The background

Historically, water development has played a major role in ensuring food supply for a rapidly growing population, and in contributing to poverty alleviation by providing food security, protection from flooding and drought, and expanded opportunities for employment. In many cases, irrigated agriculture has been a major engine for economic growth and poverty reduction.

But water use has been growing globally at more than twice the rate of population increase in the last century, and an increasing number of regions are reaching the limit at which reliable water services can be delivered. Essentially, demographic growth, rapidly growing urban areas and economic development are putting unprecedented pressure on WATER, especially in arid regions.

Growing scarcity and competition for water stand as a major threat to future advances in food security and poverty alleviation, especially in rural areas.

The project

FAO, with the contribution of the Italian Cooperation, is developing an integrated package of technical and policy assistance guides to provide countries with a comprehensive methodology for assessing, analysing and reporting on the use of scarce water resources.

 “Coping with water scarcity – the role of agriculture”  will provide a detailed assessment of agricultural water use, including its productivity, its value-in-use, and its efficiency during the water use process, giving the countries handles to adapt their water policy and improve their water management in the future through strategic interventions to increase their capacity to cope with water scarcity.

The project is organized in three phases: the first, “the comprehensive framework” istoprovide decision- and policy-making bodies with approaches and principles and a general framework upon which to formulate development strategies and monitor their implementation.

Phase two focuses on “the development of national water audits” and will offer a double result: on the supply side, the audit will provide information about water availability; on the demand side, it will give a detailed picture on how the water is used, for which purpose, and with which value. Phase three will deal with strengthening countries’ national capacities to cope with water scarcity.

Whose benefits?

The ultimate beneficiaries of the project will be communities, who will benefit from development programmes and interventions utilizing water for agricultural production more efficiently; the primary beneficiaries are national government institutions who will benefit, through a set of decision support instruments, of improved ability to manage available water resources.