Water-Intensive Crops

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Waters Conserving the source of life

Thirsty Crops Our food and clothes: eating up nature and wearing out the environment?

Thirsty Crops wearing outtheenvironment? and upnature eating Our foodandclothes: wearing outtheenvironment? and upnature eating Our foodandclothes:

©WWF-Canon/Olivier LANGRAND According tothe cooking andsanitation. such asdrinking, washing, supplies forotherhumanneeds, and aquifersresultsinlimited agriculture fromriver, lakes ofwaterfor withdrawal countries, andtheextensive 40 by watershortagesinover 2 billionpeopleareaffected crisis. Itisestimatedthatover The worldisfacing awater Rice terracesHighPlateau,Madagascar itself willbesome14percent higher. agricultural waterwithdrawalforirrigation expected thatby2030theglobalaverage more insomelocations.Furthermore, itis on averagearound 70percent andmuch respectively, while agriculture consumes uses accountfor20and10percent for humanuse,industrialandhousehold person drinks.Ofallfreshwater withdrawn is muchlarger thanthevolumeofwatera ‘eats’ everydaycontainedinfoodproducts Because ofthis,thewaterthataperson Agriculture isbyfarthebiggestuser ofwater. in thenext twodecades. per personwilldropbyathird the averagesupplyofwater Water Development Report Development Water UN World UN , crisis23 Food production and water

Based on a nutrition level of 2,700 (kilogram) calories per person daily and an 85 percent cereal-based diet, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation estimated the amount of water required for food self-sufficiency. Assuming that 1m3 of water is required to produce 1,000 calories of plant-based food and 5m3 per 1,000 calories of animal-based food, the daily water requirement to provide 2,700 calories is 4.3m3 per person daily, or 1,570m3 per person annually. In dry climates this has to be provided by irrigation water, whereas in wet climates the entire volume can be supplied from rainfall and soil moisture.

Since the world’s population is forecast to grow by at least 2 billion in the next 50 years, regardless of all other factors considerably more food needs to be produced world-wide by 2050. International studies have calculated that the irrigated area of cropland will need to increase by about 14 percent over the coming 25 years. Although part of the extra water needed may come from higher irrigation efficiency or recycling, these studies assume that the rest will need to be developed as new water resources which may grow by as much as 1,000 km3, from the current level of about 3,300 km3 worldwide.

Changes to the assumptions made in these types of calculations e.g. regarding sources of protein, or improvements in rainfed agriculture, make considerable reductions in the amount of additional water required, and hence reduce what would otherwise lead to highly significant impacts on freshwater ecosystems. ©WWF-Canon/Mauri RAUTKARI

Agriculture provides many opportunities for As a result, unsustainable agriculture harms water-savings as much of it is currently the environment by sucking rivers, lakes wasted in transit to the field, through and underground water sources dry, inappropriate irrigation methods, and by increasing soil salinity and thereby destroying growing crops that are not suited to the its quality, and by washing pollutants and local environment. Such waste is driven by pesticides into rivers destroying downstream misplaced subsidies and artificially low water ecosystems as far as corals and breeding prices (unconnected with the amount used), grounds for fish in coastal areas. Disruption low public and political awareness, and poor to marine ecosystems is at least as important water management, while not being checked as that in rivers, with both suffering from by incomplete environmental legislation. changed flood and sediment regimes and blocked migration routes created by dams. Ultimately unsustainable agriculture destroys the livelihoods of the farmers practicing it, and of fishermen and communities dependent on natural ecosystems. ©WWF-Canon/Sarah BLACK

