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The Water
for Food and Environment Challenge
Frank Rijsberman, Director General
IWMI
Photograph by Sanjini de Silva, IWMI |
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Why is so much water used for
“irrigation”? Can we not reduce this to satisfy
the needs of rapidly growing cities and safeguard the
environment? Obviously, people need water for more than
drinking, washing and other domestic needs alone. Few
people realize how much more. As much as seventy times
more water is required to grow a person's food than is
required for domestic needs. Even more water is required
to maintain the ecosystem services without which our lifestyle
is not sustainable. That frames the challenge on water
for food and environment: finding water for expanding
cities, often taken from agriculture; growing food for
a growing population; providing jobs for the rural poor
while sustaining the environment.
If we fail in this challenge poor people will pay the
price. Poor urban people are most affected by low access
to safe and affordable drinking water and sanitation.
For poor rural people, inadequate access to safe and affordable
water is crucial for domestic use as well as for their
livelihoods.
Degraded natural resources affect all people, but particularly
the poor, in
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cities
as well as rural areas. Is it possible to overcome this
challenge? We believe it is. Communities in hundreds of
“bright spots” demonstrate that technologies
are available and effective if used appropriately. It requires
a shift in how natural resources are managed. Many river
basins, particularly in Asia, are already “closed”,
i.e. there is no additional water available for development
that does not take away water already being used by someone
else.
Water and land need to be managed at basin and landscape
scale – reallocating water among users.The value to
society generated by these multiple, interlinked uses of
water needs to increase.This is often possible. If we understand
the complex ways water is used and reused as it flows through
a closed river basin,we will be able to increase water productivity.
At the same time in Africa, particularly, the available
infrastructure to overcome rainfall variability is still
so inadequate that investment remains a top priority.
Frank Rijsberman
Director General, International Water Management
Institute
Beacon,Water, Food and Environment Theme
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Based
on document by Frank Rijsberman and Nadia Manning, IWMI,
in collaboration with the following partners:
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