Water is life. Water is food

On 16 October, on the occasion of the World Food Day (WFD) celebrated annually on the date of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) foundation in 1945, a press centre of the TASS News Agency hosted a conference on this year's theme "Water is life. Water is food. Leave no one behind", following the initiative of the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation. 

"It is no accident that the World Food Day naturally coincides with the birthday of FAO. This year, FAO has focused on the pressing challenge of providing humanity with available clean fresh water," opened the discussion its moderator, famous journalist Victoria Kladieva.

Oleg Kobiakov, Director of the FAO Moscow Office, Vyacheslav Fetisov, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Ecology, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, Chairman of the Central Board of the All-Russian Society for Nature Conservation, UN Goodwill Ambassador; Vladimir Kuznetsov, Director of the UN Information Centre in Moscow; Vladimir Moshkalo, Head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Russia Office; and Yulia Nazarova, President of the Charity Foundation Foodbank Rus, participated in the press conference. 

Victoria Kladieva: Water is the basis of the food we eat. Agricultural usage accounts for about 72% of fresh water consumption around the world, but water reserves, like any natural resources, are limited. Please, tell us what is the likelihood of us, the humanity, using up this precious resource? I would like Oleg Kobiakov, Director of the FAO Moscow Office, to answer this question. 

Photo: © TASS

Oleg Kobiakov: Thank you, Victoria. Rapid population growth, urbanization, economic development, and climate change are increasing the pressure on the Earth's water resources. Many years of inadequate regulation and little control over water use, overexploitation of groundwater, environmental pollution, and climate change affected both the availability and the quality of fresh water. We are facing a risk of completely using up this precious resource.  

Today, 2.4  billion people live in countries experiencing water scarcity. Among them, there are a lot of small farmers, including women, Indigenous Peoples, refugees, who have to struggle to meet their water needs on a daily basis. Competition for this valuable resource intensifies, and the lack of water causes conflicts more and more often. 

Around 600 million people whose life at least partially depends on aquatic food production systems suffer from the effects of pollution, ecosystem degradation, unsustainable practices and climate change. 

Victoria Kladieva: A natural, albeit all-too-common question: what to do, Mr Kobiakov? 

Oleg Kobiakov: While increasing the production of food and other crucial agricultural products, we have to reduce water consumption and ensure the fair distribution of water resources, leaving no one behind. 

Governments should develop the policy for planning and regulating water use based on scientific knowledge and evidence, innovation and intersectoral coordination. 

We all need to stop perceiving water as a given and start improving the ways of using it in our everyday life. Everyone can contribute to water conservation on a daily basis. 

Victoria Kladieva: Mr Fetisov, you protect such national Russian heritage as Lake Baikal, the largest freshwater lake on the planet. In your opinion, what is the situation with the provision of clean drinking water in the Russian Federation, and what steps do we still need to take to protect and conserve water resources? 

Photo: © TASS

Vyacheslav Fetisov: This topic is of critical importance! We understand that over 100 countries experience clean water scarcity. Another aspect is the degradation of soil which is directly connected with sustaining human life on Earth. For a long time, we did not think about the fact that the resource, especially regarding potable water, is being depleted quite quickly. 

Baikal is 20% of fresh water reserves, it is a unique place. We are currently experiencing problems with waterways. Volga, for example, is under a lot of pressure. A lot will depend on how quickly we can redirect our science and production resources to create treatment facilities, both municipal and industrial ones. We have to interest big business in re-equipping production facilities so as not to harm but to stabilize the situation.  

There can be no life on Earth without water. Today, our country posesses resources beyond comparison. The price of water is already high enough to consider it an economically important resource. However, Baikal requires good care, and we constantly talk about it, including on the platforms of international organizations. Our country had been thinking about forest and water conservation long before the world started seeing this problem as a global one. 

Victoria Kladieva: The draft law on the protection of Lake Baikal has once again become the subject of discussion. Vyacheslav Volodin proposed to consider the issue of tree felling. What other legislative changes are pending regarding Baikal?

Vyacheslav Fetisov: Today, we cannot make any decision without scientific evidence. We need to look for reasonable technological solutions, we need to urgently take inventory on Lake Baikal, and this will require at least one year. 

Victoria Kladieva: Various manifestations of the food crisis affect all countries and peoples of the world. It is no coincidence that it is constantly the focus of UN attention. My question is for Vladimir Kuznetsov, Director of the UN Information Centre in Moscow. Mr Kuznetsov, how does UN Secretary-General António Guterres see the solution to this global problem? 

