GFFA 2026 calls for a single concept for water security and food security

Water stress is one of the greatest threats the 21^st century is facing. Already today, world-wide, more than two billion people are suffering a lack of water. The situation is aggravated by overuse and pollution of water resources. Agriculture is especially hard hit – also because it accounts for 72 per cent of global freshwater consumption. And water demand is set to rise further, for by 2050, according to United Nations estimates, drinking water and food will have to be provided for more than ten billion people.

So how can a sustainable use of the ever scarcer global water resources be achieved enabling all people to enjoy their right to adequate food and access to clean water? And how can conflicts over water use be eliminated and water resilience be strengthened world-wide? These questions were at the centre of the 18^th Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA), where around 2,000 international representatives from politics, business, science and civil society met in Berlin/Germany from the 14^th–17^th January.

Experience from Africa

Moses Vilakati, Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment of the African Union (AU), explained the urgendy of the topic of water stress for the African continent. A mere six per cent of Sub-Saharan Africa’s arable land is irrigated (compared to more than 35 per cent in Asia), while the remaining 94 per cent is fully dependent on precipitation. For millions of smallholders, this means unstable harvests owing to weather hazards and the increasingly disastrous consequences of climate change. In order to bridge the irrigation gap, 65 billion dollars would have to be raised over the coming five years. “However, investing in water should not be seen as a cost factor but as a catalyst of growth, resilience and peace,” Vilakati insisted.

Moses Vilakati, AU Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment.
Photo: Photothek.de

No food security without water security

In the various sessions, the close link between water security and food security was emphasised again and again, as was the need for integrated water resource management – i.e. a holistic concept giving equal consideration to ecological, economic and social demands in the sense of Agenda 2030. Mark Smith, Director General of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), summed up the most important elements: applying innovative technologies, making clever use of data, regulating water use, bringing water pollution under control, providing sufficient financing and investment opportunities while guaranteeing inclusion. “We need a systemic approach,” Smith noted.

National strategies

The government representatives attending the event described what this could look like in practice. Botswana, for example, has adapted its agriculture strategy and seeks to achieve climate resilience with measures such as setting up rainwater retention basins, conservative soil management and growing drought-resistant cultures like millet. Groundwater infiltration is also being promoted. “In addition, we are limiting water consumption by awarding licences,” said Edwin Dikoloti, Botswana’s Minister of Lands and Agriculture.

Edwin Dikoloti, Minister of Lands and Agriculture of Botswana.
Photo: Photothek.de

Baboucar Mboundor Ngom,Deputy Minister at Senegal’s Ministry of Hydraulics and Sanitation, stressed the importance of reliable data and digital processes as well as functioning controlling systems for decision-making at his Ministry, for example in swiftly responding to events such as imminent flooding or droughts. “This enables us to adapt water policy at community level,” he explained. “For instance, if scarcity is forecast, drilling for groundwater is no longer allowed in certain communities.” Data on the availability as well as the quality of water is also shared with the authorities in adjacent Gambia, with which the country shares the Gambia River as a border river.

“Our King would like to see drinking water demand in the country covered 100 per cent and agriculture’s demand for water covered 90 per cent,” reported Zakaria El Yaakoubi, Secretary General for Rural Development at the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture. Toachieve this, a long-term national water strategy had been worked out, and an extensive public investment programme had been launched. Thanks to the establishment and expansion of infrastructure, the country now had a water network with more than 155 major dams. Further elements of the strategy include the reuse of wastewater and the construction of seawater desalination plants, which, however, can only be used for cash crops owing to their high cost. In addition, through training measures and financial incentives, the employment of drip irrigation is being promoted. For implementing these measures, the Ministry is relying on public-private partnerships.

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Zakaria El Yaacoubi, Secretary General for Rural Development at the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture.
Photo: Photothek.de

Governments have to do their homework

Often, without such partnerships, the high costs of such measures are unaffordable. However, governments first of all had to do their homework, demanded Ibrahima Coulibaly, Vice President of the Pan-African Farmers Organization (PAFO), with regard to the his continent’s underfinanced agricultural sector. “Only six per cent of farmers have access to loans from the African Development Bank. Not only does this make agriculture a risky business, but it also renders it hardly attractive for young people,” the PAFO representative noted, reminding the meeting that with the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), African countries had committed themselves to investing ten per cent of their budgets in agriculture, which – Morocco aside – no country had achieved. “The technical solutions are there, but political will to implement them is lacking,” Coulibaly criticised. Furthermore, there was a lack of determination to eliminate competition for use.

Ibrahima Coulibaly, Vice President of the Pan-African Farmers Organization (PAFO).
Photo: phototek.de

Water as a geopolitical factor

However, this is becoming increasingly important, for more and more frequently, insufficient access to water is leading to political strife and even conflict. And what is more, water is being targeted increasingly as a warfare instrument. “In an act of revenge for the Shi’ite rebellion, Saddam Hussein had the marshlands drained in Iraq, and today, water infrastructure is purposefully destroyed in armed conflicts, for example in Syria or Ukraine,” noted Ambika Vishwanath, a Research Fellow at Australia’s La Trobe University,referring to a few examples. Vishwanath also reminded the meeting of mounting cyber attacks on water supply networks, e.g. in Florida/USA, Scandinavia or, only recently, Australia.

Ambika Vishwanath (centre) is a Research Fellow at Australia’s La Trobe University.
Photo: Photothek.de

Transboundary cooperation is key

The resource water is already predestined for conflict on account of rivers crossing borders. Water withdrawal or water pollution in one country also has consequences for the users in the other country, which makes sharing knowledge and data as well as cooperating across borders particularly important. Examples referred to of successful cooperation included the Mekong River Commission, established in 1995 to support cooperation between the countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam in managing the Lower Mekong Basin, or the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine, which was set up in 1950 by the Rhine riparian countries of Germany, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland and Luxembourg. “These committees are very important for peace,” maintained Meike van Ginneken, Water Envoy for the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

In addition to strengthening international cooperation and solidarity, sharing knowledge, learning from each other – mutually, and not only from North to South – and replicating best practices were seen as the most important factors in raising water resilience in times of increasing global water scarcity. Here, important impulses are also to be given by the UN Water Conference, which will be held in the United Arab Emirates – co-hosted by Senegal – in December.

Silvia Richter, editor, Rural 21