Can water productivity interventions save us from global water scarcity?

Abstract:

Agriculture water use will continue to be essential to achieving food security and supporting rural livelihoods and economies. The mark the sector has had on reducing poverty and hunger globally is clear. At the same time, population increase, unsustainable production and consumption patterns, and climate change are further constraining water resources and increasing stress for many. These realities call for urgent responses to achieve improved and more resilient agriculture water management. The answer to the above question depends on the difficult choices that policymakers will need to make about water resources and who gets how much and when. This is complicated by the diverse goals and interests of different actors, tradeoffs that result, and the multiple scales and systems within which agriculture water use is embedded. This also requires significant investment in the capacity for countries to monitor and assess key hydrological and meteorological parameters, a surprisingly challenging task. Only then can sustainable limits be determined and enforced. Thus, more comprehensive thinking informed with better data and information, more integration between research and practice and across natural and human systems, and broader recognition of the landscape of actors and objectives, will be critical to delivering benefits from the agriculture sector in a manner that preserves the opportunities for future generations. The principles given in this paper will help policymakers more effectively design water productivity interventions to achieve this.