April 2017
abstract
Responsabilité & Environnement
L'eau douce dans le monde, comment gérer un bien commun ?
Issue editor:
Pierre ROUSSEL
Issue 86
1 - Issues related to geosystems
Actions for water within the Climate Agreement
By Jean-Luc REDAUD
Président du groupe Eau et Climat du Partenariat français pour l’Eau (PFE), membre de l'Académie de l'Eau
Adopted at the 21st Climate Change Conference (COP21) in December 2015, the Paris Agreement has, overall, been presented as a success. It has set up a framework for tighter, universal cooperation with regard to the future. This success can be set down to: the objective of limiting the temperature increase to less than 2°C; the commitments made by participating countries to turn toward low-carbon economies with resilience to climate change; the decision to place a ceiling on greenhouse gas emissions by the end of this century; the voluntary submission of “intended nationally determined contributions” (INDCs); the “solutions” proposed by several nongovernmental stakeholders; and, finally, support for adaptation and for the compensation of losses and damages in response to the risks run by poor countries. We are forced to admit that the water/climate relationship, although the two are inseparable, is not yet very present in public policies and negotiations. Nonetheless, a trend could be observed at the COP21 in Paris and the COP22 in Marrakech, namely: more attention is being paid to water resources as knowledge has improved about the risks and as participants have shown a growing concern with adaptation.
Water, food and the climate: Back to the origin of sustainable development
By Guillaume BENOIT
Membre du Conseil général de l’alimentation, de l’agriculture et des espaces ruraux (CGAAER)
Climate change increases agriculture’s water needs and directly menaces food security. In an article of 19 January 2017, Nature predicted that crop yields in the United States would, by 2100, fall by 49% for corn, 40% for soya and 22% for wheat due to hydric stress and overexposure to temperatures between 30° and 36°C. According to this article, irrigation is the key to adaptation. Progress will have to be made everywhere around the world, including in France, where public policies about the water supply and adaptation to climate change are not on par with the stakes. Differences in the availability of water are pointed out; and attention is drawn to the lack of vision and of an integrated management of natural resources. A few solutions for sustainable development are pointe out along with the necessary changes to be made in public policies.
Drinking water: Finally, hope for billions of people!
By Gérard PAYEN
Conseiller pour l’Eau et l’Assainissement du Secrétaire général des Nations Unies (UNSGAB) de 2004 à 2015
Access to drinking water, though common in France, is a major stake on our planet, one that has been underestimated for a long time. Little by little, worldwide statistics are improving in accuracy. Billions of people – nearly half of humanity – do not have satisfactory access to drinking water; and human rights in this matter are not being upheld. The solution is political, as are the main obstructions and obstacles. Major progress is taking place, but it fails to absorb the backlog of needs. The adoption, as part of its sustainable development goals, by the United Nations of a very ambitious objective for 2030 has altered the world’s political landscape. Each country is going to have to adjust its public policies to guarantee to all its population access to water at a higher level than what the UN has yet called for – whence the hope of a better life for billions of people. However the slow launching of concrete programs is unsettling… Only fourteen years are left to succeed.
The underground water supply
By Ghislain de MARSILY
Professeur émérite à Sorbonne Universités (Université Paris VI-Pierre et Marie Curie) et à l’École des Mines de Paris – Institut MinesTélécom
and Mustapha BESBES
Professeur d’hydrogéologie émérite à l’École nationale d’ingénieurs de Tunis Université de Tunis El Manar
Ghislain de Marsily , professor emeritus at University of Paris VI Pierre et Marie Curie, École des Mines de Paris-Institut Mines-Télécom; and Mustapha Besbes , professor emeritus of hydrogeology at the National Engineering School in Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar Underground resources represent a major share of the water used by humanity. Their occurrence is discussed: are underground sources being replenished or depleted worldwide? Attention is drawn to how human activities menace the quality of the water supply. Questions about security issues are discussed along with the measures for preserving and managing water resources.
