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The Government of Bangladesh has identified water stress as a critical issue at a time when population growth and urbanisation in Asia and the Pacific are rising fast creating stress on the region’s water resources.
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) made the observation in its ‘Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2020.’
The report also said that the country is ‘taking steps to be one of the first developing countries to consider the economic value of water in its policy and investment decisions.’
ESCAP expressed concern that climate change is expected to worsen the situation of water stress significantly.
“Reduced access to freshwater or water stress will lead to a cascading set of consequences, including impaired food production, the loss of livelihood security, large-scale migration within and across borders and increased economic and geopolitical tension and instability,” it explained.
“Over time, these effects will have profound impacts on security throughout the region,” the UN agency added.
The ESCAP report also observed: “Undervaluation of water is resulting in misallocation of resources and is having adverse impacts on Bangladesh’s socioeconomic development.”
It mentioned that the country’s forthcoming ‘Study on developing operational shadow prices for water to support informed policy and investment decision-making processes” is expected to show how operational shadow prices for water can be applied by the public and private sectors.
“The case of Bangladesh highlights that climate risk assessment should be associated not only with economic decisions but also with the need to have a holistic application to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” the survey further observed.