£9 foodethics Water The ethics of efficiency

PLUS Clive Bates enjoys a café in Khartoum

Unpacking the Stuart Is our food too thirsty? problem: Jacob Downward, Maite Aldaya, Tony Allan, Mikel Ateka, Tompkins and Mike Acreman Wenonah Hauter, Tim Lang, Ramón Llamas, José Esteban and Stuart Orr Lyla Mehta, David Molden, Nick Reeves,

Spring 2008 | Volume 3 Issue 1 | www.foodethicscouncil.org Spring 2008 | Volume Castro on the solutions Johan Rockström, Jeff Rooker, John Selborne Contents Food Ethics, the magazine of the Food Ethics Council, seeks The challenge to challenge accepted opinion and spark fruitful debate about 05 Are we exporting drought? key issues and developments in Jacob Tompkins food and farming. Distributed quarterly to subscribers, each issue features independent news, 07 Water ethics comment and analysis. José Esteban Castro says water policy should get political The Food Ethics Council challenges government, business and the public to tackle 10 The big question: is our food too thirsty? ethical issues in food and Maite Aldaya | Tony Allan | Mikel Ateka | Wenonah Hauter | Tim Lang | farming, providing research, Ramón Llamas | Lyla Mehta | David Molden | Nick Reeves | Johan Rockström | analysis and tools to help. The views of contributors to this Jeff Rooker | John Selborne magazine are not necessarily those of the Food Ethics Council or its members. Responding to water scarcity Please do not reproduce without permission. Articles are 15 Technology copyright of the authors and Stuart Downward images as credited. Unless otherwise indicated, all other content is copyright of the Food 16 Policy Ethics Council 2008. Mike Acreman Editorial team: Liz Barling 17 Business Tom MacMillan Stuart Orr Susan Kerry Bedell

Design & printing: PEP the Printers, Brighton Columns Special thanks to: 19 Worldview Laura Davis Maria Arce asks whether we can achieve global water equity Bruce Scholten Geoff Tansey Oliver Sowerby 20 On the farm John Turner says farmers should look to their soil to avoid drought Printed on 55% post- consumer recycled paper

Business page ISSN 1753-9056

21 No future in bottled water Jeanette Longfield

Regulars COUNCILCOUNCIL 03 From the editor 04 Letters Food Ethics Council 22 Reviews – reading 39 – 41 Surrey Street 23 Reviews – eating out | Clive Bates Brighton BN1 3PB UK 24 Forthcoming events T: 0845 345 8574 or +44 (0) 1273 766 654 F: +44 (0) 1273 766 653

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Cover image: © istockphoto.com / iofoto From the editor

t takes a mind-boggling 200,000,000 Quality can matter as much as It shows consumers are in a fix. We can I litres of water a second to grow t h e quantity. It is the impact of embedded eat less thirstily but we can’t do much world’s food. That’s like gulping down water that matters, not the amount. about the opportunity costs. Purchases the Amazon river – its mouth 80 km that make us feel good may have per- wide – day in, day out. A second challenge is to improve water verse consequences. As the UNESCO management alongside other aspects report suggests, the bigger challenge is We cannot sustain our current of sustainable development. Footprints to act like water citizens, not just as water habits. In some places rivers and won’t give us all the answers and too water consumers. We need to think aquifers are sucked dry. In others there many footprints just leave a muddy about water at the polls and in our is still water but not enough to support mess. communities more, perhaps, than when ecosystems or people’s livelihoods we’re shopping. Where water is scarce injustice Third is the danger that by solv- abounds. ing one problem we cause another. Governments need water policies Companies can reduce the strain they that guarantee basic entitlements and Because irrigation uses 70 percent place water resources by supplying universal access, and support pri- of abstracted freshwater, food is on from somewhere wetter but, as with ority uses. What counts as a the front line. As concern over water airfreight, that risks pulling the rug out basic entitlement and which uses are a escalates, food production will from under vulnerable communities. priority (how much is allocated to food be affected and blamed in equal Desalination – another strategy – may production and to support ecosys- measure. Big food companies are buy water at heavy cost in greenhouse tems, for example) are questions of worried – water shortages already strain gas emissions. value – they are ethical debates that production in some regions, so they must be held openly. Policy efforts know there’s more than reputation at Then finally, having stressed the must be international, because it is as risk. In the policy stakes, meanwhile, influence food companies can wield on easy to export drought as to import water scarcity is up there with climate water use through their supply chains, embedded water. They must also change. we must also see the limits. What are inform innovation, energy, agricul- the opportunity costs of using water to tural and public health policies. As This year has already seen one big grow food? Will we swap farms for golf contributors to this magazine discuss, food initiative to save water, and courses? biofuels, soil organic matter, the balance more may well follow. Through the between rainfed and irrigated farming Federation House Commitment, led by These aren’t just technical hitches. They and, of course, diet, are all bound up the UK Food and Drink Federation and reveal a deeper problem: footprinting with water management. resource efficiency group Enviro- isn’t ethical. It’s not unethical either – it wise, the UK branches of firms like simply leaves the ethics of water use Finally, what should food businesses Coca-Cola, Kraft, Nestlé, PepsiCo and to one side, treating water problems as do? First, support policies that improve Cadbury Schweppes have pledged to a technical challenge to be solved by water governance across the board cut their water use by 20 percent by better management and greater – actively debate the winners and 2020. efficiency. Yet, as José Esteban Castro losers, the value of water to society (p.7) points out, water is hotly political and the other aspects of water use that The commitment is welcome, but – the work of water engineers touches get us beyond the ‘litres per kilogram’ only a start. It applies to the signato- livelihoods, deep-rooted values footprinting mindset. Second, it fol- ries’ own operations but not to their and vested interests. Like hunger, lows, don’t label embedded water – if supply chains. These are much water scarcity is a social and economic water has a place on labels, it is within thirstier and the place where most food condition, not simply a physical one – wider accreditation for sustainable companies can exert the greatest rich people don’t starve or go thirsty. production. And third, as a priority, influence on water use. To prove Unless efforts to address water engage with the communities that they take the problem seriously, the problems start with that fact, we duck supply and consume your products. companies must extend efforts along the biggest issue. Partly this is pragmatic – moving to their supply chains and be consistent more sustainable production mod- across global brands. The sector has So as well as technical tools like els, without cutting and running from made a strong case for better water footprints, we need approaches to water stressed areas, means bringing management and now it must follow water governance built on sound producers and consumers with you. Yet through its own logic. ethical principles. A report for it is also crucially about ethics – how UNESCO by Lord Selborne (p.11) else can we really know what a better But what would good practice look like? flagged up six such principles, future for water should look like? Would it mean shrinking company and including the right of “participation product water footprints, like carbon for all individuals, especially the poor”, footprints? Is efficiency the answer? “human equality”, “the common good” and “the principle of stewardship”. It Tom MacMillan To a point. Footprinting can capture the also questioned the instrumental view [email protected] sheer scale of our water use and focus that water management is simply a efficiency drives. But it also misses a means to human ends, suggesting we rekindle a “sense of the sacred” in lot. 1 water.1 Selborne, J (2000) The ethics of For a start, water isn’t carbon. Where freshwater use. UNESCO-COMEST, What does water ethics mean in and when you make your savings, Reykjavik. and whether they come from rainfall practice, for consumers, governments or stored water, is vitally important. and food businesses?

www.foodethicscouncil.org | Volume 3 Issue 1 | Spring 2008 03 letters If you want to respond to any of the articles in this issue or raise a different point, please write us a letter. Our contact details are on the contents page. Are we exporting drought? Meat’s carbon emissions – a lot of hot air? Sir; Tara Garnett (Winter ’07) is too polite about the viewed with caution, which I have outlined in articles Food and Agriculture Organisation’s claim, in its 2006 published elsewhere (tinyurl.com/2d88df and www.tlio. report Livestock’s Long Shadow, that 18 percent of the org.uk). The main issue is that the policy arm of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions are attributable to FAO is by no means ideologically disinterested, but for meat. She says the figure is high (compared to her own years has been targeting what it regards as inefficient figure of 8 percent for the UK) because in the developed peasant farming. In 1998 Henning Steinfeld, principal world a higher proportion of emissions come from author of Livestock’s Long Shadow, wrote: “We cannot fossil fuel burning for transport, industry and heating. afford the common nostalgic desire to maintain or This is true, but people in the developing world also revive mixed farming systems with closed nutrient consume less animal protein than we do and the means and energy cycles... To avoid overuse of immediate by which the FAO assigns such a disproportionate level natural resources, mixed farmers and pastoral people of greenhouse gas emissions to those who do not get alike need to substitute them with external inputs. the lion’s share of the meat deserve more scrutiny. The trend of further intensification and specialisation is inescapable. Attempts to change the direction are The main way they do this is by including figures for “doomed to failure.” carbon emissions from Amazon deforestation – a grave problem, but one which most analysts put to one side In my view the authors of Livestock’s Long Shadow because it distorts the picture. Why? It is unclear how attribute to extensive agriculture the highest level much deforestation is directly due to beef; emissions of emissions they feel they can get away with, not to from deforestation reflect expansion, not production persuade people in the north to reduce their excessive (that is they are a capital cost, not an annual cost); and meat consumption, but to support their contention that about 99 percent of the world’s meat and dairy produce meat consumption should double through the adoption does not come from the Amazon and hence, by the of intensive and industrial production methods. FAO’s account, is only responsible for 12 percent of global greenhouse gases, or 13.5 percent if you include Simon Fairlie Amazon soya. Chapter 7 www.tlio.org.uk/Chapter7 There are other reasons why the FAO’s figures for methane and nitrous oxide emissions should be Less meat or no meat?

Sir; the fundamental and most challenging ethical question regarding money is to be made from it? But not all traditions and employments are eating meat is not whether it should be done more sustainably, consumed at moral either. And insisting that animals have no rights needs defence if it is decreased rates, or even whether animals should be treated more to be anything other than a statement of the assumption that it’s moral to humanely. It is whether animals should be raised and killed to be eaten by kill animals for food. humans at all. This dilemma was not much addressed in the latest issue of Food Ethics. Ethics sets forth an ideal. When this ideal is defended with impartial moral reasons, it’s hard to see how raising and killing animals for the pleasure and Since ethical thinking requires subjecting one’s views to critical scrutiny, convenience of eating them is ethically defensible. Animals raised for food we should remember that none of the common defences of eating animals are, like us, conscious, feeling beings whose lives matter from our points of pass critical thinking. Is it moral to eat chickens, pigs and cows because view. Like us, they too should not be eaten. they can’t reason abstractly and lack concepts of right and wrong? Many humans are likewise unable, but we recognise that eating them would be Nathan Nobis wrong. Is it because (some) animals eat other animals? Surely animals Assistant Professor, Philosophy Department, Morehouse College, Atlanta, USA should not be our moral exemplars. Is it because of tradition, and that www.NathanNobis.com

CAP needs an ethical foundation Sir; the Common Agricultural Policy (Autumn ’07) has never had The global obesity epidemic forms the health context in which the current a nutritional component, it does not have one now and, from the reform of CAP is taking place. Yet most proposals concentrate on increasing reform proposals currently on the agenda, it will not have one for the other ‘public benefits’ – animal welfare, environmental protection, rural foreseeable future. development, sustainable production. And that includes, with two honourable exceptions, most contributors to the Food Ethics special issue on CAP. Which is to say, CAP has no ethical foundation. The fundamental purpose of farming is to provide the food that people need to eat. CAP has never It is time to use CAP to enhance basic nutrition – to discourage production incorporated this basic point. of foods we want people to eat less (fatty, sugary) and to encourage production of those people should eat more (vegetables, fruits, fibre). If so, Recently, omission has turned into aggression. The long-delayed ‘reform’ of then (to quote a favourite food industry slogan) agriculture will be part of the sugar regime reduced the price of sugar by 36 percent – in the midst of the solution for obesity, not part of the problem. an obesity epidemic! A policy for malnutrition.

Even at previous EU prices, sugar was a cheap ingredient for food and drink Prof J T Winkler manufacturers. The cut will encourage them to use more in processed Director, Nutrition Policy Unit, London Metropolitan University products, our main sources of sugar these days. www.londonmet.ac.uk 04 Spring 2008 | Volume 3 Issue 1 | www.foodethicscouncil.org Water: the challenge Are we exporting drought?

The problem and promise of embedded water Tompkins Jacob

A few weeks ago the UK Food and Drink parts of the UK there is increasing tension and employment. In other cases it can be very Federation and Envirowise launched the between the needs of agriculture, domestic detrimental. Consuming crops that have been Federation House Commitment. Pledging supply and the environment. In places like the grown in water scarce regions denies access to environmental improvements in the food and Isle of Wight or East Anglia businesses have water for local communities and damages the drink sector by 2020, the commitment covers been prevented from expanding due to a lack local environment. There’s no denying that a range of issues, from packaging to carbon of available water, forcing them to relocate. agriculture affects the environment – for good and water. It is backed by the big names in the On the face of it, the environment is being and bad – but overabstraction of water for food and drink sector and is very welcome. protected and businesses are moving to areas irrigation can cause environmental damage on The water commitment pledges to cut process where water is less stressed – except they aren’t. a global scale. water use by 20 percent by 2020 – that’s a lot of They are moving to places with less stringent water saved in the UK. But if you consider the regulation, resulting in tomato production in Cotton production around the Aral Sea is the amount of water embedded in products, it’s a the Isle of Wight shifting to Spain, Portugal most stark example, where a whole sea has drop in the ocean. Welcome to the concept of and even Morocco. Absurdly, although we are been decimated and the regional and global embedded, embodied, shadow or virtual water. protecting the water environment in the UK, we environment has been affected. Current water Put simply it is the water used to produce are also losing rural jobs, exacerbating drought consumption in parts of Spain, California, a product. in already arid countries and dramatically China and East Africa are heading for the same increasing food miles. ecological and social disasters, driven in part by Water may not be a globally traded commodity, the contents of shopping baskets in the UK. but there are huge daily fluxes of water moving around the globe in the goods we consume. There are huge But although embedded water is a global It takes water to produce everything we use, problem of epic proportions, it may also offer clothes, shoes, car, computers and especially daily fluxes of water a solution. Water is too heavy to import in food. The amount of water required to produce bulk and, unlike energy, there is no substitute food is astonishing – it takes 200,000,000 moving around the for water. But if one tonne of wheat contains litres per second to grow food for the planet. 1,300 tonnes of water, then a water scarce Even though most of this food production globe in the goods region can import 1,300 tonnes of water by is rainfed we still use 70 percent of global importing 1 tonne of wheat. So if China looked freshwater abstraction for irrigation. we consume at the option of importing water in goods the absurd folly of the South-North water transfer This is worrying. Rainfall patterns will change as may disappear. the climate changes, so we can’t rely on nature In this complex issue it’s tempting to use water to irrigate our unnaturally large plantations, as a champion for protectionism, but instead Continued on next page... and our insatiable desire for any crop at any we should start looking at global flows of time will continue to grow. Both these drivers embedded water. mean more irrigated land, which in turn means less available water for the environment and Unfortunately we can’t just assess the amount Jacob Tompkins is human use, particularly in areas of water stress of water in products, then stick water labels Director of Waterwise, where there is often a cheap labour market. on food for consumers to make informed So we’ll get cheap bunches of supermarket decisions. The answer is not that simple, as you a not-for-profit NGO flowers and packets of mange tout, subsidised will see in the rest of this magazine. There are a that promotes water by sub-Saharan subsistence farmers or low lot of questions about how we should deal with income urban families denied access to water. embedded water. efficiency in the UK. His background is On top of this biofuels are starting to affect For a start we need to apportion blue in hydrogeology. the economics of agriculture and resource use, (abstracted) and green (soil) water; assess the and at 1,000 litres of water for 1 litre of biofuel, impact of blue water; and offset the benefits He previously worked as they are already having a big impact in driving accrued from using water. environment advisor to the up water use. Put simply, embedded water means that National Farmers’ Union So does the UK have an influence in terms every time we consume, we are drawing water and later at Water UK. of driving demand for embedded water and from across the globe. Figures produced by [email protected]. can we help to reduce this demand? Are we Chapagain and Hoekstra for UNESCO estimate exporting drought? that in the UK we consume around 3,400 litres a day in embedded water. In some cases Agriculture in the UK is not a great user of these fluxes can be a good thing, where flood water, accounting for less than 5 percent of water is used to irrigate crops, or where water consumption. But this is growing, and in many is readily available and its use creates income

www.foodethicscouncil.org | Volume 3 Issue 1 | Spring 2008 05 Water: the challenge

But because food security and self-sufficiency The European Water Framework Directive implications for jobs in the developing world are highly political issues, Governments is the closest we have to an international associated with shunning embedded water. are unwilling to asses or discuss embedded framework for water management but it is Probably the simplest action is to switch water. Likewise most large multinational flawed because each Member State has at least your potato variety from water guzzlers like corporations have not yet embraced the one set of legislation covering abstraction Maris Piper to drought resistant varieties like concept of embedded water, due to the rights. And whilst the Directive considers Desiree. This has an immediate impact on complexity of the problem, lack of political or cross-boundary fluxes of groundwater and water use in the UK and will reduce pesticide consumer pressure, and the fact that they are rivers, it does not consider fluxes of water levels. If your shops don’t stock Desiree ask already struggling with assessing the carbon in goods. This leads to situations where the why not. Or if you really want to reduce your issues in their supply chains. UK exports drought by importing tomatoes, water footprint, think about the meat you whilst Spain toys with the idea of a national eat and where it comes from. Beef is probably Switch your potato water grid which would cause massive the most water intensive product in the environmental damage. Despite this, Europe world! By asking questions we can help push variety from water has the best system of water management business to do the right thing and get water of any region – but look at global transfers on their agendas. guzzlers like Maris between regions and the situation is much worse. At a national level, the UK should take a lead Piper to drought on this issue. As major water consumers our Embedded water means that our food actions have an impact across the globe, so resistant varieties consumption and production is devastating the UK government should develop a policy like Desiree the world’s fresh water resources. It’s time to on embedded water and work with other do something about it. members states to do the same at the EU level It is clearly time for embedded water fluxes linked to the Water Framework Directive. to be assessed at a global level and it must If the best solution is global, then how do we be done internationally. There needs to be move towards this, and what can we do as The UN Environment Programme is starting recognition and discussion of the issue. Then individuals? to look at this issue but is not getting much there needs to be an international agreement support from nation states; hopefully we can on the value of water and how abstraction At an individual level, ask questions about all help influence that. should be monitored and apportioned. the water in the food you buy. But beware

06 Spring 2008 | Volume 3 Issue 1 | www.foodethicscouncil.org Water ethics A better way to good governance

As a world, we don’t use water very wisely. In water-scarce regions, or the growth of shrimp many areas, poor water management sees water farming and other forms of aquaculture, to José Esteban users suck their future out from under themselves, mention just a few areas of concern. wreaking havoc on the environment and stirring Castro says it is up social conflict. To tackle this properly do we In this context, it is difficult to foresee how we need a universal water ethic? could possibly achieve – simultaneously – food time water policy security and sustainable water management. Since the 1970s, the international community got political… has launched a host of initiatives to make water Water insecurity management fair and ecologically sustainable. The social injustices that surround water use They have targeted desertification, water underline even more boldly the need for a global pollution, water conflicts, floods and other water ethic. Large swathes of the world live and disastrous climatic events, water-related diseases, die without enough water to meet their basic and shortfalls and inequalities in the allocation needs, or in fear of water shortage. and distribution of water for essential human use.1 Despite all these important efforts, the The international community has failed to meet struggle to manage water better is being lost in its goal of universal access to essential volumes many countries. of clean water and basic sanitation. This goal was restated in the late 1970s, when the aspiration Freshwater is pushed and pulled by contradictory to provide essential volumes of safe water to all forces – more and more is needed for human use, by 1990 – 40 litres per person per day – was yet abstraction needs to slow down if we are to endorsed by the United Nations. The 1977 UN restore and protect fragile ecosystems and water Water Conference in Mar del Plata, Argentina, bodies. which led to the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade (1980-1990), Ecological problems declared that everyone has “the right to have Dr José Esteban Castro is Water use for agriculture poses a special challenge. access to drinking water in quantities and of a Even before the extra demand from biofuels, the quality equal to their basic needs”.4 The Decade Senior Lecturer in Sociology UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) was officially closed by the Global Consultation at the University of forecasted that developing countries will need held in New Delhi in 1990, which produced the Newcastle, where he an average 14 percent more irrigation water by New Delhi Statement calling for “some [water] 2030.2 While FAO doesn’t see this restricting for all rather than more for some”.5 specialises in water politics. overall availability of freshwater, environmentalists He recently published argue that water abstractions need to fall if they Despite significant progress in some areas, these are to become sustainable.3 commitments have met spectacular defeat. At the ‘Water, power, and start of the twenty-first century, 1.1 billion people citizenship: social struggle in The critics point to dramatic examples such as (around 17 percent of the world’s population) the Basin of Mexico’ the Dead Sea and the Aral Sea in Central Asia, still lack access to safe water while around 2.4 which have shrunk to a fraction of their original billion (40 percent) lack adequate sanitation. (Palgrave-Macmillan, sizes as a result of large-scale irrigation and 2006). water-intensive industrial activities. These are just Indeed, the tenacity of water insecurity has [email protected] two examples in a long list of dying rivers, lakes, seen old ambitions downgraded. In 1990, the aquifers, wetlands and water bodies. aim had been to guarantee universal access to essential volumes of water. The current targets Irrigation does not happen in isolation. expressed in the UN Millennium Development Freshwater resources are subject to competing Goals (MDGs), adopted in 2000-2002, only demands from rising urban living standards in seek to halve the proportion of people developing countries, the expansion of tourism in Continued on next page...

www.foodethicscouncil.org | Volume 3 Issue 1 | Spring 2008 07 without access to these services Silent politics by 2015.6 The new goals may seem For now, technocrats rule the roost. For more ‘realistic’ but they are ethically all the debate about water ethics, an suspect – can the international community instrumental view of water governance really accept that a large proportion of prevails – as a technical, managerial human beings will continue to suffer challenge, not a political one. In practice, preventable disease and death for the though, the politics get hidden rather foreseeable future? than eliminated.

