Presented by IWMI’s Director General - Jeremy Bird at the IGC GRAINS 2015, 24th International Grains Council Grains Conference, held at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London, on 9th June 2015.
Water resources – Future prospects and implications for food security
1. Water resources –
future prospects and implications for food security
Jeremy Bird
International Water Management Institute
Led
by:
Photo: Graeme Williams / IWMI
2. As water demand increases …..
…need a new approach to
water security
Source: UN Water
6. Water and grains: the vital link
2015 2050
1
2
22%
1
2
44%
2.4bn 4.8bn
Without investments in water management
the number of food-insecure people could
double by 2050
Increasing threat by unsustainable water use:
Threat to global
economy
Threat to
food security
Threat to
world’s grain
production
39% 50%
Source: IFPRI and Veolia Water, 2013
Photo: Hamish John Appleby/IWMI
7. Source: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service
Food supply under pressure
Photo: Bob Morris
8. Source: 10 Things You Ought to Know about Water. Circle of Blue. 2009.
http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2009/world/infographic-ten-things-you-should-know-about-water/
TRENDS: Transition in water use – agriculture to
industrial
9. 0
20
40
60
80
100
120
10 100 1000 10000 100000
GDP per capita (2000 constant dollars per year)
meatconsumption
(kg/cap/yr)
Meat
China
India
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
10 100 1000 10000 100000
GDP per capita (2000 constant dollars per year)
milkconsumption
(kg/cap/yr)
Milk
China
India USA
USA
Consumption and income (1961-2000)
Source: IWMI
Meat requires 100 times more water than grain protein
10. Livestock: demand is growing,
but water use can be reduced
Can reduce water use by:
• Feeding with agricultural by-products and crop residues
• Selecting and breeding crops and forages that use water efficiently
• Closing crop yield gaps
• Increasing animal productivity
e.g. dairy buffalo – reduced water use by more than 75%: from 2350 to 548 litres
Photo: Faseeh Shams / IWMI
11. Greater variability will impact on food production
Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC)
Source: Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC)
12. Droughts and floods: a growing influence on food prices
Wall Street Journal illustration:
http://farmpolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/MI-
BQ581_FOOD_G_20120809184205.jpg
14. Photo: Hamish John Appleby/IWMI
Improved water management now on the global agenda
15. Source: Global Risks Perception Survey 2014.
World Economic Forum,
Global Risks 2015 - Insight
Report
The water crisis: a global risk to business
16. Identifying solutions for a water-stressed world
1. Sustainable groundwater
management
2. More efficient use of
surface water
3. Living with floods and
droughts
4. Re-using waste
Photo: Hamish John Appleby/IWMI
17. Recent data on water withdrawals from USA show that withdrawals in 2010 were lower than at
any time in the past 40 years
Demand side management measures can make a difference
Increased water consumption is not inevitable
Economic productivity of
water (GDP per 100 gallons)
Source: Pacific Institute
Water withdrawals and GDP
19. India: Twin cases of ‘over-abstraction’ and ‘under-utilization’
Source: IWMI
20. Improving groundwater governance:
Jyotigram Yojana, India
Power rationing led to more sustainable
groundwater use, reduced electricity use and
increased yields
Photo: Hamish John Appleby/IWMI
Source: IWMI
21. Jyotigram Yojana – separating electricity feeder lines
Electricity Network Before Electricity Network After
22. Managing demand: swipe cards for pump operation
Photo courtesy: BMDA, Bangladesh
Photo courtesy: The Water Channel
23. Providing Incentives for renewable, sustainable
and more efficient groundwater use
Photo: Prashanth Vishwanathan / IWMI
24. Solar pumps – renewable, but sustainable?
Getting the incentives right.
Infographic: Rachel Cramer / IWMI
25. Source: University of Nebraska-Lincoln
The Nebraska solution: recovery of water levels
26. Incentives in India - rapid expansion of drip irrigation –
suitability depends on context
Photo: Hamish John Appelby / IWMI
27. Precision surface irrigation:
A viable alternative to drip irrigation
Pakistan: Land and Water
productivity increases,
reduced diesel costs
Photos: Arif Anwar / IWMI
28. Agriculture to urban transfers, China
Agricultural
production levels
maintained…
… as water allocation to
agriculture is reduced
and transferred to
urban use
Water transfers between sectors can be managed
Source: IWMI. 2007. Transferring water from irrigation to higher valued uses: A case study of the Zhanghe irrigation system in China.
29. Murray Darling Basin: Water trading system
View graph -
http://www.nwc.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0008/29780/Figure-3-8-
MurrayGoDarling-Basin-monthly-water-allocation-trading-activity-
percentage-of-volume-traded-and-average-price-2008-09-to-2011-12.jpg
30. Against the grain?:
Beer from cassava reduces water demand
Photo courtesy: Nile Breweries Ltd.
Photo courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
31. Research into action: reducing water use in coffee, Vietnam
• Coffee - 3% of Vietnam’s GDP; employs around 2 million people
• Water scarcity is the main threat
• Many farmers over-irrigating
• Research showed ‘water stress’ and strategic timing of irrigation
boosted yield
• Savings on water and production costs
Photo Credit: Creative Commons, Wikimedia
32. Losses to agriculture from floods and droughts
Source: US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
33. Breeding flood-tolerance – “Scuba” rice
• 4 million tons of rice lost to floods in India and Bangladesh, annually
• Scuba rice resilient to complete submergence up to 17 days
• In India, 12 million hectares of flood-prone land under scuba rice
Source and Photo: IRRI 2008
34. January-April average min. temperature C°
7.58.08.59.09.510.010.511.011.5
WheatyieldYaquiValley(Ton/Ha)
4.0
4.5
5.0
5.5
6.0
6.5
7.0
7.5
2010 2011
2006
2007
2002
2008
2000
2004
2005
2003
2001
2012
2009
2013
y= 11.55 - 0.65X
r2
=0.75
Adapting to climate change:
Heat-tolerant wheat prove value in Mexico
10C increase = 700 kg lower yield
2014
Source: H.-J. Braun, CIMMYT
2015
35. Rethinking storage : Underground ‘taming’ of floods for
irrigation (UTFI)
Source: Paul Pavelic / IWMI 2012
40. Wastewater re-use: reducing health risks
IWMI‘s role
• Assessing the extent of reuse, risks and benefits.
