All Systems Connect: Uniting experts and activists to address the challenges of water and climate

Water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services are highly vulnerable to climate change. This is due to the heavy reliance of WASH provision on hydrological, ecological, financial, and socio-political (sub) systems for their functionality. All these systems are, and will continue to be, severely impacted by climate change.

As such, the risks climate change poses to WASH services are highly heterogenous. These risks range from increasing the severity of physical hazards and rapidity of urban expansion; to reducing the lifespan of infrastructure and available finance for WASH.

Furthermore, climate risks to WASH provision are distributed unevenly within populations. Vulnerable communities are often the most exposed to climate-induced reductions in WASH provision and climate change often exacerbates existing inequities in sustainable, affordable WASH provision. Due to the complex relationship between climate change and WASH provision, it is critical we take both a social justice and intersectional approach to reducing the risk climate change poses to sustainable WASH provision at all levels.

The world is currently on track to pass 1.5C of global warming in the next decade and there is increasing international pressure to reduce emissions across all sectors. It is critical that we remain clear sighted on the need for universal WASH provision despite changes in hydrology and calls for decarbonisation. We must not allow talk of 'less water' to translate into a reduction of community WASH provision or to become an enabler of 'climate scapegoating' .
Furthermore, there is globally an increased pressure on utilities companies to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with their operations and pressure on financiers to decarbonise their investment portfolios. It is thus critical we continue to push for a climate justice approach to reducing emissions whilst ensuring communities who contributed the least to climate change have universal, climate resilient WASH systems

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