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Climate Change

Where the problem starts is where the solution begins

Irrefutable evidence indicates that human activities are the primary drivers of climate change, with impacts that are already widespread, rapid, and intensifying – and nowhere is this more evident than in relation to water. Ninety per cent of the problems caused by climate change are estimated to be water related, causing floods, droughts, and deteriorating water quality. 

However, while climate-related reports and news paint a grim picture of the future if we fail to act with sufficient urgency and scale, they also offer cause for hope. The solutions to the climate crisis are largely already known and available, including for climate impacts on the realization of the human rights to water, and sanitation.  

Building climate resilience for water, sanitation and hygiene is not just a crucial response to the crisis. It also holds the promise of being a key solution for both climate change adaptation (community resilience to climate change) and contributor to mitigation (avoiding and reducing global warming and its related events).

The link between climate change resilience and access to water: It’s basic.

Universal access to water for personal and domestic use is not just a human right, but also a foundational necessity for human health, education, socio-economic development, and quality of life. We cannot build resilience to climate change, without ensuring resilient access to clean water.

The way that water is managed will be a critical component for the success of any efforts to adapt to the impacts of climate change. The importance of water, and its implications for human rights, must be properly and adequately reflected within climate actions and policies. They must be designed and implemented in a manner that respects human rights.

People with poor quality water, sanitation and hygiene services are already some of the most vulnerable groups in society – climate change only compounds that vulnerability by further compromising these already poor services.

SWA and Climate action

SWA’s work on climate supports the bridging of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 (on water and sanitation) with SDG 13 (on climate action). It also recognizes that the ability to meet these SDGs directly affects – and is affected by – almost every other area of sustainable development, including alleviating poverty, hunger, gender inequity, and other inequalities.

SWA is partner of several key climate change initiatives such as the Water and Climate Coalition that brings together multistakeholder actors to join forces to tackle interlinked water and climate challenges. In the area of climate adaptation SWA is a partner of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Nairobi Work Programme, and the Climate Champions Race to Resilience campaign that aims to drive climate resilience across the world, by mobilizing action from non-Party stakeholders and ensuring that the voices of front-line communities are heard. To help achieve the greenhouse gas emission targets being set by political leaders and decision makers around the world, SWA is also a partner of the Water Initiative for Net Zero. In the area of climate financing SWA has brough together partners to provide inputs into the new water security and WASH guidelines developed by the Green Climate Fund.

With its important work at country level, SWA partners can contribute to the fight against climate change and the success of the Paris Agreement by providing countries with the knowledge, resources, tools, and networks needed to advance the creation of climate-resilient water, sanitation and hygiene.

The Sanitation and Water for All global partnership developed the SWA Framework to catalyze effective multi-stakeholder collaboration in support of strong, resilient water and sanitation systems that can deliver lasting change. It is this framework for action which now puts the partnership in a position to help confront the challenges of climate change, by ensuring countries have the capacity to deliver and sustain services in the face of negative environmental impacts.

Focus areas for SWA climate action

With the overarching objective of bridging the water-sanitation-hygiene and climate agenda, SWA focus on climate action can be grouped around the following thematic areas:

  • Policy & Strategy: ensure that climate change mitigation and adaptation policies and strategies adequately reflect on water-sanitation, and vice versa, water-sanitation policies and strategies adequately address climate change. The aim is to ensure coherence between climate and water-sanitation policy and guiding programmes and interventions towards building more resilient services.
  • Coordination: assess the creation of coordination mechanisms between departments and stakeholders responsible for climate/environment, and water-sanitation.
  • Accountability: support the creation of (or confirm), including through evidence generation, effective mechanisms for citizen participation (e.g., through civil society organizations) and governmental systems to monitor climate change mitigation and adaptation national targets and international commitments related to water and sanitation. Countries are encouraged to make climate commitments through SWA MAM.
  • Financing: enable the environment (e.g., developing financing strategies, etc.) so that national priorities set for risk management, adaptation and mitigation within the water and sanitation find adequate financing mechanisms.

SWA at the Climate Conference of the Parties (COP)

For the first time, SWA was mobilized as a partnership to contribute to conversations at COP26.  A core partner of the first ever Water for Climate Pavilion and a leader in the curation of the climate-resilient WASH Day at the pavilion, SWA and partners strongly positioned basic services, such as water, sanitation, and hygiene, as an essential piece of climate planning.

SWA was also actively engaged in COP27 and COP28.

These are the main challenges and opportunities for climate action on water, sanitation and hygiene:

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Political will is needed to build climate resilient systems for water, sanitation and hygiene

Political will is needed to build climate-resilient systems for water, sanitation and hygiene: You can’t fix what you don’t prioritize

Despite the incontrovertible links between climate change and access to water, including for the most basic of human needs, our experience shows that these links are all-too-often being overlooked by key policy and decision-makers. But you can’t fix what you don’t prioritize.

