International World Water Day is held annually on March 22 as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. Each year, World Water Day highlights a specific aspect of freshwater. This year it is concentrating on ‘Water and Food Security’.
Food security exists when all people at all times have both physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs for an active and healthy life. People who have better access to water tend to have lower levels of undernourishment. The lack of water can be a major cause of famine and undernourishment, in particular in areas where people depend on local agriculture for food and income. Erratic rainfall and seasonal differences in water availability can cause temporary food shortages. Floods and droughts can cause some of the most intensive food emergencies.
This year on World Water Day:
There are 7 billion people to feed on the planet today and another 2 billion are expected to join by 2050. Statistics say that each of us drinks from 2 to 4 litres of water every day, however most of the water we ‘drink’ is embedded in the food we eat: producing 1 kilo of beef for example consumes 15,000 litres of water while 1 kilo of wheat ’drinks up’ 1,500 litres.
When a billion people in the world already live in chronic hunger and water resources are under pressure we cannot pretend the problem is ‘elsewhere’. Coping with population growth and ensuring access to nutritious food for everyone call for a series of actions we can all help with:
• Follow a healthier, sustainable diet;
• Consume less water-intensive products;
• Reduce food wastage: 30% of the food produced worldwide is never eaten and the water used to produce it is definitively lost!
• Produce more food, of better quality, with less water.
At all steps of the supply chain, from producers to consumers, actions can be taken to save water and ensure food for all.
So what can you do? How can you reduce water use at home and on construction sites? How can you change your diet and reduce your water footprint?
The World Water Day 2012 Brochure provides further information regarding water security being a key element of food production and the challenges faced now and in the future.