Kafue Flats, Zambia. Water supply (from the Kafue River) to sugar cane fields

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Waters Conserving the source of life 202 millionhato242by2030. may needtoexpandtheirirrigatedarea from forecasts suggestthatdevelopingcountries additional 2billionpeopleby2030.These increased byaround 60percent tofeedan that worldfoodproduction needstobe Food andAgriculture Organisation projects population dependsonfarming.TheUN in AfricaandAsiaupto70percent ofthe depend largely onfarmingforalivelihood; world’s populationliveinruralareas and from chronic hunger. More thanhalfthe the world’s 6billionpeople-are suffering around 800millionpeople-13 percent of many developingcountries,where currently increasing foodproduction, especiallyin agricultural wateruseisakeyelementfor many partsoftheworld.Improving to produce foodisa questionofsurvivalin Beyond basicnutrition,usingwaterwisely More thannutrition nutritionlivelihoods ofpeople livingthere. Asia andthedeterioratinghealth and ecosystems suchastheAral Sea incentral responsible forthedestructionoflarge-scale water andpesticides,hasalready been unsustainably, withmassiveinputsof unnecessary cost:growing cotton Our useofcottoncomesathugeand products derivedfrom petro-chemicals. rest comesfrom non-renewable synthetic and othertextilesworldwide.Muchofthe nearly halfthefibre usedtomakeclothes luxury andfashionfads.Cottonrepresents that meetsabasicneedbutalsocatersto Clothing isalsoamulti-billiondollarbusiness of 50thepoorest countries. USD, whichismore thanthecombined GDP ofmorecombined turnover than$125billion The topfivefoodcompanieshavea the largest andmostsuccessfulindustries. the spectrum,foodmanufacturingisoneof of theirincomeonfood.Attheotherend people ontheplanetspendupto70percent daily challengefortoomany. Thepoorest less thanadollarday, buyingfoodisa With more than1billionpeople livingon ‘Persuading Pakistan Cotton factoryFaisalabad, WWF-International Director-General of Dr. ClaudeMartin, in the21stCentury.’ challenges weface one ofthebiggest economically, is socially and environmentally, that issustainable, and worktoone which farmers live the context within business tochange and governments 45 The white substance in photo is the salt caused by poorly managed Market failure, government failure irrigation in Delicias, Chihuahua Daily, farmers make rational decisions about what to farm and how to do it. The problem Desert, Mexico is that, often, through no fault of their own, farmers make decisions that are unsustainable economically, environmentally and socially.

In rich countries, subsidies and market supplies and other inputs, and barriers virtually force farmers to produce access to knowledge about better farming more food and fibre than are needed and technologies and practices. Under such to use excessive amounts of farm chemicals. circumstances only short-term survival ‘It is clear that we need ©WWF-Canon/Hartmut JUNGIUS These subsidies make no sense when counts. Additionally, cash subsidies in to reduce farming’s they lead to severe ecological impacts rich countries cause environmental wasteful use of water, and higher prices for everyone in the shops, degradation in poor countries as its overuse of chemicals while securing fewer and fewer jobs on farmers strive to compete against unfair hazardous to people farms. In poor countries farmers often lack competition. In all these cases it is the and wildlife, its soil rights to the land they farm, reliable water environment that pays the difference. erosion and pollution, and its slash and burn appetite for natural Cotton facts habitats. Only then can we feed and clothe Just 2.4 percent of the world’s arable land is ourselves without planted with cotton yet cotton accounts for worrying about 24 percent of the world’s insecticide market tomorrow’s harvest.’ and 11 percent of the sale of global pesticides. Jamie Pittock, 73 percent of global cotton harvest comes from Director of WWF’s irrigated land. Living Waters Programme

