- Water and Ecosystem Services: Ecosystems services provided by surface water such as fishing, gathering, grazing need to be better understood and documented. These services are critical to the poorest parts of society e.g. landless and water development often impacts these users hardest.
- Water Demand Management: we need to move beyond water management that focuses on water sharing between diverse claimants to active demand management. This provides a different lens on water management that is essential as water scarcity becomes more extreme and provides a basis for analysis for the most efficient and productive use of water.
- Frames for water ‘equity, justice and resilience’ need to be defined. These words are used in many water debates without anyone defining what they mean or considering what frameworks can actually be used in their implementation in water management. For instance what does equity mean in water management? There can never be physical equity in water distribution/use, so what is meant? Without appropriate depth of consideration and definition of water equity and justice, and how they can be delivered, there will never be agreement on water management and sustainable water management will not be achieved.
- Better approaches to integrating water use efficiency approaches between diverse agricultural sectors - irrigated, dryland, livestock and tree production - are essential if sustainable agricultural production and intensification are to be achieved.
- The issue of water markets/pricing and externalities (and policy responses) needs deeper treatment in the scope.
- Future competition (to 2050) for fresh water between agriculture, urban and industrial use needs to be projected in the report.
- Water quality and safety must be integral to the analysis and policy recommendations regarding water availability, access and management in the report; unsafe/unsuitable water undermines agricultural and health outcomes no matter how readily available water may be.
- The role of water in mitigating/managing/increasing rural household risks merits more consideration.
Australian Centre for International Agricultural ResearchAdam Balcerak