Glacial lake, Bhutan © Piet van der Poel

The 2008 Report "Climate Change and Water" by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) describes climate change as an “additional burden” to providing water services, rather an understatement in relation to the accompanying catalogue of potential impacts. These range from “salinisation of coastal aquifers” to “different kinds of pollutants” introduced by floods. The IPCC says that between 75 and 250 million people in Africa may experience water stress, whilst crop yields in some countries could be reduced by 50%.

The reduction in water availability caused by retreating Himalayan glaciers is possibly the impact on freshwater which carries the greatest risk to the greatest number of people. Restricted flow into the River Ganges could impact 400 million people in India and 35% of the country's irrigated land. Both India and China are dependent on stable monsoon rainfall for agriculture and water supplies, stability which is already showing signs of breakdown.

A long list of adaptation strategies in the IPCC report concludes with a brief recognition that developing countries cannot possibly afford them and may have to resort to “unsustainable practices such as increasing groundwater over-exploitation”.

It is clear that climate change could fundamentally alter the delicate ecology of the water cycle, with devastating impact on freshwater dependence. Failure to synchronise the planet's freshwater resources with the demands of humanity may be the crisis that finally spurs governments into decisive action on climate change.

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