Dear Modeator,
In my capacity as President of the Lebanese Association of the Water Friends,
Please find below my comments on the HLPE Zero-Draft consultation paper entitled "Water and Food Security":
First: General comments.
1- The paper is very well written. It is highly concentrated. It is true. But it covers all the points related to Water and Food Security, all over the World.
2- Due to the importance of the problems discussed and the fact that not many readers have the patience to read all the points covered by the paper, I wish if the authors have expanded para, page 10, from line 14-25, as to make it an Executive Summary of the paper.
3- I know that there are many references, in the paper on the relevance, in many cases, of establishing Water Users Associations, due to the important role they play in the governance and management of water, especially in developing countries. But, still some would argue that WUAs are not successful in many parts of the world. Is this true or not? Therefore, I would suggest that, starting page 75, on recommendations, a para should be added summarizing all the benefits of establishing Water Users Associations (WUAs).
4- There is no Glossary of abbreviations contained in the Paper. This should be corrected and a Glossary should be added.
5- I would like, kindly, to draw your attention that somewhere in the paper, maybe under governance, water laws customary arrangements, you have to say something about the Andalusian Water Court, in Spain. It is very old. It is in charge of preserving peace among farmers and ensuring fair water distribution.The Court is based on simplicity, verbal communication, speedy arrangementsand decisions and economic and minimal costs procedures.
6- I suggest that, on page 75, the title on the top of the page, should be: Conclusions and Recommendations One of the conclusions I suggest to add is related to further research to be undertaken, mainly in the MENA region by ICARDA, ACSAD, AOAD and AAAID,in areas of water for irrigation and FSN, water vulnerabilities and climate change in the Arab World.
Second: Specific comments.
There are some errata and typing errors, which should be corrected as follows:
1- Page 17-line 30: it should be Figure 5.
2- page 19-line 23: it should be Figures 6 and 7 and Box 5.
3- page 21 - line 18: it should be corrected as follows: energy is that it must be...
4- page 22 Section 1.3.5; Water grabbing should be associated with Land grabbing especially for countries rich in oil, like the GCC countries. They can afford to save on land and water and aim for better FSN
5- page 23-line 33: it should read: figure 8.
6- page 25, lines 25-34: How to produce more with less water? The case of harvesting rainfall in the Philippines, which is a rich rainfall country, they are very skillful in harvesting water rainfall, for domestic use and even for crop irrigation. In the Sultanate of Oman, they have started a very important project of fog collection in Dhoffar. In the whole country, farmers have to rely on the use of hydroponics and drip/bobbler irrigation for the modernization of the system, instead of the surface/flood irrigation, as it is presently practiced
7- page 28-line 26: it should read "figure 9 below" instead of "table 1 below".
8- page 29, lines 1-14: Yields of crops, under rainfed conditions should attract the attention of ICARDA and other CGIAR institutes. These research institutes should make more efforts in research on better high yielding varieties of wheat, barley and sorghum, under rainfed conditions . The concept of GAP (good agricultural practices) in drylands areas and the practice of rotation should be followed scrupulously. Cereals production should be preceded by fallows or legume production in order to maintain good nutritients in the soil for better yields in cereals production.
9- page 29, lines from 28-43: The poultry industry in Lebanon is a good successful example, whereby the business import animal feed from abroad at competitive international prices to produce eggs and broilers. Thus, the country became self sufficient, even exporter, in poultry products. The same for mutton and sheep milk, Lebanon benefits from the transhumance of sheep flocks, coming from Syria, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq, looking for pasture. Some of these flocks will be kept by sheep breeders, in the country, for the production of mutton and milk.
10-page 31-box 8: Changes in irrigation in Spain. What is relayed in this box is a good example and experience which should serve as a model for many MENA countries. This could be communicated to these countries through a training programme administered by the UPM (Union pour la Mediterranee), under the auspices of the European Union.
11-page 32-Box 9- Groundwater regulation. The problem here is how to administer, regulate and control the large number of wells by the Administration responsible for that. In general, the Administration is understaffed to do that in due form.
12-page 56, line 9, para:3.2.1.From New Delhi to Dublin. Here it should be remembered that in the Islamic World, water is considered as a gift of God. Therefore, we should not pay for water, at least for drinking purposes. Hence, the policy all over the Islamic countries, to subsidize the services of potable water.
13-Page 59, Para 3.3.1 Valuing and pricing water: with the present system of pricing and subsidies, in the majority of the Arab countries, we are forcing nature and the environment beyond any permissible limits, which will fire back on the entire economy. Look at Saudi Arabia digging for wells and pumping water for irrigation, as deep as 1000 m, to grow wheat, which is bought by the Government, at a subsidized price of $1200/ton, and sold at the international market for $300/ton. This was an insane policy, which was stopped, fortunately, by the Government.
Best regards: Adel Cortas, President of the Lebanese Association of the Water Friends
Adel Cortas