Water, megacities and global change: portraits of 15 emblematic cities of the world
By 2030, over a billion people will live in approximately 100 very large cities and 60 % of the world’s population will live in urban areas. Sustainable water management is particularly challenging in these large urban centres, or megacities, which are exposed to extreme risks in terms of the negative impacts of climate change on water and sanitation infrastructure and services. A new publication, launched during the Habitat III conference in Quito, Ecuador, draws portrait of 15 emblematic megacities, their unique circumstances and how they are addressing shared water governance challenges. The publication “Water, Megacities and Global Change”, co-edited by UNESCO and ARCEAU-IdF, is simultaneously the result of concrete scientific presentations and a call for general mobilization to devise the sustainable urban policies the world needs.