Climate Change Also Threatens Water Management

Although Latin America concentrates a third of the planet’s fresh water, 165 million Latin Americans still have no access to stable and safe clean water supply, which exacerbates the already significant social gaps on the world’s most unequal continent.

The geographical distribution of water is another aggravating factor. While some areas concentrate great abundance of water, in others, availability is limited and droughts are frequent and prolonged. Correcting this issues has not proven a simple or cost-efficient task, and all signs suggest that, as a result of climate change, traditional water supply practices in water-scarce areas will not be as effective in the future.   

Indeed, the effects of climate change are felt most acutely in developing regions such as Latin America, which has paradoxically contributed the least to global greenhouse gas emissions.

Today, natural disasters are increasingly devastating, and those that wreak the most havoc—floods and droughts—are water-related. According to the UN, over the past decade 48% of extreme global weather events have been related to hydrometeorological hazards (droughts and floods), with flood-related losses in the order of USD 650 billion.

Faced with this situation, if we fail to implement effective measures to adapt to climate change, the loss of land productivity as a result of water stress situations would jeopardize the food security of hundreds of communities in Latin America. As a result, we need urgent action that prioritizes resilient infrastructure planning, budget and investment, as well as the incorporation of technological innovations, and information and early warning systems.

In this connection, we should assess some positive initiatives implemented in the region on the timely use of infrastructure to increase resilience to climate effects. The first was implemented by the Montevideo city government, which uses nature-based solutions to reduce the effects of flooding on the road network, based on the rehabilitation of infiltration ponds. The second example is the management of the Bogota River, carried out to reduce the risk of flooding, through the creation of multi-purpose parks on the riverbank. In addition to regulating river floods, this has contributed to densifying plant cover, favoring habitat in general.

A similar concept is intended to be applied, with the support of CAF and the Climate Adaptation Fund, in cities on both banks of the Uruguay River—benefitting Argentina and Uruguay—with non-structural measures, such as consolidating early warning systems, supporting resettlement in safe areas and targeting potentially floodable areas for recreational use.

In Spain, we find valuable examples that contribute to planning, monitoring and decision-making, such as the Automatic Hydrological Information System (SAIH), which enables real-time collection of multiple data on precipitation, river flows, reservoir volume, among others. This leads to proper drought management and greater flood control. Incidentally, Latin American officials—with CAF support—are expected to visit the SAIH in early October, with the purpose of exchanging experiences and exploring possibilities to replicate the model in Latin America.

These examples show that climate resilience is also the consolidation of integrated water management, which is increasingly relevant for a good economic performance of countries, as well as to ensure agricultural productivity and thus global food security.

Latin American governments must adapt quickly to the impacts of climate change, particularly as regards water supply, both for productive industries and for public use. This issue will be discussed through an exchange of experiences on Spain-Latin America cooperation during the 5th edition of the Water Dialogues, a forum that promotes the debate around critical issues related to water management.

Only through the exchange of knowledge and experiences, and with institutions that efficiently plan for infrastructure development, we will be able to successfully implement a long overdue agenda.