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Waters Conserving the source of life ©WWF-Canon/Edward PARKER Northern Germany the Parchim LakeNature Reserve Intensive agriculture around make agriculture possible. often destroying theveryecosystems that extensive pumpingofunderground aquifers, the damminganddiversionofrivers only possibleinmanycasesthrough required amountofwateravailableis about thesizeofEngland.Making more than14millionhectares, anarea system whichdistributeswaterover from awell,totheIndusBasinIrrigation to theelaborate:afarmerdrawingwater using methodsthatrangefrom thesimple Water isdelivered through irrigationsystems from rivers,lakesandunderground sources. withdraws thevastmajorityofwatertaken Without water, there isnolife.Agriculture No water, nocrops 25-30 millionhectares ofland. to beachievedbyirrigatinganextra today’s figure of380milliontonnes, about 170milliontonneshigherthan annual grainproduction willneed tobe for exampleitisestimatedthatin2025 crops andinsomecases, pasture. InChina need formore waterforlivestock, forfeed to eatmore meatand,with it,increase the City dwellerswithhigherincomestend areconsumption patterns changing. the last10-15yearsandglobalfood 43 percent toaround 60percent in The urbanpopulationhasgrown from a riverbasin. forests intofarmland,orplantations,affecttheoverallavailabilityandcycleofwaterin is collected,stored andreleased intotheenvironment. Changingnaturalgrasslandsor Secondly, agriculture isresponsible forchangesinland-usethataffectthewaywater other usesand,thus,reduces theavailablewatersuppliesinariverbasin. If thereturned waterispollutedbypesticides,fertilizers,orsediments,thenitunfitfor from fields,orbytricklingdownthrough thesoiltoreplenish underground watersources. since asignificantportionislostintransit,orreturns totheenvironment asrunoff percent ofallhumanuses.Notthiswaterisactuallyusedonfarms,however, Firstly there are direct withdrawalsofwaterforfarmingwhichaccountabout70 water availableforhumanusesintwomainways. the totalamountofwateravailableinariverbasin. Agriculture affectsthequantityof The integrityofecosystems,andvariousgeologicalclimaticfactors,largely determine Agriculture andwateravailability no13 percent ofglobalpesticides. It takes3,000Ð5,000litres ofwatertoproduce 1kg ofrice. Asian ricegrowers use average; atypical American eats9kgandaEuropean 4kg. A personlivingintheMekongBasinsouth-east Asia eats160kgofriceannuallyon of theworld’s riceharvestofabout450milliontonnesisgrown andconsumedin Asia. About halftheworld’s populationdependsonriceasabasicfood.More than90percent Rice, awayof life water 67

©WWF-Canon/Sarah BLACK for replenishment. aquifers, thereby rendering themunsuitable irrigated crops intothenowdry upper aquifers, tricklesthrough theroot zonesof where pollutedwaterpumped-up from deep are ofpoorquality, suchasincentralIndia, cases where deeperunderground waters supply ofsafewater. Thisismadeworsein the worstcases,leadingtoalessreliable fast, byasmuch10metres annually in alike. Already, water tablesare dropping among politicians,farmersandwaterexperts been reached, orare close,causingconcern renewable waterresources havealready Spain andMorocco, physicallimitsto China, India,USA,Australia,Uzbekistan, In partsofsomecountriessuchasPakistan, that run-off withrains. on ecosystemsthatreceive excessdoses health impactsonworkersinthefieldand and herbicidesusedinfarmingwithsevere is responsible foraquarterofallinsecticides pollution, inmostcountries.Cottonalone largest source ofpollution,includingwater soil fertility. Additionallyagriculture isthe leading tohighsaltlevelsthatdestroy such aspoorapplicationanddrainage due toinadequatewatermanagement, of hectares offarmlandare losteachyear While more landarea isneeded,millions Zambia Center pivotirrigationofwheatcrop, Opposite:

