Water Security and its role in food security

فصلنامه آب و توسعه پایدار

Volume 10, Issue 1 - Serial Number 27, June 2023, Pages 105-116   

Document Type: Other scientific contents

Author

S. M. Taheri^*

PhD student in water engineering, Department of Water Science and Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.

Abstract

The inadequacy of water resources to meet the needs of food production is a very important issue that will increase in importance in the future. If local renewable water sources (in soil) and water (in rivers, lakes, reservoirs, aquifers) are sufficient to produce a reference food supply (including 3000 kcal of daily requirement, of which animal products include 20 percent) for all residents. If not, we consider a food production unit to have a lack of green-blue water. If it is not enough for all residents, we consider a food production unit to have a lack of green-blue water. The number of people living in food production units affected by green-blue water scarcity has increased from 360 million people in 1905 (21% of the world's population at that time) to 2.2 billion (34%) in 2005. During this period, the lack of green-blue water has spread to large areas and has increased in previous areas. Water security is a concept that is examined in different dimensions and aspects. Four dimensions of these cases were identified, each of which consists of two complementary aspects: direct-indirect, macro-micro, technical-political and peace-conflict. In this study, the indirect role of water on food security on a global scale was investigated using a quantitative spatial approach. Since food security is intertwined with water security in many ways, the role of water scarcity on the disruption of food production and the impact of trade on this interaction was analyzed, and while examining the relationship of social resilience with these issues, the areas that It was identified that they were facing certain challenges in this field. With this work, the concept of water security became systematic and finally related to the issues of vulnerability, resilience and sustainability.

Keywords

food security; water security; resilience; water shortage; food production unit

References

Aboelnga H.T., Ribbe L., Frechen F.B. and Saghir J. 2019. Urban water security: Definition and assessment framework. Resources, 8(4): 178. doi.org/10.3390/resources8040178
Aliaga M.A. and Chaves-Dos-Santos S.M. 2014. Food and nutrition security public initiatives from a human and socioeconomic development perspective: mapping experiences within the 1996 World Food Summit signatories. Social science & medicine, 104: 74-79. doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.12.025
Bondeau A., Smith P.C., Zaehle S., Schaphoff S., Lucht W., Cramer W., Gerten D., LOTZE‐CAMPEN, H.E.R.M.A.N.N., Müller C., Reichstein M. and Smith B. 2007. Modelling the role of agriculture for the 20th century global terrestrial carbon balance. Global Change Biology, 13(3): 679-706. doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2006.01305.x
Capone R., Bilali H.E., Debs P., Cardone G. and Driouech N. 2014. Food system sustainability and food security: connecting the dots. Journal of Food Security, 2(1):13-22. doi:10.12691/jfs-2-1-2.
Clapp J., Moseley W.G., Burlingame B. and Termine P. 2022. The case for a six-dimensional food security framework. Food Policy, 106(4): 102164. doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2021.102164
Folke C., Carpenter S., Elmqvist T., Gunderson L., Holling C.S. and Walker B. 2002. Resilience and sustainable development: building adaptive capacity in a world of transformations. AMBIO: A journal of the human environment, 31(5): 437-440. doi.org/10.1579/0044-7447-31.5.437
Gain A.K., Giupponi C. and Wada Y. 2016. Measuring global water security towards sustainable development goals. Environmental Research Letters, 11(12): 124015. doi.10.1088/1748-9326/11/12/124015
Gerten D., Heinke J., Hoff H., Biemans H., Fader M. and Waha K. 2011. Global water availability and requirements for future food production. Journal of hydrometeorology, 12(5): 885-899. http://www.usgs.gov/centers/western-geographic-science-center/science/global-food-security-support-analysis-data-30-m
Kummu M., Guillaume J.H., de Moel H., Eisner S., Flörke M., Porkka M., Siebert S., Veldkamp T.I. and Ward P.J. 2016. The world’s road to water scarcity: shortage and stress in the 20th century and pathways towards sustainability. Scientific reports, 6(1): 38495. doi.org/10.1038/srep38495
Kummu, M., Ward, P.J., De Moel, H. and Varis, O. 2010. Is physical water scarcity a new phenomenon? Global assessment of water shortage over the last two millennia. Environmental Research Letters, 5(3): 034006. doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/5/3/034006
Lang T. and Barling D. 2012. Food security and food sustainability: reformulating the debate. The Geographical Journal, 178(4): 313-326. doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4959.2012.00480.x
Nord M. and Hopwood H. 2007. Does interview mode matter for food security measurement? Telephone versus in-person interviews in the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement. Public Health Nutrition, 10(12): 1474-1480. doi.org/10.1017/S1368980007000857
Porkka M., Guillaume J.H., Siebert S., Schaphoff S. and Kummu M. 2017. The use of food imports to overcome local limits to growth. Earth's Future, 5(4): 393-407. doi.org/10.1002/2016EF000477
Schaphoff S., Heyder U., Ostberg S., Gerten D., Heinke J. and Lucht W. 2013. Contribution of permafrost soils to the global carbon budget. Environmental Research Letters, 8(1): 014026. doi.10.1088/1748-9326/8/1/014026.
UN-Water. 2013. Water Security and Global Water Agenda: A UN-Water Analytical Brief; United Nations University, Institute for Water, Environment and Health: Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Varis O., Keskinen M. and Kummu M. 2017. Four dimensions of water security with a case of the indirect role of water in global food security. Water Security, 1: 36-45. doi.org/10.1016/j.wasec.2017.06.002
Varis O., Kummu M. and Salmivaara A. 2012. Ten major rivers in monsoon Asia-Pacific: An assessment of vulnerability. Applied Geography, 32(2): 441-454. doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2011.05.003
Zeitoun M. 2011. The global web of national water security. Global Policy, 2(3): 286-296. doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-5899.2011.00097.x