There are virtually no places in the word today where a high degree of water security for humans has been achieved without threatening biodiversity. This reflects the ‘traditional’ management strategy of tolerating degradation of ecosystems and then applying costly remediation strategies (if at all) after the damage has been done. Competition for water between societal needs and ecosystem demand will intensify in the future, and at the same time securing water for other vital human needs such as food and energy production, as well as safeguarding the quality and quantity of water for ecosystems, should not be neglected in pursuance of water supply and sanitation goals. Thus while framing the SDGs, there is further need for knowledge to understand how to safeguard Earth’s life‐support system on which the welfare of current and future generations depends. There are still gaps in our knowledge of global environmental change on how to support the economy and the society to move on a trajectory which ensures resource‐efficiency, sustainability and wellbeing. Unless we address those knowledge gaps, we will bear a high cost of inaction.
The Sustainable Water Future Programme, a core programme of Future Earth, will maximize the value of water research in the stewardship domain, co-balancing the needs of humankind and nature through the protection of ecosystems and their services provided, offering solutions based on interdisciplinary science with the involvement of all relevant stakeholders. The key note lecture will describe the newly developed programme and focus on the knowledge gaps and the research questions and issues that may be relevant in the next decade to enable human development and to set tolerable ranges for the water system to remain in a steady state and within planetary boundaries.