Recurring droughts highlight need to better manage water resources, safeguard food security

New FAO framework launched

27 August 2012, Stockholm/Rome - Drought in some parts of the world has hurt global grain production and contributed to food price spikes virtually every other year since 2007, highlighting the need to transform the way water is used - and wasted - throughout the entire food chain.

This is one of the key messages that FAO is transmitting this week at World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden. The annual event brings policy makers and experts from around the globe together to discuss pressing issues related to water and its management.

In a speech made today at the Week's opening ceremony, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva stressed that "there is no food security without water security," noting that FAO's recent report, The State of Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture, warns that water scarcity and pollution are posing a growing risk to key food production systems around the world.

"Agriculture, as we practice it today, is one of the causes of this phenomenon, as it represents 70% of all freshwater uses," said Graziano da Silva....

Source: Recurring droughts highlight need to better manage water resources, safeguard food security
Author: FAO

Link: Coping with water scarcity - An action framework for agriculture and food security
Link: Environment: Statement by Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik on World Water Week
Link: U.N. body urges G20 action on food prices, waste
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