Uncharted waters : the new economics of water scarcity and variability

"The 21st century will witness the collision of two powerful forces - burgeoning population growth coupled with a changing climate. With population growth, water scarcity will proliferate to new areas across the globe. With climate change, rainfall will become more fickle, with longer and deeper periods of droughts and deluges. Uncharted Waters: The New Economics of Water Scarcity and Variability presents new evidence to advance our understanding of how rainfall shocks, coupled with water scarcity, affects farms, firms, and families. On farms, the largest consumers of water in the world, impacts are channeled from declining yields to shriveling forests. Dry shocks, by reducing farmers' yields cause forests to be converted into farms, and are a hidden driver of global deforestation, which in turn accentuates the risks of climate change. In cities, water extremes - especially when combined with unreliable infrastructure - can stall firm production, sales, and revenue. For rural families, who are at the center of the water scarcity challenge, rainfall shocks have an impact on their incomes, jobs, and long-term health. Although a rainfall shock may be fleeting, its consequences can become the destiny of those who experience it. Uncharted Waters demonstrates that, while floods ar the spectacular weather events that cause sensational damage, the impacts of water scarcity and drought are even greater, causing long-term and persistent harm in ways that are poorly understood. Avoiding this misery in slow motion will call for fundamental changes in the way that water is managed and used. A key message of Uncharted Waters is that water has multiple economic attributes that entail distinct policy responses at each stage in its cycle of use. If water is not managed more prudently - from source, to tap, and back to source - the crises observed today will become the catastrophes of tomorrow