©WWF-Canon/Edward PARKER

noprotein andcalcium. River basinrely onfreshwater fish for world’s poorinplaceslikethe Mekong Rivers inAustralia.Tens ofmillionsthe in SouthAmerica,andtheMurray&Darling Niger RiverinWest Africa,thePlataRiver in China,theVolga RiverinRussia,the largest riverssuchastheYangtse River by upto90percentinmanyoftheworld’s sea. Freshwater fishstockshavedeclined in decimatedfishstocksriversandthe fish andblocksmigrationroutes resulting systems, disruptsthebreeding cyclesof dams altersthenaturalhydrology ofriver For example,theconstructionoflarge sustainability ofotherfoodsources. and otheruses,canalsothreaten the cropsDeveloping waterresources forirrigation, crops andrunoff ofpollutionandsoil. biodiversity through landclearingfor farming stillhasmajorimpactson poorones.Rainfed many drysouthern richcountriesandin many wet,northern the majorityoffoodsupplies,notablyin countries. Rainfedfarmingstillproduces floods, isalsovitallyimportantinmany that relies solelyonrainfall,orannual of thefoodproduction picture. Farming water userintheworld,thisisonlypart Although irrigatedfarmingisthebiggest in theChihuahuaDesert,Mexico of irrigationwaterforcrops grown The RioConchosisthemainsource 89 ‘Thirsty’ cropsin than theotherthree crops puttogether. there are more hectares ofwheatgrown 50 millioneach.Thisisdespitethefactthat with cotton,wheatandsugarallusingabout 70 millioncubicmetres ofwater annually, Basin, riceisthethirstiestcrop usingabout locally importantinmanycases.IntheIndus cotton andwheat,withvegetablesbeing water usersintheseriverbasins:rice,sugar, as beingthe‘thirstiest’i.e.largest total Overall fourofthesecommoditiesstandout users inthesebasinsasTable B. agricultural products asthe‘thirstiest’water The studyidentifiedarangeofwell-known basins ofhighimportanceforbiodiversity. farming totheenvironment inselectedriver to determinethethreat posedbyirrigated A recent studycompletedforWWFsought raise livestock.SeetableA. It takesalotofwatertogrow crops and river basins

Conserving thesourceoflife Conserving Living

Waters and Australia. the biggestwateruserinpartsofUSA livestock fordairyorbeefisalmostcertainly andsoy.(lucerne) Addingthisup,raising irrigated crops e.g.maize,wheat, alfalfa feedstuff forcattleare ofteninthemselves and hayirrigatedinsomecases,butthe a specialcaseinthatnotonlyare pastures Pasture forlivestockprobably represents ot mrc i rneRvralfalfa,maize,cotton,wheat pasture, cotton,rice,cereals rice,cotton,wheat,sugar Murray-Darling River RioGrandeRiver North America wheat,sugar, grapes,alfalfa Thirstiestcrops Australia KonyaClosedBasin(Turkey) Middle East IndusRiver Europe and rice,vegetables,sugar, wheat NigerRiver&LakeChad Asia RiverBasin Africa Region Table B.‘Thirstiest’crops inmajorworldrivers Potatoes Wheat Soya Sugar Cane Rice Cotton Typical water Crop Table A.Water-intensive crops. 500 900 2,000 1,500 -3,000 3,000 -5,000 7,000 -29,000 per kilogramofcrop requirement (inlitres) eogRvrrice,sugar, vegetables rice,wheat,maize,soy sugar, wheat,rice,vegetables Mekong River Yangtze River Zambezi River

©WWF-Canon/Sarah BLACK drainage channel,Zambia Children washinginsugarcane

©WWF-Canon/Paul FORSTER crops suchasmaize. alternative sweetenersare alsomadefrom other from sugarbeet,especiallyinEurope, and ground waterresources. Sugarisalsoproduced the catchmentintoriversanddrawsheavilyon impact onriverflowasitreduces run-offfrom cane isnotirrigated,thecrop canhaveagreat uses alotofwater. Eveninareas where sugar remains inthesoilallyearround andasaresult countries which,unlikemostseasonalcrops, Sugar caneisadeep-rooted crop grown inwarm Sugar, waterandecosystems soy bean. for othermajorcrops suchaspalmoilor especially forests, maybethebiggestimpact expansion offarmingontonatural areas, fertilizers ofsomekind.Theincessant and herbicides),almostall usesynthetic amounts ofhazardous chemicals(pesticides cotton, are associatedwiththeuseoflarge Several ofthesecrops, notablyriceand one oftheirimpactsonnature andpeople. Water withdrawalbythesecrops isonly Reef in Australia. Everglades intheUSA andtheGreat Barrier These issuesare particularlyprominent inthe water qualityandeffluentrun-offproblems. ecosystems are generallycoupledwith The impactsofwaterquantityon and theGodavariRiverBasininIndia. Africa, theIndusDeltainPakistan, St LuciaWorld HeritageSiteinSouth flow causedbysugarcane includethe Ecosystems impactedbyreduced water thirstySao PauloState,Brazil Sugar caneplantation, 011 10 Cotton flower (Gossypium sp.) on a plantation Faisalabad, Pakistan Solutions to quench agriculture’s ‘thirst’

