Groundwater is vital to economic activity and growth, food security, but the sustainability of this critical resource is at risk in many regions, according to a latest World Bank Report.
The report titled The Hidden Wealth of Nations: The Economics of Groundwater in Times of Climate Change, comes up with a call for urgent political action to prioritize groundwater.
NATURE’S INSURANCE POLICY
Groundwater is nature’s very own insurance mechanism. It helps in overcoming a third of the losses to global economic growth caused by droughts.
This resource is especially important to the agricultural sector, where it can reduce up to half of the losses in productivity caused by rainfall variability. This, in turn, translates into protection against malnutrition. In stark contrast, a lack of access to shallow groundwater increases the chances of stunting among children under five years old by up to 20 percent, said the World Bank report.
As the impacts of climate change increase, groundwater could keep playing a crucial role in sustaining sensitive ecosystems that sequester carbon and in safeguarding vulnerable communities from extreme weather.
MISMANAGED RESOURCE
Depletion of the water table, degradation of groundwater quality, and growing competition threatens the resource. This means societies could become even more vulnerable to climate shocks, the report noted.
Some countries use water insufficiently, others have become overly reliant on it. Already, up to 92 percent of trans boundary aquifers in the Middle East and South Asia are showing signs of groundwater depletion. In South Asia, water has provided an agricultural revenue advantage of between 10 percent and 20 percent, but this benefit is declining as the resource is depleted.
At the other end of the spectrum, groundwater is underutilized in Sub-Saharan Africa. More than 255 million people in the region who live in poverty live in areas where expanding shallow groundwater is feasible. By using this resource responsibly—and valuing it appropriately—the region could improve its agricultural yields and advance its development.
CALL FOR URGENT POLITICAL ACTION TO PRIORITIZE
- Groundwater needs to be prioritized by policymakers to ensure itsuse in a way that benefits society, the economy, and the environment. High-level political action needed to align the private and social costs of its use.
- Improve knowledge of the resource and prioritize the development of local shallow aquifers, the ultimate “no-regret” value for farmer-led irrigation, improved food security, and climate shock buffering.
- Protect water quality and aquifer recharge for sustainability.
- Diversify water sources and manage demand.
