Opinion: Climate change: water scarcity is fuelling new crises across Asia

China’s Water Crisis and the Sustainable Development Goals

Introduction

While the government has taken steps such as water transfers, recycling, and extraction reforms, they fall short of meeting China’s growing needs. Water scarcity is already diminishing crop yields, hampering hydropower generation, and spurring migration. This threatens China’s food security, green energy transition, and urban sustainability.

The Need for Urgent Action

China’s water crisis is a complex issue that demands urgent action across all sectors. Current policies are inadequate for the scale of the problem. Comprehensive transformational strategies and investments in sustainable water infrastructure are needed to avert catastrophic effects in the country.

Water Crisis in Southeast Asian Countries

Southeast Asian countries also face a growing water crisis driven by climate change effects such as El Nino droughts, saline intrusion, and pollution straining water supplies. Major agricultural producers Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia are particularly vulnerable to water scarcity.

Thailand’s Severe Drought

Thailand has suffered severe drought, with global supplies of sugar and rice taking a hit. This has led to reliance on water tankers and trucks in rural communities.

Water Scarcity in Vietnam

Vietnam is another Southeast Asian country dealing with water scarcity because of saltwater intrusion from rising sea levels hampering irrigation and access to drinking water. Indonesia’s water pollution is exacerbated by deforestation and agricultural run-off, leading to soil erosion and contaminated water supplies.

Challenges of Managing Transboundary Rivers

Lack of cooperation on managing transboundary rivers such as the Mekong poses another major challenge. Hydropower dams and irrigation projects are compromising the Mekong’s fragile ecosystem across its six-country basin while also creating geopolitical tensions and conflicts between countries.

Water Crisis in South Asia

South Asia is home to almost 2 billion people and several water-stressed countries. The region is highly dependent on water for agriculture, domestic use, and industrial activities, but it faces a dire water crisis driven by the effects of climate change, including Himalayan glacial melt, extreme weather, and aquifer depletion.

Impacts on Food Production and Political Stability

This multifaceted crisis threatens the region’s food production, economic growth, and political stability. Tensions between communities and countries could also escalate as they compete over limited water supplies.

The Call for Immediate Action

The climate change-exacerbated global water crisis is no longer a distant threat but a present reality demanding immediate action. Acute water stress in major Asian economies jeopardizes the water security of billions of people.

The Role of the COP28 Summit

The COP28 summit is a chance to call for galvanized action. Water security must be an urgent priority emphasized through climate adaptation plans and funding mechanisms.

Investments in Sustainable Water Infrastructure

This includes investments in watershed protection, desalination, irrigation efficiency, transboundary cooperation, and sustainable technologies for water conservation, treatment, and reuse. Failure to act decisively will have massive humanitarian, political, and economic consequences.

Conclusion

As the latest UN climate change conference nears, it is time for the world to confront the interlinked challenges of climate change and water scarcity before it is too late and, as some pundits expect, World War III breaks out over water.

Professor Syed Munir Khasru is chairman of the international think tank IPAG Asia-Pacific, Australia, with a presence also in Dhaka, Delhi, Dubai, and Vienna.

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