Paris – A group of countries, NGOs and businesses have come away from the UN climate change summit in Paris having secured $1 billion to save the world’s water resources from global warming.

The Paris Pact on Water and Climate Change Adaptation has outlined projects to protect water systems against devastating climate change.

More than 290 river basin organizations — the groups that play a key role in managing lakes and rivers that span national borders — have joined with 23 nations, including 11 African countries, as well as funding agencies, companies and civil society to set make global water resources “more resilient” to environmental adjustments.

Noting that water systems are the “very foundation of sustainable human development”, the pact aims to tackle climate change and unsustainable water use that cause disasters such as floods and droughts and ultimately leads to deaths.

Failure to protect water systems jeopardizes sustainable economic, social and environmental development, the pact said.

Edouard Boinet, a project manager at the France-based International Office for Water, said the projects funded by the pact would help climate experts and businesses understand the dangers facing water resources, allowing them to manage and adapt to climate change better.

Such risks are present around the world, in both developed and developing nations. In California, a four-year drought has led to $2.7 billion in economic losses and put nearly 21,000 people out of work.

On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, floods in southern China have caused hundreds of deaths and $18.4 billion worth of losses this year alone.

In Brazil, the worst drought in 86 years is threatening the country’s already struggling economy./AA/