Water and jobs: 2016 UN world water development report
Water is an essential component of national and local economies, and is needed to create and maintain jobs across all sectors of the economy. Half of the global workforce is employed in eight water and natural resource-dependent industries: agriculture, forestry, fisheries, energy, resource-intensive manufacturing, recycling, building and transport.
As climate change exacerbates the threats to water availability, it is expected to increase the frequency, intensity and severity of extreme weather events. Climate change will inevitably lead to the loss of jobs in certain sectors.
A proactive approach to adaptation via employment policies may offset some of these losses. At the same time, climate change is creating job opportunities of its own in terms of mitigation and adaptation activities.
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