Note to the Reader Today, in 2012, nearly one billion people still suffer from hunger and malnourishment, in spite of the fact that food production has been steadily increasing on a per capita basis for decades. Producing food to feed everyone well, including the 2 billion additional people expected to populate the planet by mid-century, will place greater pressure on available water and land resources. This report provides input into the discussions at the 2012 World Water Week in Stockholm, which is held under the theme of Water and Food Security, and was edited by Anders Jägerskog, Director, Knowledge Services at SIWI, and Torkil Jønch-Clausen, Chair of the World Water Week Scientific Programming Committee. It features brief overviews of new knowledge and approaches on emerging and persistent challenges to achieve water and food security in the 21st century. Each chapter 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 is our hope that the articles provoke concern and inspire action where needed. Contributing authors of the chapters are Malin Falkenmark, Ana Cascão, Mats Eriksson, Josephine Gustafsson and Jan Lundqvist of SIWI; Sibyl Nelson, Ilaria Sisto, Eve Crowley and Marcela Villarreal of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and Mark Giordano, Tushaar Shah, Charlotte de Fraiture, and Meredith Giordano from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). The production of the report was made possible through the support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
Table of Contents
Photo: David Brazier /IWMI
Introduction
6
Thematic Scope of the 2012 World Water Week
10
Food Security: Overcoming Water Scarcity Realities
13
Innovations in Agricultural Water Management: New Challenges Require New Solutions
19
Women in Agriculture: Closing the Gender Gap for Development
25
Food Supply Chain Efficiency “From Field to Fork”: Finding a New Formula for a Water and Food Secure World 31 Early Warning Systems for Water in Agriculture
39
Land Deals: A ‘Green Revolution’ in Global Food and Energy Markets?
45