Marise Almeida, the COO and CFO of Nitrogen Sensing Solutions (NS2) and a member of The Lisbon MBA’s Alumni Board, wrote an insightful opinion article for Jornal Económico on “The Importance of Deep Tech Startups in the Water Agenda.”

 

The United Nations Conference on Water, held in New York last March, was the first of its kind in nearly 50 years and aimed to mobilize global action for water resilience and security, which is considered a crucial issue for the sustainable development agenda. The world is currently facing a water crisis caused by excessive demand, mismanagement, and the impacts of the triple crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. This crisis is fundamentally global and systemic in nature. For the first time in history, human activities and practices have put the global water cycle, on which all life depends, on an unsustainable trajectory. Science has shown how communities and nations are hydrologically interconnected, not only through rivers and surface waters but also through atmospheric moisture flows. Practices in one region can affect precipitation in other regions.

 

Water, a vital natural resource, is being depleted, polluted, and mismanaged. We know that 40% of the world’s population lives in areas affected by water stress, that 2.2 billion people still lack access to safe drinking water, that over half of the global population lacks access to safe sanitation, and that 80% of the world’s wastewater is discharged untreated, directly into the environment. The pressure on water quality and quantity is increasing. Moreover, this pressure will disproportionately affect women, vulnerable and marginalized groups in indigenous communities, youth, farmers, workers, and small and medium-sized enterprises, contributing to increased risks of conflicts and instability.

 

Achieving a sustainable and just future in the water domain is desirable. To do so, it is necessary to transform the economy and restructure its governance, implementing more integrated, cross-sectoral, and networked practices at the national, regional, and global levels.

 

This is where technology plays a crucial role, especially in climate change adaptation. The topic of water, in its various dimensions, cuts across all of society. Technological innovations are needed to help society adapt to our new climate reality, primarily in how we address risks related to water quality and quantity.

 

Supporting and investing in startups that present technological innovations to help us adapt to an uncertain climate future is essential. These innovations should assist industries and society in identifying, understanding, and addressing the myriad water-related risks induced by climate change, enabling their application in agriculture, aquaculture, buildings, climate, conservation, industry, energy production, among others.

 

Support and investment in startups and companies with intellectual property anchored in chemistry, materials science, genomics, microbiology, diagnostics, and process engineering, as well as data science, computer engineering, and information and communication technologies, are important. These innovations should focus on monitoring, software, analysis, and reducing barriers, allowing individuals, businesses, and governments to access the data and tools they need to minimize the impact of our changing water reality.

 

This is the true challenge for the coming years!

 

 

Read the full article (original) in Portuguese here.

 

Source: Jornal Económico