Next Generation Delegation 2016 Commentary Series
By Landon Marston, PhD candidate, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2016 Next Generation Delegate
Globalization has strengthened and expanded connections between agricultural consumers and distant natural resources used in food production by enabling consumer demand in one location to fulfill the production and resource needs of another. These nonlocal interactions are increasingly widespread in the food system due to growing food demands of an expanding and more prosperous global population and urbanization trends, which further displace consumers from the point of production. Therefore, many of the environmental consequences associated with intense agricultural production are not felt by those consuming the agricultural products, but are instead felt by food producing communities (see Marston et al., 2015).
A critical environmental consequence of the world’s food system is the degradation and overexploitation of water resources. With increased intersectoral demands for water, economic development, and climate change, water is projected to become scarcer in many locations. Yet, water is critical to the world’s food system: approximately 90 percent of global water consumption is for irrigated agriculture, which constitutes 40 percent of the world’s total food supply. Decreased water availability due to overuse, pollution, or climate change can lead to a corresponding decrease in agricultural production, creating shocks throughout the food system and impacting food security.
Water and food are so intricately linked that the global food system acts as a de facto global water system: water withdrawals in one location are connected to distant consumers who demand the water for production of water-intensive food. It has been argued that widespread trade of water-intensive agricultural products increases the resiliency of our food system by buffering against localized drought and water scarcity. However, widespread climate extremes, economic crisis, or political conflict can limit global food supply, leaving these highly dependent regions extremely vulnerable to international trade instability.
A clear understanding of the strong connections between water and food is especially critical as growing cities demand more water from nearby agricultural water users to support their development. The reallocation of water from rural agriculture to urban uses is a politically charged issue, but a growing trend nonetheless. My recent research demonstrates that cities are often the primary recipients of food produced by these nearby agricultural areas; thus, urban areas are indirectly consuming much of the water they are requesting to be transferred. Hence, redirecting water from nearby farmers to urban areas may have incidental and unintended effects on the region’s food supply.
Water is critical not only to the world’s food system but to human survival, yet it is often not valued as such. Many efforts to curb the depletion and degradation of valuable water resources have not been successful because they only address the issue through a local lens. Consideration of the extensive socioeconomic system that is driving both food production and agricultural water use must be integrated into policy formation to ensure a sustainable food and water system. A coherent and comprehensive agricultural policy that views water as a resource with economic value, not an expendable good, is needed to better enhance regional stability.
Read previous posts in the Next Generation Delegation 2016 Commentary Series: