Water Policy for Sustainable Management: A Review

Dereje Bekele

doi:10.7176/jrdm/72-03

Abstract

Water is essential for life and sustainable development. The demand for the world's increasingly scarce water supply is rising rapidly, challenging its availability for food production and putting global food security at risk. Managing water resource is essential for the international community to deliver the promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Water is the foundation of sustainable development as it is the common denominator of all global challenges: energy, food, health, peace & security, and poverty eradication. This research review addresses the factors for increasing global fresh water use per year, global water policy for sustainable management, challenges, traits and opportunities with the conclusion of determining the best practice of water policy for the future generation. The world population increased from year to year due to increasing population, economic development and climate change. As a result, water resource policy which encompasses the policy-making processes that addresses provision, use, disposal and sustainability decisions, as well as, how policies created, executed, and amended by adopting set of best management practices to govern water management is the primary concern. Thus, to achieve sustainable water management; planning, development and management of water resources with best water policy that includes a multi-disciplinary and holistic approach in which technical, environmental, economic, landscape aesthetics, societal and cultural issues addressed. Keywords : Global freshwater use, Sustainable water management, Global Water policy, Water DOI: 10.7176/JRDM/72-03 Publication date: January 31 st 2021

Highlights

Water is the foundation of sustainable development as it is the common denominator of all global challenges: energy, food, health, peace and security, and poverty eradication [24]
Demand of this fresh water that is vital to life increasing due to the world’s population growth, for this matter both direct and virtual water use is increasing as the same time
As different research finding shows that global water use is increasing per year due to increasing population, economic development with shifting consumption patterns, combined with a more erratic and uncertain supply and climate change which aggravate the situation of currently water-stressed regions, and generate water stress in regions where water resources are still abundant today [8,17]

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Water is the foundation of sustainable development as it is the common denominator of all global challenges: energy, food, health, peace and security, and poverty eradication [24]. Rivers and swamps combined only account for a small fraction 0.3% of the Earth's total freshwater reserves [21] Demand of this fresh water that is vital to life increasing due to the world’s population growth, for this matter both direct and virtual water (water embedded in a product) use is increasing as the same time. Water plays an important role in the world economy, such as in agriculture, in domestic, in industrial sector, in fishing, in transportation aid (long-distance trade of commodities, such as oil, natural gas, and manufactured products transported by boats through seas, rivers, lakes, and canals), in cooling, in heating and in many sports and other forms of entertainment; such as, swimming, pleasure boating, boat racing, surfing, sport fishing, diving, ice skating and skiing, etc Overall, it is critical for socio-economic development, healthy ecosystems and for human survival. As different research finding shows that global water use is increasing per year due to increasing population, economic development with shifting consumption patterns, combined with a more erratic and uncertain supply and climate change which aggravate the situation of currently water-stressed regions, and generate water stress in regions where water resources are still abundant today [8,17]

Population

Oceania

SSP2: Middle of the Road

Findings

CONCLUSION