Unfortunately, the likelihood of this For instance, a recent World bleak water future is confirmed by Bank-funded study produced several the evidence emerging from recent recommendations for the reform of evaluations of the progress towards water institutions worldwide, claim- the MDGs. They show that even these ing that “the main objectives are limited objectives will not be met in many rather transparent… to: make of the world’s poorest countries.7 water as an economic good, strengthen allocation capabilities, increase the Moral conflicts reliance on market forces, revive the There is growing recognition that the payment culture, ensure financial roots of this unacceptable state of self-sufficiency, promote decentralised affairs are not simply technical or ‘natural’ decision structure, and encourage the but rather, broadly speaking, social and adoption of modern technology and political. They stem from a “crisis of information inputs”.10 social responsibility”8 or, as the latest UN World Water Report puts it, “a crisis of Leaving aside whether these objectives [water] governance”.9 are right, this raises a barrage of ethical questions. Who decides the objectives The current efforts to improve ‘water for water reform – for whom are these governance’ show up the deep-rooted objectives “transparent”? How are these moral conflicts that have dogged efforts decisions taken? What part do water to achieve a universal water ethic. It is users play in this process – are they a debate fought between rival intellec- consulted and how else can they get tual and political traditions, defending involved? What are the ultimate often irreconcilable principles, values and ends and values that underpin such interest groups. objectives?

The fact is that good water governance That study is just one illustration of means different things to different the contradictions running through the people. For some, water gover- prevailing technocratic approaches to nance is an instrument, a means to water management. A highly po- achieve certain ends. They see it as an litical project to reform water administrative and technical toolkit institutions worldwide is presented as a that can be used in different contexts neutral, “transparent”, policy instrument. to reach a given objective, such as enforcing a particular water policy like Today’s crucial decisions about be scrutinised and sometimes re- full-cost recovery or the privatisation of water – whether over large dams and solved, instead of brushing them water sources and services. ambitious interbasin water transfers, or under the carpet. Democratic water over the privatisation of essential water governance raises the same questions as For others, good governance is a sources – continue to be taken and imple- technocratic approaches – who democratic process, where alternative, mented with complete disregard for the decides, how, and so on – but, unlike a even rival, development projects are interests and values of the vast majority technocratic approach, comes with debated and refined. They see it as of the world’s water users and citizens. in-built ways to answer them. It puts crucial to explore competing values, ethics at the heart of decisions about interests and claims to the common good, Water democracy water, instead of on the periphery as a rather than assuming that the ends are Democratic water governance makes distant ambition. obvious and that working out the best more sense. It is grounded in the view means to achieve them is just a technical that “the core of governance has to Towards a universal water ethic matter. do with determining what ends and Leading the welcome backlash against values should be chosen and the means technocratic approaches to water This difference runs to first principles. by which those ends and values should 11 governance are calls for a universal water Some see water as a common good be pursued”. Governance cannot ethic – calls that are getting louder. and essential water services as a public be reduced to an instrument for the good that cannot be governed through implementation of policy decisions taken In 2000, a UN working group the market. Others take the quite by experts in the relevant fields. produced a brief report on The Ethics of opposite view – that water is primarily Freshwater Use highlighting that the an economic resource, essential wa- Governing water is inevitably debate on water ethics was directly ter services are a private good and a political and it is nonsense to pretend linked to wider debates on universal commodity, and so the governance of otherwise. Admitting so brings ethical principles, in particular “hu- water and water services must centre on conflicts over values and material man dignity”, the right of “participation free-market principles. interests into the open, where they can 08 Spring 2008 | Volume 3 Issue 1 | www.foodethicscouncil.org © istockphoto.com / Klaas Lingbeek-van Kranen © istockphoto.com for all individuals, especially the poor”, These are important moves that the targets and timetables from the Johannesburg plan of “solidarity”, “human equality”, the international community should welcome. implementation. World Summit on Sustainable primacy of “the common good”, and “the They offer a surer route to managing Development, UN, Johannesburg. principle of stewardship”.12 agricultural and other conflicts over water, 7 World Health Organisation (2005) Health and the and to water security. It might even mean Then, in 2005, a group of over 100 we start meeting those targets. Millennium Development Goals. WHO, Geneva. European water experts further 8 Ward, C (1997) Reflected in water: a crisis of social emphasised the need for universal responsibility. Casell, London. ethical principles to underpin global 9 UNESCO (2006) Water: a shared responsibility. water management, calling for urgent UNESCO and Berghahn Books, Paris and New York. measures to sustain “the universal 1 See Milestones 1972 - 2006 at www.unesco.org/ 10 principle of respect for life”. They Saleth, RM, and Dinar, A (1999) Evaluating water argued that “rivers, lakes, springs, water/wwap/milestones/index.shtml. institutions and water sector performance. World Bank 2 wetlands, and aquifers must be con- Bruinsma, J (2003). World agriculture: towards Technical Paper 447, Washington DC. sidered as the Heritage of the 2015/2030. Earthscan, London. 11 Hanf, K and Jansen, A-I (eds.) (1998) Governance 3 Biosphere”, and that principles for Brown, LR (2005) Outgrowing the earth. and environmental quality. Addison Wesley Longman, democratic and sustainable water W. W.Norton & Co. London. Harlow. management should be given priority over 4 12 all other considerations.13 United Nations (1980) International drinking water Selborne, J (2000) The ethics of freshwater use. supply and sanitation decade. UN, New York. UNESCO-COMEST, Reykjavik. 5 There have been other, similar United Nations (1990) The New Delhi statement. 13 EUWATER (2005) European declaration for a new initiatives in developing countries where UN and the Government of India, New Delhi. water culture. New Water Culture Foundation – 6 technocratic governance and the United Nations (2000) Millennium declaration. UN, EUWATER Network, Saragossa. www.unizar.es/ unchecked privatisation of water manage- New York. United Nations (2002) Key commitments, ment are coming under increasing fire. fnca/euwater

www.foodethicscouncil.org | Volume 3 Issue 1 | Spring 2008 09 Is our food too

thirsty? big question The We ask leading experts on food and water scarcity, and people who are doing something about it...

Around 90 percent of the water we consume is will be levelling off by mid-century, but new used to produce food, so what we choose to eat agricultural demands, for biofuel for example, will is important. impact on water security.

It takes about 1,000 tonnes (cubic metres) of We face some tough personal and political water to produce a tonne of wheat, but 16 choices. Two of the biggest variables in water times as much to produce a tonne of beef. Eating use are population and diet. China’s population wheat products is an efficient way to use wa- policy has taken the water demand of between ter, but using wheat, corn or soya as fodder for 300 and 400 million people out of their livestock is not. People in North America and own and global systems – as many as live Europe consume about five cubic metres of water in the Middle East, Europe or the United Tony Allan per day from water resources. Poor people in the States – and we have benefitted. India’s water South survive on about one cubic metre per day. consumption is low because of its vegetarian food In China it is about two cubic metres per day. culture. Are policies on diet more or less intrusive than population policies? Does water There is enough freshwater locally – with a few security call for both? exceptions – to meet the current and future needs of the world’s economies when it comes to Tony Allan is an international expert in water resources, water policy and its reform. household and industrial use in urbanising He has retired from teaching, but continues to societies. But there may not be enough wa- be an active member of the SOAS-King’s College ter in the global hydrological systems to Water Research Group, which he founded. produce our food. The world’s population www.soas.ac.uk

Foods vary enormously in the amount of embedded With water systems that were public now privately water they contain or represent. Meats and animal owned, water governance suffers from ‘lock-in’. products are water-intense, but crops like rice are Company interests shape policy yet costs are pushed fantastically heavy users of water too, as are some onto consumers. An institutional architecture exists horticultural products. which sees water as a single issue, when it should be woven into other issues like land, housing, food, Three things are certain. First, water is essential amenities. for all foods – for growing, washing, processing and cooking. Second, global water stress will increase. Democratic oversight is thin – why should Third, water auditing of food is going to come. Ofwat bother about four litres of embedded Already, processors and farmers watch water water in a Kenyan green bean stem? Or 2,400 litres bills. As carbon equivalent and greenhouse gas embedded in a hamburger? The emerging assessments are rapidly being developed, so will water-in-food economy requires tight lifecycle Tim Lang audits of food’s reliance on water. assessments, and buy-in by everyone in the food chain. This is not yet on the policy map, but will Water-stress is deemed a developing country have to come. The question is: under crisis or problem, irrelevant to wet Britain. But as climate anticipated conditions? change highlights the superficiality of national Tim Lang is Professor of Food Policy at City boundaries, so the world’s looming water crisis University’s Centre for Food Policy and will recast our mental maps on food and water. Natural Resources Commissioner As home-grown food production slides, we buy on the UK Government’s others’ water, labour and land. Sustainable Development Commission. He is writing in a personal capacity. www.city.ac.uk

10 Spring 2008 | Volume 3 Issue 1 | www.foodethicscouncil.org Farmers around the world rarely pay the full economic cost for irrigation water. Govern- ments understandably take the view that food security is a high priority and allocate a generous proportion of their water supply to farmers for food production, at a cheaper rate than to other sectors.