Table C. Water-saving practices To start improving the way farming uses water, action is required at several levels. Crop Selected water saving practices Overall only some 20-50 percent of water Rice Shorter land preparation period withdrawn actually reaches the crop, and Direct or dry seeding losses occur before it gets to farms and in Laser levelling the farm application itself. This means there Switch to aerobic rice varieties are many opportunities for improved water Sugar Drip, sprinkler and alternate furrow irrigation management at various levels. Taking these opportunities is a shared responsibility. Water deficit during crop elongation Replanting crop die-off each year Water-savings on farms Cotton Knowledge about cotton growth models

Water deficit during early crop development and before harvest On a farm, there are both general and ©WWF-Canon/Michel GUNTHER crop-specific practices that can increase Shallow soil cultivation water use efficiency in irrigated and rainfed Drip, sprinkler and alternate furrow irrigation farming. These involve reducing losses in Wheat Broad bed cultivation storage and conveyance, evaporation from Drip, sprinkler and alternate furrow methods the soil or water surface, and from runoff Zero tillage and laser levelling and drainage. Measures can also be taken Water deficit in non-critical growth periods to improve the farm’s ‘micro-climate’, for Crop varieties that grow under sub-optimal water availability example, by planting trees for shade or windbreaks, or adding plant wastes to increase the organic content of soil, to increase water retention and reduce overall use. Such measures have wider farm productivity and biodiversity benefits.

It is also important to grow the crops suited to the location and season to get maximum benefit of available water. In the Niger River basin for example, rice is grown in the dry season and is vulnerable given its high water demand. Switching to growing wheat would enable 20-40 percent less water to be used, while still producing a crop of commercial and food value. Farmers, in rich or poor countries, may not have easy access to information needed to make such choices Living about water-saving practices, shown in Waters table C. Conserving the source of life ©WWF-Canon/Mauri RAUKARI as saltlevelsriseinsoils. puts large areas outofproduction eachyear from fields.Alackofattentiontodrainage improve drainageofexcessirrigationwater Additionally, there is considerablescopeto flood irrigation. furrow irrigationmethodscompared to savings ofcloseto50percent by various Field studiesinPakistanrevealed water systems cansaveupto80percent ofwater. irrigation systems,low-costdrip water. Compared toconventionalflood can beproduced withsignificantly less project area inIndiaindicatethatcotton Field projects carriedoutinthe Maikaal Doñana NationalPark,Spain Picking strawberriesnearCoto Above: Nepal of RoyalChitwanNationalPark, Women planting riceontheoutskirts Top right:

©WWF-Canon/Michel GUNTHER quenchrecent years. example, where WWFhasplayedarole in in Australia’s Murray-DarlingRiverBasin,for There are encouragingapproaches emerging we recognize onoursupermarketshelves. transform therawmaterialsintoproducts organizations, andthefoodcompanieswho environmentalfarmers, governments, requires newformsofengagementamong Breaking thiscyclewillnotbeeasy, and long-term goalofsustainabilityforfarming. the riverbasinperspectivejeopardises the need toexpandintonewareas. Ignoring degradation, ecosystemdeclineandthe a downward cycleoflandandwater the result willbemore intensivefarming, to nature tomaintain‘ecological’ flows, agreements onreturning watersaved felt bypeopleandnature. Without basin of wateruse,chemicalsandlanduseare river withinwhichthecumulativeimpacts There isalsoaneedtoconsider thewhole among farmerswhenthere are shortages. and equitableprocedures forallocatingwater regular maintenanceandeffective drainage, efficiency through bettersystemdesign, systems. Muchcanbedonetoimprove on whoevercontrols large-scale irrigation farmers are dependentfortheirwatersupply on eachfarm.Inmanycountriesindividual simply producing more crops withlesswater conserve nature, there ismore required than To avertwiderwatershortages,andto river basins Irrigation Systemsand 213 12 The role of trade, markets and A Basin approach for the Murray-Darling River consumers

