Report No. 2: Collection of policies and database on food, land and water systems in Lao PDR (as 20 December 2022).

PR | IFPRI4; CRP2 | EPTD; PIM | CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

Summary (En) | Gift

The aim of this study is to assess the impact of rice-based food security on water, energy, land, and CO2 emissions from a holistic point of view using the Nexus approach, which analyzes tradeoffs between water, energy, and food management. In Japan, both rice consumption and the area harvested for rice have decreased. Maintaining a high self-sufficiency ratio (SSR) in rice production is an important aspect of food security in Japan, impacting the management of key resources, such as water, energy, and land. This study has, therefore, assessed the impact of various SSRs on rice production, focusing on consumption and land-use trends. First, the rice production SSR is predicted to drop to 87% by 2025 within the logarithmic trend of rice consumption and the polynomial trend line of the harvested area of rice. This reflects the fact that rice production is expected to decline more steeply than consumption between 2016 and 2025. Second, this study sets the SSRs for rice in 2025 between 80% and 100%, reflecting a range of low-to-high food security levels. In comparison with the 2016 baseline, about 0.70 ×106 additional tons of rice will be produced. Achieving a rice production SSR of 100% will require 10,195 ×106 m3 more of water and 23.31 ×106 GJ more of energy. Furthermore, an additional 283,000 tons of CO2 will be emitted in 2025, as more energy is used. By contrast, an 80% rice production SSR scenario would save 1482 ×106 m3 of water and 3.39 ×106 GJ of energy, as well as making a 398,000-ton reduction in CO2 emissions in 2015. A lower SSR would have a positive impact on resource management but a negative impact on food security. It would also reduce the income and economic status of farmers. It is, therefore, important to consider the tradeoffs between food security and resource savings in order to achieve sustainable water, energy, food, and land management in Japan. © 2018 by the authors.

Food security is a high priority issue on the Chinese political agenda. China's food security is challenged by several anthropogenic, sociopolitical and policy factors, including: population growth; urbanization and industrialization; land use changes and water scarcity; income growth and nutritional transition; and turbulence in global energy and food markets. Sustained growth in agricultural productivity and stable relations with global food suppliers are the twin anchors of food security. Shortfalls in domestic food production can take their toll on international food markets. Turbulence in global energy markets can affect food prices and supply costs, affecting food security and poverty. Policy safeguards are needed to shield food supply against such forces. China must make unremitting policy responses to address the loss of its fertile land for true progress towards the goal of national food security, by investing in infrastructure such as irrigation, drainage, storage, transport, and agricultural research and institutional reforms such as tenure security and land market liberalization. The links between water and other development-related sectors such as population, energy, food, and environment, and the interactions among them require reckoning, as they together will determine future food security and poverty reduction in China. Climate change is creating a new level of uncertainty in water governance, requiring accelerated research to avoid water-related stresses.

We make the case that phosphorus (P) is inextricably linked to an increasingly fragile, interconnected, and interdependent nexus of water, energy, and food security and should be managed accordingly. Although there are many other drivers that influence water, energy, and food security, P plays a unique and under-recognized role within the nexus. The P paradox derives from fundamental challenges in meeting water, energy, and food security for a growing global population. We face simultaneous dilemmas of overcoming scarcity of P to sustain terrestrial food and biofuel production and addressing overabundance of P entering aquatic systems, which impairs water quality and aquatic ecosystems and threatens water security. Historical success in redistributing rock phosphate as fertilizer to enable modern feed and food production systems is a grand societal achievement in overcoming inequality. However, using the United States as the main example, we demonstrate how successes in redistribution of P and reorganization of farming systems have broken local P cycles and have inadvertently created instability that threatens resilience within the nexus. Furthermore, recent expansion of the biofuels sector is placing further pressure on P distribution and availability. Despite these challenges, opportunities exist to intensify and expand food and biofuel production through recycling and better management of land and water resources. Ultimately, a strategic approach to sustainable P management can help address the P paradox, minimize tradeoffs, and catalyze synergies to improve resilience among components of the water, energy, and food security nexus.

This paper synthesizes the spatial and temporal relationship between forest cover and water, as well as its implications for food security in the northwestern highlands of Ethiopia. Different studies addressing the topic of land cover and hydrology have been reviewed. Analyses of 20–40 year long time series showed little and inconsistent relationships between forest cover change and hydrology on meso-scale (100–1000km2) watersheds. Spatial studies, however, showed stronger relationships between land cover and low flow features such as grasslands and woodlands. Interviews with local communities suggested land cover change impacts are more pronounced at smaller scale (<100km2) watersheds; which is consistent with observational studies on small scale watersheds and farm level plots. The stronger relationships between forests and hydrology at smaller scales suggests land management policies should be oriented to farm level conditions, where water is vital for the food security of subsistence farmers who comprise 86% of the population in the highlands.

PR | IFPRI3; CRP5 | EPTD | CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE)