Chief, Energy Security and Water Resources Section Special Regional Session: Achieving water security for Asia and the Pacific through sustainable water management Current status and major challenges on water in the Asia-Pacific region

1. Current status and major challenges on
water in the Asia-Pacific region
Hongpeng Liu
Chief, Energy Security and Water Resources Section

2. Content
• Major Issues and challenges in Asia and the
Pacific
– Climate Change Impacts
– Disaster Risks
– Water & Sanitation
• Emerging focus
– Water security
– Water-Food-Energy Nexus
• Tools & IWRM

3. Major Issues and challenges in Asia & the Pacific

4. Multiple challenges in water sector
• Increasing water scarcity threat
• High water utilization
• Deteriorating water quality, Poor water quality and low water
endowment
• Flood-prone countries, Cyclone-prone countries, Drought-prone
countries
• Ecosystem changes/ Climate change risk
• Poor access to drinking water, Poor access to sanitation, etc
– 635 million people lack access to safe water and 1.9 billion lack access to
effective sanitation. Require over US$ 130b investments
– China, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam, are all in or close to
being in conditions of water stress
– The exceptions are few: Bhutan, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia
and Papua New Guinea

5. CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS

6. Baseline Water Stress
(in areas with irrigated agriculture)

7. (In areas with irrigated agriculture, based on 2025 IPCC Scenario A1B)
Long Term Water Stress

8. Baseline Water Stress
(and the location of power plants)

9. (and the location of power plants, based on 2025 IPCC Scenario A1B)
Long Term Water Stress

10. Significance of Climate change to water systems
 Significant change in quantity of flow, will affect
 Design sizing of infrastructure; culverts, bridges, canals, dams, etc
 Existing operations and maintenance: water related systems - floods, water
supply, irrigation etc
 Shifting rainfall patterns, between 1-2 weeks
 Affect planting season; harvesting should not meet floods!
 Droughts need to be avoided
 Affect reservoir fillings, draw-downs, operations & maintenance
 Other general operations and maintenance of water infrastructure and
systems
 Extreme and recurring floods and droughts
 Health implication
 Social and economic activities

11. DISASTER RISKS IN ASIA PACIFIC

12. Typhoons are getting stronger…
The number of recorded categories 4 and 5 typhoons increasing

13. …more people in the region are getting
exposed to hazards…
Human exposure to tropical cyclone is increasing for most sub-regions

14. … many urban locations are in high risk areas…
Of the 305 urban agglomerations, 119 are situated along coastlines

15. … economic losses increasing
Economic losses in
2011, 80% of total
losses for 2000 to 2009
Losses have grown more than 16 times since 1970 while GDP increased by 13 times

16. Water and Sanitation

17. Water Supply & Sanitation
Status, Trends and Overview
Water Supply
• Asia and the Pacific as a whole is an
early achiever for halving the
proportion of people without access to
safe drinking water, but not sanitation.
• The proportion of the region’s
population with access to improved
drinking water sources increased from
73 to 88%
•The access rate increased in all Asia-
Pacific sub regions, except for Central
Asia and the Pacific region, where it
stayed the same
Sanitation
•Compared with water supply,
sanitation coverage is in a dire state
•Only around 53% of the region’s
population has access to improved
sanitation
•The most rapid progress has been in
South-East Asia and in North-East Asia.
The progress in South and South-West
Asia was even weaker.

18. 178 thousand people have
no access to sanitation in South-East Asia.
Only 33% of
the population
has access to
sanitation in
Cambodia.
63% of the
population still
practice open
defecation in the
South region of
Lao PDR.
More than 20,000 people die each
year in Vietnam because of a lack of clean
water, poor sanitation and hygiene.
Source: ESCAP, 2013, Statistical Year Book

19. Emerging Focus
• Water security
• Water-Food-Energy Nexus

20. Water Security
• AWDO 2013
• Measuring National
Water Security in Asia
and the Pacific
The capacity of a population to
safeguard sustainable access to
adequate quantities of
acceptable quality water for
sustaining livelihoods, human
well-being, and socio-economic
development, for ensuring
protection against water-borne
pollution and water-related
disasters, and for preserving
ecosystems in a climate of peace
and political stability.
UN Water TF on Water Security

21. Vision
• Societies can enjoy water security when they
successfully manage their water resources and
services to
1. Satisfy household water and sanitation needs in all communities
2. Support productive economies in agriculture, industry and energy
3. Develop vibrant, livable cities and towns
4. Restore healthy rivers and ecosystems
5. Build resilient communities that can adapt to change

22. Water-Food-Energy Nexus
• Why a nexus approach?
– ‘The key drivers impacting the condition, use and
management of water resources are all external
to the water box’. (Uncer, UN Water)
– The same is true in agriculture (and energy to a
lesser extent)
– The Ministry of Water, acting alone, cannot
prevent a water crisis

23. Demand for food (and meat) is growing…
• To meet forecast growth in demand for
food over the next 20 years, farmers will
need to increase global agricultural
production by 70-100%
• More than 25% of this increase in grain
demand will actually be due to changes in
consumer diets (meat)

24. Demand for energy is growing…
• Global energy demand is set to grow by 37% by 2040 (IEA )
• The global distribution of energy demand changes more
dramatically, with energy use essentially flat in much of
Europe, Japan, Korea and North America, and rising
consumption concentrated in the rest of Asia (60% of the
global total), Africa, the Middle East and Latin America
• By 2030 China will need to expand its power generating
capacity by over 1,300 GW (1.5 times the current level of the
United States); and India by 400 GW (equal to the current
combined total power generation of Japan, South Korea and
Australia) (IEA)
• More energy and more food means growing demand for
water…

