What will our eco-friendly homes of the future look like?

The Guardian's Helena Horton spoke with experts at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) to find out what the eco-friendly house of the future could look like.

Photograph: Ricardo DeAratanha/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

Near or far, the role of forests in securing clean water for residents and the agricultural lands that cities rely on is equally crucial.

Not only is clean, safe, and affordable water essential to human health and well-being, the pandemic reminds us of how critical clean water is to health and hygiene. And yet, the world is on the precipice of a historic global water crisis.

The situation is dire, but one asset is already at our fingertips. Forest can alter the movement, quality, and availability of water. With the majority of the planet’s population inhabiting cities, the connection between cities, water, and forests works at three levels: inner forests, nearby forests, and faraway forests. Here’s how each one protects water in cities, no matter how far away.

Cities bring together all types of people into confined urban spaces, and they also reveal stark social inequalities. In dense urban environments, the contrast between rich and poor is particularly visible. This is the case in many industrial legacy cities with traditional workers’ districts. Close to former industrial sites, many of these heavily built-up neighborhoods are suffering from soil and air pollution, aging housing stock and lack of green space.

The capital of Liberia, Monrovia, is acutely aware of the current climate change challenges and the need to respond to threats, including coastal erosion that has caused its shoreline at its West Point area to retreat around 30 metres, with just under 700 dwellings having been lost. By adopting an inclusive approach, the city mayor has proven that implementing plans and strategies can be a collective effort that enables cities to embed resilience into the fabric of their city.

How can demand management and nature-based solutions help achieve water security for all, while helping protect and restore the natural environment?

Once-unthinkable water crises are becoming commonplace. New data from WRI’s Aqueduct tools reveal that 17 countries—home to one-quarter of the world’s population—face “extremely high” levels of baseline water stress, where irrigated agriculture, industries and municipalities withdraw more than 80% of their available supply on average every year. Forty-four countries, home to one-third of the world, face “high” levels of stress, where on average more than 40% of available supply is withdrawn every year.

Water Stress is not your destiny. Like any challenge, its outlook depends on management. Even countries with relatively high water stress have effectively secured their water supplies through proper management.

In any geography, water stress can be reduced by measures ranging from common sense to cutting-edge. There are countless solutions, but here are three of the most straightforward.

A decade ago, the South African city of Durban was facing severe water shortages. Dam reservoirs were decreasing at alarming rates, and were 20% lower than average levels. At least one in four residents were already living in water-stressed informal settlements. The city was expanding faster than municipal capacity could keep up with. Service backlogs and proliferating slums seemed to be entrenching poverty.

But by taking a regional approach and investing in participatory processes, Durban has been able to identify, target and mitigate the root causes of its water woes for its three million residents. The city is one of many on the frontlines of the effects of climate change, but also in the right place to lead on climate action that centers resilience.

This is one finding from WRI’s new report, Water Resilience in a Changing Urban Context: Africa's Challenge and Pathways for Action, which highlights the ways in which African cities understand, plan, govern and finance their water systems need to change.

Africa is one of the most rapidly urbanising continents and its urban transition is a key global game-changer: the way African cities develop will determine whether or not we achieve global climate mitigation targets, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), biodiversity, poverty and inequality targets, and resource sustainability.

The Urban Natural Assets (UNA) programme was designed to support local governments in Africa in addressing the daily challenges they experience around protecting and revitalising their urban natural assets whilst building climate resilience.

By 2100, sea levels are expected to rise by almost seven feet in the Bay Area. New research shows how traditional approaches to combating sea-level rise can create a domino effect of environmental and economic impacts for nearby communities.

This research shows how seawalls constructed along the San Francisco Bay shoreline could increase flooding and incur hundreds of millions of dollars in damages for communities throughout the region. The researchers emphasize how non-traditional approaches, like choosing to flood certain areas of land rather than build walls, are smarter, more sustainable solutions for the Bay Area and similar coastal bay communities.