Water security, climate change and COP26

Water security and climate change are only two of the major problems humankind is facing at present, and they will continue to be so for decades to come. However, important as they are, there are many other critical problems the world will have to confront for the rest of the 21st century. Most of these problems are now known, but there may be some black swan incidents, such as Covid-19, which are unexpected and may occur in the coming decades. If so, these could make the global situations even more complex than anticipated at present. An important global issue for many decades has been the steady increase in the global population. The current global population of some 7.95 billion is expected to rise to 9.7 billion by 2050 and to 11 billion by 2100 (UN Population Division, 2019a). Additionally, in 2020, 56.15% of the global population lived in urban areas. This is estimated to increase to 68% by 2050, and to 85% by 2100 (UN Population Division, 2019b). It will mean that, increasingly, larger percentages of the global population will be concentrated in and around urban areas. This will undoubtedly put growing and serious strains on reliable and affordable supplies of food, energy, water and all other natural resources, as well as on the environment. In addition, ready availability of public health and all other forms of social services, including housing, education and transportation, for the rest of this century, will continue to be important challenges which all countries will have to face. Furthermore, all over the world, national governments and international organizations are likely to be under considerable pressure to alleviate poverty, increase the standard of living of the poor and the underprivileged, and provide improved environments for all to live in. Provision of many other social services, ranging from employment generation to improve connectivity and steady improvements in skills of the population, will be high up in the political agendas of nearly all nations. All major issues facing the world are now interrelated and interconnected. The dynamics of the human future will be ultimately determined not by one, but by two or more of these global issues, irrespective of how important, complex or pervasive any individual issue may be. This, because of the net results of interactions and impacts of multitude of them. For example, increasing population and demands for steadily improving standard of living and quality of life will require more and more food, energy, water and other resources, unless there are significant changes in improving the efficiencies of how they are produced, distributed and used. Augmenting and ensuring food and energy supplies will necessitate sustainable and more efficient water management during their production, distribution and use phases, as well as overall demands. Equally, many of these activities may contribute to more greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, unless special policy measures are taken and effectively implemented. Such developments could further aggravate global warming and may result in unanticipated extreme events through a multitude of pathways, some known but others unknown. These may INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT 2022, VOL. 38, NO. 2, 193–198 https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2022.2044114