Thank you for the chance to comment on this draft report, timely in the need to consider water security in line with food security. The right to water and the right to food need to be viewed in an inter-related way, and protected over other competing interests.
There is much to commend this draft report for, as other commentators have shared. It is encouraging to see frequent mentions of the potential of agro-ecological approaches, with the integration of livestock and crops, to increase productivity within a smallholder and local context, an experience we have observed as an organisation working in sub-Saharan Africa. Typically, the productive potential of smallholder farmers, when equipped with appropriate knowledge and skills, is under-estimated, and they are dismissed as a contributor to the problem, never being seen as one of the solutions.
Water is clearly a global resource, but also has to be considered in its very local context, and its utilisation at this local level be optimised, such as growing appropriate crops to the local rainfall. Change in land use or crops grown has a significant local consequence. Maize is a very thirsty crop, yet is now the predominant crop for sub-Saharan Africa having replaced more drought resistant crops (e.g. sorghum and millet). Irrigation may enable an increase in the yield of maize per unit area, but a better use of water will be observed in the increase of sorghum and the (potential irrigated) water used to grow vegetables and fruit for the local market. In Ethiopia, local water courses are now polluted from run-off of chemical sprays from export focused flower polytunnels.
The livestock sector is a growing consumer of water, and a growing influencer of local and international agricultural practice. The demands for meat by the burgeoning middle classes across the world are putting a huge level of demand on water – in terms of impacts on water (through deforestation for soya growth, etc.); livestock consumption during production and processing (contamination of water for cleaning sheds and abattoirs, etc.
The danger of such a report is that it proposes singular global solutions to the issue. A more appropriate response would be the enabling of many diverse local solutions to be identified. By resolving water issues locally, the global challenge of water availability will be resolved through these multiple local responses.
Richie Alford