Hydroelectricity, the marriage of water and energy
By Yves GIRAUD
Directeur de l’Hydraulique du groupe EDF
Hydroelectricity lies at the junction of several major problem areas – water, energy, the environment and climate – to which it can provide a positive response thanks to the new techniques now available. When poorly managed through separate policies, these problem areas can soon enter into contradiction. For example, the decision to develop renewable energy sources in order to fight against global warming might be at odds with the conservation of natural areas and streams. On the contrary, when well managed and properly coordinated by public authorities and stakeholders, hydraulics – given the flexibility and capacity for stocking both water and energy – will have a key role to play worldwide in relation to renewable energy sources.
The biodiversity of continental aquatic environments in France: An inventory and the menaces
By Paul MICHELET
Directeur général adjoint de l’Agence française pour la biodiversité
Continental aquatic ecosystems – though only 0.8% of the planet’s total surface area – provide shelter to at least 6% of known species. Aquatic biodiversity is regressing worldwide. In France, only 16% of aquatic environments and species are in a state conducive to their preservation. One major factor in this regression is the deteriorating habitats for these species owing, in particular, to the altered morphology of watercourses: dredged steams and rivers, man-made embankments, impeding constructions, etc. Other factors creating environmental stress are pollution, the introduction of exotic, invasive species, the overworking of resources and climate change. Although it is not easy to gauge the effect of these various factors, the implementation of coordinated programs, which, to restore aquatic environments, target several factors, holds promising results.
2 - Political and social issues
Water Supply to Big Cities: Training and Development Initiatives Implemented by South Africa’s Largest Water Board: A Focus on the City of Johannesburg (Gauteng province, South Africa)
By Wayida MOHAMED, Maußeen MILES, Asief ALLI, Poppie SERA and Hendrik EWERTS
Rand Water, Johannesburg (South Africa)
People living in big cities around the world are supplied with potable water through sporadic water supply networks. In South Africa, water is generally supplied uninterruptedly. However, the efficacy of water supply to big cities such as the city of Johannesburg (CoJ) may be destructively impacted due to various challenges the county is currently facing. A major challenge faced by the South African water sector is a shortage of critical water-related skills. South Africa’s largest water board (SALWB) situated in the Gauteng province is implementing a number of training programmes to address the skills shortage challenges. Training and development (T&D) initiatives implemented by SALWB are aimed at capacitating the water sector to ensure sustainable water supply networks. Individuals obtaining qualifications through these T&D initiatives will focus on the full cycle of water supply (e.g. water conservation and water demand management, operation and maintenance of infrastructure as well as the quality of potable water). T&D initiatives discussed in this paper also focus on socio-economic benefits for the country and add meaningful value to the South African water sector.
The water crisis, or perpetual conflict management
By Léna SALAMÉ
Experte internationale en diplomatie de l’eau
Essential to all forms of development, water resources must be managed efficiently and soundly if we are to reach sustainable development goals and eradicate poverty. Paradoxically, human activities related to development have strained these resources so much that, in some situations, hydric stress is stoking social and political tensions to the point of conflicts erupting. Several tools are available for managing, or even attenuating, quarrels over water resources. Though essential, they are not adequate. Although the involvement of political authorities is indispensable for genuine change, the development of the stock of water resources is a sine qua non for a deep and lasting transformation of conflicts.
Hydrodiplomacy for peace in the Middle East
By Fadi Georges COMAIR
Président d’honneur du Réseau méditerranéen des organismes de bassin
The water supply is a current source of contention in the southeastern Mediterranean owing to the geopolitical context, the scarcity of water and, too, the management of water resources by several countries there. As concrete examples from the region show, the risk of conflict increases when the country downstream is more vulnerable to hydric stress and has more military might. Dreading eventual menaces to their water supply, countries in this region are in a state of perpetual panic; they have a “hydric obsession”. Organizations affiliated with the United Nations, European Union or Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) are making enormous efforts to solve these problems in the hope of reversing the situation, favoring regional cooperation and consolidating peace among neighboring lands. Legal texts, such as the New Mediterranean Water Strategy (which member states have not adopted), the UN conventions of 1992 and 1997, and the EU’s Framework Directive on Water are tools that could serve as the basis for agreements between nations and for treaties. They have seldom been used however. The parties to a conflict usually require safeguards to ensure the fair sharing of water resources; and they prefer a security-based management of international bodies of water.
