Mubeena Iram, Green Blogger
With
so considerable talk about a global water crisis, about water scarcity, about
increasing competition and struggles over water, it would be easy to get the
impress that Earth is running dry. You could be forgiven for wondering whether,
in the not-too-distant future, there will be sufficient water to produce enough
to eat and drink.
But
the truth is that the world is far away from running out of water. There is
land and human resources and water enough to grow food and provide drinking
water for everyone. That doesn’t mean, however, that the global water crisis is
imaginary. Around the world there are already severe water problems.
The
problem is the quantity of water required for food production. People will need
more and more water for more and more agriculture. Yet the way people use water
in agriculture is the most significant contributor to ecosystem degradation and
to water scarcity. Added together, these problems amount to an emergency
requiring immediate attention from government institutions that make policy,
from water managers, from agricultural producers—and from the rest of us,
because we are all consumers of food and water.
The
crisis is even more complex than it first appears to be because many policies
that on the surface appear to have nothing to do with water and food make a
bigger difference to water resources and food production than even agricultural
and water management practices. But people who make these decisions often do
not consider water to be part of them. Water professionals need to communicate
these concerns better, and policymakers need to be more water-aware.
In
early 2007, the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture,
which explored ways to cope with this crisis, was released. The assessment
gathered research and opinions from more than 700 researchers and practitioners
from around the world. They addressed these questions: How can water be
developed and managed in agriculture to help end poverty and hunger, promote
environmentally sustainable practices, and find a balance between food and
environmental security? The Comprehensive Assessment provides a picture of how
people used water for agriculture in the past, the water challenges that people
are facing today, and policy-relevant recommendations charting the way forward.
Food and environmental communities joined efforts to produce the assessment,
which was jointly sponsored by the United Nations Food and Agricultural
Organization, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Consultative Group on
Agricultural Research, and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. (A
summary of the assessment is available at http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/Assessment/index.htm and the book at www.earthscan.co.uk.)
If
there’s plenty of water for drinking and growing food, then what’s the crisis
all about? Many in the developed world are complacent about the supply of water
and food. Global food production has outpaced population growth during the past
30 years. The world’s farmers produce enough for everyone, and food is cheap.
Water resources development, which has played a critical role in fueling
agricultural growth, can be seen as one of humankind’s great achievements. Why
isn’t the type of water resource development that served us well in the past
sustainable?
For
one thing, agriculture must feed another 2 to 3 billion people in the next 50
years, putting additional pressure on water resources. More than 70% of the
world’s 850 million undernourished people live in rural areas, and most depend
directly or indirectly on water for their livelihoods. Yet for millions of
rural people, accessing enough food, enough water, or both is a daily struggle.
Rain may be plentiful for some farmers, but in many places it falls when it is
not needed and vanishes during drought. The Indian rural development worker
Kalpanatai Salunkhe put it succinctly: “Water is the divide between poverty and
prosperity.”
In
addition, policies seemingly unrelated to water drive increased water use. For
example, using biofuels may be a way to reduce greenhouse gases, but growing
the crops to produce those demands additional water. Increased reliance on
biofuels could create scarcity by pushing up agricultural water use. In India,
increased biofuel production to meet 10% of its transportation fuel demand by
2030 will require an estimated 22 cubic kilometers more irrigation water, about
5% of what is currently used in Indian food production, pushing the country
further into water scarcity. India can ill afford these additional water
resources.
Trade
has the potential to markedly reduce water use. Yet trade policies rarely if
ever take water into account. As a first step, trade officials could consider
the water implications of trade. Subsidies and economic incentives lead to
better soil and water management. Countries set subsidy policies as an economic
incentive. If farmers have access to cheaper fertilizer or water, or the
prospect of higher prices for their crops, they will invest in better
practices. But agricultural subsidies consider a country’s political interests
(such as rural employment) rather than water. Subsidies in countries such as
the United States allow cheaper food to be exported and drive down the prices
of commodities such as corn and wheat. Farmers in Africa and poor countries
elsewhere then have trouble competing with these artificially low prices.
Local, national, and international policymakers should carefully consider the
water implications of their actions along with local politics.
About
the Author: Mubeena Iram is a MPhil research Student in Environmental science
and Engineering at GC University, Faisalabad. She finds her interests in
climate change scenarios.
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