Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 6 • Number 15 • 8th September 2006

World Water Management - Coming Up Short

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One-third of the world population is already living with a water shortage, a level of scarcity previously predicted to occur two decades from now, according to a report released at the World Water Week on 20-26 August in Stockholm. Unlike previous research based on country-by-country analysis, the report analyses individual river basins and argues that changing agricultural practices now would slow the growth of demand for water by 50 percent by 2050.

The report, the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture, calls for more rain-watered agriculture as opposed to irrigated farms. It also calls for improving access to water for poor people and increasing water’s productivity. This would involve investing in areas where poverty is high and water productivity is low, such as sub-Saharan Africa and certain regions of South Asia and Latin America.

“We must grow more crop per drop, more meat and milk per drop and more fish per drop,” said David Molden who led the assessment.

The report underscores the need “to change business as usual in order to deal with growing scarcity water crises we see in some countries like India, China and the Colorado River basin of USA and Mexico,” said Director General of the International Water Management Institute, Frank Risjberman.

The report also addresses the relationship between global food trade and water, noting that “one way to alleviate water scarcity is to grow food where water is abundant and trade it with water short areas.” It also recognises that many countries are reluctant to rely on imports to meet basic food needs.

More than 1,500 experts from 140 countries and over 100 organisations attended the World Water Week.

ICTSD Reporting; “Water, water not quite everywhere,” TORONTO STAR (24 August 2006); “Fixing leaks can avert world water woes- expert,” Alister Doyle, REUTERS (22 August 2006)