المنتدى العالمي المعني بالأمن الغذائي والتغذية

Feedback ActionAid Netherlands to Zero Draft

ActionAid Netherlands welcomes the HLPE report on water and food security and the opportunity to contribute. We feel the draft contains a very strong and human right-based analysis and recommendations on the importance of better understanding ánd addressing the role and challenges of water in food security and achieving the right to water (3.6). We would particularly like to highlight the strong connection between land and water and the particular gendered dimensions this has, as well as the importance of empowerment and a rights-based approach to providing an enabling environment and support to (women) small-scale food producers, to access and provide water and food to themselves and their societies.

-          From our work on sustainable agriculture (climate resilient sustainable agriculture) it shows that supporting smallscale (women) farmers in building agroecological approaches and mitigating as well adapting to water challenges is urgent and promising to food security and biodiversity.

o    See experiences with agroecology and sustainable ánd inclusive water management in for example Kenya here.

o   Water in innovative integrated smallholder farming systems, involving (rainwater) harvesting, small scale irrigation, crop and animal diversity, fish farming etc.

-          From our work and research on land rights, large-scale land investments and land grabs specifically it becomes very clear that:

o   Land grabs often constitute water grabs as well, especially because high potential areas for irrigation are targeted (e.g. near lakes).

o   Climate change, large-scale aquaculture and agriculture as well as mineral-extraction and other mega-development projects reduce fishing and farming communities’ access to land, security of land tenure, and the availability and quality of water for drinking, sanitation and for small-scale food production, as documented by the Polaris Institute and ActionAid.

§  See also specific cases such as the impacts of biofuel investment in Tanzania (Fuel for Thought, ActionAid 2012; and country study by Sulle, 2009) or extractives.

§  Also many other export commodities such as flowers have major impact on local water ánd food supply. The link between industrial monoculture and catchment (watershed) land degradation in large  African catchment resulting in more severe erosion and more severe flooding etc is often not sufficiently acknowledged and addressed.

§  There are also direct health dimensions, e.g. risks of waterborne diseases around large irrigation schemes, etc.

o   Women are particularly affected by both pressures on land as well as water due to lack of protection of their rights as well as the roles they play including producing and providing food, water collection etc. This shows from various case studies as well as our analysis on ‘Gendered Dimensions of Landgrabs’ (From Under Their Feet, ActionAid 2012) and the research under the Women and Mining Project (Womin), such as the impacts of extractives on women’s access to food and water. Women smallholders require access to water for drinking and food production, yet their rights and opportunities are systematically denied, often for the simple reason of being women. Moreover, policies often disregard smallholders contributions to food production, climate resilience, and biodiversity regeneration, among others.

o   Where we support women to claim their land rights, this is only effective if this land is fertile and they have access to water and additional resources to improve their (food) production. When these conditions are met, this approach of empowerment and jointly addressing the right to food, water and land is very successful. (See work with REFLECT circles for example and findings from evaluations of ActionAid programmes, such as published in the report ‘From Marginalisation to Empowerment’ – ActionAid 2013).

§  Many, including the World Bank now acknowledge the important role women play in food production and cooperating with them in the defence and expansion of access to land, water and support for farming can significantly contribute to both women’s rights and food security.

-          Acknowledging the strong interconnected nature of these resources and challenges we feel a more holistic approach to land and water (or in fact natural resource) management starting from the right to food and water is key to achieving food security. In practice there is often little cross-over between people working on water for production, water for consumption and those working on land rights and gender equality. Acknowledging the food-water-land nexus and its gendered dimensions more strongly in research ánd policy making would be a major step forward.

-          It is important that to understand and address the the impact of global/EU/OECD consumption (especially of water intensive crops such as soy, sugar; flowers) on local water availability in for example Africa. One approach is to start measuring and addressing the water footprint, as the Dutch Landscape Agency has started to explore for the Netherlands. This could be done in conjunction with land and other resource footprints, followed by action.

Barbara van Paassen | Policy Advisor | ActionAid Netherlands

Tel: +31205206210 | Email: [email protected] | Skype: barbara.van.paassen | Twitter: @bvpaassen

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