FAO.org

By 2050, the world needs to produce an estimated 50 percent more food than in 2012 to ensure global food security, and it must do so while conserving and enhancing the natural resource base.

Water is a major input and environmental condition in the provision of food – from production in the field through all the steps in the supply chain. Water is also required to meet personal and household needs, for energy and industrial production, and to maintain important water-dependent ecosystems and their services. With demand and competition for water on the rise, however, the planet’s water resources are under unprecedented stress due to climate change, pollution, and poor governance. Agriculture holds the key to successfully achieving the objectives and aspirations articulated in the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement on climate change and the Post-202 Global Biodiversity Framework under finalization. It is also crucial to the livelihoods of over 500 million smallholder farmers and rural communities worldwide. Countries have identified agriculture as a major sector of intervention in their nationally determined contributions (NDC) to the mitigation of climate change, and many have placed water at the top of the list for envisaged adaptation measures.