Vladimir Kuznetsov: In his message for the World Food Day, António Guterres particularly noted that this year this event is taking place "during a global food crisis, with the world moving backwards on ending hunger and malnutrition". 

Photo: © TASS

The message of the UN Secretary-General is full of deep concern for the state of food security in the world. Here are the key points from the message of António Guterres: 

"Some 780 million people around the world are going hungry; almost 50 million children are at risk of death from severe wasting. Yet funding for this year's global humanitarian appeal stands at just 32%.  

In our world of plenty, it is outrageous that a person dies of hunger every few seconds, while the World Food Programme has been forced to cut its essential aid programmes.  

In 2015, after years of progress, governments set the goal of Zero Hunger by 2030. But eight years later, the number of people suffering from hunger has increased significantly.  

This crisis demands action – first and foremost from national governments, which have a responsibility to make sure their people have enough to eat. But many governments lack the resources to do so, and so effective international solidarity is also essential. 

The long-term causes of the global food crisis include conflicts, climate extremes, inequality, and economic instability.  

The UN system is addressing these root causes through our support for sustainable, equitable food systems that put people over profits. 

That means massively scaling up investments in resilient agriculture and aligning them with climate action.  

It means leveraging science and technology to improve the efficiency and reach of food systems.  

This year's theme for World Food Day focuses on water – a necessity for nutritious and healthy food." 

Victoria Kladieva: Mr Moshkalo, over the last decades freshwater resources per capita have decreased by 20%. What is the reason for it? My question is to you, Mr Moshkalo. 

Vladimir Moshkalo: You are right, Victoria, this is a serious problem caused by a number of factors. These include rapid population growth, urbanization, economic development, and climate change, which are putting the planet's water resources under increasing pressure. 

Photo: © TASS 

What is the reason for the reduction in fresh water resources? Water availability and quality are rapidly decreasing as a result of the decades of inefficient use and management, overexploitation of groundwater, environmental pollution, and climate change. We risk straining this precious resource to the point of no return. 

Water has been nurturing the humanity since ancient times and will not lose its significance in the future. It makes up more than 50% of our body and covers about 71% of the Earth's surface. Only 2.5% of water reserves on Earth are freshwater, suitable for drinking, agricultural activities and most industrial purposes. Water is a driver for people, economy and nature, and a basis for our nutrition.  

From ancient times to the present day, human life has been directly affected by the quality and quantity of water available to us. In order to get enough drinking water, people invented various ways of water treatment and water use. 

Perhaps today irrigation does not seem like such an achievement, but hundreds of years ago irrigation systems became the invention that transformed agriculture, especially in harsh climates and areas with poor rainfall. 

Water has been and remains an important factor in agricultural productivity, significantly affecting food security. Ensuring that every person on the planet has access to safe water, leaving no one behind, is a task that remains relevant to this day. 

There are not so many places on Earth with enough water to meet people's needs. The presence, absence and scarcity of water have affected humanity throughout its history and are still among its most important problems. Since the projected world population will have reached 10 billion by 2050, the problem of providing the growing population of our planet with healthy food in an equitable and sustainable manner is more urgent than ever. 

We as the global community face a number of water-related challenges: the lack of water, its pollution and unequal distribution of water resources. 

To overcome the water-related challenges of today, we have to ensure efficient water use in agrifood systems, find safe methods for reusing wastewater, protect water resources and aquatic food production systems, and provide everyone with affordable food, taking into account climate change and growing demand. 

All of these tasks are interconnected, and we have to tackle them together. 

Victoria Kladieva: My question to Yulia Nazarova, President of the Charity Foundation Foodbank Rus and co-founder of the About Food Sharing media project, is the following: what is the role of food banks and food sharing in enhancing food and environmental security, including water conservation?

Photo: © TASS

Yulia Nazarova:

Product water footprint

We rarely think about the amount of resources, land, energy, and, in particular, water spent on producing food products. Scientists from the University of Twente in the Netherlands have calculated that, for example, the production of one kg of beef requires more than 15 thousand litres of water! One kg of chocolate requires 24 thousand litres of water. Almost one and a half thousand litres of water will be used before a regular loaf of bread appears on our table. This is for the coffee lovers: each cup of the invigorating drink has a water footprint of 140 litres.

At the same time, according to the UN, more than a quarter of the Earth’s population face problems with accessing safe drinking water. Despite overall water availability in Russia, local ecologists predict water scarcity in the European part of the country by 2040. In this context, the generation of huge food losses and food waste looks like a crime against nature and humans.

