Introduction: Water Policy and the Anthropocene

Abstract

In observance of 'World Water Day' 201 7, the World Water Council called on all governments to prioritise global water security (World Water Council, 2017). The World Economic Forum's 'Global Risk Report 2017' has declared water crises a 'societal risk' ranking within the top three in the high-impact category for the third consecutive year (World Economic Forum, 2017). Two billion people are affected by contaminated drinking water (World Health Organization, 2017) and the World Health Organization (2017) has identified that 'countries are not increasing spending fast enough to meet the water and sanitation targets under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)'. Both surface and groundwater resources are in decline, with the United Nations predicting a shortfall by 2030, and there are concerns of 'water wars' in high risk countries resulting from the slowing of economic growth, food price spikes and increasing human migration (The National Geographic, 2016). Water conflicts are very much in the political psyche 'as much as oil shaped the global geopolitics of the 20th century, water has the power to reorder international relations in the current century' (Engelke & Sticklor, 2015). As we enter the 'International Decade of Action: Water for Sustainable Development 2018-2028' (United Nations, 2017), humanity is challenged by a critical juncture: What we do in the next 50 years will determine the outcome for the next 10,000 years. We are that generation right at that tipping point. We were alive at that exponential journey that took us here, we will probably be alive in the journey that will decide the outcome for the next 10,000 years (Rockstrom, 2017).