Building climate-resilient water resources and services require focused planning, investment, and financing, and financing is determined by priorities set by governments. If policy and decision-makers don’t prioritize water and sanitation, as part of overall water resource management within their climate adaptation plans and commitments, unsustainable water and sanitation services will persist, with severe implications for the health, survival of communities, and resilience of communities, who are also the hardest hit by climate change.

SWA will reach up to the highest level of decision-makers with the collective voice of the sector to encourage greater focus, investment, and prioritization on building climate-resilient systems for water, sanitation, and hygiene.

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Climate change is both a threat and an opportunity to water, sanitation and hygiene

Climate change is both a threat to water, sanitation and hygiene and an opportunity to rethink and do service provision differently for more sustainable outcomes.

Considerations of climate resilience are often absent in water supply, sanitation and hygiene policies, strategies, and plans. In part, this is because those responsible for these services have been slow internalizing what climate risks at national and subnational levels mean to the provision of basic services. Consequently, those responsible for designing national policies on climate action, often disregard the important adaptation needs, but also contributions to both adaptation and mitigation that relate to water, sanitation and hygiene. The result is that, with just a few exceptions, most countries have not included resilient water, sanitation, and hygiene in their national climate commitments and plans.

SWA will help decision-makers bridge the gap between water, sanitation and hygiene and climate policy by encouraging climate risk analysis of water, sanitation and hygiene programs. This will help make it easier to align and integrate water, sanitation and hygiene policies into national climate adaptation and emission reduction plans and commitments.

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Building community resilience requires joint forces and actions

We can’t build community resilience to the growing impacts of climate change unless we join forces and work together.

Climate change impacts cannot be averted if we work in a non-systemic, fragmented way. We can’t build climate-resilient resources, systems, and infrastructure that neglect the human need for resilient services for water, sanitation and hygiene. And we can’t build community resilience to climate change without future-proofing, adapting, and safely managing our water systems, resources, and infrastructure.  

While governments are the main negotiators of international climate agreements and those ultimately responsible for ensuring access to water and sanitation, sustainable solutions will only be achieved through collaborative and inclusive approaches, across borders, between sectors and amongst diverse stakeholders. 

We also need to listen to the voices of the youth, who constitute the majority of the population in many countries and have an increasingly strong social and environmental awareness, which has the power to transform our societies towards a low-carbon and climate-resilient future. 

SWA will draw on its multistakeholder experience to facilitate collaboration, cooperation, and coordination of policy, finance, and action both within and beyond the water, sanitation and hygiene sector.

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The sector can contribute towards building a carbon-neutral future and mitigating greenhouse gas emission

Beyond the importance of climate-resilient systems for water, sanitation and hygiene to address current climate realities (adaptation), the sector also can contribute towards building a carbon-neutral future and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.

There are unrealized opportunities for decarbonization through the use of renewable energy and for low-emission energy generation in the water sector that can be achieved, in part, by building more climate-resilient water and sanitation infrastructure and services. The water, sanitation and hygiene sector has an important part to play in the race to zero emissions.

SWA will help the water, sanitation and hygiene, and climate, communities identify the opportunities for well-designed water and sanitation systems to contribute to reduced emissions.

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Climate finance for building resilient systems for water, sanitation and hygiene

Climate finance for building resilient systems for water, sanitation and hygiene, has so far been extremely limited, and for the most part, has not been flowing to the low-income countries most at risk of climate impacts. This is a dramatic and unsustainable divide that urgently needs to change.

So far, most attention and investment in climate action has been – rightly – directed towards the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, with only 0.3% of total global climate finance flowing towards building the resilience of the most basic systems for water, sanitation and hygiene. Investments have predominantly been directed to  urban areas rather than rural ones who already suffer from limited infrastructure and services, making them more vulnerable to withstand the impacts of climate change.

But the climate crisis is escalating. Its impacts are already being felt – in some cases a decade (or more) earlier than anticipated, with many unprecedented and irreversible changes already occurring.

This has created an urgent need to elevate adaptation onto an equal footing with efforts to reduce emissions, necessitating rapid acceleration and increased investment in adaptation, including for building climate resilient water, sanitation and hygiene.

SWA will help build the case for increased investment and finance for climate resilient systems for water, sanitation and hygiene as a key solution for adaptation and to build community resilience to climate change

Facts & Figures

The lives of women and girls will be especially impacted, as they are generally responsible for water management, sanitation and hygiene in the family and housing. Due to climate change, women and girls around the world turn to safe water sources farther and farther from their homes, collectively wasting more than 200 million hours every day on this task.

Water scarcity resulting in insufficient water for drinking, sanitation, and small livelihoods is a driver of crisis and ultimately conflict, compromising peace and security as is evident in numerous countries.

