The United Nations World Water Development Report 2020 : Water and Climate Change

Foreword by Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO iv
Foreword by Gilbert F. Houngbo, Chair of UN-Water and President of IFAD v
Preface vi
WWDR 2020 Team viii
Acknowledgements ix
Executive Summary 1

Prologue The state of water resources in the context of climate change10
Introduction 11
Climate change 11
Climate and water 16
Status of water-related impacts from climate change 16
Risk-sensitive areas – SIDS, semi-arid regions, coastal hinterlands and mountainous areas 26
Limitations and challenges 27

Chapter 1 Climate change, water and sustainable development 30
1.1 Objectives and scope 31
1.2 A cross-sectoral challenge and the need for integrated assessments 33
1.3 The most vulnerable 35

Chapter 2 International policy frameworks 38
2.1 Introduction 39
2.2 Overview of the main agreements 39
2.3 Water as a connector to support the implementation of global agreements 44

Chapter 3 Water availability, infrastructure and ecosystems 46
3.1 Impacts on water resources and infrastructure 47
3.2 Options to enhance water security under a changing climate 49
3.3 Mitigation options for water resources management 55

Chapter 4 Water-related extremes and risk management 58
4.1 Climate and water extremes as challenges for water management 59
4.2 Hard and soft measures in climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction 61
4.3 Planning and assessment methods for disaster risk reduction 66
4.4 Opportunities 67

Chapter 5 Human health impacts related to water, sanitation and climate change 68
5.1 Introduction 69
5.2 Trends in water-related morbidity and mortality 70
5.3 Health risks associated with climate change 72
5.4 Water supply and sanitation response options 73

Chapter 6 Agriculture and food security 78
6.1 Introduction 79
6.2 Climate impacts and the agriculture baseline: sorting out shocks from trends 80
6.3 The role of agricultural water management in adaptation 87
6.4 Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, forestry and other land use 90
6.5 The role of agricultural water management in mitigation 91
6.6 Conclusions 94

Chapter 7 Energy and industry 96
7.1 Context 97
7.2 Challenges and risks 98
7.3 Reactions and opportunities 102
7.4 Moving forward 109

Chapter 8 Human settlements 110
8.1 Introduction 111
8.2 Water, climate and urban development 112
8.3 The increased need for urban water resilience 112
8.4 Critical areas for action 113
8.5 Conclusions and recommendations 117

Chapter 9 Water–Climate–Energy–Food–Environment Nexus 118
9.1 Accounting for interlinkages 119
9.2 Co-benefits 124

Chapter 10 Regional perspectives 126
10.1 Overview 127
10.2 Addressing water-related impacts of climate change across countries and regions 128
10.3 Sub-Saharan Africa – ECA perspective 132
10.4 Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia – ECE perspective 134
10.5 Latin America and the Caribbean – ECLAC perspective 139
10.6 Asia and the Pacific – ESCAP perspective 141
10.7 Western Asia and North Africa – ESCWA perspective 145
10.8 Conclusion: fostering water and climate action through regional learning and collaboration 148

Chapter 11 Water governance for resilience to climate change 150
11.1 Introduction 151
11.2 Integrating climate change concerns in water management 151
11.3 Public participation in agenda-setting, decision-making and monitoring 154
11.4 Reducing vulnerability and enhancing resilience by combatting poverty and inequality 158

Chapter 12 Climate finance: Financial and economic considerations 160
12.1 Overview 161
12.2 Why connect water and climate finance 161
12.3 Economic considerations of water and climate projects 163
12.4 Types of climate investments for water projects 166
12.5 Using multilateral climate finance for water 167
12.6 Using national climate finance for water 168
12.7 Alternative finance sources 169
12.8 Conclusion 171

Chapter 13 Technological innovation and citizen knowledge 172
13.1 Introduction 173
13.2 Technological innovation 174
13.3 From data to decision-making: bridging the science–policy gap 175

Chapter 14 Moving forward 178
14.1 From adaptation to mitigation 179
14.2 Fostering an enabling environment for change 180
14.3 Coda 181

References 182
Abbreviations and acronyms 214
Boxes, figures and tables 216
Photo credits 219