In Australia 70 percent of available water is used for irrigation, yet much of this is used on low value crops at a time when the country’s economy is threatened by water shortage. In New South Wales half of all irrigation water is used on pasture. Wenonah Hauter Global water demand is increasing through population pressure and increased industrialisa- tion, but attempts to re-allocate water rights Industrialised agriculture abuses wa- from low value agricultural production systems ter resources through a cycle of to higher value crops or to other sectors can be overuse, waste, and pollution. Irrigation difficult to achieve. accounts for 65 to 70 percent of world water use. In the United States, over 100 Across England and Wales agriculture uses 1.1 trillion litres are used annually to percent of all water consumed, but in some areas at peak times of the year, it accounts for up to 70 irrigate cropland and, in the 18 states John Selborne percent of total abstraction. It seems reasonable dependant on irrigation, 70 percent to predict that agriculture will find itself having to of stream and river water is depleted. justify high water consumption against competing One of the largest aquifers in the world, demands as the EU Water Framework Directive the Ogallala, which underlies eight states, comes into effect. has been seriously depleted by irrigation and may be dry in 25 years. Any successful method of water allocation and management must be based on the natural Lord Selborne is a member of the Factory farms that raise animals deplete hydrological system, the river basin, and in and pollute water. Each cow in a dairy House of Lords Select Committee on England the Environment Agency has powers to Science and Technology and chaired factory uses 682 litres of water per buy out irrigation rights where they are considered its report on Water Management, day. A 10,000 animal hog factory uses published in June 2006. unsustainable. This means that as competing www.parliament.uk demands for water increase, agriculture will be 189,250 litres of water each day – just for forced to concede some of its water rights, and drinking. Factory farms depend on the farmers will be forced to adopt more efficient availability of cheap corn, a very thirsty methods of irrigation. crop that requires the heavy use of polluting herbicides and fertilisers. One acre of corn requires 1,892,500 litres of water and a pound of meat produced by a corn-fed animal requires approximately 5,677 litres of water.

Number crunching We need farm policies to support family-operated, diverse farms that By 2025 an estimated 1.8 billion people will live in water scarce areas. provide food locally and regionally. This means not only removing the We use between 65 and 70 percent of the world’s abstracted subsidies that benefit multinational corporations that want cheap commodi- water to grow food for the planet – around 200 million litres of ties, but also reinstating policies that stop the overproduction of crops. water per second. People living in rich countries eat around 5,000 litres of Consumers can help the planet and improve their health by choosing to eat ‘embedded’ water per day, while those in poor regions subsist on 1,000. foods grown as locally as possible and by eating low on the food chain. A vegetarian consumes around 2,000 litres of water per day and a meat-eater clocks up 5,000 litres. A pork chop accounts for 2,000 litres Wenonah Hauter is executive director of Food and Water Watch, a non-profit of embedded water, and a portion of green beans from Kenya around 80 consumer organisation that works to ensure clean water and safe food. litres. A portion of rice contains 100 litres and, if you wash your meal www.foodandwaterwatch.org down with a glass of milk, that adds another 1,000 litres.

Liz Barling

www.foodethicscouncil.org | Volume 2 Issue 4 |www.foodethicscouncil.org Winter 2007 11 | Volume 3 Issue 1 | Spring 2008 11 ae, hn ht e at o o s mrv te overall the improve is impacts largest do the as reduce and to such chain, food issue, the want of single sustainability we a on what focus when to water, wrong be would it But, and manufacturing offood products. cleaning, handling the in used also is water of amount husbandry, a significant livestock and irrigation crop for water of use as the well as that remember to important is water, it of amounts processes and production involved the in getting food from the farm to the plate consume large that denying no is there While that a few decades ago seemed unthinkable. tools to solve many water related problems century,however,half producedlast have Scientific and technological advances in the developing who suffer most. poor poor the usually is it but alike, countries and rich affects industrialised problem This investment. low or inertia bureaucratic institutions, of lack corruption, management, water that pressures admit on water are mainly due experts to poor water Today, most than rather water scarcity. governance drought water some is of crisis one the and in increasing, are un- conditions precipitation and, are regions distributed resources evenly water even But though countries. arid semi in and percentage arid higher even an and use, freshwater of percent 70 sectors, for accounting in other in used than production is food water more Globally, Yes. Maite Aldaya Jeff Rooker and RamónLlamas 12 Spring 2008 | Volume 3Issue1|www.foodethicscouncil.org

Is our food too thirsty? ourfoodIs too thirsty?

WTO agreements fairer. making and subsidies perverse transparency,removing embracing by now action future.the in worldmusttakeBut leaders and – now population global the for food produce to water fresh enough Wehave These poor. security. food global water-dependant esp and the ensure supply water to hunger, helping are among advances reducing cially and drinking water providing benefits, social economic great silent produced has the – revolution – easy abstraction and groundwater economies, cheap and distribution; food poor be of speed and cost low the by encouraged based can irrigation to countries for rich water from commodities wa- ‘exported’ suitable water salt agricultural fresh in water, embedded virtual supply; turn urban into can ter Desalination utiaiiy taey te od nuty none a announced reduce waterusageby 20percent by 2020from a2007baseline. to industry aims which programme, Envirowise funded Government the food Federation, the Drink and with Food the by Industry led initiative partnership Food Strategy, the of Sustainability publication the following gases. greenhouse Additionally, and water to and on produce including Defra UK, we the food by in the consume up of impacts set the been reduce and has identify programme Chain Food The of otherenvironmental impactstoconsider. largest impact the and one we need to focus be on, may but there are a range water products, food some occur. For they where

Hydrogeologists andChairoftheNatural Maite M. Aldaya, andMSc PhDinEcology Ramón Llamasisaprofessor emeritus of the ComplutenseUniversity ofMadrid. is aresearcher on Water Footprint at in theLondonSchoolofEconomics, Lord Rooker istheUKgovernment hydrogeology andformer president of theInternational Association of Sciences SectionoftheSpanish minister for Sustainable Food, Royal Academy ofSciences. Farming & Animal Health. tinyurl.com/2umw5w www.defra.gov.uk www.lse.ac.uk

The big question

Lyla Mehta Nick Reeves Míkel I was spooked by a UN report I read the other day – it seems that González Ateka global crop production is not keeping pace with population growth. Yes. In the province of Malaga, in the south of Spain, and By 2050 there will be roughly nine billion souls in the world. To feed more specifically in the valley of the Guadalhorce, where and water them, and meet our millennium development goal on I live, we are in the third year of an intense drought. In hunger (to halve the proportion of hungry people) we would have to fact, it has not rained in a whole year. Our valley has increase world food production by 100 percent. approximately 10,000 ha, of irrigated land and the crops grown there – mainly citrus fruits – have only received The fact is, unless we reverse population growth, and cut waste, six irrigations in the last three years. The upshot of this is overeating, bio-fuels and meat consumption, demand for cereal crops that a vast number of trees have died, condemning local could rise to three times the current level. farmers to abandon their livelihoods. In areas with greater water availability than ours, over-use is leading to aquifers We will also have to double water use on crops by 2050. But becoming salty and useless. water scarcity is acute in many parts of the world, and farming takes the lion’s share from rivers, streams and groundwater, so where will Our regional agriculture of olive, almond and citrus this extra water capacity come from? trees, is suffering badly, with yields reducing by as much as 50 percent. Meanwhile, in and around the Costa del Water waste and embedded water in food is rising. Ten Sol, there are more than 50 golf courses, thousands of percent of the world’s major rivers no longer reach the sea all year hectares of gardens, and massive consumption by the round. Water scarcity is a worldwide problem exacerbated by a inhabitants – residents and tourists – of the region. consumer culture of buying what we want, not what we need. Between them they consume almost 500 litres of water per person per day. An estimated 1.8 billion people will live in regions with absolute water scarcity by 2025, and two-thirds of the world population might In effect, there is water for the tourist industry but suffer water stress. Water wars could escalate into global conflict. not food production. The Spanish government and our Climate change will see rainfall decline most in places in greatest need of citizens urgently need to decide whether our water should water. So how, unless there’s a sudden decline in carbon emissions (or be used to maintain a tourist industry that is already population), are we going to feed the people of the world? threatened by the world economic crisis, or for food Nick Reeves is Executive Director of the Chartered production in one of the best agrarian zones of the planet. Institution of Water and Environmental Management I know which I’d choose. (CIWEM) and a Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv). www.ciwem.org Míkel González Ateka farms organic vegetables and olive trees in southern Spain, and campaigns on food issues including food sovereignty. Lyla Mehta He is married with two children. Perhaps, when you look at how diets have imbalances of power denying people access to changed. Meat, milk products, sugar, oils and exotic water. These include: unequal gender relations, vegetables require more water and different ethnic and racial discrimination, ill-defined water management practices than staple crops and rights and unequal access to land and resources. cereals. Urbanisation and lifestyle changes will increase demand for water-hungry food. Water scarcity is a multifaceted phenomenon and solutions cannot be simplistic. Governments Agriculture already uses 70 percent of the world’s and policy makers have historically focused on water. Population increases, pollution, depletion large-scale irrigation, which despite benefits, has of river and groundwater resources, closed river high environmental and social costs. Attention basins, impacts of climate change and competition should be turned to rainfed areas, where most between farmers, cities, industry and nature all poor people grow food, and to increasing the exacerbate access to water for food. productivity of water used in crop, aquaculture and livestock systems to reduce ‘blue’ and ‘green’ However, there is enough water and food water needs. Water justice is required for the Lyla Mehta is a Research to go around our planet. The UN’s Food and world’s marginalised and poor and we can also cut Fellow at the Institute of Agriculture Organisation data reveal a surplus of our consumption of water-hungry food Development Studies at the food, rather than a shortage, in relation to total global University of Sussex and the author of The Politics and population. And sociological and political attention Poetics of Water. to realities on the ground almost always attributes www.ids.ac.uk water shortage not to absolute or physical scar- city, but to socially-generated scarcity arising from www.foodethicscouncil.org | Volume 3 Issue 1 | Spring 2008 13 Is our food too thirsty? Technology The big question The

