Water scarcity or political flaws?

At the World Water Forum earlier this month, former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, commented that his five decades of experience in politics had convinced him that the global water crisis was "closely related to the flaws of contemporary economics and politics…” and that “…the economy needs to be reoriented to goals that include public goods such as a sustainable environment, people's health, education, culture and social cohesion, including an absence of glaring gaps between the rich and the poor" [reported in the BBC]. It seems to me that this realization is key to solving not just the problems around water, but also many of the problems facing the global ecosystem services that support us.

It would be nice if this pronouncement heralded a shift in thinking of other senior politicians as well. It could be our battle-cry in the CRP on Water, Land and Ecosystems because it recognizes that what we are hoping to change our behaviours on which the solutions to global problems depend. We know of the problems of water scarcity and of degradation of water, land and ecosystems. How did they occur, and what is our specific role in addressing them?

Our research program aims to provide technological solutions to the serious problems facing global ecosystems. But not only technical options.  We will also focus on solutions that address the fundamental basis of such problems which, to me, are as much about insights and behaviours – and the politics with which they are associated - as the technologies we hope to see deployed over vast areas.

The CRP on Water, Land and Ecosystems comes at the right time. Over recent years we have heard increasing calls for action concerning water, food and ecosystems. We now understand some of the functional links between economic development [including food security] and the ecosystem services on which we all depend. Through existing research from partners in the CRP, we know enough about individual aspects of this problem to put these together in a coherent framework that supports truly sustainable development in the face of increasing pressure. Integration is key, to achieve a coordinated response to development that uses an ecosystem lens to ensure balance between sectors.

Finally, we have a program of sufficient size and scope to tackle the problem in a systemic manner. This is likely to be largest, most exciting and, at times, most challenging job of our careers. Fellow scientists, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the CRP on Water, Land and Ecosystems!