The Murray-Darling river basin which covers more than 1 million square kilometres Ð Crops harvested in one place often reach a double the size of France Ð contains the majority of irrigated agriculture in Australia. destination halfway around the globe. From It suffers from drought and increasing levels of salt in soils and water. To address the grower to consumer, there are opportunities challenges faced, the Murray-Darling Basin Commission has implemented a comprehensive to contribute to more sustainable agricultural planning framework for the river basin and its natural resources. As part of its approach, production. There are examples emerging the Commission placed a cap on total water withdrawals at the river basin level and of multinational food companies that are set-up a process to negotiate environmental flows for each tributary and the main river. progressively raising the standards by which farm produce that they buy has to be grown. In many parts of the Basin, water-trading systems are in place enabling farmers to buy To date these initiatives have not yet and sell their water allocations, enabling producers of low value crops or on ‘leaky land’ addressed water issues fully, nor the to sell their water to producers of higher value crops or who are located on better soil wider river basin perspective, but a model types. Further, government charges for water are being increased towards the real cost of more sustainable operation seems to be of supply, removing a perverse subsidy and providing an incentive for more efficient use. developing that is starting to reflect the real While there is significant room for improving the emerging systems, the net result is that price of food. The organic food industry is water is increasingly used for high-value purposes, and minimum water levels are also starting to engage in standards guaranteed in the river to support other functions, including nature that supports agriculture development for water sustainability. in the first place There are also opportunities through international trade to encourage better Left: farming practices, for example by importing Rice terraces viewed from above countries giving improved market access Eastern Sikkim, India and subsidies for commodities produced in more nature-friendly ways. At the very Opposite: least, governments and trading blocks need Terraced rice fields on the way from Ambalavao Andringitra Nature to remove constraints to adopting more Reserve, Madagascar sustainable production methods from global, regional or bilateral trade agreements.

Within the European Union (EU), reform

©WWF-Canon/NEYRET & BENASTAR of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) is needed so that it no longer promotes short-term production gains over long-term sustainability. In the Mediterranean region the CAP, and other EU funding programmes, is promoting agricultural practices especially for water use that are unsuitable under prevailing natural conditions. A substantial proportion of the irrigation infrastructure is badly maintained, coupled with inefficient irrigation methods, resulting in high losses of water.

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Waters Conserving the source of life ©WWF-Canon/Luc DESLARZES 14 15 Cotton market Rawalpindi, Pakistan Reforming the EU’s Common Agriculture Policy WWF in Action

WWF is calling for a substantial Sustainable agriculture is a challenging part of WWF’s mission to reform of the European Union’s conserve nature. WWF is taking action on thirsty crops through a Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) combination of approaches: in order to reduce its impact on land, Farm level: Working with farmers to Industry engagement: Developing and water and coastal resources and to • • demonstrate that improved farm water testing Better Management Practices provide incentives for sustainable management can deliver benefits for (BMPs) for water and other environmental rural development. productivity and reduce stress locally issues in collaboration with the food and This can be achieved by redirecting on water resources. fibre industries. the CAP budget away from • Integrated River Basin Management: • Advocating change: Lobbying for production-related subsidies towards Considering the impact of thirsty crops reform of policies and subsidy regimes a policy that promotes sustainable at the river basin level and developing that encourage unsustainable crop rural development and which methodologies to improve planning production, and communicating to key encourages sound management decisions, and devise mitigation audiences the real cost of thirsty crops, of the countryside, nature measures, to maintain or improve as well as examples of crops produced conservation and the generation water availability. by more sustainable methods. of new economic opportunities.

