Mexico City — "Water is a national security issue for Mexico," the Minister of Foreign Affairs Rodolfo Godínez Rosales told the UN’s first technical workshop on water, the impacts of climate change and adaptation strategies in the nation's capital recently.

"Water in Mexico represents a subject of national security, not only because of its unequal distribution in the country, but because its shortage or abundance represents risk to the well-being of the population," he said.

Godínez Rosales said guidelines need to be developed for future work in the areas of water and climate change.

The July meeting was also attended by the head of the National Water Commission (Conagua) José Luis Luege Tamargo, the Chair of the United Nations Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice Richard Muyungi, and representatives of more than 25 other countries. It was organized by the United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Tamargo also addressed water as a national security issue for Mexico. He said that he hoped the meeting would help build a common understanding of the subject, in preparation for the climate change "Conference of the Parties" in Doha, Qatar in November 2012.

Conagua also called on the nations participating in the meeting to include land use programs in their adaptation strategies.

Julia Martinez, coordinator of the Climate Change Program at the National Institute of Ecology, said that her organization estimated that the costs of dealing with climate change-related natural disasters will reach 10% of Mexico’s gross domestic product.

"Our studies tell us that by 2025, two-thirds of the population of this planet will live in water stress, so we must prepare for this," said Dolores Barnett, representative for the United Nations Environment Program.