In the past decade the Asia-Pacific region has become the largest consumer of natural resources in the world. This includes water, raw materials and energy resources. Water resources are unevenly distributed in the region. With climate change increasingly causing drought and precipitation, enhanced water efficiency and management is a challenge not only for direct water users, water managers and policy makers, but also for business and consu...

Energy eciency in Asia selected countries

Water withdrawal by Industry sector in selected Asian countries

Average water consumption and water treatment facilities in selected Asian cities

Extreme vulnerability to natural hazards among countries in South Asia is cyclical and repeatedly causes major setbacks in the socioeconomic and equitable development of the region. According to UN estimates major disasters may cut the GDP of countries in the region by up to 20 per cent. Climate change is expected to increase both the frequency and magnitude of hazards leading to disasters. It calls for speedy action to help communities...

Proportion of population using an improved sanitation facility in Asia

Ecological water footprint of Asian countries

Renewable water represents the main water resource available to society. This is the water that is continously recharged in the hydrological cycle. This graphic shows renewable resources in cubic meter per capita in Eastern and Western Europe

The regulation and access to a shared and limited water resource ca be highly influenced by the political geography. The Aral Sea is shrinking at an alarming rate and the amount of consumption of water in the Aral Sea Basin has greatly affected current conditions.

The regulation and access to a shared and limited water resource ca be highly influenced by the political geography. The Aral Sea is shrinking at an alarming rate and the amount of consumption of water in the Aral Sea Basin has greatly affected current conditions.

Agriculture is a mainstay of Central Asia’s economy. With the economic crisis following independence it has become even more important. Agriculture being almost entirely dependent upon irrigation, access to water is of strategic importance. Two major Tributaries – The Naryn and the Kara-Darya – both originating in Kyrgyzstan, join to form the Syr-Darya, one of the two largest rivers serving the Aral Sea Basin, and the key water resource of the wh...

A central component in preventing loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, such as provisioning of water, from expanding agricultural production is to limit the trade-off between economic growth and biodiversity by stimulating agricultural productivity and more efficient land use. Further enhancement of agricultural productivity (‘closing the yield gap’) is the key factor in reducing the need for land and, consequently, the rate of bio...

Estimated Residence time of water resources