Water scarcity

Water scarcity refers to a situation in which the demand for freshwater exceeds the available supply within a given geographic area and time period.Water scarcity can increase as demand grows or as the quantity or quality of water resources declines. Water scarcity occurs when there is not enough freshwater to meet different needs such as for human consumption and domestic needs, irrigation, electricity generation, mining or industries. It also occurs when the water is too polluted, becoming unsuitable for any use. The availability of water depends on climatic conditions, such as there being sufficient rainfall to feed the rivers and recharge groundwater.

There are three types of water scarcity:

physical scarcity – there is not enough good-quality water available;
access scarcity – water exists, but not all people have access to it because of poor implementation of rules and procedures; and
infrastructure scarcity – water is available, but there is no infrastructure to deliver it to people for different uses.

All three types of water scarcity can be addressed by:

adopting measures that either improve efficiency to minimize wastage or deal with pollution;
strengthening governance with the required institutions, human capacity and resources; and
augmenting supply through dams or groundwater abstraction with the other associated infrastructure such as irrigation canals, pump stations, water treatment plants, reservoirs, or reticulation networks.

In the coming decades, climate change is expected to exacerbate water scarcity through increased variability of precipitation and a greater frequency and severity of extreme events, such as droughts. These trends compound risks to agriculture, food security, ecosystems and livelihoods.

FAO's response to water scarcity

FAO's approach to water scarcity is to mobilize all actors together to develop the required solutions, consisting of advocacy and policies, knowledge products reflecting innovation, capacity development for implementing the solutions and the piloting and upscaling of all the solutions for the benefit of communities and farmers who are affected by water scarcity.

FAO engagement in tackling water scarcity is at three levels:

At the global level, the Global Framework on Water Scarcity in Agriculture (WASAG) was formed, which, through the Rome Water Declaration on Water Scarcity in Agriculture (adopted during the High-Level Rome Water Dialogue on 17 October 2024), confirmed that “WASAG is available for partnership with all FAO Member Nations to engage in and collaborate on identified priorities and solutions to address water scarcity in agriculture”.
At the regional level, FAO set up the inter-Regional Technical Platform on Water Scarcity (iRTP-WS), mobilized resources and implemented regional water scarcity initiatives such as the Water Scarcity Program (WSP) for Asia-Pacific and Water Scarcity Initiative for the Near East and North Africa.
At the country level, FAO promotes different solutions addressing water scarcity in agriculture that can be applied in the context of each country, such as through sustainable agricultural water management practices, drought management, saline agriculture, dryland agriculture (including drought-resilient crops), mainstreaming nutrition, and facilitating the participation and empowerment of women and the youth, fostering an enabling environment including through an innovative financing mechanism. These solutions are often the result of collaborative engagement between different partners on a voluntary basis, under the umbrella of WASAG.