Thank you for this chance to give feedback to your report concerning water and food security and nutrition and to highlight anything we feel to be missing.
It is a thorough report covering many sides of the water equation. However without including the crucial part that ecosystems play in maintaining the regenerative functions of the global water cycle and hence fresh water quantity and quality there will not be adequate supplies of fresh water for global water or food security. Since adequate nutrition is based upon these elementary factors then this issue needs to be seriously considered in your equations.
In 2012 the issue of healthy ecosystems for maintaining quantity and quality of fresh water was explored by a UN Task Force of which, the FAO was a member. In March 2013 the Analytical Brief was released to guide world governments and UN departments on the findings concerning global water security. Within the brief it states:
“Ensuring that ecosystems are protected and conserved is central to achieving water security – both for people and for nature. Ecosystems are vital to sustaining the quantity and quality of water available within a watershed, on which both nature and people rely. Maintaining the integrity of ecosystems is essential for supporting the diverse needs of humans, and for the sustainability of ecosystems, including protecting the water- provisioning services they provide.”
Previously in 2012 world governments agreed upon this issue when they signed ‘The Future We Want’ in which it states:
"We recognize the key role that ecosystems play in maintaining water quantity and quality and support actions within the respective national boundaries to protect and sustainably manage these ecosystems." (The Future We Want RES/A/66/288 para.122)
This was recognised by UNEP in 2009 in their report 'The Critical Connection'
“We live in a world of ecosystems – and our existence would not be possible without the life-supporting services they provide. Properly functioning ecosystems in turn are fundamentally related to water security.” (Achim Steiner Executive Director of UNEP, Water Security and Ecosystem Services: The critical connection)
This was also echoed by UNESCO in their 2013 ‘Climate Change impacts on Mountain Regions of the World' report
“Given their important role in water supply and regulation, the protection, sustainable management and restoration of mountain ecosystems will be essential.” (UNESCO, 2013, ‘Climate Change impacts on Mountain Regions of the World’)
We hope that you will give this due consideration and add this vital issue into your report.
For further information on this issue please visit:
Stella Joy