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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that major Himalayan rivers such as the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra, which are all important to India...
Digital Desk: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that major Himalayan rivers such as the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra, which are all important to India, may see reductions in their flows as glaciers and ice sheets recede over the coming decades due to global warming.
"Glaciers are critical to all life on earth. Over centuries, they carved out the landmasses we call home. Today, they cover 10 percent of our world. Glaciers are also the world’s water towers," Guterres said in his remarks to an event on the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation Wednesday.
Guterres expressed worry that "melting glaciers are the canary in the coalmine" and that human activity is pushing the planet's temperature to dangerous levels. Antarctica loses an average of 150 billion tons of ice mass per year, while Greenland's ice cap melts even quicker, losing 270 billion tons per year.
Ten main rivers in Asia originate in the Himalayan region, supplying freshwater to 1.3 billion people residing within its watershed. "As glaciers and ice sheets continue to recede over the coming decades, major Himalayan rivers like the Indus, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra will feel the impact – seeing their flows reduced," Guterres said, adding that the world has already seen how Himalayan melts have exacerbated flooding in Pakistan.
He added that rising sea levels, coupled with saltwater intrusion, will decimate significant portions of these massive deltas.
The event took place on the sidelines of the UN 2023 Water Conference, officially known as the 2023 Conference for the Midterm Comprehensive Review of Implementation of the UN Decade for Action on Water and Sanitation (2018-2028), which is currently taking place at UN Headquarters.
The March 22–24 conference, co-hosted by Tajikistan and the Netherlands, will result in a summary of events from the UNGA President, which will feed into the 2023 session of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.
"The UN 2023 Water Conference, co-hosted by the Governments of Tajikistan and the Netherlands, will be a watershed moment to mobilize Member States, the UN system, and stakeholders alike to take action and bring successful solutions to a global scale," the UN said.
Guterres cited data by World Meteorological Organization that warned that global average sea levels have already increased faster since 1900 than in any previous century in the last 3,000 years.
"Unless we reverse this trend, the consequences will be disastrous. Low-lying communities and entire countries could be erased permanently. We would see mass migrations of entire populations — and fierce competition for water and land," he said, adding that disasters such as floods, droughts, and landslides would become more common.
Guterres urged all countries to work together to protect people and communities equally, stressing the critical need to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius to avoid the worst effects of climate change. "We urgently need to reduce emissions, strengthen adaptation measures, and ensure climate justice. And developing nations must have the resources to adapt to and create resilience to climate disasters," he said.
He encouraged the international community to invest in water pipelines, buildings, and infrastructure that are climate-resilient as well as in programs that protect the world's limited water supplies and their ecosystems.
He emphasized the importance of building institutional capacities and integrating risk-reduction measures to ensure that by 2027, every individual on the planet is protected by life-saving early warning systems against hazardous climate or weather events.
In his remarks at the conference on Wednesday, Guterres lamented that "we've broken the water cycle, destroyed ecosystems, and contaminated groundwater."
Water is linked to nearly three out of every four natural catastrophes, one out of every four people lives without securely managed water services or clean drinking water, and over 1.7 billion people lack basic sanitation. He stressed that millions of women and girls spend hours each day collecting water and that half a billion people practice open defecation.
He stated that he has proposed to the G20 a Climate Solidarity Pact in which all major emitters make extra efforts to reduce emissions and wealthier countries organize financial and technical resources to assist emerging economies. India presently serves as the G20 President.
In 2015, the world had committed to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 as part of the 2030 Agenda – the promise that everyone would have safely managed water and sanitation by 2030.
"Right now, we're completely off-track. Billions of people and countless schools, businesses, healthcare centers, farms, and factories are being held back because their human rights to water and sanitation have yet to be fulfilled," the UN said.
A day before the UN Water Conference, the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) published the 'United Nations World Water Development Report 2023: Partnerships and Cooperation for Water,' which stated that roughly 80% of people living under water stress lived in Asia, specifically northeast China, India, and Pakistan.
"The global urban population facing water scarcity is projected to grow from 933 million (one-third of global urban population) in 2016 to 1.7-2.4 billion people (one-third to nearly half of global urban population) in 2050, with India projected to be the most severely affected," the report said, citing data.
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