Transitions to Freshwater Sustainability

Transitions to Freshwater Sustainability

Driven by water-related crises around the world, humans are changing how and where we use water. The forces driving this change include: “mismatches between supply and demand; the continued failure to meet basic human needs for water and sanitation; expanding ecological degradation due to extraction of water from natural systems and human-caused climate changes; the development of new technologies for using, treating, monitoring, and reporting on water use; new conceptual work; and growing attention given to water issues by the public and scientific communities.” Similar changes are happening for food and energy systems, which will also have an impact on water resources.

This new paper by Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute examines resource transitions and how they happen, and identifies policies that help create effective and successful change.

[PNAS]