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The need for water-responsible food systems is gaining momentum
During the World Water Week in Stockholm, Petra Hellegers put forward WUR’s commitment to writing a chapter on water-responsible food systems for the UN Water Action Agenda that was developed during the UN Water Conference last March. While agriculture is the largest consumer of fresh water, only 12% of all the voluntary commitments made for the Water Action Agenda address agriculture.
It is for this reason that Petra Hellegers attended the World Water Week in Stockholm this week. She addressed the interrelatedness between water, climate change and food security. The good news is that this gap is increasingly acknowledged: water will have a dedicated focus at COP28 Climate Conference later this year. There will be a “Food, Agriculture and Water” day during the COP28. In addition, water will be integrated across the thematic programming. COP28 aims to give new prominence to water as a climate issue through three key focus areas: 1) Protecting and restoring freshwater ecosystems, 2) Accelerating urban water resilience and 3) Building water-resilient food systems.
This last focus area will be co-hosted with Brazil. The first-ever UNFCCC high-level ministerial dialogue on water-resilient food systems is to take place, highlighting the importance of integrated water and food systems. A 2-year work programme on integrated management of water and food will also be initiated.
The aims of the Global Working Group on Water and Food were presented during the Stockholm session “The UN 2023 Water Conference: From voluntary commitments to impact”. The working group aims to stimulate actor actions towards water-responsible food systems and link water and food more closely across sectors and actors over the coming 3 to 5 years. The working group will meet in September in Wageningen to discuss how to make all actors in the food systems accountable for water-related actions and how to ensure that these actors take responsibility.