Food production is one of the world’s Our estimates show that global blue largest freshwater-consuming economic water consumption in irrigation is sectors. An adult on an adequate diet approximately 1,800 km3/yr, while consumes around 1,300 m3 per year, rainfed agriculture consumes around equivalent to over 3,000 litres a day. 5,000 km3 per year. This throws new light on future options available to feed Conventional wisdom has agriculture a rapidly growing world population. consuming 70 percent of the world’s With fewer options to increase blue freshwater withdrawals. That ‘wisdom’ water use for irrigation, there is only looks at a small portion of the increasing evidence of large untapped total freshwater used for economic water potentials in rainfed farming biomass production (for food, timber, systems, particularly in developing coun- fodder and fibre); namely the use of tries, where there is the biggest need. water for irrigation. Yes, it does cause major problems, with rivers running We need to focus on increasing dry, leaving less freshwater to sustain productivity of agricultural land (but not downstream cities and aquatic at the expense of ecosystem functions), ecosystems. However, “blue” wa- and emphasise agricultural and water ter actually only amounts to a productivity in rainfed agriculture. If this fraction of global water use for food. succeeds, we can avoid a future with The bulk of global food (60 – 70 continued unsustainable exploitation of percent) is produced using “green” water water for food. (infiltrated rainfall, forming soil moisture Johan Rockström in the root zone, on its way to evapo- transpire in support of biomass growth). Johan Rockström, PhD, Associate Professor in Natural Resources Management, is Executive Director of the Stockholm Environment Institute and the Stockholm Resilience Centre. www.stockholmresilience.su.se

Consequently in many of the world’s breadbaskets, David Molden there simply is not enough water to go around. The Colorado, Murray-Darling, Indus, Nile and Yes and No. Our food is too thirsty in wealthy Yellow Rivers are but a trickle when they countries but, in many parts of world, hungry water use abound. Wealthier countries people desperately need more water. must encourage water-efficient food habits through education, and food and It takes between 500 and 2,000 litres of water water policies. There is an urgent need for to produce a kilogram of wheat, depending on economic incentives to grow more food production practices. When grains are fed to with less water, and reduce the food waste animals for meat, milk and eggs, the amount of between farm and fork that leads to astronomical water required for food production increases water wastage. substantially. In sharp contrast, many of the 800 million David Molden is Deputy A vegetarian diet is much less water undernourished people are thirsty for more Director General for Research intensive (closer to 2,000 litres per person per day) at the International Water water for food. Over 1.4 billion people live in Management Institute and than one dependent on grain-fed meat areas of economic scarcity, requiring policies and recently led production of (up to 5,000 litres per person per day), investments in water infrastructure (small Water for Food, Water but there is an increasing desire for meat and large), technologies and institutions for for Life: a Comprehensive products in the world’s growing economies. Assessment of Water more water. Management in Agriculture. www.iwmi.org

14 Spring 2008 | Volume 3 Issue 1 | www.foodethicscouncil.org Responding to water scarcity Technology

Can desalted water feed the world? Stuart Downward

Agriculture accounts for 70 percent of global At face-value, desalination (the process be sold to those who are willing to pay the freshwater abstraction.1 In the coming of abstracting freshwater from seawater, highest prices. And with the world’s urban decades around two-thirds of the world’s brackish groundwater and domestic waste population exceeding rural populations, our population will face water scarcity driven by water) offers a technological fix for feeding cities will out-bid agricultural users of water the physical availability of water set against ourselves in the 21st century. Our oceans for all but the highest value crops. regional population growth.2 Climate contain 97 percent of the Earth’s water so, change will exacerbate droughts, testing in theory, as long as the value of water-based Europe’s largest RO desalination facility our resilience and agricultural adaptability. goods and services produced using desalted at Carboneras in Spain was planned to Water scarcity is also ‘structural’, affecting water exceeds the costs of production, supply much-needed water to horticultural economic resilience to malnutrition. desalination can be considered economically farmers. But farmers continue to plumb sustainable. This is the case in many parts of over-abstracted aquifers, because the Lack of knowledge concerning water the Middle East. Kuwait receives the majority desalted water pipelines follow the coast, resources and their sustainable use, of its water from thermal desalination supplying water to booming coastal property misappropriation and inefficient use of water facilities. And water poor islands such as developments and water intensive golf resources, and the ability to pay for water Lanzarote have seen their tourism industry resorts. Plans are afoot to fill water tankers mean that millions will lack access to clean flourish thanks to desalination. destined for the drought ridden city of freshwater for domestic and agricultural Barcelona.4 needs. A global trade in ‘virtual’ water, Recent advances in reverse osmosis (RO) embedded in crops and livestock, has sought technology, economies of scale and energy Desalination must be part of an integrated to balance spatial and temporal inequalities recovery systems have dramatically reduced and regulated regional water resource between water distributions and people, but the operational costs of desalination. It is the management strategy that addresses water the FAO estimate that 40 thousand people hot topic around the globe, with desalination demands and water supply. This must include die every day from malnutrition related capacity expected to at least double over the full-cost recovery and subsidy transparency diseases. next 20 years. to encourage water savings. Urban consumers of desalted water will return large quantities Technological solutions for meeting water Spain plans 21 new desalination facilities, of ‘waste’ water back to the environment that demands are as old as civilisation, and our Perth is building the world’s largest renewable could be reused for agriculture. For example, hydro-engineering ambitions have increased energy desalination facility, South Africa is Almería in Spain receives a proportion of alongside our demand for food. In the 20th experimenting with nuclear desalination. its water from desalination. The city’s waste century, a six-fold increase in water demand Even London, faced with a repeat of water is collected, ‘cleaned’ and re-used for was met by mega-dams and water transfers structural water shortages in 2006 and horticultural and citrus production in the that have re-plumbed the planet, diverting anticipated population growth in southeast Andarax valley north-east of the city. water to fields and cities. Hardly a great England, plans a desalination facility on the river remains untapped and boreholes have Thames Estuary. Regulation must ensure that farmers don’t been sunk deep into ancient aquifers. Now desalt brackish groundwater that cannot though, food prices are increasing alongside The advantages are clear: desalination be sustainably recharged or dilute poor record agricultural production that is out- provides hydro-independence from the quality groundwater with high quality pacing population growth. A recent UK environment and independence from desalted water to obtain an acceptable mix. Cabinet Office report attributes this to three climatic uncertainty. With careful regulation This would only increase over-abstraction. factors.3 it offers the opportunity to recover and Energy requirements must be evaluated restore over-abstracted rivers and wetlands so that potential environmental gains are First, biofuel production competes with food and their fragile habitats. If it can irrigate not outweighed by undue increases in for agricultural water. In 2007, one-third of the world’s fields and greenhouses, could it greenhouse gas emissions. Desalination will all US maize was grown for biofuels with 15 fulfil the UN’s millennium goal to provide not solve world hunger, but if planned and percent year-on-year growth projected in food security for all while safeguarding the managed wisely it can help. the near-future. Second, people in rapidly environment? Stuart Downward is a senior developing Asian economies are consuming more meat. Kilo-for-kilo a meat-rich diet Desalination alone is not the answer. Despite lecturer in the School of Earth requires twice the embedded water of huge technological advances, desalted water Sciences and Geography at a meat-poor diet. In China average per is very expensive at approximately $0.5/m3. capita meat consumption has doubled in Energy requirements set against rising oil Kingston University, Surrey. the last 20 years. Third, agricultural policy costs and the cost of brine and anti-foulant [email protected] changes (for instance. EU CAP reforms) disposal means that, unless subsidised, 1 have reduced cereal stocks, pushing more desalted water will remain too expensive Qadir, M et al. (2007) Agricultural Water Management, 87, 2-22. land into production, diverting more water for agricultural use and be irrelevant to 2Rijsberman, F.R. (2006) Agricultural Water for irrigation. poor farmers. Desalted water will always Management, 80, 5-22. 3Cabinet Office (2008) Food: an analysis of the issues. www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk 4ABC.es (2008). www.abc.es. 17 January 2008. www.foodethicscouncil.org | Volume 3 Issue 1 | Spring 2008 15 Responding to water scarcity Policy Business

Mike Acreman Mike Agriculture needs ecosystems, ecosystems need water

Water is essential for all life on Earth. that: “the quantity, quality and reliability of But dam operations have seriously degraded Our success as a species relies on our water required to maintain the ecological natural wetland ecosystems along the river ability to store and use water for drinking, functions on which humans depend shall valley and at its mouth. The winners of the growing food, driving industrial processes, be reserved so that the human use of water allocation decisions are the urban harnessing its ability to generate power, and water does not individually or cumulatively elite in Senegal, Mauritania and Mali, with fighting against natural hazards, including compromise the long term sustainability of a secure electricity supply and cheaper food; floods and droughts. aquatic and associated ecosystems”. Other the losers are the rural poor who depend on countries have followed suit, including fishing and extensive livestock grazing on But clean water is in short supply in many Tanzania and Costa Rica. The EU’s Water naturally flooded wetlands, but have no parts of the world and becoming increasingly Framework Directive has a similar access to electric power. scarce as populations grow, water supplies philosophy, requiring member states to become polluted and our climate varies. achieve Good Ecological Status in all water As our population grows, increasing food Water management has become vital for bodies (rivers, lakes, groundwater, estuaries productivity is essential for human survival. future human welfare and development. and coastal zones). Allocating more water to agriculture may help in the short term, but will lead to loss A key aspect of water management is its In the early 1990s, the economic sense of ecosystem services. Instead, research is allocation between different users: water of ensuring sufficient water for the now focused on ‘more crop per drop’ and for direct human needs, agriculture, environment was demonstrated by research responding to ecosystems’ water needs, so industry, and power generation. And, in by Barbier et al.1 This showed that the net better water allocation decisions are made, a footnote added by water managers in economic benefits of the natural floodplain achieving the optimum total benefits of recent years, we also need water for the wetlands in northern Nigeria (flood available water. environment. This presents water allocation recession agriculture, fishing, herding and as a conflict – choosing water for people or fuelwood collection) were as high as US$ Integrated water resources management the environment. 32 per 1000 m3 of water (at 1989 exchange (IWRM) is central to all sustainable water rates), but the returns from the crops development efforts, from the EU Water International initiatives over the past grown on the intensive irrigation scheme Framework Directive to the Millennium 20 years, kick-started by the Bruntland (the Kano river project) were much lower Development Goals. IWRM involves making Report, Our Common Future, and the Rio at US$ 0.15 per 1000 m3. And when you the right decisions about water allocation by Conference in 1992, have marked a turning include operational costs, this drops to only viewing the whole picture. There is growing point in modern thinking. They recognise US$ 0.0026 per 1000 m3! awareness of the economic, social and that ecological processes keep the planet ethical imperatives that make allocation fit for life, providing food, air to breathe, Going a step further, Costanza et al. of adequate water for the environment medicines, and quality of life. So, while calculated the economic value of 17 critical to the way forward. We may even people need direct access to water to drink, ecosystem services for 16 biomes.2 They see consumers choosing food partly on grow crops and drive industry, providing used these estimates to determine a value the basis of its water use and associated water to the environment means using water of US$16-54 trillion per year (with an ecosystem degradation footprint. indirectly for people, ensuring economic average of US$33 trillion per year) for the and social security as well as ethical security, value of the entire biosphere – almost twice Professor Mike Acreman by upholding the rights of people and other the global national product total of US$18 is a senior scientist at species to water. trillion. Traditional calculation of GNP the Centre for Ecology does not include the costs and benefits That is why the governments of the United of ecosystem services, which contribute & Hydrology, the UK’s Nations have made an ethical commitment significantly to human welfare. Centre of Excellence to the environment in the form of the World Charter for Nature, and why central Water allocation cannot be assessed for research in the land to Agenda 21 and Caring for the Earth purely in economic terms.3 Many of the and freshwater (IUCN/UNEP/WWF, 1991) is the premise poorest people of the world live directly on environmental sciences. that people’s lives and the environment are resources provided by natural ecosystems. profoundly inter-linked. Development of the Senegal river basin [email protected] in west Africa has focused on water 1 This fundamental concept has permeated management (through dam construction) Barbier, EB et al. (1991) DP 91-02. IIED, London. 2 all aspects of water resource management. to provide water for hydropower generation, Costanza, R et al. (1997) Nature 387: 253-260. The new water law of South Africa states river navigation and intensive irrigation. 3 Acreman, MC (2001) Water Policy Journal 3(3): 257-265. 16 Spring 2008 | Volume 3 Issue 1 | www.foodethicscouncil.org Responding to water scarcity Business

Beyond ‘water footprints’ and ‘efficiency’ Stuart Orr

It is widely accepted that economic growth, approach has also been tested out at the supply. There has also been a recent initiative changing diets, a growing shift toward national level where, for example, the by the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) in urbanisation, increased population and average water footprint of a UK citizen has the UK whereby more than 20 major food the unknown effects of climate change been calculated at 3,850 litres per capita and drink brands have pledged to cut their will place acute strains on global water per day. This includes the amount of water water usage and improve energy efficiency. resources in coming years. This increase evaporated (3,700 litres) through crop in global freshwater demand will manifest growth for agricultural products and the While these efforts should be seen as itself on a number of levels. At a social direct household water use (150 litres) of positive, to evaluate them properly we need level, the already insufficient allocation the average UK citizen. to grasp how water moves through the and availability of clean water will continue environment. A cubic metre of water taken to hamper development progress. At an Water footprints for business are a new from one catchment may not have the same ecosystem level, significant problems concept and are designed to estimate total impacts as the same amount taken from of over-abstraction and pollution will water use in a business operation at both another catchment. From this perspective, increase, leading to a reduction in the vital direct (factory and processing) and indirect community engagement and pledges to services that freshwater systems provide (supply-chain) levels. They will also, like ‘put water back’ into the environment are for humanity. individual or country studies, differentiate fraught with complexity. blue (withdrawn) water and green (soil Water is already a critical issue in many moisture) water, and water that returns Just how long and how far can specific countries. Companies are not the cause polluted to water systems. companies and projects take credit for their of all these problems, nor can the private activities? It is also hard to know how well sector be expected to solve them all. Yet, The majority of water in most business water will lend itself to off-setting, but this as companies begin to recognise water as profiles is more likely to be found in supply and other avenues are being explored. These vital to their business models, many have chains, through water needed for crop complexities will not prevent companies already begun the journey of establishing growth. It is here that water footprint from becoming more engaged in community just how much water they use, monitoring measurements will need to take into the work, but it does raise real questions about where water is withdrawn, and assessing specific requirements of location and the purpose of those activities and whether the impacts associated with their water climate and, over time, account for the or not they will actually lead to sustainable intensive activities. impact of water abstraction on the local water management and reduce the risks environment. which initially caused business to act. Depending on the nature of the end product and the sheer scale of their operations, the It is hoped that company action will More likely, businesses will move beyond water intensive requirements of food and involve supporting partners, sharing the footprint of their own operations and agricultural production pose significant best practice and the implementation instead engage with others in their sector risks for companies to monitor and of water management systems through and the wider policy environment to bring redress. Over the last few years there have their operations. Some companies have about security through legislation and been an increasing number of conflicts responded through the promotion of over businesses’ social licence to operate, good water ‘citizenship’ projects in the Continued on next page... particularly in areas where acute social watersheds and communities where they housing and environmental problems exist. operate. For example, Coca-Cola has Stuart Orr is a freshwater There is every reason to believe this trend pledged to ‘replenish’ its direct water use policy officer with WWF-UK. will intensify in the future. through water efficiency and waste water targets, watershed management and act on His particular interests are in Measuring just how much water is used has supply chain issues. business engagements around been made easier by the recent emergence of ‘water footprints’. Water footprints Other companies are following suit and water, standards and metrics, calculate the water use of consumption and becoming increasingly engaged in ‘legacy’ and links to field programme production activities through estimates projects in areas where they work. Similarly, work around environmental of the water used for growing crops. This organisations like the World Business began as a measure of human water use Council for Sustainable Development flow and better water through the products we consume, such (WBCSD) have been championing water management structures as 8,000 litres to produce 1 kg of cotton issues for some time and have produced [email protected] lint, or 3,000 litres for 1 kg of rice. This scenarios for business and future water

www.foodethicscouncil.org | Volume 3 Issue 1 | Spring 2008 17 Responding to water scarcity

management. The only real way to assuage product lines. Of course, some consumers of their own operations is not also part of business risk from water use is to support will be able to navigate the issue and their strategy. reforms and policies that are required make informed choices, but can business beyond the companies’ front doors. The really wait for financial returns through As water issues begin to rise up the political alternative is to cut and run from the most single product lines to reduce their risks? agenda, everything that water users do is water-stressed regions, and only source And can this happen at the scale that is coming under greater scrutiny. How far products from areas where the availability required? I doubt it, mainly because the business will be willing to move beyond of water softens the impact of heavy largest business risks are at the production ‘footprints’ or ‘efficiency’ is still unknown, water use. end, and it is here, where water is taken but the signs are that water is far too from often fragile social environments, important to remain just a corporate social In some cases this may be a suitable strategy that reputations will be tested. It is more responsibility (CSR) issue. but just spreading risks will only put off the likely that differentiation on water issues inevitable. A cut and run response would do will be promoted at the level of community Water scarcity is an issue that requires considerable harm to workers in production. engagement and the ‘water wars’ between more than just reducing individual water A better approach would involve managed retailers will be fought through their public use, and must lead to more effective conversion to more sustainable production, commitments to reduce and engage. business support of water management perhaps through more appropriate products, globally. This could be an uncomfortable so that production could continue to benefit All attempts by business to engage in place for business, a policy arena where the communities while reducing associated community work to reduce water use should benefits may not seem so obvious; yet the environmental impacts. be applauded and incentivised, as should consequences of getting water wrong are similar efforts across certain industries profound. The planet cannot add another And where do consumers fit into all of this? to work in partnership to reduce adverse 3 billion people while confronting the The consumer role in addressing the global impacts. But businesses need to be aware effects of climate change and maintain water crisis is difficult to predict, but it is that these efforts are literally a drop in the the freshwater ecosystems on which we all unlikely that the complexity of water issues ocean if supply chains are not factored into depend, without businesses taking a more can be explained to consumers through the equation, and will also prove pointless active role in sorting out their own and labels or in other ways that differentiate if support for water management outside everyone else’s water needs.

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18 Spring 2008 | Volume 3 Issue 1 | www.foodethicscouncil.org Water and power

There is growing concern that the production of Can we achieve global water equity? agrofuels for export – to mitigate against climate change – will have a detrimental impact on water ater always tends to flow towards resources in developing countries. And climate power” a South African woman change could also shift the distribution of world activist said, reflecting the food production by increasing the risks and “W reducing the productivity of developing country reality of over 1 billion poor people worldwide without access to safe drinking water. This is agriculture, making them more dependent on despite international recognition of the human food imports from other countries. In both WORLDVIEW right to water as indispensable for leading a cases, the balance seems to favour the interests life of human dignity.1 The multiple and often and needs of the powerful rather than ensuring conflicting uses of water for drinking, food, a sustainable use of water resources to benefit energy and recreational purposes, among others, the poor. often restrict access to those who need it most, and can affect their ability to produce food and Increasingly, urban elites in developing their human right to feed themselves.2 countries are replicating consumption patterns of the industrialised world, leading to increased The current development model has exacerbated water use, the marginalisation of small artisan consumption patterns. Value is ascribed to using producers, and a loss of producer control. water that can be successfully traded, in ways that promote economic growth rather than to produce Communities sharing the ‘benefit’ of exporting products that provide basic water and food needs. crops may find that profits are not divided equally, This power imbalance ultimately defines how exacerbating processes of disempowerment and water is used and who benefits most from it. inequality. Poor female subsistence farmers may find access to water denied because the Water is needed to produce local and imported production of export crops is prioritised. Maria Arce Moreira food products but the impacts, risks and benefits are substantially different depending where the Even in industrialised nations, increased Maria Arce Moreira is producer and consumer are located and what supply of a full variety of food products in the power each has. It is estimated that it takes 1,000 supermarket has not necessarily translated into Policy Adviser at litres of water to produce one kilogram of wheat more effective use of food or increased nutrition and five to 10 times more water for meat. levels. In fact, it has encouraged waste. In the Practical Action and UK alone, it is estimated that one third of food is co-chair of the The demand for water is rising steadily with thrown away. This problem is receiving increased population growth and with increasing demand attention because of the methane gas emitted by development and for processed products and consumer goods: it rotting food in landfills and the increase in GHG Environment group of is estimated that demand may triple in the next emissions that this represents. But perhaps the 30 years. At the same time, purchasing power and more important question should be: does our BOND, the UK’s demand define what is available, and a significant lifestyle and throw-away food culture represent broadest network of amount of staple foods imported into the UK and an infringement of the essential rights to other wealthy countries are produced in developing water and food of others, especially the poor in voluntary organisations countries. Running through all these transactions producing countries? working in international is a powerful and silent trade of water resources that remains conveniently invisible. The poor in developing countries are not alone development. in this silent crisis. Modern plant breeding maria.arce@practical The virtual water flows included in food products and industrial food processing have developed ways of increasing the water content of many action.org.uk are estimated to be 700-1,100 km3 per year and are expected to more than double if trade fruits, vegetables, meat products and processed liberalisation continues. Wealthy countries – even foods, reducing their nutritional value while if they are water rich – benefit from this situation maintaining profits. Low income groups in without question or remorse. The trade in virtual industrialised nations choose those products water theoretically gives advantages in terms of because of their competitive price, but those efficiency and water security. But efficiency does choices have a negative impact on their nutrition. not often translate into increased equity and In the end it is always the powerless and most fairness. vulnerable who will suffer unless society accepts the challenge to transform the perverse market- Demand from affluent markets creates based system that – through trade in real opportunities for some, but the demands of and virtual water – leads to water shortages, poor households and peasant farmers for access over-consumption and waste.