Due to unsustainable consumption of food products, the planet’s resources are being depleted. More and more water, energy, soil and other resources are needed for production. Excessive production leads to the extinction of entire animal species.

Food loss and food waste

Unwanted products most often end up in landfills where they release methane and increase the greenhouse effect. According to some data, food waste produces four times more greenhouse gases than the aviation industry.

In Russia, almost 18 million tonnes of prepared food are destroyed or turned into food waste every year. And this is only a part of food waste, only what is produced in the retail and consumer chain. It means that the 18 million tonnes are disposed of or thrown away by stores, catering outlets and end consumers.

Food produced using so many valuable natural resources, often nonrenewable ones, should be used for its intended purpose and not go to waste. There are different reasons for products becoming unwanted by producers, retailers and catering outlets: overproduction, seasonality, dropping demand, disruption of sales and logistics, labelling defects and much more.

Food sharing

The social and environmental technology of food sharing helps to wisely use unwanted food products as well as the resources spent producing them. FAO lists food sharing among the most reasonable measures to prevent food loss and waste.

Food sharing is the oldest and main social and environmental technology of food banks, which has existed since 1967.

Foodbank Rus

Foodbank Rus is the first food sharing organization in Russia. We have been developing food sharing for over ten years. Today, we carry out 90% of food sharing in the charity sector: we work with the largest producers, chain stores, agricultural enterprises, and catering outlets, and they give us products that are unwanted but still suitable for consumption. The foundation helps one million people in need per year across 60 regions of the country. 

We develop food sharing in three directions: industrial, retail and agrifood sharing. Foodbank Rus began its work with industrial food sharing, which is when producers ship large batches of products directly from warehouses. Today, the largest production companies cooperate with the foundation, among them, for example, are Lyubyatovo, Makfa and Uvelka.

Since 2015, the foundation has been developing retail food sharing: cafes and restaurants began donating unsold food that was close to its expiration date to the food bank. In the summer of 2022, we launched food sharing with retail chains for the first time, with Pyaterochka, Perekrestok and Magnit stores. As part of retail food sharing, employees of partner cafes and stores sort out small volumes of products that are unsold but still suitable for consumption and hand them over to the foundation’s volunteers.

In the autumn of 2022, Foodbank Rus was the first one to launch agrifood sharing. This technology allows the underprivileged to get access to farmer products and farms to reduce food loss.  For example, farms often cannot sell “ugly” and “wrong sized” vegetables and fruit and are forced to bury them in the ground or send them to a landfill. Last year, for instance, we received a batch of huge beets – retail outlets would not put such beets on their shelves. During the pilot launch in 2022, agricultural workers donated over 560 tonnes of vegetables and fruit to Foodbank Rus foundation in nine regions of the country. Of course, it should be mentioned here that about 70% of fresh water consumed by humanity goes to agriculture. Thus, along with agricultural products, we also save the water used.

I would like to note separately that the foundation also distributes such beverages as water, juices, and lemonades among beneficiaries. Over the last eight years, Foodbank Rus has transferred more than 11 tonnes of beverages and water worth over 980 million roubles to the beneficiaries. If not for food sharing, these beverages produced using the purest water and other resources would have been disposed of after their expiration date.  

In addition to that, the foundation solves the issue of accessing clean water and healthy beverages for people in crises. This is especially relevant to victims of emergencies and displaced persons, as well as to residents of remote areas.

Food sharing has enormous potential. According to our calculations, if tax barriers were removed, it would be possible to redistribute about 1.2 million tonnes of products. This volume will be enough to provide food to all disadvantaged people in Russia.

In order to scale up food sharing, we develop a national network of food banks and plan to open regional branches in all regions by 2030.

To learn more about food sharing and other principles of sustainable food consumption, follow our About Food Sharing media project. This is the first and only media resource about food sharing. 

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Victoria Kladieva: To conclude our press conference, I would like to ask a question to the FAO Office Director: what needs to be done so that each of us is able to contribute to the conservation of this most important resource? 

Oleg Kobiakov: The decision to raise awareness about the problem of the availability of water as a source for food production and an integral part of nutrition is justified since we still have the time to stop, take a look around and reflect on how wisely we are using this invaluable resource. It all has to start with information. This theme has to be discussed in the media, in public service announcements, at production facilities, in households.  

All the messages have to boil down to the simple idea that the constant availability of water is not guaranteed, and therefore we need to treat this resource with care. Water, same as food, needs to be consumed judiciously. This is the only way of moving towards sustainable development. 

You can find the speeches given at the press conference in the recording.