Yahoo News 17 Aug 09;
STOCKHOLM (AFP) – Asia could face chronic food shortages and social unrest if the region fails to improve its management of water and farming, according to a UN report published on Monday.
An extra 1.5 billion people will live in Asia by 2050, putting even more pressure on already scarce food supplies, said the study, issued by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).
There is little scope to expand arable land in most parts of Asia, which means that growing the extra food required can only be achieved with better management of land and water supplies, it found.
The report warns many developing nations in the region are facing by 2050 the prospect of importing more than a quarter of the rice, wheat and maize needed to feed their populations.
At the same time, their is a heightened risk that cereal prices will continue to rise due to increasingly volatile international markets.
"Asia's food and feed demand is expected to double by 2050. Relying on trade to meet a large part of this demand will impose a huge and politically untenable burden on the economies of many developing countries," said IWMI director general Colin Chartres.
"The best bet for Asia lies in revitalising its vast irrigation systems, which account for 70 percent of the world's total irrigated land," he said.
The report says millions of farmers have taken the responsibility for irrigation into their own hands, mainly using out-of-date and inefficient pump technology.
This means they can extract as much water as they like from their land, draining a precious natural resource.
"Governments' inability to regulate this practice is giving rise to scary scenarios of groundwater over-exploitation, which could lead to regional food crises and widespread social unrest," said the IWMI's Tushaar Shah, a co-author of the report.
Asian governments must join with the private sector to invest in modern, and more efficient methods of using water, the study concluded.
"Without water productivity gains, South Asia would need 57 percent more water for irrigated agriculture and East Asia 70 percent more," the study found. "Given the scarcity of land and water, and growing water needs for cities, such a scenario is untenable."
The scenarios forecast do not factor in the impact of global warming, which will likely make rainfall more erratic and less plentiful in some agricultural regions over the coming decades.
Access to water key for world's poor: experts
Yahoo News 17 Aug 09;
STOCKHOLM (AFP) – An international cast of politicians, industry leaders and United Nations officials joined forces Monday to improve access to water and halt a tide of deaths in poor nations.
Some 2,000 experts met at a global water summit in Sweden to tackle problems related to the vital natural resource.
Millions of people worldwide die each year of water- and hygiene-related diseases, Sweden's minister for international development cooperation said as she opened World Water Week 2009.
"By increasing access to water we can change the lives and health of poor women, men and children for the better," said Gunilla Carlsson.
"Nearly four million people die every year due to water- and sanitation-related diseases," she added.
She urged "coherence and cooperation" between a range of sectors to help provide safe water to all, as well as between nations.
This year's summit has a special focus on waterways that cross borders -- how they can both create conflict and foment good relations.
Delegates at the week-long summit in Stockholm, organised by the Stockholm International Water Institute, include government ministers from across the world.
They will discuss a wide range of issues from farming and climate, to meetings which focus on different regions.
Water crisis to hit Asian food
BBC News 18 Aug 09;
Scientists have warned Asian countries that they face chronic food shortages and likely social unrest if they do not improve water management.
The water experts are meeting at a UN-sponsored conference in Sweden.
They say countries in south and east Asia must spend billions of dollars to improve antiquated crop irrigation to cope with rapid population increases.
That estimate does not yet take into account the possible impact of global warming on water supplies, they said.
Asia's population is forecast to increase by 1.5n people over the next 40 years.
Going hungry
The findings are published in a new joint report by the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).
They suggest that Asian countries will need to import more than a quarter of their rice and other staples to feed their populations.
"Asia's food and feed demand is expected to double by 2050," said IWMI director general Colin Chartres.
"Relying on trade to meet a large part of this demand will impose a huge and politically untenable burden on the economies of many developing countries.
"The best bet for Asia lies in revitalising its vast irrigation systems, which account for 70% of the world's total irrigated land," he said.
With new agricultural land in short supply, the solution, he said, is to intensify irrigation methods, modernising old systems built in the 1970s and 1980s.
But that, he says will require billions of dollars of investment.
'Scary scenarios'
At the same time as needing to import more food, the prices of those cereals are likely to continue to rise due to increasingly volatile international markets.
The report says millions of farmers have taken the responsibility for irrigation into their own hands, mainly using out-of-date and inefficient pump technology.
This means they can extract as much water as they like from their land, draining a precious natural resource.
"Governments' inability to regulate this practice is giving rise to scary scenarios of groundwater over-exploitation, which could lead to regional food crises and widespread social unrest," said the IWMI's Tushaar Shah, a co-author of the report.
Asian governments must join with the private sector to invest in modern, and more efficient methods of using water, the study concluded.
"Without water productivity gains, south Asia would need 57% more water for irrigated agriculture and east Asia 70% more," the study found.
"Given the scarcity of land and water, and growing water needs for cities, such a scenario is untenable," it said.
The scenarios forecast do not factor in the impact of global warming, which will likely make rainfall more erratic and less plentiful in some agricultural regions over the coming decades.
Water reform is 'needed in Asia'
BBC News 17 Aug 09;
Asia must reform its water use to feed 1.5 billion extra people by 2050, says a new report.
The authors warn that without big changes to irrigation many nations will have to import food.
The report says that 94% of suitable land in South Asia is already being used for growing food.
According to their computer model the continent could obtain three quarters of the additional food it needs with better irrigation systems.
The report will be presented on Tuesday to the World Water Week conference in Stockholm.
The study was carried out by the International Water Management Institute and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The researchers warn that some developing nations will have to import more than a quarter of the rice, what and maize they will need by 2050 and that this prospect will be politically risky.
They outline three options for meeting the food needs of Asia's population.
The first is to import large quantities of cereals from other regions, the second to improve and expand "rain-fed" agriculture and the third is to focus on irrigated farmlands.
Politically risky
The report warns that the first option is too politically risky and the second is impossible as suitable land is already in use in many areas.
Lead author Aditi Mukherji of the International Water Management Institute said: "Today, the option of expanding irrigated land area in Asia to feed a growing population is becoming increasingly problematic due to land or water constraints."
The scenarios presented in the report do not factor in climate change which is likely to make rainfall more erratic.
The report recommends modernising the region's large scale irrigation systems which rely on surface water but have fallen into disrepair through lack of investment.
Another suggestion is for governments to help individual farmers use cheap pumps to extract ground water for irrigation.
