UNESCO, published this Monday (21), a report that highlights the potential of groundwater to generate social, economic and environmental benefits, if managed in a sustainable way.
The document was launched as part of the 9th World Water Forum, which began this Monday in Dakar, Senegal, with the theme “Water security for peace and development”.
According to the report by the United Nations body, a 272-page document entitled “Groundwater: Making the Invisible Visible”, groundwater represents almost 99% of the planet’s freshwater reserves.
However, “the direct and indirect benefits they provide often go unnoticed or are ignored, leaving many aquifers without adequate protection”, laments UNESCO.
As a result, the world’s groundwater reserves are often poorly managed, undervalued and at risk of contamination.
“An increasing number of water resources are being polluted, overexploited and desiccated by human beings, sometimes with irreversible consequences. It is essential to use the potential of these resources, which are still underexploited, more intelligently,” said Audrey Azoulay, the director general of UNESCO in a statement.
According to a diplomat from the organization contacted by AFP, UNESCO is trying to “call for a mobilization for the States to establish coordination on a world scale”.
UNESCO also highlights that water consumption is expected to increase by an average of 1% each year over the next 30 years.
In this context, groundwater could offer, for example, “solutions to mitigate climate change”, according to the report, which says that aquifers “have a unique absorption capacity, capable of limiting the impact of climate variations”.
The document especially recommends irrigation via solar-powered underground water pumping systems.
Furthermore, it calls for better “governance” to manage groundwater resources, with “basic knowledge, institutional capacity, laws, regulations and their enforcement tools, policies and planning, stakeholders, as well as adequate funding”.
For access to groundwater resources, the report warns, there is a problem of specialization, particularly in sub-Saharan African countries, which require external monitoring.
The document encourages governments to “create and enrich a knowledge base dedicated to groundwater”, with the aim of sharing information.
It also calls on the oil and mining industries to share their “data, information and knowledge” for the benefit of groundwater management actors.