Water and Climate Change Policy: A Brief History for Future Progress
By Maggie WHITE and John H. MATTHEWS, Karin LEXÉN and Sofia WIDFORSS, Diego J. RODRIGUEZ
Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA)
Maggie White and John H. Matthews, Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA), Karin Lexén and Sofia Widforss, Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), and Diego J. Rodriguez , The World Bank Group For most of the water community today, it seems self-evident that sustainable freshwater resource management is critical to tackling climate change. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions through cleaner energy sources, sequestering carbon from the atmosphere, and enabling effective climate-impact adaptive mechanisms for agriculture, ecosystems, cities, and energy systems cannot succeed without taking into account freshwater resources. In turn, it is also understood that many aspects of climate policy have direct impacts on water management decisions, including national and regional energy and water sharing policies, investment and finance strategies for water, and how water projects and their purposes are framed. Historically, water and climate change have been poorly integrated institutionally, partially due to a lack of appreciation by both the climate and water communities of how deeply the two facets are entwined. In truth, much has been accomplished: institutions and roles in both communities have been evolving, and the outline of a new synthesis is emerging. This article describes in three parts how the water community has evolved over the past two decades in its articulation of water-climate policy and its engagement with the climate change community.
Environmental and health risks stemming from contamination of the water supply
By Yves LÉVI
Faculté de Pharmacie, Université Paris Sud, UMR 8079 CNRS, Agro-ParisTech
People have always left to the environment the task of eliminating – for free – the wastes they have dumped into watercourses. This situation could be accepted when wastes were (bio)degradable. The considerable progress made in chemistry since the 1950s has, unfortunately, spawned a diversity of molecules, some of them nearly indestructible, that have polluted all watercourses on our planet. Remedies have shown their limits. Priority must now be given to protecting and restoring the quality of water resources – to restoring an environmental life cycle and protecting public health.
3 - Institutional and financial responses
Managing catchment basins is necessary everywhere around the world in order to organize the adaptation to climate change
By Roberto RAMIREZ DE LA PARRA
Directeur général de la CONAGUA et président mondial du Réseau international des organisms de bassin (RIOB)
In several countries, climate change is already affecting (and will increasingly affect) the quantity and quality of the water supply and of aquatic ecosystems given the intensity and rising frequency of extreme hydrological events, such as flooding and drought. The basins of rivers, lakes and aquifers are natural areas where water runs from the surface under ground. They are the scale appropriate for managing water resources and organizing our adaptation to climate change.
Franco-Chinese cooperation for managing catchment basins in the context of climate change
By Chao LIN
Directeur du bureau de la Protection des ressources en eau de la Commission de conservation du fleuve Hai (Chine)
and Gwendal LE DIVECHEN
Chargé de projet Chine à l’Office international de l’Eau
Chao Lin , director of the Office of Protection of Water Resources, Commission of Conservation of the Hai River (China); and Gwendal Le Divechen , head of the China Project at the International Water Office China is facing a serious water crisis, which climate change tends to make worse. The Hai River Basin (318,000 km²) in northeastern China is, with its 130 million inhabitants, one of the country’s most developed economic zones. The growth of urbanization and industrialization is exerting strong pressure on water resources there. To stave off a crisis owing to both the increasing scarcity and rapidly deteriorating quality of water resources, the Chinese government has launched several projects for international cooperation with the goal of improving its methods of water management. The Chinese Ministry of Water Resources and the French Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development signed, in December 2009, an agreement of cooperation for an exchange of experiences between the two countries and a reinforcement of the integrated management and conservation of water resources in the Hai River Basin. A first pilot program on the Zhou sub-basin (2,100 km²) set up an operational group involving Chinese and French experts. An inventory of water resources was drafted along with a management plan and a program with specific measures addressing the problems there. This cooperation is being taken a step farther on a larger scale: the Luan River Basin (55,500 km²).
