Regions facing water scarcity

For several decades, urbanisation, industrial, energy-related and agricultural activities, and now climate change, have posed a real threat to the global availability of freshwater, a common good which is essential for human and animal life, ecosystems, climate regulation, biodiversity, and the development and functioning of many economic sectors. In the different regions, access to water, the sharing of water to be arbitrated between the various stakeholders, water management and sanitation, and its sobre use are becoming major issues.

The seminar will provide scientific insights to help elected officials and public and private regional stakeholders make enlightened decisions. It will provide an opportunity to share knowledge and questions about:

• the history of water management and cultural representations of water, 
• the water cycle and how it works, the functions and value of water – a resource, a living environment, a vital element for climate regulation, ecosystem functioning and human development – and natural and anthropogenic pressures on water resources, in the light of current research,
• the levers and obstacles identified by the regional stakeholders for making better use of water in their regions and establishing sustainable and careful management of the resource,
• the evolution of water governance to meet the challenge of sobriety and the sharing of the resource between the different users,
• the financial challenges of water policies and the support mechanisms for exploring innovative solutions.

Dominique Darmendrail, BRGM Director of the "Groundwater and Global Change" scientific programme, will speak during a webinar on the subject of groundwater and global change on Thursday 25 May, from 6 to 8 pm.