A vision of water for food challenges and opportunities beyond 2020 Jonathan Woolley, Director CPWF
Widespread recognition of water scarcity threat, especially in agriculture …but much can be done Opportunities (examples): Better management of rainwater Sharing of resources, not just water Innovative ways for people to work together. Main points
Agriculture is a huge water user, and a huge opportunity litres daily 20 – 500 litres daily 500 – 3000 litres per kg 2000 l/day - vegetarian diet 5000 l/day - grainfed meat diet
Opportunity: better management of rainwater
Action to deal with the water crisis Today CA Scenario Practices like today Comprehensive Assessment (CA) scenario: Policies for productivity gains, upgrading rainfed, revitalized irrigation, trade
Range of Agricultural Water Management Options (source David Molden, IWMI)
8 Upgrading rainfed systems Rainwater management has a high potential for increasing livelihood resilience through crops, fisheries and livestock
Opportunity: sharing of benefits from water
Win-win situations are rare in water. Need to share. Sharing goes beyond WATER sharing, to assigning water to higher value uses, and sharing the BENEFITS with those who give up water. Example: urban-based trust funds invest in upland farming practices Sharing: Locally
Local adaptation to climate change
“Sharing” at present is export of food from water rich to water scarce countries. Only about 6% of agricultural water use involved Climate change to 2070 is predicted to increase cereal production in temperate latitudes, while reducing it in tropical latitudes Total food production likely to be sufficient until How will it be shared? Sharing: International
Opportunity: ways of working together
Resolving complex issues Far from Certainty Agreement Close to Far from Close to Simple Plan, control Zone of Complexity Technically Complicated Experiment, coordinate expertise Socially Complicated Build relationships, create common ground Source: Patton, 2007 Formulaic solutions have limited applicability Past success is no guarantee of future success Expertise can help but is not sufficient; relationships are key Uncertainty of outcome remains
New ways of working
Diversity of people increases innovation
“Complex multi-sector problems need new ways of working: The really important issues facing society … cannot be tackled by any organization acting alone” Huxham and Vangen, 2005 “ While hierarchies are not vanishing, profound changes in the nature of technology, demographics, and the global economy are giving rise to powerful new models of production based on community, collaboration, and self-organization rather than on hierarchy and control.” Tapscott and Williams, 2006.
CPWF: CA: