Feeding a Thirsty World: Challenges and Opportunities for a Water and Food Secure Future

This report examines the issue of future food security and water availability. Specifically it discusses how land and water shortages are problematic for future food security on a global level and provides potential solutions to the problem. Among other recommendations, the report suggests a reduction in the consumption of animal products, moving to smaller more local water management systems, and improving the efficiency of the food supply chain to reduce waste.

Report Abstract:

“This report provides input into the discussions at the 2012 World Water Week in Stockholm and its special focus on water and food security. This report presents the latest thinking and new approaches to emerging and persistent challenges to achieve food security in the 21st century, including the use of early warning systems to bolster food security by reducing damages caused to agriculture by water scarcity and drought. It focuses on critical issues that have received less attention in the literature to date, such as: food waste, land acquisitions, gender aspects of agriculture, and early warning systems for agricultural emergencies. It also offers perspectives on how to better manage water and food linkages.”

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction
2. Thematic Scope of the 2012 World Water Week
3. Food Security: Overcoming Water Scarcity Realities
4. Innovations in Agricultural Water Management:
   New Challenges Require New Solutions
5. Women in Agriculture: Closing the Gender Gap for Development
6. Food Supply Chain efficiency “From Field to Fork”:
   Finding a New Formula for a Water and Food Secure World
7. Early Warning Systems for Water in Agriculture
8. Land Deals: A ‘Green Revolution’ in Global Food and Energy Markets?

A PDF version of the full report is available here.