Business World Online
Posted on March 23, 2014 10:31:51 PM
ASIA Pacific countries must improve national water and energy policies for sustainable development, the head of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) said on Friday.
“Strongly interlinked and interdependent, the nexus between water and energy is critical for sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region,” UN Under-Secretary-General and UNESCAP Executive Secretary Dr. Shamshad Akhtar said at a World Water Day celebration in Bangkok, according to a March 21 statement from the agency.
Some 4.3 billion or about 60% of the global population were living in Asia Pacific in 2012, UNESCAP noted, but the region has only about 38% of the world’s freshwater.
“As a result, the region has some of the lowest regional per capita water availability in the world,” the statement read.
Asia Pacific’s energy consumption was said to be lower than the global average, but UNESCAP expects this to rise “sharply” in the next 30 years given the demands of economic growth in the region.
“The growing challenges of the water-energy nexus require innovative and pragmatic solutions, application of the right technologies, and supportive economic enablers,” Ms. Akhtar said.
“These elements need to be integrated into national policies for more efficient and effective energy and water services.”
For his part, Dr. Gwang-Jo Kim, Bankok director for the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said: “Without improved cooperation between the water and energy sectors, the bleak reality is that sustainable development is unachievable.”
“The survival of the rich water-based cultures of the Asia-Pacific region and, indeed, our collective future depends on our ability to understand the connections between water and energy and develop policies that take an integrated approach to their management for sustainability,” Mr. Kim added.
The event in Bangkok also saw the regional launch of the UN World Water Development Report 2014 by the World Water Assessment Program (WWAP) under UNESCO. Previously released only every three years, the now-annual report took up the theme “Water and Energy” for 2014.
On the relationship between the two resources, the report stated: “The form of energy production being pursued determines the amount of water required to produce that energy. At the same time, the availability and allocation of freshwater resources determine how much (or how little) water can be secured for energy production.”
As demand for freshwater and energy increases in the coming decades, “the resulting challenges will be most acute in countries undergoing accelerated transformation and rapid economic growth, or those in which a large segment of the population lacks access to modern services,” the report also said.
The WWAP expects global water demand to increase by 55% by 2050, mainly because of growing demand from manufacturing, thermal electricity generation, and domestic use. This, in turn, is expected to strain freshwater availability, with over 40% seen to be living in areas of “severe water stress” through 2050.
The Philippines was shown to have the world’s second largest installed capacity for geothermal electricity in 2010 with 1,904 megawatts (MW). The United States, with 3,098 MW, had the largest, and the Philippines was followed by Indonesia with 1,197 MW.
Global energy demand is projected to grow by more than one-third by 2035, with 60% of the increase accounted for by China, India, and Middle Eastern countries, according to the report.
The WWAP also expects coal to remain Asia Pacific’s main source of energy, despite serious concerns about water quality degradation due to coal mining and the amount of water required to cool thermal power plants.
However, the report highlighted Asia Pacific’s potential to develop into a significant market for and exporter of biofuels. In particular, it noted: “India, the Philippines and Thailand are major new contributors to the biofuels industry.”
The region is seen to account for 20% of global ethanol production by 2015.
Worldwide, an estimated 768 million remain without access to improved water, the report stated, though the number could be as high as 3.5 billion. Some 2.5 billion people, meanwhile, lack access to improved sanitation.
More than 1.3 billion people were also said to lack access to electricity, while 2.6 billion were said to use solid fuels for cooking. source
