Water and agriculture for sustainable development (original) (raw)
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Water, Agriculture and Food: Challenges and Issues
Water Resources Management
The main challenge faced by agriculture is to produce enough food for a continued increase in population, however in the context of ever-growing competition for water and land, climate change, droughts and anthropic water scarcity, and less-participatory water governance. Such a context implies innovative issues in agricultural water management and practices, at both the field and the system or the basin scales, mainly in irrigation to cope with water scarcity, environmental friendliness, and rural society welfare. Therefore, this special issue was set to present and discuss recent achievements in water, agriculture, and food nexus at different scales, thus to promote sustainable development of irrigated agriculture and to develop integrated approaches to water and food. Papers cover various domains including: (a) evapotranspiration and crop water use; (b) improving water management in irrigated agriculture, particularly irrigation scheduling; (c) adaptation of agricultural systems to enhance water use and water productivity to face water scarcity and climate change; (d) improving irrigation systems design and management adopting multi-criteria and risk approaches; (e) ensuring sustainable management for anthropic ecosystems favoring safe and high-quality food production, as well as the conservation of natural ecosystems; (f) assessing the impact of water scarcity and, mainly, droughts; (g) conservation of water quality resources, namely by preventing contamination with nitrates; (h) use of modern mapping technologies and remote sensing information; and (i) fostering a participative and inclusive governance of water for food security and population welfare.
Water for agriculture: maintaining food security under growing scarcity
Annual Review of …, 2009
Irrigated agriculture is the main source of water withdrawals, accounting for around 70% of all the world's freshwater withdrawals. The development of irrigated agriculture has boosted agricultural yields and contributed to price stability, making it possible to feed the world's growing population. Rapidly increasing nonagricultural demands for water, changing food preferences, global climate change, and new demands for biofuel production place increasing pressure on scarce water resources. Challenges of growing water scarcity for agriculture are heightened by the increasing costs of developing new water, soil degradation, groundwater depletion, increasing water pollution, the degradation of water-related ecosystems, and wasteful use of already developed water supplies. This article discusses the role of water for agriculture and food security, the challenges facing irrigated agriculture, and the range of policies, institutions, and investments needed to secure adequate access to water for food today and in the future.
Agriculture in a Water-Scarce World
2007
More than one-third of the world’s population lives in water-stressed countries although, globally, water appears to be abundant. Fresh water resources are not always available at both the right place and time, nor are they always well managed. As climate change alters the nature and severity of weather events, the incidence and amplitude of water-related stresses will rise. Thus, the importance of managing water resources well will also rise. Important agricultural regions in China, India, Mexico, Australia, Africa, the U.S., and elsewhere are now near the brink of serious water shortages. Global water requirements are expected to increase by 40 percent over the next 20 years. If trends continue, by 2025 competition between urban, industrial, and agricultural water uses will curb both economic growth and agri-food production, causing yearly global shortfalls of 350 million tonnes of food. Seventy percent of the world's freshwater is used for irrigation. Conventional irrigation is less than 50 percent efficient. Thus, the greatest potential gains exist in the agri-food sector. This paper provides a succinct exploration of the challenges ahead and some of the potential approaches to dealing with them.
The Lancet Planetary Health, 2022
Sustainable and resilient food systems depend on sustainable and resilient water management. Resilience is characterised by overlapping decision spaces and scales and interdependencies among water users and competing sectors. Increasing water scarcity, due to climate change and other environmental and societal changes, makes putting caps on the consumption of water resources indispensable. Implementation requires an understanding of different domains, actors, and their objectives, and drivers and barriers to transformational change. We suggest a scale-specific approach, in which agricultural water use is embedded in a larger systems approach (including natural and human systems). This approach is the basis for policy coherence and the design of effective incentive schemes to change agricultural water use behaviour and, therefore, optimise the water we eat. No food and nutrition security without sustainable water management Over 2 billion people live in places with high water stress; 1 this number will continue to increase in the coming decades due to climate change, population growth, urbanisation, industrial demands, changing diets, and the drive to increase agricultural production. With agriculture being responsible for about 70% of global water withdrawals and more than 80% of withdrawals in agrarian economies, 2 business as usual will not be feasible in the future. A combination of ineffective policies and the absence of coordinated approaches across actors and scales are major barriers to systemic change in agricultural water use. This situation, combined with often insufficient monitoring and water accounting systems exacerbates the global water scarcity challenge 3 and hinders the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 6.4 to improve water use efficiency across all sectors. Many call for a great food transformation that includes a global shift to healthy diets produced by a sustainable food system. 4 Otherwise, food and nutrition security for the expected population of almost 10 billion people in 2050 cannot be achieved. Innovations across food systems are critical. 5 Agricultural production needs to increase sustainably and to minimise environmental impacts such as resource depletion (eg, land, soil, water, and phosphorous) and pollution. This is essential for achieving several of the SDGs (beyond target 6.4), the Paris Climate Agreement, and to stop the devastating loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Sustainable water management plays a vital role in these processes 1,6 and can also facilitate the achievement of other development objectives (eg, climate-resilient growth or job creation). 7,8 Water is not only essential in agricultural production itself but also needed along the entire food chain, ie, preproduction (eg, generation of farm inputs like fertiliser, seeds, and energy), postproduction (eg, transport and distribution), food preparation and consumption
Water Scarcity and Future Challenges for Food Production
Water, 2015
Present water shortage is one of the primary world issues, and according to climate change projections, it will be more critical in the future. Since water availability and accessibility are the most significant constraining factors for crop production, addressing this issue is indispensable for areas affected by water scarcity. Current and future issues related to "water scarcity" are reviewed in this paper so as to highlight the necessity of a more sustainable approach to water resource management. As a consequence of increasing water scarcity and drought, resulting from climate change, considerable water use for irrigation is expected to occur in the context of tough competition between agribusiness and other sectors of the economy. In addition, the estimated increment of the global population growth rate points out the inevitable increase of food demand in the future, with an immediate impact on farming water use. Since a noteworthy relationship exists between the water possessions of a country and the capacity for food production, assessing the irrigation needs is indispensable for water resource planning in order to meet food needs and avoid excessive water consumption.
