And how is it applied to real life?
In a world of rapid changes, unequal water resources, polluted water bodies, growing demands, and increasing climate variability and climate change, our relationship with water is quickly shifting.
In Latin America, home for 650 million people, those changes are not an exception, and the term “Water Security” is becoming more and more relevant.
In the most urbanized continent of the developing world, cities grow fast, vulnerability is latent in vast and fragile large peri-urban areas, and enhanced climate phenomena put high stress on water resources management, delivering of water services and means of production.
The World Bank has launched an initiative to support governments to assess national water security in a comprehensive and systematic manner.
Three countries have been selected to start this regional initiative: Argentina, Colombia and Peru.
A multidisciplinary team of high level experts is working closely with the Governments and stakeholders in these countries to assess the positive and negative impacts of the performance of the water sector in the country’s development.
In parallel, the World Bank is gathering and assessing a great amount of sectoral information for the rest of the region.
The final product of this work will show how water has a multiplicative effect in other sectors and how addressing key challenges can trigger positive changes in the LAC countries’ economy.
It will highlight current water constraints and provide guidance to define a pathway to increase water resilience, reduce associated water conflicts, improve delivery of water services and sustain water resources, and contribute to a more robust, inclusive and sustainable development.