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Abstract:
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From Introduction:
"This Assessment finds that there is enough land, water and human capacity to produce enough food for a growing population over the next 50 years, so in this sense the world is not 'running out' of water. But the Assessment also finds a multitude of water, food and environmental issues that add up to a crisis. Water is a constraint to acquiring food for hundreds of millions of people. Important aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems are damaged or threatened. The competition for scarce water resources is intense. And in many basins there is not enough water to meet all the demands—or even for rivers to reach the sea. These local problems could grow in number and severity, or shrink, depending on whether and how they are addressed.
"What is clear is that today’s water management challenges—and tomorrow’s—differ greatly from those of 50 years ago, or even 25, and thus require new approaches. Those approaches will be broader, looking into the opportunities in rainfed, irrigated, livestock and fisheries systems—and in preserving, even restoring, ecosystems. They will build water systems for many purposes and manage them to provide a wide range of ecosystem services. They will be more participatory and involve informed multi-stakeholder dialogues to deal with the many trade-offs. And they will embrace diverse interests and institutions to increase the equity of water’s use. These are the hopes emanating from this Assessment of water for food and for life."
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