Trieste Next
European Science Research Forum
September 27 - 28, 2013
The Value of Water
Jan Lundqvist
Senior Scientific Advisor
This presentation
Paradox: high value – low willingness to pay
Our need, use and misuse of water
A multiple-win approach
Wystan H. Auden, British poet
(1907 – 1973)
“Thousands have lived without love,
not one without water”
H2O - a unique molecule
• Life started in water
• Worshiped & feared in religions
• Has no substitute
• Premature death and destruction often due to water
• Climate change is MAJOR water change
The Water – Diamond paradox
How come…..
“..water, which has so much value
in use, has no value in exchange,
while diamonds, which have
practically no value in use,
are exchanged at high prices”?
Adam Smith, 1776:
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes
of the Wealth of Nations
Renewable, variable, uncertain
Average per capita availability, 2009
Average availability:
m3, per capita, year
Source: FAO AQUASTAT (2011)
Globally:
6,000
Norway:
Brazil:
Canada:
Sweden:
USA:
Italy:
.
.
.
Egypt:
77,000
27,000
22,000
18,000
9,000
3,000
23
(World Bank data)
Variability of rainfall in Beira, Mozambique - one hundred years
400
BEIRA: monthly rainfall 1908 to 2009
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Jan
Feb
1908
1919
1930
1941
1952
1963
1974
1985
1996
Mar
1909
1920
1931
1942
1953
1964
1975
1986
1997
Apr
1910
1921
1932
1943
1954
1965
1976
1987
1998
May
1911
1922
1933
1944
1955
1966
1977
1988
1999
Jun
1912
1923
1934
1945
1956
1967
1978
1989
2000
Jul
1913
1924
1935
1946
1957
1968
1979
1990
2001
Aug
1914
1925
1936
1947
1958
1969
1980
1991
2002
Sep
1915
1926
1937
1948
1959
1970
1981
1992
2003
Oct
1916
1927
1938
1949
1960
1971
1982
1993
2004
Nov
1917
1928
1939
1950
1961
1972
1983
1994
2005
Source: JeanMarc Faures, FAO
Dec
1918
1929
1940
1951
1962
1973
1984
1995
2006
Global warming and sea level rise
Exhibition at Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2010
High demand and multiple threats
to scarce water resources
all over the world
Source: The Economist
World Economic Forum
“…we have enjoyed a series of water
‘bubbles’ to support economic growth
over the past 50 years or so….. We are
now on the verge of water bankruptcy
in many places with no way of paying the
debt back…”.
(January, 2009)
One planet with finite resources
but (some) live as if we had two
Photos: NASA and Christer Fuglesang, austronout
? Next generations: Equity, stability, security, sustainability
Stressed resources,
world economic map upside down
poverty remains,
widening gaps
”Human demand on the biosphere
more than doubled
between 1961 – 2007”
(WWF: Living Planet Report ,2010, ”adjusted”)
Ten of the most rapidly developing
economies in Africa
and: China, India, Vietnam,
Brazil, Indonesia, etc.
What a waste; high cost, no gain!
Conservative estimate: 1.3 billion tons
of food is lost and/or wasted (FAO)
•
•
•
About 1/3 of all food produced (FAO)
Economic value about $750 billion (FAO)
Green house gas emissions
 Water, land, energy used in vain
 Environmental implications
 Public health
Potential savings and benefits
by reducing losses and waste by 50%
Food
Irrigation Water 1)
Energy2)
Monetary
650 mill tons
450 km3
16 ExaJoules
US $375 billion
1) Italy 175 km3; Lake Nasser: 55 km3
2) Current global total energy use: > 500 ExaJoules
Revive timeless virtues
not because they are old but because they are smart
Losses, conversions and waste 'from field to fork': 30 – 50% of food produced
What company or household would accept 30 – 50% losses and waste?
Milk powder production -25 degrees C
Awareness raising, sub-way in Stockholm
”One out of ten has still not
understood the problem…
Maybe you throw some oil
from your garage,…… ?
Small contributions from a
large number of people add up
to significant amounts...
Treatment plants will not take
care of all. Part will end up
in the Baltic Sea….
If harmful to the Baltic, it
should not be poured in your
sink or WC”
Stockholm Water Company
Stockholm – The Venice of Scandinavia
1960s – forbidden to swim
1980s – OK to fish and drink
A continuos battle with
new challenges
Molte grazie
www.siwi.org