State management of the risks of flooding
By Marc MORTUREUX
Directeur général de la prévention des risques du ministère de l’Environnement, de l’Énergie et de la Mer
France’s highly structured policy for preventing and managing the risks of flooding involves the state, public establishments and local authorities in the effort to protect people and goods. The stakes are all the higher due to global warming, which increases the risk of natural catastrophes. It is now necessary to adapt to the consequences of alternating episodes of strong precipitation and dry periods. The strategy adopted by France emphasizes prevention, the intent being to adapt urbanism and territorial development through risk prevention plans (PPR) so as to avoid a larger exposure to flooding. Ensuing from this strategy are various measures for reducing the vulnerability of local areas and developing the population’s “risk culture” through action programs against flooding (PAPI). France also has robust meteorological and hydrological means for surveillance and monitoring, for predicting the occurrence of flooding and carrying out the necessary actions during emergencies.
Preventing the risks of flooding: Protection or adaptation?
By Stéphanie BIDAULT
Directrice du Centre européen de prévention des risques d’inondation (CEPRI)
In France, a country highly exposed to flooding, the policy for managing this risk has, for a long time now, focused exclusively on protection – people imagine they are totally safe behind dikes. The issue for the coming years is to change this approach and perspective. Modern cities, very vulnerable, must adapt to flooding risks so as to become more robust and resilient following climatic events. We must learn how to bring together all the axes of our prevention policy. Tools, such as the action programs (PAPI) for protecting against flooding and local strategies (SLGRI) for managing flooding risks, help do this. Local areas will be able to cope only by involving all stakeholders, both private and public. State and local authorities must, together, devote thought to making tomorrow’s towns better able to cope with the risk of flooding.
Water boards in France: a precursor yesterday and today
By Bertrand CAMUS
Président de la Fédération professionnelle des Entreprises de l’Eau (FP2E)
The French “water model” exercises attraction internationally: local management, transparency due to public tenders, expertise, innovation and customization. This model is still being polished to provide a better response to new questions concerning local areas and governance.
Fresh water on the planet: How to manage a common good? Europe’s actions
By Michel DANTIN
Député européen
The European Union has long been preoccupied with the question of water – a highly political topic. Over the forty years of the construction of the EU, one of the most ambitious policies in the world has emerged for protecting the water supply on a continental scale. The Framework Directive on Water has been the major tool. Given climate change and the intensification of human activities, a menace will, in the coming decades, loom over the water supply, its quality and quantity. To cope, the EU has oriented its actions toward three key objectives: a) improve the application of European water legislation by promoting coordination among stakeholders at all levels; b) integrate water policy in the sectors of the economy with an impact on the quality of water resources; and c) apply to water the principles of a circular economy, thus favoring prevention, recycling and the re-use of wastewater.
The World Water Council: A global challenge for a local resource
By Sophie AUCONIE
Gouverneure du Conseil Mondial de l’Eau, co-présidente du Cercle français de l’Eau
The World Water Council, a platform for conveying the views of parties active in the water supply at the international level, co-organizes the World Water Forums. Its current program is oriented toward bringing stakeholders together through an active “hydrodiplomacy”. The WWC must address the new challenges arising out of the adoption of sustainable development goals, climate change and the multiplication of events with an impact on the water supply. Thanks to world forums, topics related to water resources now figure on the international agenda, but the WWC must keep up its efforts so as to increase the organization’s political pressure. As more meetings are held at the top level, the WWC must focus its activities on protecting vital water resources and integrating them into the pursuit of sustainable development goals. People increasingly experience the impact of the availability of water and of waste-processing at the local level.
