Thank you for sending me the e-consultation document on the Water and Food security with the V0 draft.
The following are my comments:
1. The focus of the document in relating Water and Food Security lacks the real temperature and the correct mining because it talks of both water and food security and in a sense does not link it in such a way that how one affects the other.
2. Water used in Food processing or water for Food and Nutrition and water for Industry is a very Important subject.
3. I am very radical in giving this comment because it is the conservation of water that has the long run agenda for Food Security. It is not what is used today that is only a matter of water losses. So therefore on a similar footing on Food Losses and Waste we must first address the Water Losses and Waste and readdress some portion of the document into the water management that has to do both in the urban, rural, semi rural and semi urban and how this conservation and preservation of wastage can be used to better Food Security. Food Security also means Nutrition Security. Therefore the right to water and the access to water should form a major agenda. This has been very well covered from pages 69 to 73 but what is really lacking is the right to water is not only for drinking but right to water is for agricultural purposes, non-agricultural purposes, industrial purposes, household purposes as well as kitchen gardening purposes and how do we differentiate in terms of right to water including using rain water harvesting (India has been one of the leading exponent in that).
4. In the larger abundant availability of water generally water is classified into water obtained from sky which percolates down to the soil and comes out as a Spring water and whatever is not absorbed goes as river water or water in the lakes. So this is the overall cycle of water from sea which is affected by not only global climate changes but also local weather turbulences therefore affecting the water below the ground, the water above the ground and the quality of water. Hence when we look at water as a holistic approach of all these addition whether it is a manmade lake to recharge the ground water or it is a traditional reservoir or it is a river that takes away the top soild and at the same time we are looking at various kinds of quality water including smoke free water and the excess water that is now flowing from Arctic and Antarctica which we are not able to handle in the rise of the sea level affecting the coastal regions in hundreds of countries. So therefore that in turn affects the Food Security in those regions including Fisheries and the Ocean Food that comes to the rescue of the Food Security. Therefore the nature of havoc sometimes water creates has an effect on biodiversity and the document must become biodiversity giving standard example of how certain bio-diverse plants are species on the sea or on the land or on the amphibians are lost in the tradition of the ecological balance and water becomes imbalanced parameter in nature.
5. An important point is how water will be charged in tomorrow’s world in terms of putting a value for it and it is just like mining under control fashion the stored water below the ground cannot be emptied just like that by a few people because they live above it. It has to be controlled by a policy system and recharging the ground water perhaps is the longstanding long range objective of any policy.
6. Quality of water is simply a matter of importance. Today with the chemicals dumping into the system, the pollution running around rivers, lakes, the recharged water also becomes highly polluted water. Once we contaminate the sea below the earth then for ever we cannot use that water. It is this perspective that are not been brought out in the report and requires urgent attention even covering a paragraph or two with proper references.
7. The climate change has made a lot of difference in terms of local weather and the way water pours down or there is no water ending to drought and how do we really mobilise our water systems across the areas of floods to across the areas of drought in terms of connecting the “have”s and “have not”s very similar to what was done in the Food Losses and Waste report in terms of winners and losers!
8. At this point and at any point looking trade as an option to ensure water, food and nutrition security may be a little bit lopsided approach. The focus has to be on management of the natural resource rather than trading. The trading will unnecessarily make water equivalent to Petrol !
9. I strongly feel that the Food Sustainability issue and the Food Security issue has not been highlighted in this report as related to water. It is this analysis that is so important without which it is an independent document which talks about water but does not address the role of water in Food Sustainability and Food Security and ultimately Food Security has to be a larger umbrella of Nutrition Security and therefore if there is any single comment I would make on this very well documented information I would say the most important is that this connectivity of this agenda and not enough argument to show how excess water destroys Food Security and how no water can bring in Food insecurity. This has to be brought in with the Boxes, Tables, Figures, Facts from a global level so that the local countries and the regions can adopt it as a solution, as a means of the draft recommendation focussing on water, food sustainability and food security which is the mandate of the CFS and HLPE.
The current VO Draft desires much more and needs a very deep look at the TOR for the Document to address the Sustainability Issue and the Food Security issue which is the Crux of the matter. The draft requires considerable work and I hope the Panel and HLPE will address these issues more than that it is done now.
With Very Warm Personal Regards,
V Prakash
Dr.V. Prakash, Ph.D, FRSC, FIFT, FINAE, FIAFoST, FNAAS, FAFST(I), FINAS, FNAS
Distinguished Scientist of CSIR - INDIA,
Immediate Past Director, CSIR - CFTRI, Mysore, India
Currently Director of Research, INNOVATION and Development, at JSS - MVP, JSS Technical Institution Campus, MYSORE 570 006, INDIA
Padmashree, Bhatnagar and Rajyothsava and Three different Life Time Achievement Awardee
VICE PRESIDENT, International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS) : 2014 to 2017
Advisory Member, International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST)
President, International Society for Nutraceuticals , Nutritionals And Naturals (ISNNAN)
Chairman, India Region of Eur. Hygienic Eng. Design Group(EHEDG)
Executive Council Member, Global Harmonization Initiative (GHI)
Chair, Scientific Panel on Nutraceuticals, Nutritionals, Functional Foods and Dietary Supplements, FSSAI, Govt. of India
IUFoST Visiting Professor of Saigon Technology University,Vietnam
IUFoST Life Time Acheivement Awardee 2014.
Former Coordinator, United Nations University Programme at CFTRI, Mysore, India
Immediate Past President, Nutrition Society of India
Past President of IAFoST
Chairman NUTRA India Summit 2015
Project Team Leader for the HLPE Report on Food losses and waste in the context of sustainable food systems
V Prakash