Ahmed Murad (Cairo)
The Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) seeks to advance global efforts to protect and support water security, and to confront the dangers of water scarcity that many countries of the world suffer from, which has led the conference presidency to place the “water security” file at the top of the agenda’s priorities. Business.
The conference presidency launched an action plan during World Water Week, which was held in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, last August. Its priorities included preserving freshwater ecosystems and restoring their efficiency, improving their management in urban areas, and promoting food systems capable of adapting to their scarcity.
Dr. Magdy Allam, advisor to the Global Environment Facility (GEF), explained that global water security is threatened in an unprecedented way due to climate change that has led to extremely severe waves of drought and desertification.
Allam said in a statement to Al-Ittihad that hopes are now pinned on the United Arab Emirates to lead the world during the COP28 conference towards forming a new global bloc that works to protect and ensure water and food security, and to provide water and food to countries that are suffering severely from the repercussions of climate change, which has destroyed Many of the planet’s natural resources.
United Nations data estimates the number of water-insecure countries at about 113 countries, and indicates that there are 24 countries that suffer from serious water insecurity. Nearly 4.3 billion people in Asia and the Pacific and 1.3 billion people in Africa suffer from water insecurity.
The COP28 Presidency partnered with the Netherlands and Tajikistan, which are responsible for leading water security efforts during the climate conference, with the aim of building on the outcomes of the United Nations Water Conference held last March, and unifying the efforts made to achieve tangible and effective progress in the global water security file.
Allam stressed the need for concerted efforts by countries around the world to confront what threatens water security by placing the water issue among the priorities and programs of international climate action, pointing out that it constitutes a pivotal and major topic in the issue of adapting to the repercussions of climate change and mitigating its various effects.
For his part, the director of the climate change project at the United Nations and the Egyptian member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Dr. Samir Tantawi, considered the water security file one of the most important axes and pillars of the COP28 conference, especially after Egypt’s success during the previous session in Sharm El-Sheikh in including the issue Water is on the conference agenda, stressing the importance of building on the negotiations that took place on the water file at COP28.
WWF Freshwater Practices Officer, Stuart Orr, previously explained that the partnership with the COP28 presidency aims to repair and restore the efficiency of about 30% of degraded freshwater ecosystems by 2030, pointing to the participation of the UAE and Brazil in hosting the first high-level dialogue. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on building water resilience in food systems during the COP28 conference.
The director of the United Nations Climate Change Project stressed in a statement to Al-Ittihad the need to exploit the opportunity of COP28 to achieve tangible and effective progress in the water security file, especially with the growing severity of the effects of climate change on water resources, as the rise in temperature increases evaporation rates from Fresh water bodies, which reduces the world’s share or revenues from fresh water, causing a water poverty crisis for many countries.
Tantawi pointed out that groundwater is also affected by the repercussions of climate change, as rising temperatures and melting ice lead to a rise in sea level, which in turn leads to the penetration of salty water into the groundwater reserve, which becomes polluted by salty water and becomes unusable.
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