to sufficient water for domestic and agricultural 1 use tend to be ignored against the impressive General Comment 15 of ECOSOC. power that corporations, the market and 2 Article 11 of the International Covenant wealthy consumers have in the allocation of this on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. increasingly scarce, but profitable, resource.

www.foodethicscouncil.org | Volume 3 Issue 1 | Spring 2008 19 Glorious mud Better soil management could help stop floods and drought

n the same week that the flooded fields and grower providing all nutrition, protection Ivillages around Tewksbury once again made and other forms of support. This approach is ON THE FARM the headlines, we found ourselves digging slowly becoming more enlightened, and the holes for some new gateposts on the farm, importance of soil structure and maintaining and struggling to get a spade to penetrate the organic matter is beginning to be more near-concrete dryness of ground. Not that we widely reflected in crop management plans, escaped our fair share of the deluge. We too if not always in practice. Nevertheless, the had fields of standing water, but the pattern process of rebuilding levels of organic matter of rainfall, where an entire month’s worth in soils is incredibly slow, and it can take falls in a matter of hours, means that surface decades to repair the damage of a few seasons’ water often drains away before it’s had time to worth of bad practice. penetrate through the soil profile. The lack of capacity within soils to retain When flooding starts threatening homes (and moisture not only causes problems in times of the insurance companies who provide their too much water. It also means that the margin security) rather than just waterlogged crops between a surplus and a deficit of available or stranded livestock, things start happening. water is reduced and drought can affect crops Culprits are identified and hasty remediation swiftly. schemes mobilised, often needing hefty budgets to support them. Last spring, we struggled with the wet weather when we were trying to prepare the John Turner News reports laid the blame squarely at the seedbeds for the spring-sown barley, and we doors of climate change and – inevitably – finally managed to get them drilled by the end ‘intensive farming’. The ‘solutions’ served up of March. By the end of April, we were already to concerned viewers were largely confined seeing the signs of uneven germination due to creating flood plains on farmland to act to water shortage and had fields where nearly as buffer reservoirs in times of peak water half the crop finally emerged some six weeks flow, and improving weather forecasting – after the rest had germinated. This led to a presumably to allow more time to pile the harvest of considerable variation in ripeness sandbags up against the door. and a similar variation in quality – a pattern John Turner is a farmer that was repeated throughout much of the It’s natural to consider how best to deal with country. near Stamford in the symptoms, but we also need to understand the causes and the changes that could be made The farming system we follow is one of those Lincolnshire, where he to alleviate these problems in the first place. most suited to improving soil organic matter content. Crop rotations are interspersed with runs a 100 hectare mixed From a farming perspective, one of the most grass leys, and the root systems of red and farm together with his important factors affecting water drainage white clover improve soil structure and add and water retention is soil organic matter. further organic matter. Worm populations brother and parents. This sponge-like quality within soils provides are high and they transfer organic manures aeration, acts as a reservoir for carbon and has into the soil profile. Cultivations are kept to He was a founding a host of other benefits. a minimum and timed to retain nutrients and member of FARM. prevent the oxidisation of the precious organic [email protected] Yet outside farming circles (and surprisingly matter. And yet, after 10 years of following often within them as well), the relevance of soil this farming system, the soil samples that we organic matter content appears to be largely take annually show improvements of only a overlooked. Many of the farming practices fraction of a percent per year. adopted in the push for production during the years leading up to the Second World On the strength of this glacial rate of change, War, and over the following four decades, improving soil organic matter content is not contributed to a severe decline in the organic the sort of miracle solution that is going matter within soils. to grab headlines or feature high on the priority list of those concerned with flood To a large extent this decline has been masked, control or climate change. Nevertheless, because plant nutrition has been provided by spread over the area of farmed land we have synthetic inputs and growth regulators, which in this country, even a fractional increase ensure that nutrients are directed towards in organic matter content would have a grain production rather than plant growth. huge impact on our ability to absorb the changing patterns of our weather and really Modern agronomy means that, in a regime ought to provide the cornerstone of any model approaching hydroponics, soils can be used of sustainable farming. as a medium for supporting crops, with the

20 Spring 2008 | Volume 3 Issue 1 | www.foodethicscouncil.org The Business Page No future in still or sparkling water, and almost all respondents thought that tap water should bottled water be offered for free.

Better soil management could help stop floods and drought Moreover, with climate change and Jeanette Longfield carbon footprints on everyone’s minds, people are beginning to understand that On the face of it, it seems ridiculous to products can do all kinds of damage to propose that there’s no future in selling biodiversity and livelihoods in poor bottled water. Some predict that the UK countries. The concept of “embedded market will increase from £1.2 billion in water” is not yet common currency, but 2006 to £1.65 billion in 2010. In 2006, the how long will it be before people cotton combined markets of Europe, the US and on to the scandal that, in a water scarce Japan was worth an estimated £16 billion world, an estimated two litres of water and continues to rise. are used for every one litre purified and Sustain's report put into a plastic bottle? And making that The market is being driven by several bottle took another seven litres of water. a pattern set last year by New York’s powerful trends. Some people, realising publicity campaign for tap water (as that sugary fizzy drinks are contributing to The UK government is becoming part of a programme to cut packaging obesity, are turning to healthier alternatives increasingly sensitive to the accusation waste) and, best of all, San Francisco like calorie-free water. Others, particularly that, while asking voters to ‘do their bit’ Mayor, Gavin Newson, has banned city young women, see branded bottled water for the environment, it is wasting large departments from using public money to as a must-have fashion accessory. And amounts of their money on bottled water. buy bottled water. yet more are turning to bottled water as In January 2007, when Sustain launched 2 a convenient, lightweight, portable and its attack on the bottled water industry, Canada and Australia are also sprouting attractively packaged alternative to its the Food Standards Agency was keen to tap water campaigns and, in the UK, humble cousin – tap water. make the following statement: Sustain is not alone in championing this cause . But the bottled water industry is But there are growing signs that our love “[We] will now provide tap water on not taking it lying down. One of their affair with bottled water may be coming request for all meetings held at Aviation many responses is to ‘add value’ by to an end. People are starting to notice that House and from January 2007 will also be including ingredients such as vitamins, plastic water bottles contribute an awful lot able to provide mains-fed bottled water minerals, and flavourings. Unfortunately, of waste to our already bulging bin bags. in 70cl re-useable bottles. This latter these ingredients often contain artificial They are also spotting the absurdity of option will be chilled and bottled on the sweeteners, and since health concerns water being transported thousands of miles premises. There will also be a facility to around them simply refuse to go away, it from Fiji when a home-grown version is carbonate water on site. This will replace makes this an unpromising escape route available in their kitchen. the current system of bought-in bottled for the bottled water industry. (still and fizzy) water thereby saving on And some are starting to feel distinctly waste (boxes), energy (transportation) So is there a future for the bottled ripped off by a bottled product that costs, and promote re-use of bottles.” water industry? I hope not. Once upon at best, around 500 times more than its a time, there used to be attractive mains-fed equivalent. This really sticks in A quick survey by Sustain at the time drinking fountains in public places. For your throat when blind taste tests continue showed that, by contrast, the Cabinet environmental reasons, and as part of a to show that most people can’t tell the Office, the House of Commons, the rejuvenation of public space, it would be difference between bottled and tap water. Treasury and the Departments for Health wonderful to see their return. all routinely served bottled water and some agencies, such as Ofcom, were A recent survey of 1,000 people published Jeanette Longfield is the co-ordinator of by the National Consumer Council unwilling to provide any information. Our food and farming charity Sustain: the alliance revealed that 70 percent of respondents new report – just published – updates this for better food and farming. She is also a thought bottled water was too expensive. survey and shows that most government member of the Food Ethics Council. But when ordering tap water at a restaurant, departments are now “greening up” and [email protected] 20 percent of respondents said they were turning on the tap - but still buying bottled water as well. ‘too scared’ or ‘too nervous’ to ask for it, 1 National Consumer Council (2007) opting instead to purchase bottles of still www.ncc.org.uk/news_press/pr.php?recordID=361 or sparkling water for up to £4 a bottle.1 A Food industry analysts Food Navigator reported in January this year that Chicago 16 November. whopping 83 percent thought that tap water 2 should be offered by the waiter instead of had imposed a five cent tax to discourage Sustain www.sustainweb.org/publications/info/152/ bottled water consumption. This follows

www.foodethicscouncil.org | Volume 3 Issue 1 | Spring 2008 21 “Cutting-edge analysis that prompts real debate.” Reviews Zac Goldsmith, director of The Ecologist reading "...a welcome forum for a de- bate we urgently need..." Food: an analysis of the issues 2008 | Cabinet Office Professor Peter Singer, author The first report from a cross-cutting of Eating UK government project on food policy. Light on narrative but making up for it with graphs, this collection of over 100 slides Think critically, keep will outlast its immediate purpose, informed, subscribe today! which is to inform the proj- ect’s thinking on future policy. A wide and digestible snapshot Our offer to subscribers of how we eat, where our food comes from and what lies on the horizon. TM Four issues of Food Ethics Going global: key questions for the 21st century Covering one major theme each quarter, the magazine Michael Moynagh & Richard Worsley | 2008 | A & C Black is designed to be essential reading for anyone with an active A fascinating exploration of some of the 21st Century’s burning interest in food and farming. Each issue includes analysis, questions. Drawing on a wide range of academic research this book debate, reviews and upcoming events. Subscribers receive investigates twelve global issues as diverse as the war on terror and the magazine in print and can download it online. climate change, summarising our current position, assessing where we are going, and asking what the implications might be for the future Free publications stability of our global community. EB The Food Ethics Council provides research and analysis to promote better food and farming. As a subscriber you will How to live a low-carbon life Chris Goodall | 2007 | Earthscan receive free copies of any printed reports that we produce. A compelling plea to individuals to take action to reduce our global carbon output. Author Chris Goodall shows us that if we make To subscribe visit www.foodethicscouncil.org changes to our domestic energy use and consumer habits we can or call us on 0845 345 8574. reduce our carbon emissions by 75 percent. This book is a must for people

worried about the effects of global warming and determined to do something about it. EB

