Crisis upon crisis. The Covid-19 pandemic has burst into a planet threatened by climate change and environmental degradation. On World Environment Day, mankind must return to action, aware that the fight to save the natural environment from degradation must continue. Effective communication is essential to modify behaviors and take advantage of the perception change of the territory we have had during the confinement.   

The health emergency poses new challenges to urban planning. The criteria of sustainability are broadened with those of health, and the concept of healthy city radically changes if extreme poverty is not taken into account. The awareness that individual health is synonymous with collective health is one of the lessons of Covid-19 that we should not miss.

The adoption of the circular economy in the complete water cycle is presented as the best option for achieving water security for large areas of the world in the face of climate change and demographic imbalances. The new productive model requires a communication challenge to achieve awareness and citizen participation in the understanding that the water cycle is a universal natural capital, knows no borders and is vital for the future of mankind.

The alteration of nature caused by our activities places us before a challenge based on constant knowledge: to discover, predict and evaluate the consequences of what we are doing with natural resources and the environment we live in forces us to be effective in Research, Development and Innovation. The water security of the planet depends on the experience of the most developed countries reaching everyone.

The short film by the Colombian Nicolás Durán, winner in the micro-documentary category of the We Art Water Film Festival 4, is a beautiful tribute to pure water, an immense gift of nature that is increasingly rare to find unless we climb to the top of the mountains. In Colombia and all around the world, it is urgent that we act as the protagonist of the short film, who changed his attitude to be coherent with his thinking.

The circular economy in the treatment of water does not only imply an improvement in water security and in the safeguard of the environment, it is also an almost unexplored opportunity for economic growth. It forces a change of paradigm that is not easy in the productive model of rich countries, but it presents important asymmetries with those who still struggle for access to water and basic sanitation. The balance of the planet depends on the reuse of water for the benefit of all.

Titicaca, the mythical lake of ancient Andean cultures, is declining due to urban and mining pollution. The wastewater treatment plans put in place by the Peruvian government are essential to give a decent life expectancy to more than one million people living on the shores of the lake. The recovery of traditional culture and education is also essential. The lake from which Viracocha emerged to give life to the Andes must be saved.

Can Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, New Delhi... become cities that regenerate as many resources as they consume? This is a very high demand, a utopia according to many, but from the water perspective we need to start thinking about making it possible or at least, about getting close to it. We need to be close to the concept of reuse, and in many cases time is of the essence.