Humankind’s rising demand for food, energy and water could lead to either conflict or cooperation. Two months ago, representatives from the water, agriculture and energy sectors convened at the 5th World Water Forum (Istanbul, Turkey) concluded that no country is immune from potential conflicts. This week nations gather in New York to agree upon further actions to tackle the challenges posed by the escalating demands on agriculture production and water resources during the United Nations – Commission on Sustainable Development 17th session. Growing populations, changing lifestyles and consumption patters and migration are driving the demand for land and water ever higher. “We see that demand rises exponentially with the level of development,” says Loic Fauchon, President of the World Water Council. “The world will have 3 billion more mouths to feed by 2050. With the rising demand we see that the time of ‘Easy Water’ is over,” he continues.
Agricultural global food production has so far kept pace with population growth. Yet 900 million people remain undernourished, rural migrants are leaving farms for cities, and from 2000 to 2030 the demand for food crops in developing countries will increase 67 per cent, straining the already over-tapped water resources.
“Population growth coupled with changing lifestyles and consumption patterns means that in the next 40 years there will be a sharp increase in the demand for energy, food and water services,” says Olcay Unver, Coordinator for the UN World Water Assessment Programme. “The question is how to manage these linkages and maintain our natural resource base while also dealing with the effects of climate change. The leaders in government, private sector and civil society should understand how their actions impact our water and that they have to incorporate water in their decision-making processes”
Rising demands for energy will stress watersheds even further. Energy production uses important amounts of water for hydroelectricity production, for cooling thermal and nuclear power plants, and for biofuel production. Take California, where water demand rises by millions of liters every year. With a shrinking snowpack, tensions rise between upstream farmers who want water stored for summer irrigation and hydropower operators struggling to meet immediate demand for energy. Similar food vs. energy flashpoints emerge in hotspots ranging from Kirgisstan to Spain, Guatemala to India, and from Tansania to Australia.
Increasingly we are reaching the limits of what can be done with conventional water management approaches focused on optimising water use within one sector. “Without tackling key questions around the water, food and energy nexus, across sectors, there is a significant risk that some of the best technology transfers, most targeted lending programs, or both small and large scale infrastructure schemes may falter,” says Ger Bergkamp, Director General of the World Water Council. It is therefore essential that the nations gathered in New York this week agree to take into account hugely important role of water for improving agriculture production, combating desertification and manage droughts pro-actively.
Sustainable development in Africa, a focus of discussion at the CSD, is faced with almost all of these challenges which are aggravated by a combined lack of infrastructure, implementation capacity and investments.
To increase water-, food- and energy security, efficiency and sustainability, nations need to reduce their water footprint of energy and food production by focusing on water efficient technologies. We also need to reduce post-harvest losses and wastage of water throughout the supply chain by reducing food waste. Reducing the wastage of food and fibres can generate the double benefit of reducing water demand and diminishing the risk of highly volatile prices as the global food reserves could increase.