• Developing & testing low-cost options for microbial risk reduction
(from farm to fork).
• Supporting international guidelines and capacity building.
41. Securing water for a sustainable agricultural future
Need a major initiative on sustainable groundwater
management…
..common problems – but context specific solutions
Photo: Hamish John Appleby/IWMI
Editor's Notes
Not enough food is produced where it is needed. Imbalances likely to increase as diet and population changes
Unsustainable water use currently threatens:
39% of the world’s grain production
Food security of 2.4 billion people
22% of the global economy
Taken from an IFPRI and Veolia Water study from 2013
http://www.veolianorthamerica.com/sites/g/files/dvc596/f/assets/documents/2014/10/19979IFPRI-White-Paper.pdf
Producing 1 kg of animal protein requires about 100 times more than producing 1 kg of grain protein
Much of this work was done under the CGIAR Challenge Programme for Water and Food. References:
http://waterandfood.org/2011/10/21/water-productivity-in-crop-livestock/
https://waterandfood.org/publications/adapting-livestock-water-productivity-to-climate-change/
Prices and markets
Food prices volatile – but do we pay for the real cost of the water we use? Or the energy we need to acquire it?
Water will be critical – top WEF risk
Note: Survey respondents were asked to assess the likelihood and impact of the individual risks on a scale of 1 to 7, 1 representing a risk that is not likely to happen or have impact, and 7 a risk very likely to occur and with massive and devastating impacts.
Increases in water withdrawals are not inevitable…with right incentives we can manage stocks…
Two graphical representations of this remarkable change from the Pacific Institute using data on the US economy together with the USGS water use estimates. The first shows total gross domestic product of the US from 1900 to 2010 (in inflation-adjusted 2005 dollars) together with total “withdrawals” of water for all purposes – from domestic and industrial use to irrigation and power plant cooling. As shown, the most recent water withdrawals data show that withdrawals in 2010 were lower than at any time in the past 40 years back to 1970.
The second graph shows the “economic productivity” of water use, measured by the 2005 dollars of gross domestic product generated with every 100 gallons of water withdrawn. This productivity of water use has tripled since 1970 and we now get over $10 of GDP for every 100 gallons of water withdrawn. (Again, these data are adjusted for inflation.)
The assumption that demand for water must inevitably grow is false. Let’s start planning for the reality that a healthy economy and population can mean more sustainable, efficient, and equitable water use.
http://scienceblogs.com/significantfigures/index.php/2014/11/05/peak-water-united-states-water-use-drops-to-lowest-level-in-40-years/
Key issues: Groundwater
Huge increases in use in India and China. California now having to regulate for the first time.
Over use encouraged by subsidized electricity leads to environmental degradation and has high energy costs
Solutions: Governance
1. Over-use: Jyotigram: Water pricing unpopular but rationing acceptable
Example of Water-energy-food
2: Under use: West Bengal: Pump permits discontinued. Approximately 1.3 million water buyers – mostly smallholders – benefited from improved access to irrigation and approximately 250 000 ha benefited from improved irrigation as a consequence (WLE 2014 annual report)
diagram/schematic of Jyotigram – separating feeder lines physically to allow rationing to agricultural pumps.
Barind Bangldesh meter system: farmers use charge
Water pricing: Tradeable water rights: China: Qinxu Groundwater Management System
New threat - Solar power can increase groundwater access but at risk of unsustainability. Solution: Turn solar into a cash crop
Solution: solar power as a cash crop
Water management improvements supported by institutional mechanisms – Nebraska natural resource districts
Pricing may encourage more water management innovation: drip and sprinkler
Precision surface levelling and irrigation
In Pakistan, farmers have been replicating – with minimal support - IWMI’s fieldwork on precision grading for surface irrigation, which resulted in reduced tail-water run-off and deep percolation and increased land productivity of cotton by almost 12% and water productivity by approximately 11%. (WLE LWP Flagship)
Incentives and physical improvements facilitate transfer from agriculture to urban use
Murray Darling water trading
Crop choice – moving away from grains
http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2013-05-23/sabmiller-sells-cassava-beer-to-woo-african-drinkers
Eagle Lager, the world’s 2nd largest brewer has replaced most of the barley malt in the brewing process with indigenous cassava.
While barley doesn’t do well in a tropical climate, cassava is so easy to grow that Ghana and Mozambique have a surplus.
SAB Miller also switching to local grains like sorghum and millet
“Scuba rice: the makings of a runaway success story.” CGIAR Consortium. 2012. http://www.cgiar.org/consortium-news/scuba-rice-the-makings-of-a-runaway-success-story/
Flood management. Excess floodwater through aquifer recharge upstream can be used for irrigation in the dry period. Better not to look at one problem in isolation but consider integrated solutions. Taking a basin scale approach: looking at the urban as well as rural areas.
Natural resource districting contributed to drought mitigation…
IWMI’s comprehensive assessment confirmed that around 3 of 4 cities across LAC, Asia and SSA, wastewater irrigation takes place. And usually with untreated wastewater.