Asia-Pacific countries need to closely cooperate and share experience in developing ecohydrology in their efforts to boost the capacity of ecosystems to provide and save an adequate supply of clean water for the worldâs population that has continued to grow, an expert has said
sia-Pacific countries need to closely cooperate and share experience in developing ecohydrology in their efforts to boost the capacity of ecosystems to provide and save an adequate supply of clean water for the world's population that has continued to grow, an expert has said.
'In the Asia-Pacific region, population growth coupled with rapid industrialization and urbanization have resulted in an increasing demand for water,' the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Indonesia representative, Hubert Gijzen, said in Yogyakarta on Monday.
Gijzen was speaking during the opening of the International Conference on Ecohydrology held by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and the Asia-Pacific Center for Ecohydrology (APCE-UNESCO), which will end on Wednesday.
'Increasing demand for water causes serious destructive consequences. They include water shortage, massive water pollution, water-borne disease, impaired food production, water-related disasters, billions of US dollars in damage and losses, water disputes, increasing threats to food security, the loss of livelihood security and eventually increased economic and geopolitical tensions and instabilities,' said Gijzen.
He reminded his audience that the world's population annually tapped around 4,000 cubic kilometers of clean water to use for agriculture, industry and daily activities.
'After using these vast and rapidly growing volumes of water, we then return it back to the water resources carrying truckloads of solid and liquid-waste pesticides, fertilizers, industrial waste, toxins, sewage and pathogens,' said Gijzen.
He said from generation to generation, people had used water that had been purified by the ecosystem. By applying a proper ecohydrology principle, people could improve the performance of the ecosystem in purifying water, improving the quality of water and preserving biodiversity.
LIPI head Iskandar Zulkarnain said ecohydrology did not only talk about water but was a holistic approach towards the ecosystem that could hopefully support life. The approach included cultivating types of trees that could clean pollutants from water.
'If we clean water using sophisticated technology, this will be too costly and the treatment will likely cover only a limited amount of water. But it the water treatment is conducted through an ecosystem, this will be cheaper and can cover a larger amount of water,' said Iskandar. (ebf)(+++)
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