At the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP26, a coalition of 23 governments (including the host nation, the UK), businesses and civil society organizations signed the Glasgow Declaration for Fair Water Footprints for Climate-Resilient, Inclusive, and Sustainable Development. Signatories resolved to ‘take transformative §action for fair water footprints which will have durable benefits for our communities, ecosystems, and economies, and help to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6): Ensure availability and sustainable management of access to water and sanitation for all by 2030’. This minilateral, multi-stakeholder initiative aims to demonstrate commitment to good water stewardship, promote best practice, and have its principles considered and taken up in a broader set of forums, including existing multilateral processes.
The Glasgow Declaration is based on shared recognition that the ‘water footprints’ (i.e. the direct and indirect water use – see Box 2) of consumer society, economic activity and international trade are tightly connected, including through global supply chains. Signatories identify the shared obligation of consumers, producers, trading partners, industry, investors, financiers and retailers to ensure sustainable and equitable water use.
Water governance is not only a matter for those concerned with local river basin management or in-country economic development. It is a cross-border and global issue affecting multiple aspects of international relations.
Underpinning this commitment is the principle that water governance is not only a matter for those concerned with local river basin management or in-country economic development, as is often perceived to be the case. It is also a cross-border and global issue affecting multiple aspects of international relations. The consequent need for a global approach to water governance is exemplified by the fact that the water footprints of many high-income nations are 40–80 per cent external, meaning that such countries are highly reliant on water use elsewhere in the world for the production and delivery of imported goods.
Trade potentially allows for a more balanced use of the world’s water resources by enabling water-scarce countries to access water-intensive products from water-plentiful countries and regions – and for both parties to profit from the exchange. However, in reality, a combination of overextraction of resources, underpricing and low regulation in many countries often results in water-intensive products coming from water-scarce and/or climate-vulnerable regions. In such cases, the production of commodities for export can have significant negative consequences for water resources in the exporting country, including by causing water pollution, diversion and depletion, and by reducing society’s resilience to climate and biodiversity crises. Globally, the safe limits for freshwater use have been transgressed, increasing the risk of unmanageable instability in the hydrological system.
In this context, the Glasgow Declaration defines ‘fair water footprints’ as those that meet five social and environmental sustainability criteria: zero water pollution; sustainable water withdrawals and equitable allocation of water; protection of nature; access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene; and resilience to droughts, floods, climate variability and water conflict (see Box 1).
This research paper is one of a series of three that explore the water-related impacts of global trade in different sectors. The sectors are: food and agriculture; textiles; and mining of critical metals and minerals for the technology industry. These sectors were chosen because all have significant international water footprints, are often particularly thirsty and polluting, and are increasingly affected by (and themselves affect) climate change and other environmental challenges. Each paper provides a concise overview of what is known about that sector’s water footprint, highlighting the global trade dependencies between producer and consumer countries. The papers provide an overview of how global trade is contributing to, or undermining, prospects for realizing the Glasgow Declaration’s ambition for ‘fair water footprints’ in each sector. At the same time, they examine how trade partnerships can serve countries’ strategic security interests and – at both national and multilateral levels – strengthen water-related policy and practice.
Chatham House is a member of the Fair Water Footprints partnership alongside CDP, the International Institute for Environment and Development, Water Witness International, and the UK government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). Together we are working with signatories to the Glasgow Declaration to drive progress towards the ambitions of the declaration.
