Interconnections at a glance (water)

Impact and vulnerability of food systems through water

Food systems depend on and are vulnerable through water because:

• Availability and accessibility of water essentially determines the capacity to produce and process food.
• Waterborne diseases due to unsafe WASH affect the capacity of farming households to produce food.
• Water is affected by food systems through:
• Being the largest user of freshwater, agriculture can contribute to water scarcity and groundwater depletion in a watershed or beyond, including across borders.
• Reduced availability and accessibility of surface and groundwater intensifies competition between water users and across sectors. A potential root-cause of conflicts between surface and groundwater users and other sectors needing water, and between nations for transboundary rivers and aquifers basins.
• Degradation of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, including loss of natural habitats, affecting their functioning, delivery of ecosystem services and biodiversity.
• Pollution of surface and groundwater due to the use of agrochemicals (fertilisers, pesticides) in agriculture and other pollutants through the value chain.
• Microbiological contamination of food crops resulting from runoff of polluted water in grazing areas and stockyards.
• Contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change accelerating water cycles, leading to more frequent and intense climate variability, including droughts and floods

Opportunities for enhancing both water and food systems

On water quantity

• Make better use of rainfall in non-arid areas
• Increase irrigation water use efficiency and water productivity, e.g. apply water-saving practices and reduce water losses in irrigation systems
• Consider the most effective use of national water resources for food systems and other demands, e.g. import high water-consuming food products rather than unsustainably exploit local water resources.
• Increase soil moisture retention, e.g. increase soil organic matter and develop agroecology
• Ensure access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) to enhance nutrition and health
• Reduce the use of virtual water in food value chains, including global and national trade
• Limit food loss and waste to simultaneously reduce waste of real and virtual water
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions through reduced crop water use (e.g. rice) and through energy savings in water extraction especially of groundwater, and in water supply and systems operation

On water quality

• Produce with less agrochemicals and pivot to organic fertilisers and pesticides where possible
• Process and retail food commodities with less pollutants
• Recycle wastewater
• Develop the use of nature-based solutions to filtrate water, e.g. wetlands

On the management and governance of water and food

• Management for multiple-use of water locally (e.g. WUMP) and at watershed-basin level (IWRM)
• Integration of watershed management in Sustainable Land Management (link to How-to: SLM)
• Developing ecosystem-based and Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem (WEFE) Nexus approaches
• Recognition of WASH contribution in supporting nutrition and health objectives
• Growing worldwide engagement and responsibility of the agri-food private sector through water stewardship
• Increased awareness of food consumers on water consumption across food supply chains, increasing pressure for water stewardship and reduced water footprint
• Enhanced understanding of the role of water management and governance in building the climate resilience of food systems

Green water is intercepted or absorbed by plants and returned to the atmosphere through evapotranspiration. Blue water runs off or percolates and ends up in aquifers, rivers and lakes.

N°1 to 7 show the processes in the water cycle (after Ellison et al. 2009, Falkenmark & Rockström 2005).