To develop a sound regional water policy we need better data

Dogan Altinbilek says there is reason for optimism that progress shall follow in the OIC’s promising water agenda

Water scarcity and security is an acutely important topic for the OIC and many of its 57 member states, including the UAE. Lee Hoagland / The National

This week water ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meet in Istanbul. High on their agenda is taking joint measures to tackle the increasing challenge of water scarcity and water security that collectively affects this most diverse community of nations. The very fact that the organisation gathers water ministers together, and that it has committed resources to developing its Water Vision, is to be commended. Without much fanfare, the OIC and its member states are showing leadership on this most crucial of global challenges.

Water scarcity and security is an acutely important topic for the OIC and many of its 57 member states, including the UAE. The OIC represents an extraordinarily diverse range of countries, cultures and climates. One critical aspect of that diversity is water availability in differing OIC member states.

The OIC share of the world’s total renewable water resources is 13.3 per cent, while the OIC represents 23.3 per cent of the world’s total population. In other words, member states are already disadvantaged by the lack of availability of water proportionate to its growing population. This overall assessment then shrouds significant disparities at the individual country level.

Some OIC countries, of course, have vast water resources. The highest amount of total renewable water resources of all OIC countries is to be found in Indonesia (2.019 billion m3 /year) followed by Bangladesh (1.227 billion m3 /year) and Malaysia (580 billion m3/year) while OIC countries in the Middle East and North Africa, notably some of the Gulf states, have much less.

Water’s ubiquitous character means its impacts cut across a wide range of disciplines and sectors. The variation in these different disciplines is also striking. Take agriculture. In common with the rest of the world, OIC states utilise a very large proportion of water for agricultural purposes (86.2 per cent). The world average is 70 per cent, exposing both the impact of OIC water resources on food security and a higher than average level of water stress.

In the field of health and sanitation, 24 per cent of the OIC population is without access to improved drinking water and 40 per cent is without access to improved sanitation facilities.

It makes for a very mixed picture. Moreover, climate change is set to have an adverse consequence on many OIC member states.

The challenge, then, is to identify measures that can benefit the whole.

Four years ago, water ministers adopted the OIC’s Water Vision setting out a road map for promoting collaboration, including exchange of best practices, capacity building and knowledge sharing among member states. It also committed to a funding strategy to support the implementation of activities recognising that, without doing so, progress would be patchy.

Member states have appointed national experts to implement activities. Known as National Focal Points, they are responsible for leading the work in six areas – hydrology, river basin management, water supply and sanitation, sustainable water resources management, governance and use of modern technologies. These clusters are tasked with driving forward proposals on cross border collaboration and knowledge transfer.

Perhaps the most impressive measure – and one all too often underrated – is the development of an OIC water portal to capture data and science. There remains an astonishing lack of data and science about water resources and usage, a point the International Water Resources Association has long worked to address. It is a profoundly misunderstood resource. Sound policymaking has to be based on robust data. Without investment in water data, progress on implementing meaningful and sustainable policy change is a shot in the dark. Here the OIC is to be recognised for its contribution.

The multidimensional challenge of working across such a fragmented policy area as water in an organisation as diverse as the OIC shouldn’t be underestimated. The organisation’s commitment to prioritising water and mainstreaming it across all OIC agenda, indicates steady progress. In a policy arena all too often characterised by glum facts, there is reason for quiet optimism that further progress will follow in the OIC’s promising water agenda.

Prof Dogan Altinbilek is the past president of the International Water Resources Association and vice president of the World Water Council