Alternatively, please fill and send the form below.✃ Hunger: a modern history James Vernon | 2007 | Harvard University Press A wide ranging account of the changing perceptions of hunger in the 19th I want to subscribe to Food Ethics and 20th centuries. This book is a detailed historical analysis of the social Name and political responses to hunger and famine, ending with the birth of the welfare state. EB Organisation Address Taste: the story of Britain through its cooking Kate Colquhoun | 2007 | Bloomsbury Town An entertaining and well-researched history of British food and cooking, Postcode starting with the Roman invasion and bringing us up to date with 21st Country Century microwave meals. Kate Colquhoun uses recipes and innovations in food to explore the changing nature of Britain over the ages. EB E-mail Phone The future control of food Geoff Tansey & Tasmin Rajotte | 2008 | Earthscan We will keep this information in a database as long as you subscribe. A guide to the opaque world of intellectual property, where unequal We will not pass your details to any third party without your permission. struggles shape our food system decades into the future. Intellectual Annual subscription rates including 20% discount: property rules are vitally important but rarely described with such vitality. FEC member Geoff Tansey and Tasmin Rajotte from the Non-UK: please add £5 for postage to Europe, £10 for rest of the world Quaker International Affairs Programme bring the subject alive with this £12 – unwaged collection of plain-speaking insider analysis. TM £20 – individual £28 – non-profit/educational The justice of eating 20% off Samuel Hauenstein Swan & Bapu Vaitla (eds.) | 2007 | Action £76 – business (3 copies) Against Hunger Card payment preferred – subscribe directly at Up close and personal, this book shows the brutality of living with www.foodethicscouncil.org - Quote ‘Flyer’ for discount hunger day in, day out in five countries in Africa. It shows why the right to food, not just the right to survive famine conditions, must be central to policy making north and south. It looks to build on the successes of Please return this form to: those working to realise that right, and to tackle the imbalances in power Food Ethics Council, 39 – 41 Surrey St., Brighton BN1 3PB UK that ensure hunger remains. GT

22 Spring 2008 | Volume 3 Issue 1 | www.foodethicscouncil.org reading Reviewseating out

Magnet for aid workers, meeting place for stylish By Clive Bates Sudanese, and somewhere to read five-day old Clive Bates is copies of the Financial Times; Ozone Café is a Head of the modern Khartoum institution.

UN Environment Ozone is an outdoor café located in a rare green Programme in Sudan oasis in an otherwise noisy, brown and dusty city based in Khartoum, – there are gardens, and a large tree provides shade and atmosphere. The garden seating area which is part of has three bakeries attached, making wholemeal UNEP’s Post-Conflict bread, ciabatta, croissants, sandwiches, cake and and Disaster ice-cream. Add in a rich, strong Arabica coffee and plentiful mango, papaya and grapefruit juices, management branch and you have a popular, relaxing escape from the (postconflict.unep.ch) frenzy of Khartoum (where the driving attitude is ‘Mad Max’ and the driving ability is ‘Mr. Bean’).

I opt for a cheese croissant, Mediterranean quiche, black coffee and grapefruit juice. The croissant is gorgeous: thick and stretchy, generously made with butter and cheese and served slightly warm. The grapefruit juice is slightly ‘sangue’ and sour in a good way, and the staff know not add sugar by default (rare in Sudan). The quiche is very fresh with a light creamy filling and a generous layer of roasted vegetables.

Ozone café No arguments about outdoor heaters here… we are in the middle of winter and it is a pleasant Khartoum, Sudan 28OC. If only Khartoum’s balmy winter might last…! The temperature will climb steadily from But even the mighty Nile may become now, peaking at perhaps 50OC in June/July. At stretched beyond sustainable limits. The this point all the advantages of an outdoor café Nile basin covers 10 countries and the two would be lost in the blistering heat. Ozone has down-stream countries – Sudan and Egypt – an innovation to overcome this – outdoor air could double in population by 2050. Upstream conditioning. The café’s perimeter is marked by environmental degradation, deforestation or a pipe through which a fine mist of water can poorly designed dams cause siltation, algae blooms, be sprayed over the seating area. The water is flooding and erosion that affect the downstream vaporised by the sun and hot air, and the water’s countries. latent heat of evaporation drawn out of the surrounding atmosphere, creating a cooling effect Take these underlying pressures and add in the and keeping the business running profitably for instability of climate change and the possibility most of the year. that Southern Sudan will vote for independence How I rate it from the North, thus creating a pivotal new I’m breakfasting under a cloudless sky and country in the Nile basin, and you may reasonably Overall **** reflecting on Sudan’s reputation as a dry country. expect some turbulence ahead. Fairness **** That’s certainly true in much of Darfur, where Health * communities depend on groundwater and But for now, it’s a lovely weekend morning, we are are vulnerable to low rainfall. But surprisingly Animals **** neither short of water nor under water, and I’m perhaps, Sudan overall has more water per head Environment ** concentrating on the croissant and coffee. Taste **** than England – mainly because about 100 cubic kilometres flow in each year from Ethiopia, Ambience ***** Uganda, Kenya and other countries through Value for money *** the Nile. (maximum five stars)

www.foodethicscouncil.org | Volume 3 Issue 1 | Spring 2008 23 forthcoming events

1st Mar ‘08 Serving up Sustainability: Meeting the Demand for Food with Values Sustain | www.sustainweb.org/page.php?id=413 | London, UK 4th Mar ‘08 Food Security: Are we Sleep-Walking into a Crisis? City University | [email protected] | London, UK 4th Mar ‘08 Corporate Carbon Footprinting Haymarket Events | www.haymarketevents.com/conferences | London, UK 4th Mar ‘08 Food Labelling Policy Westminster Food & Nutrition Forum | www.westminsterforumprojects.co.uk | London, UK 4th Mar ‘08 Serving up Sustainability: Where to Find, & How to Specify, Supplies of Sustainable Food Sustain | www.sustainweb.org/page.php?id=413 | London, UK 12th Mar ‘08 Green Feast: Exploring the Multiple Meanings of Sustainable Food Living Rainforest & Elm Farm Research Centre | www.livingrainforest.org | Berkshire, UK 17th - 19th Mar ‘08 Organic Food & Farming Fit for the Future Colloquium of Organic Researchers | www.organicresearchers.com | Cirencester, UK 20th Mar ‘08 Serving up Sustainability: Standing Out from the Crowd Sustain | www.sustainweb.org/page.php?id=413 | London, UK 2nd Apr ‘08 The Business Response to Climate Change Resurgence & Friends of the Earth | www.resurgence.org | London, UK 2nd - 4th Apr ‘08 Food Security & Environmental Change (includes FEC session) GECAFS | www.gecafs.org | Oxford, UK 2nd Apr ‘08 Greening the Greenhouse: Designing a Carbon Neutral Future Living Rainforest & Elm Farm Research Centre | www.livingrainforest.org | Berkshire, UK 6th - 9th Apr ‘08 Food & Drink Expo 2008 William Reed | www.foodanddrinkexpo.co.uk/index.php | Birmingham, UK 8th - 9th Apr ‘08 Water Efficiency Conference Waterwise | www.waterwise.org.uk | Oxford, UK 8th - 9th Apr ‘08 Dieticians, Food & the World Community Nutrition Group | www.cnguk.org | Swanick, UK 16th Apr ‘08 Food Ethics for Industry Food & Drink Innovation Network with Food Ethics Council | www.fdin.co.uk | Birmingham, UK 17th - 18th Apr ‘08 Organic Agriculture & Climate Change IFOAM | www.ifoam.org/events | Clermont-Ferrand, France 24th - 27th Apr ‘08 The Real Food Festival Brand Events Group | www.realfoodfestival.co.uk | London, UK 1st - 2nd May ‘08 Food Service Conference: The Challenges of Catering for the Ethical / Responsible Consumer CCFRA | www.campden.co.uk | Chipping Camden, UK 14th May ‘08 Livestock & Global Climate Change BSAS | www.bsas.org.uk | Hammamet, Tunisia 22nd May ‘08 Ethical Trade & the Food Industry CCFRA | www.campden.co.uk/training/train.htm | Chipping Camden, UK 28th - 30th May ‘08 Sustainable Consumption & Alternative Agri-food Systems SEED Unit, Liège University | www.suscons.ulg.ac.be | Arlon, Belgium 3rd - 6th Jun ‘08 The Royal Show RASE | www.royalshow.org.uk | Warwickshire, UK 4th Jun ‘08 Resilient Culinary Cultures Agriculture, Food & Human Values Society | www.afhvs.org | New Orleans, USA 11th - 13th Jun ‘08 Sustainable Irrigation Wessex Institute of Technology UK | www.wessex.ac.uk | Alicante, Spain 18th - 20th Jun ‘08 IFOAM Organic World Congress: Cultivate the Future IFOAM | www.ifoam.org/events | Modena, Italy 19th - 22nd Jun ‘08 Royal Highland Show Royal Highland Centre | www.royalhighlandshow.org | Edinburgh, UK 25th - 27th Jun ‘08 International Scientific Conference on Agri-Food Business IAMO | www.iamo.de | Halle, Germany 2nd - 6th Jun ‘08 Sustainable Agriculture for Food, Energy & Industry ICSA | www.sgp.hokudai.ac.jp/ICSA2008 | Sapporo, Japan 3rd Jul ‘08 Recent Advances in Animal Welfare Science UFAW | www.ufaw.org.uk | Birmingham, UK 14th - 15th Jul ‘08 Food, Society & Public Health Conference BSA Food Study Group | www.food-study-group.org.uk | London, UK 5th - 8th Sep ‘08 The End of Rationality? ISA Forum on Sociology | www.isa-sociology.org/barcelona_2008 | Barcelona, Spain

Autumn 2007 | Volume 2 Issue 3 | www.foodethicscouncil.org Spring 2008 | Volume 3 Issue 1 | www.foodethicscouncil.org