Long-term drying of some climate-sensitive regions necessitates drilling ever deeper bore holes and wells to access declining aquifers. This increases infrastructure and pumping costs, lowers the water table which takes time to replenish, impacts water quality, and compounds the drying effect on surrounding lakes, streams, and rivers.  

When there are floods, human waste spreads and contaminates water sources used for drinking, immediately leading to a higher incidence of infectious diseases, childhood mortality and contributing to delayed child development, as well as having concrete impacts on the achievement of gender equality.

Rising temperatures increase water demand and scarcity, adversely impacting both affordability and quality, especially when water-borne sanitation systems are compromised by extreme weather events, or simply do not exist.

A lack of basic access to water and sanitation is the harsh reality of life for many of the world’s most vulnerable communities. It is already having devastating impacts on their health, wellbeing, and socio-economic development – and these impacts will only be made worse by climate change.

Almost 600 million children are projected to be living in areas of extremely high water stress by 2040

Resources

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Briefing Paper: Climate Change

Explores how we can address the risks and challenges presented by climate change through adaptation and mitigation measures.

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COP28: Key messages and Briefing

This briefing addresses the three key tracks of climate negotiations at COP28: Adaptation-Resilience; Mitigation; and Climate Financing.

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Global Goal on Adaptation

SWA and Partners submission to UNFCCC on water, sanitation and hygiene within the Framework of the Global Goal on Adaptation.

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GCF Water Project Design Guidelines

A Practical guidelines for designing water-climate resilient projects in IWRM, CR-WASH, and Drought and Flood management.

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Communication Toolkit

Messages and materials developed by SWA to support partners in their communication, outreach and advocacy.

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Live Blog on Climate action

Our team is capturing updates from partners and updating a dedicated blog on SWA's website.

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Finance Handbook for finance ministers

This Handbook includes inspirational case studies and forward-looking sector perspectives.

Documents

View all Key documents
Key documents Type
COP28 Water Programming Info Booklet
SWA Partners Climate Compendium
COP28 Water Pavilion: Key Messages on Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene
SWA CSO Constituency Climate and Human Rights to Water and Sanitation Messaging
SWA 2021 Climate & Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Key Messages
Briefing Paper: Climate Change
Antonio Guterres

Safe water and adequate sanitation underpin poverty reduction, economic growth and healthy ecosystems. They contribute to social well-being, inclusive growth and sustainable livelihoods. But, growing demands for water, coupled with poor water management, have increased water stress in many parts of the world. Climate change is adding to the pressure – and it is running faster than we are.

Secretary-General of the United Nations
Ban Ki-moon

Saving our planet, lifting people out of poverty, advancing economic growth... these are one and the same fight. We must connect the dots between climate change, water scarcity, energy shortages, global health, food security and women's empowerment. Solutions to one problem must be solutions for all.

Former Secretary-General of the United Nations
Jim Yong Kim

The water issue is critically related to climate change. People say that carbon is the currency of climate change. Water is the teeth.

Former President of the World Bank
Catarina de Albuquerque

Climate change is both a threat to water, sanitation, and hygiene and an opportunity to rethink service provision for more sustainable outcomes. SWA’s participation at COP26 will help government leaders understand how climate resilient water and sanitation is simultaneously a critical response and a key solution for climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Catarina de Albuquerque, CEO, SWA
Aminata Touré

Climate-related decisions and actions must include the meaningful participation of women and girls. They must build on the existing knowledge of women and girls if they are to truly increase the likelihood of tackling climate while ensuring adequate access to water and sanitation.

Aminata Touré, SWA Global Leader and Former Prime Minister of Senegal
Kumi Naidoo

where the problem starts might also be where the solution begins. Realizing the human right to water, especially by tackling inequality in access, is both a necessary response and potential solution to climate change.

Kumi Naidoo, SWA Global Leader and Global ambassador, Africans Rising for Justice, Peace and Dignity and Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy
Alan Jope

While climate change is a growing threat to the realization of our human rights to water and sanitation, it also provides an opportunity to develop solutions that are more sustainable and resilient…. A strong response … must be collaborative and inclusive, across borders, between sectors and amongst diverse stakeholders.

Alan Jope, SWA Global Leader and CEO of Unilever
Kevin Rudd

We must ensure the availability of adequate and flexible financing mechanisms, that speed up investment in climate-resilient water infrastructure and services - especially for vulnerable developing countries.

Kevin Rudd, SWA Global Leader, President of the Asia Society and former Prime Minister of Australia
Laura Chinchilla

People in the poorest countries are living on the frontline of the climate crisis, and the poorest communities among them are the worst affected of all. They are the least able to prepare and protect themselves and their environments. And access to water and sanitation is where climate change will be felt the hardest.

Laura Chinchilla, SWA Global Leader and Former President of Costa Rica