Water and Agriculture in a Changing Climate
Hortscience, 2011
Additional index words. global change, water resources, agricultural water security Abstract. Agriculture, in its broadest form, is the greatest consumptive user of water resources in the United States and around the world. Perhaps the greatest challenge facing agricultural producers will be adapting water management to an increasingly variable climate. Adaptation will be extremely difficult, in part because other demands for water (e.g., energy, domestic, industrial, municipal) will continue to increase. Despite considerable improvements in irrigation technology, product development, and other water-saving approaches, agricultural producers will be expected to reduce water consumption and improve or protect water quality of water discharged from agricultural operations. In 2004, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture embarked on an effort to address Agricultural Water Security, ensuring sufficient water of the appropriate quality at the needed time to meet demands for food, fiber, and other agricultural goods and services. This effort identified six broad areas where agricultural research, education, and extension can impact water management to achieve agricultural water security. The six areas are: biotechnology, water reuse, general conservation, irrigation efficiency, water markets and trading, and drought preparedness. We present an overview of the six areas and opportunities for agriculture-and specifically horticultural and specialty crop producers-to adapt to climate change through improved water management.
Issues of water management in agriculture: compilation of essays
2003
We have been able to manage land and water resources to produce enough food for rapidly growing populations. World food prices are lower than ever, but at the same time 800 million people remain malnourished. By its nature, food production needs large volumes of water, whether directly from rainfall, or indirectly through irrigation. But there are major problems in this process of using water for food. First is the inability to effectively use water to fight malnutrition and poverty in many areas of the world. Second is the environmental damage caused by agricultural water use, including polluted water ways, degraded ecosystems and drying up of river systems. We believe that the answer to many problems of malnourishment, poverty, and pollution lies in how water is managed for agriculture. We, therefore, recommend an increase in research and action focused on issues of development and management of water for food production, distribution and equity or access impacts, and impacts of agricultural water use on ecosystems and the environment. The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) centers have teamed up with key partners throughout the world to identify, understand, and take action on key water problems in the use of water for agriculture and food production through two major initiatives-the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture (CA), and the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food (CP Water and Food). The CA takes stock of the global situation in managing water for agriculture, provides key additional information in this field, and scopes out future research and action needs. The CP Water and Food will follow up on the recommendations of the CA to provide critical knowledge in the public domain, and turn this knowledge into action towards solving the world's water problems. This book contains essays from lead scientists from partner organizations in these initiatives. Topics include, water and poverty; water rights; agriculture and environment; improving water productivity; water savings in agriculture; rainwater and food production; fisheries; and sustainable groundwater use. We contend that increasing the productivity of water in agriculture-obtaining more value for each drop used in forests, fisheries, livestock and crops-is necessary to bring about change. This is required in both rainfed and irrigated areas. However, increasing water productivity alone is not sufficient to solve the world water crisis. It must be done in a way that maintains important ecosystems and the services they provide. It requires a river basin focus to understand how water use in agriculture affects other users. It needs a focus on poverty, health and nutrition, and a special focus is necessary on groundwater because of the opportunities it provides in food production and poverty alleviation-as well as severe threats from overuse and pollution. Finally, water rights are key to both water productivity and distribution of benefits gained from using water. The essays analyze problems, as well as provide suggestions for the way forward. As the authors were asked to express their opinions frankly, their suggestions may be thought-provoking or even controversial. If so, I hope that the reader will find them a useful contribution to the debate. I am confident that you will at least find them highly relevant and informative.
Trends in water and agricultural development
To meet the objectives of increasing food production and alleviating poverty and hunger in an environmentally sustainable manner will require a renewed focus on agricultural water management and institutional innovations for managing water. In some areas of the world demand for water for various uses exceeds supply. But for much of the world there is a pending crisis of water supply not because of a shortage of water but because of mismanagement of water resources. This report defines water scarcity from the perspective of individual water users who lack secure access to safe and affordable water to consistently satisfy their needs for food production, drinking, washing, or livelihoods.