25. Situating the nexus approach
• The Nexus Approach recognizes interconnectedness of
water, energy, and food across space and time. Its objectives
are:
– Improve energy, water, and food security
– Address externality across sectors, and decision-making at
the nexus
– Support transition to sustainability

26. Tools
• Water Hotspots
• Water Security Framework
• Household Water Security Index

27. Asia Pacific Water Hotspots (2011)
• Hotspots - countries or areas or ecosystems
with overlapping challenges of poor access to
water and sanitation, deteriorating water
quality, limited water availability and
increased exposure to climate change and
water-related disasters

28. Hotspots

29. Water Security Framework of 5 Independent Key Dimensions

30. Asian Water Development Outlook Framework for Assessing National Water Security

31. Description of National Water Security Stages

33. Results
• More than 75% of the countries in Asia and the
Pacific are experiencing a serious lack of water
security
• 37 countries are either suffering from low levels
of water security or have barely begun to
engage in the essential task of improving water
security
• 12 countries have established the infrastructure
and management systems for water security

34. Household Water Security Index (HWSI)
• Household Water Security is one of five key
dimensions within the Water Security
Framework. The security of household water
is necessary to assist in achieving global goals
of eradicating poverty and encouraging
further economic and social development.

35. The HWSI allows for an
assessment of the extent to
which countries are meeting
household water and
sanitation needs and
improving hygiene for public
health.
Benefits of the HWSI:
• can provide valuable insights
for international agencies,
policy makers, governments,
and further interested parties
A stronger HWSI leads to strong
long-term impacts such as a
health population and
ecosystems, reduced poverty,
and adequate water allocation
HWSI also allows for further social
and economic growth and
development, for example in
farming, building housing
material, and small-scale fisheries.
Household Water Security Index (HWSI)

36. Water Acess
Percentage
Water
Rank
Sanitation Access
Percentage
Sanitation
Rank
DALYs
Diarrhoea
Quality
Rank
100 to 89 1 100 to 85.8 1 up to 458 1
89 to 77 2 85.8 to 71.6 2 up to 886 2
77 to 65 3 71.6 to 57.4 3 up to 1314 3
65 to 53 4 57.4 to 43.2 4 up to 1742 4
53 to 20 5 43.2 to 20 5 up to 6000 5
The index follows a categorical scales method (as
below). Countries have been accordingly ranked
equally in the three following categories:
1.water access
2.sanitation access
3.DALYs diarrhea
When added up, the three scores for each country
create the overall HWSI. The smaller, the better.
Household Water Security Index (HWSI)

37. Household Water Security Index (Best and Worst Performers)
Country Sub-region
water
access
sanitation
access DALYs
diarrhoea
Water Rank
Sanitation
Rank
DALYs Rank HWSI Total Rank
Japan ENEA 100% 100% 112 1 1 1 3 1
Republic of Korea ENEA 98% 100% 93 1 1 1 3 1
Kazakhstan NCA 95% 97% 325 1 1 1 3 1
Georgia NCA 98% 95% 125 1 1 1 3 1
Armenia NCA 98% 90% 229 1 1 1 3 1
Australia PI 100% 100% 93 1 1 1 3 1
Samoa PI 96% 98% 331 1 1 1 3 1
Tonga PI 100% 96% 422 1 1 1 3 1
Singapore SEA 100% 100% 92 1 1 1 3 1
Bangladesh SSWA 81% 56% 893 2 4 3 9 3
Pakistan SSWA 92% 48% 3,175 1 4 5 10 3
Solomon Islands*** PI 70% 32% 1,038 3 5 3 11 4
Lao PDR SEA 67% 63% 1,941 3 3 5 11 4
India SSWA 92% 34% 2,216 1 5 5 11 4
Nepal SSWA 89% 31% 2,399 1 5 5 11 4
Kiribati** PI 63% 34% 930 4 5 3 12 4
Timor-Leste SEA 69% 47% 2,444 3 4 5 12 4
Cambodia SEA 64% 31% 937 4 5 3 12 4
Papua New Guinea PI 40% 45% 1,813 5 4 5 14 5
Afghanistan SSWA 50% 37% 4,151 5 5 5 15 5**water access and sanitation data from 2006
*** water access and sanitation data from 2005

40. The Way Forward
Achieving water security through
sustainable water management

41. Chiang Mai Declaration at the 2nd APWS
May 2013

42. ESCAP Resolutions on IWRM

43. Integration in Water Resource ManagementVerticalintegration
National
Government
Local
Government
Municipalities
Private Sector,
NGOs
• The water governance structure is vertically integrated to
better coordinate policies and encourage bottom-up water
management.
• Horizontal integration can include several water management
components within the water system and across sectors and
institutional boundaries.
• Water system: Water resource catchment and storage,
resource conservation, ecosystem maintenance, flood
mitigation and water security
• Cross-sector: Energy system, land use, urban design, health
and sanitation policies and agriculture policies
Horizontal integration
Water system
Water
security
Water reuse
Storm water
management
Ecosystem
Maintenance
Cross Sectoral
Energy
Land use &
Urban Design
Health &
Sanitation
Agriculture

44. Cases from AP in this session
• Thailand: Strategic plan for water management
(five areas: domestic, irrigation, urban,
economic growth & ecosystem)
• Philippines: Water for city (capacity building,
infrastructure investment & sustainability of
water system)
• Korea: Transformation of water & sanitation
(long term development plan, rules &
regulations & implementation, urban & rural)

45. Thank you