Water Cycle Innovation (WCI) expresses its appreciation for fruitful cooperation with its partners in 2023.
This year, shortly coming to an end, will be remembered for accelerated global change observed on many fronts. Climate change is no longer a prognosis. It is the world’s new reality. Groundwater focus is gaining traction at all levels as states and regions realize their vulnerability to groundwater depletion and degradation. Climate change drives accelerated demand for groundwater, quenching thirst of humans and crops alike, when other sources fail, while the groundwater resource itself, and associated ecosystems, is falling prey to overuse and pollution in the process. Groundwater was front and center of the UN 2023 Water Conference in New York in March 2023, and it featured explicitly at the COP 28 in Dubai, UAE in late November-early December 2023.
Groundwater is now headlining global risk reports, from 2023 being highlighted as a risk for major tipping points for a growing number of countries and regions, with potential global ramifications, especially around meeting food demands.
While the backdrop is sobering, it is heartening to see groundwater finally taking center stage in global climate, water, and development discourses. We are much too late, but we have no choice but to carry forward evidence-based, participatory, and cooperative management of groundwater. We have no choice.
We wish you the very best for the upcoming holiday season, and look forward to onward cooperation in 2024.