PERSPECTIVES PAPER Coordinating land and water governance - An essential part of achieving food security eeding the world’s growing population Fand finding the land and water to grow enough food continues to be a basic and sizeable challenge. It is an enormous task because the increase in food production required to meet future needs may have to be achieved with fewer land and water resources. Yet water resources and land use planning and management are mostly disconnected. With this paper we wish to initiate the debate to coordinate land and water governance for the sake of global food security. We argue that the new geopolitics of land and water calls for a more strategic, governance-level response in which land and water are reconnected and the political dimension of the modalities of their allocation and use are fully recognised. This Perspectives Paper is intended to galvanise discussion within the GWP network and the larger water, land, and development community. This paper has been written by GWP Technical Committee Member Madiodio Niasse and International Land Coalition expert Jan Cherlet. Feedback will contribute to future GWP Technical Committee publications on related issues. www.gwp.org www.gwptoolbox.org PERSPECTIVES PAPER About Global Water Partnership The Global Water Partnership (GWP) vision is for a water secure world. Our mission is to advance governance and management of water resources for sustainable and equitable development. GWP is an international network that was created in 1996 to foster the application of integrated water resources management: the coordinated development and management of water, land, and related resources in order to maximise economic and social welfare without compromising the sustainability of ecosystems and the environment. The Network is open to all organisations which recognise the principles of integrated water resources management endorsed by the Network. It includes states, government institutions (national, regional, and local), intergovernmental organisations, international and national non-governmental organisations, academic and research institutions, private sector companies, and service providers in the public sector. The Network has 13 Regional Water Partnerships, 84 Country Water Partnerships, and 3,000 Partners located in 172 countries. GWP Perspectives Papers are available at the GWP ToolBox: www.gwptoolbox.org Towards Integrated Urban Water Management (2011) Increasing Water Security – A Development Imperative (2012) Water in the Green Economy (2012) Groundwater Resources and Irrigated Agriculture – Making a Beneficial Relation More Sustainable (2012) Urban Groundwater – Policies and Institutions for Integrated Management (2013) The links between land use and groundwater – Governance provisions and management strategies to secure a ‘sustainable harvest’ (2014) Coordinating land and water governance – An essential part of achieving food security (2014) © Global Water Partnership, December 2014 Cover photo: DFID/Flickr Portions of the text of this publication may be reproduced for educational or non-commercial use without prior permission from the Global Water Partnership (GWP), provided that the source is acknowledged, with mention of the complete name of the report, and that the portions are not used in a misleading context. No use of this publication may be made for resale or other commercial purposes without prior written permission of GWP. Opinions expressed in this publication do not imply endorsement by GWP. 2 Coordinating land and water governance - An essential part of achieving food security Contents 1 Why does coordinating land and water matter to food security? ....................................4 2 How do land and water infl uence food security? ...............................................................4 2.1 Aggravating factors ...............................................................................................................................6 2.2 In summary ...............................................................................................................................................6 3 Changing course is imperative ..............................................................................................6 4 The case for a coordinated approach ...................................................................................7 4.1 Virtual water or virtual land? ..............................................................................................................7 4.2 Land acquisition or water acquisition? ............................................................................................8 4.3 Securing land titles can secure investment in water ...................................................................8 4.4 Securing land rights can ensure access to water ..........................................................................9 4.5 Securing land rights can secure women's access to water ........................................................9 4.6 Reclaiming land requires water ..........................................................................................................9 4.7 Bringing national land tenure and use plans into water development strategies ..............9 4.8 Raising the profi le of land in river basin management .............................................................10 5 What level of coordination is needed? ..............................................................................10 6 A scale-sensitive framework ...............................................................................................12 7 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................12 References .............................................................................................................................13 Acknowledgements My thanks to the authors of this paper: Madiodio security. My thanks also to members of GWP TEC for Niasse, Director of the International Land Coalition their valuable comments and suggestions during the (ILC) and a member of the GWP Technical preparation of this paper and to Melvyn Kay for his Committee (GWP TEC), and Jan Cherlet, ILC, for editorial support. their comprehensive analysis and for setting out a strong, clear argument for bringing together land and water governance within integrated water resources Dr Mohamed Ait-Kadi management, particularly for the benefi t of food Chair, GWP Technical Committee 3 PERSPECTIVES PAPER management, is embedded in the principle of 1 Why does coordinating IWRM, but this has yet to be seriously land and water matter to operationalised. food security? In this paper we argue that in order to meet the Food price increases and market volatility add to the challenges of achieving food security in the future growing uncertainty about whether and how the in a sustainable manner, the ‘silo’ approach to world will be able to feed itself in the future. Food managing land and water is equally archaic and production principally depends on the availability of that immense benefits can come from better fresh water and arable land, yet both these resources coordinating the way we think, plan, govern, and are becoming increasingly scarce in many parts of manage these two strategic resources. The the world and may jeopardise food security. experiences of adopting an integrated approach to Carrington (2011) calls this one of humanity’s major water resources management could provide the challenges for the 21st century. Beddington (2009) catalyst for better coordinating land and water describes the growing international competition to governance. We use examples at all levels to control fertile, agricultural land and freshwater water illustrate the potential benefits of this. resources as one of the dimensions of the ‘perfect storm’ that is brewing towards 2030 when the crises 2 How do land and water of food, water, and energy come together to create serious shortages. The global rush to acquire land and influence food security? also fresh water that has taken place since 2007 is Is the global anxiety about food security justified just one of the manifestations of this intense when history shows that between 1960 and 2000 competition for land and water. global agricultural production increased 2.5-fold (FAO, 2011a), and food commodity prices continued to fall The inseparable and symbiotic nature of land and (Baffes and Dennis, 2013)? water resources for producing food has long been recognised. Land tenure and use practices can This success in agricultural production came not so significantly influence water availability and quality much from expanding the cultivated area – this only and, in turn, water availability and quality affect how increased 9–16 percent (Godfray et al., 2010; FAO, we use land to produce food. But in spite of this 2011a) – but from significantly increasing the recognition, water resources and land use planning productivity of existing cultivated land. Intensifying and management remain mostly disconnected and production came from Green Revolution technologies, are often dealt with by quite separate and disparate such as high yielding crop varieties, intensive use of institutions. The international discourse on water fertilisers and pesticides, and irrigation. Since 1960, resources management over the past 25 years has the land under irrigation has doubled to 300 million also largely ignored land issues. Today,