Gift

Access to sufficient and clean freshwater is essential for all life. Water is also essential for the functioning of food systems: as a key input into food production, but also in processing and preparation, and as a food itself. Water scarcity and pollution are growing, affecting poorer populations most, and particularly food producers. Malnutrition levels are also on the rise, and this is closely linked to water scarcity. The achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2 and 6 are co-dependent. Solutions for jointly improving food systems and water security outcomes include: (1) strengthening efforts to retain water-based ecosystems and their functions; (2) improving agricultural water management for better diets for all; (3) reducing water and food losses beyond the farmgate; (4) coordinating water with nutrition and health interventions; (5) increasing the environmental sustainability of food systems; (6) explicitly addressing social inequities in water-nutrition linkages; and (7) improving data quality and monitoring for water-food system linkages, drawing on innovations in information and communications technology (ICT). Climate change and other environmental and societal changes make the implementation and scaling of solutions more urgent than ever.

Water scarcity is already a reality. More food will be required for a growing and wealthier and urbanized population that will put more pressure on water resources. With several water-related limits reached or breached - groundwater decline, shrinking rivers and threatened fisheries - we must ask, 'Will there be enough water to grow enough food? It is possible to produce the food needed, but if present practices continue it is not probable that we will solve the many poverty and environmental challenges confronting us. To share a scarce resource and to limit environmental damage in the face of climate change, it is imperative to limit future water use. Important pathways to growing enough food with limited water are to increase productivity of water in irrigated and rainfed areas, improve water management in low-yielding rainfed areas, and to consider our own food consumption patterns. In pockets of poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, expanding access to water through a range of water management solutions holds the key to food security and poverty reduction. For sustainable water use, water managers must consider agriculture as an ecosystem and how other ecosystem services are impacted through water. These actions will require serious changes in how we think about water and food, and how we govern water and land resources.

Access to sufficient and clean freshwater is essential for all life. Water is also essential for the functioning of food systems: as a key input into food production, but also in processing and preparation, and as a food itself. Water scarcity and pollution are growing, affecting poorer populations most, and particularly food producers. Malnutrition levels are also on the rise, and this is closely linked to water scarcity. The achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2 and 6 are co-dependent. Solutions for jointly improving food systems and water security outcomes include: (1) strengthening efforts to retain water-based ecosystems and their functions; (2) improving agricultural water management for better diets for all; (3) reducing water and food losses beyond the farmgate; (4) coordinating water with nutrition and health interventions; (5) increasing the environmental sustainability of food systems; (6) explicitly addressing social inequities in water-nutrition linkages; and (7) improving data quality and monitoring for water-food system linkages, drawing on innovations in information and communications technology (ICT). Climate change and other environmental and societal changes make the implementation and scaling of solutions more urgent than ever. | Non-PR | 1 Fostering Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Food Supply; IFPRI4; DCA | Natural Resources and Resilience (NRR); Transformation Strategies

Water scarcity is already a reality. More food will be required for a growing and wealthier and urbanized population that will put more pressure on water resources. With several water-related limits reached or breached - groundwater decline, shrinking rivers and threatened fisheries - we must ask, 'Will there be enough water to grow enough food? It is possible to produce the food needed, but if present practices continue it is not probable that we will solve the many poverty and environmental challenges confronting us. To share a scarce resource and to limit environmental damage in the face of climate change, it is imperative to limit future water use. Important pathways to growing enough food with limited water are to increase productivity of water in irrigated and rainfed areas, improve water management in low-yielding rainfed areas, and to consider our own food consumption patterns. In pockets of poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, expanding access to water through a range of water management solutions holds the key to food security and poverty reduction. For sustainable water use, water managers must consider agriculture as an ecosystem and how other ecosystem services are impacted through water. These actions will require serious changes in how we think about water and food, and how we govern water and land resources.