect Rwandans and the country’s economy, including through droughts, floods, and landslides."
Countries such as Costa Rica recognise water as a priority across sectors: "The water sector is one of the fundamental pillars for the development of Costa Rica. The economy of the country has historically...benefited [from] abundant water availability, which has also contributed to food security, energy security and sanitation access for the population."
Recognising the cross-cutting nature of water means identifying actions to protect this resource. WRT works with countries to build awareness and flexibility to manage water availability to maximise benefits across sectors.
2. Identify specific actions for inclusive and sustainable development
The WRT team also look at how national policies and initiatives safeguard ecosystems and people alike, particularly the marginalised groups that are often the most impacted by climate change.
In Jordan, for example, the 2021 NDC stands out for identifying specific measures to enhance water use efficiency, boost water harvesting, enable water utilities to be more adaptable and embedding integrated water management.
In Colombia, the National Policy for the Integrated Management of Biodiversity and its Ecosystem Services (NPIMBES) (2010) creates a regulatory framework to implement nature-based solutions in environmental management and climate adaptation projects.
Costa Rica's 2021 NDC recognises that "the social, economic and historical conditions of some populations increase their vulnerability to the impacts of climate change", leading to the implementation of dialogue and participation spaces for vulnerable groups.
3. Consider water use opportunities and trade-offs across sectors
If water provides solutions to climate impacts across many sectors, from agriculture to energy generation, it is important for countries to manage demand for this resource and build in flexibility in the face of climate uncertainties.
WRT works with countries to assess if water requirements and impacts are considered in planning, both at the national and individual sector levels. For example, Nepal's Second NDC (2020) highlights cross-sector coordination to include information from many sectors.
How WRT works with countries to embed climate-water resilience
WRT has engaged with over 50 institutional stakeholders across countries such as Brazil, Egypt, Malawi, Morocco, Nepal, and Panama to advance resilience planning, while the framework has been applied in 10 countries around the world.
Through a collaborative process, the WRT team works with national and sub-national stakeholders to identify opportunities to boost water resilience and develop a country action plan for increasing resilience that includes policy support, technical support and capacity building activities.
Read our Guidance Document Synthesis to learn more about the information in this blog.