Sultana Piece on Collaborating to Advance Water Justice Published in Nature

March 22, 2024

Nature

Farhana Sultana

Geography & the Environment Department

Environmental Conflict and Collaboration

South Asia Center

Climate Change

Water

Nature

Farhana Sultana

World Water Day is an annual United Nations Observance—held on March 22—focusing on the importance of freshwater and inspiring action to tackle the global water crisis.

More than two billion people worldwide lack access to reliable, safe drinking water. Challenges around managing water resources are complex and wide-ranging. They are interlinked with those affecting land and food systems and are exacerbated by the climate crisis.

“Climate change intensifies water-security concerns by worsening the unpredictability and severity of hazards, from floods and droughts to sea-level rise and water pollution,” says Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment.

“Such events hit marginalized communities the hardest, yet these groups are often excluded from planning and policymaking processes,” she says. “However, collaborative work between affected communities, activists, scholars, journalists and policymakers can change this, as demonstrated by the international loss-and-damage fund set up last year to help vulnerable countries respond to the most serious effects of climate-related disasters.”

Read more in the Nature article, “How to achieve safe water access for all: work with local communities.”