2012 World Water Week to focus on Water and Food Security

This year’s World Water Week in Stockholm will focus on Water and Food Security. With this thematic scope and the launch of the UN International Year of Water Cooperation, including a global event for World Water Day to be hosted by the Netherlands on 22 March 2013, it promises to be an exciting event!

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Increasing imbalances in the world’s water and food security situation are unfolding. The differences between those who have access to plenty of food, for whom water seldom is an issue, and those who are less provided for are obvious. Areas with high population growth face severe problems associated with poverty and low adaptive capacity. In addition, climate change is increasing the unpredictability of rainfall, the rate of evapotranspiration and the occurrence of extreme events. In a situation where the competition for water is getting stiffer, these changes are making food production, including fisheries and aquaculture, riskier and more uncertain.

The drama in the landscape is increasing socio-economic and political tensions. During recent years, prices on agricultural and energy inputs have risen and are becoming increasingly volatile, adding a new challenge to farmers and to food security aspirations. The era of low prices is over, affecting producers and consumers in positive as well as negative ways.

 

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