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Waters Conserving the source of life ©WWF-Canon/Mauri RAUTKARI and hazardous chemicals. promote cottonthatuseslesswater market chaininajointendeavourto and investorsatvariousstagesofthe WWF isworkingwithfarmers,governments CottonInitiative, In itsinternational agriculture. work togethertoencouragesustainable forces withpartnerswhomwecan WWF recognizes theneedtojoin sustainable cottonproduction. so thatecosystemhealthissustainedbyecologicalflows,asanimportantsteptowards WWF’s Cottoninitiativeaimstoreduce theamountofwaterusedtoirrigatecotton Rivers inChina,the Aral Seaincentral Asia andtheMurray-Darling Basinin Australia. large-scale ecosystemsincludingtheIndusRiverDeltainPakistan,Yangtze andYellow (semi-arid) countries.Cottongrowing isdirectly implicatedinthedegradationof Three-quarters ofthecottonweuseeverydayisgrown underirrigationindry, warm WWF’s CottonInitiative: Punjab Agriculture DepartmentandinternationalpartnerssuchasCABIBioscience. established inSouthPunjabtoundertaketheseactivitiescollaborationwiththe the useoftoxicpesticides.Infirstphase,fourFarmerFieldSchoolshavebeen a holisticmannerincombinationwithIntegratedPestManagement(IPM)toreduce in cottonbypromoting the‘bedandfurrow’ irrigationmethod.Thisisbeingdonein In Pakistan,WWFisworkingonsmall-scalefieldprojects toconserveirrigationwater Growing bettercottoninPakistan

©WWF-Canon/Anton VORAUER purchasing decisions. their respective production standards and that canbeincorporatedsuccessfullyin regarding criteriaforsustainablewateruse companies andwiththeorganic foodsector WWF isworkingwithmultinationalfood water scarce regions. sustainable sugarproduction especially in of workthatWWFisestablishingtopromote services. Thisislinkedtoawiderprogramme reduces theriver’s capacitytoperformother river tobecomechokedwithhyacinthsand reduce runoff andpollutionthatcausesthe to workwithsugarplantationowners In theKafueflatsinZambia,WWFisstarting Danube RiverBasin,Ukraine Broken pumpingstationforirrigation.

617 16 action By valuing the

Our work in the Global Dialogue on Water, ecosystems and Food and Environment, addressing how to meet current and future food needs without water on which further environmental destruction, is another we all depend, example of parties traditionally at odds with each other who are now working together. a new balance can be found to The Dialogue on Water, Food and Environment allocate water Ten of the primary international actors in the fields of water resources management, research, environmental conservation and health have established the Dialogue to address equitably to the balance between future water needs for nature and food production. It aims to produce meet the needs tangible solutions for the seemingly conflicting interests of water for food and environment, primarily at the national and local levels by 2006. of people, The organisations involved are the: UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, agriculture and the Global Water Partnership, the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage, the International Federation of Agricultural Producers, the International Water Management the environment. Institute, the World Conservation Union, the UN Environment Programme, the World Health Organisation, the World Water Council and WWF.

WWF is setting up river basin dialogues to consider the future options for food and water ‘For agriculture to become truly in India, Zambia, Kenya, Far East Russia and the Mekong Basin. sustainable and able to feed fast growing populations, matters such as soil fertility, Opposite: biodiversity, water resources Rice paddy fields with baobab trees and the quality of rural life must Morondava, Madagascar be addressed. Unilever is developing together with many different stakeholders agricultural best practice guidelines for its key crops addressing these issues.’ Jeroen Bordewijk, Senior Vice President Supply Chain Excellence Programme, Unilever, one of the world's largest food manufacturers

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Cover image: Intensive use of scarce groundwater resources to irrigate sugar cane Eastern Transvaal resources groundwater Cover image: Intensive use of scarce Republic Of South Africa 10.1994 ©WWF-Canon / John E. NEWBY life Fund) Registered Trademark life Fund) Registered

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WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural Avenue du Mont Blanc 27 environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony 1196 Gland with nature, by: – conserving the world’s biological diversity Switzerland – ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable Tel: +41 22 364 9027 – promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption. Fax: +41 22 364 0526 [email protected]