The International Water Association (IWA), an organization of professionals in the water supply and treatment of wastewater
By Diane d’ARRAS
Présidente de l’International Water Association (IWA)
Created in 1999 out of the merger of two big associations, AIDE (Association Internationale des Distributeurs d’Eau) and IAWQ (International Association on Water Quality), the International Water Association is a scientific organization centered around the water supply, the treatment of wastes and related services. The IWA has approximately seven thousand members: national organizations (with the status of “governors”), corporate members (public and private), and individuals. Its scientific and technical activities have been developed by its members through fifty specialist groups. Findings are diffused through the IWA Publishing House (which has acquired recognition in academic circles), major conferences (such as world and development congresses) and regional meetings on targeted topics. Problems of all sorts related to water resources are – finally! – being taken into account in sustainable development goals, assessments of the impact of climate change on water resources and declarations about the “right to water”. The IWA, a key player in this new context, mobilizes professionals specialized on the water supply in pursuit of the objective of devising and sharing the solutions for tomorrow’s problems.
The French Water Partnership: The voice of French players on water problems at the international level
By Jean LAUNAY
Président du Partenariat français pour l’Eau
Thanks to its long history of water management, France has acquired an internationally recognized position, its experience being of interest to several countries. This management, decentralized at the level of catchment basins, entails joint actions with all users. In 2015, the international community set seventeen sustainable development goals with an agenda for 2030. The sixth goal has to do with water resources. Governments are responsible for adopting the appropriate policies, and local decision-makers will be in charge of conducting the programs for reaching these goals. This context opens a vast opportunity for France and French diplomacy, in particular in economic matters – the opportunity to promote its experience, which, unique in the world, consists of innovations and joint actions with several operators. Public and private parties in France have joined the French Water Partnership to make their voice heard at the international level.
Miscellany
Deep-sea mineral resources: Major environmental stakes
By Denez L'HOSTIS
Président de France Nature Environnement (FNE)
In spite of anemic economies here and there on the planet, worldwide demand for minerals should rise steeply over the next twenty years. Some minerals are already scarce on land, or hard to extract “under satisfactory economic conditions”. Some are fully controlled by a few monopolies (firms or states), or located in countries ruled by dictators or with unstable governments, whence problems with ensuring a secure supply. Tensions will predictably flare up around the mineral resources essential to national economies and sovereignty. The potential mineral resources in the sea, as detected over the past forty years, are, beyond any doubt, arousing the interest of a small number of operators. However public opinion has remained indifferent to this situation.
The price of coal and competitiveness
By Fabrice DAMBRINE
Ingénieur général des mines, conseiller d’État en service extraordinaire et président de la section « Innovation, compétitivité et modernisation » au Conseil général de l’Économie
and François VALÉRIAN
Ingénieur général des mines, rédacteur en chef des Annales des Mines et professeur associé de finance au Conservatoire national des Arts et Métiers
Fabrice Dambrine , engineer from the Corps des Mines, member of the Conseil d’État, chairman of Innovation, Competition and Modernization at the Conseil Général de l’Économie; and François Valérian , engineer from the Corps des Mines, editor-in-chief of Annales des Mines, associate professor of finance at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers France (after Luxembourg) is a European country with low CO2 emissions (in relation to its GDP) from energy sources and industry. A financial levy on carbon emissions lowers profits and production in carbon-based firms. These effects are in direct proportion to the levy and the degree of carbonation in these firms. The exposure of these companies to international competition augments these effects while curtailing the impact on the reduction of carbon emissions. In fact, this impact might be canceled or reversed if the businesses in countries that export to France have a higher degree of carbonation. If the decision for this “carbon levy” is made in order to reach environmental goals, the totality of the sum raised by the levy should be reinvested in the economy so as to limit its negative effects.