The UN Food and Agricultural Organisation and the International Water Management Institute are warning that:

Without water productivity gains, South Asia would need 57% more water for irrigated agriculture and East Asia 70% more.

The findings are published in a new joint report by the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). Asia’s population is forecast to increase by 1.5bn people over the next 40 years.

The report warns:

“Given the scarcity of land and water, and growing water needs for cities, such a scenario is untenable”.

The report calls for Governments to work with business to invest in new irrigation methods.

Report from the BBC

In this episode Crop To Cuisine speaks with Joel K. Bourne Jr. author of National Geographic Magazine’s June cover story, The End of Plenty – The Global Food Crisis. They discuss the relationship between food, agriculture, population growth, and the consequences of ignoring it all. They are also joined by Chef Ann Cooper. Chef Cooper spent years redesigning the Berkley, CA school food system…And lastly, we get tips on how to transform a garden into a community building experience from CSU Extension agent, Carol O’Meara.

Stockholm, Sweden, 18th August 2009.

The BBC reports that the WORLD WATER WEEK we will see a group of leading business, social development and conservation organisations gather as the “Alliance for Water Stewardship” to advance a new voluntary global water certification program. The initiative will recognize and reward responsible corporations, farming operations, cities, and other water users for their sustainable use of water resources.

Writing on the BBC’s Blog, the Green Room, Brian Richter, director of the Global Freshwater Program at The Nature Conservancy, a US non-governmental organisation, points out that

….more than half the world’s population will be living in areas of high water stress by 2030. At the same time, in populous nations such as China and India, improvements in living standards and personal incomes are linked to greater consumption of clothing, meat, and water.

Brian Richter shares the same concern that drives the Humanitarian Water and Food Award, that More than 800 million are malnourished, primarily because there isn’t enough water to grow their food.

Read more on the BBC’s Website

The Water and Food Award is proud to announce its participation in the projects of We Collaborate. Our project is among some sixteen competing to win the the opportunity to present our social project before Dr. Yunus and Chuck Waterfield on the 6th of July. The projects which get the highest number of votes from the users of WeCollaborate will win the presentation.

Vote for your favourite project and follow the Competition here (must be logged in).

Read more.

WeCollaborate, based in Denmark, brings people together via its website to create new solutions to social and environmental challenges in a process it calls Collaborative Social Innovation (CSI).

Their site offer three main areas:

• The Magazine is designed to give you inspiration and new ideas for social innovation. You will find articles written by members, research by leading authors and experts, case stories on projects currently being developed on WeCollaborate, and much more.
• The Community is you workspace. Here you can learn about and contribute to all the ideas and projects being submitted by our members. And you can create a group around your own idea.
• In the Project section you can upload documents for your group, you can create a calender and a to-do list. This is for groups that have developed a fixed goal and a plan how to get there. The Project section is currently being developed even further to provide you with the most user-friendly and up-to-date filesharing and project management tools.

Sponsoring the Water and Food Award is part of a humanitarian response to the current situation and,  of course, comes with no guarantees that you will see a return on your investment.

However, joining our network will give you access to our database of initiatives that are taking place around the world. Many of these initiatives are driven by people with passion, integrity and creativity. Thus, they are potentially excellent business partners.

As food security increases, so does people’s entrepreneurship. An empty stomach weakens and distracts.  Food and water fuel entrepreneurship and the development of prosperity. Innovative projects going on to provide food and water are ultimately helping drive prosperity in the region.  Increasing prosperity mean growing markets.

Applicants for the Award are invited to submit Requests for Assistance (RFA’s). In some cases these may be for technical help, for products or financial assistance. Corporate sponsors and our NGO partners are free to respond to these RFA’s,  potentially opening  up new opportunities for both the applicant and sponsor.

As prosperity increases, so does market potential. Being a sponsor of the Water and Food Award increases your chances of being there in that market with competent, entrepreneurial partners.

As there can only be one winner, you might think that applying and not winning will not bring any benefits to you.  On the contrary, The Humanitarian Water and Food Award aims to help support and spread innovative initiatives. By applying, you will gain access to our network of sponsors and partners who are more than willing to support you in any way they can.

Once in the database, our partners will be able to see opportunities to assist you

Once your application is approved, that is to say your application fulfils the basic criteria, your project is published on our cooperation database.

Once published, our sponsors and institutional partners will be able to see your project. But there is more…

Once published, you will be able to complement your application with a Request for Assistance. If your project needs expert help, a loan, more volunteers, etc, you can request this help and it will be published along with your application details. (See How to Submit a RFA.)

Many of our partners are anxious to provide support, and those with technical and scientific knowledge will scan the database for projects needing this kind of assistance.

Some of our partners work with finance and micro-finance. These may well your project interesting too.

So regardless of your own feeling about your project, please go ahead and apply. We at the Award Office will help you formulate your application if needed, and make our network available to you.

“Can nine billion people be fed? Can we cope with the demands in the future on water? Can we provide enough energy? Can we do it, all that, while mitigating and adapting to climate change? And can we do all that in 21 years time? That’s when these things are going to start hitting in a really big way. We need to act now. We need investment in science and technology, and all the other ways of treating very seriously these major problems. 2030 is not very far away.”

- Prof John Beddington, UK Chief Scientist, addressing SDUK 09 conference (March 2009)

Quote from:

http://www.oursouthwest.com/news/quotes1sd.htm

Feasta  was launched in Dublin in October 1998 to explore the economic, cultural and environmental characteristics of a truly sustainable society – and to disseminate the results of this exploration to the widest relevant audience. This conference, marking Feasta’s tenth anniversary, will analyse the systems and the mindsets that have steered the world onto its grotesquely unsustainable current path. Discussions will focus on the new systems (financial, energy, food) and ways of thinking that are urgently required to correct the situation and bring about a rapid transition to a more secure future. Many of the ideas explored are Feasta’s. Others will be presented by international speakers who broadly share Feasta’s analysis of what needs to be done to build a truly sustainable world.

Almost 70 years ago, the outbreak of World War II forced the Irish Government to declare a state of national emergency. The Emergency Powers Act of September 1939 gave it the authority “to make provisions for the maintenance of public order and for the provision and control of supplies and services essential to the life of the community.” Today a similar attitude is needed to address an emergency of a different and even more compelling kind: global economic collapse, combined with crises in climate change, water and energy supply, soil erosion, and the massive over-exploitation of natural resources. The extraordinary growth in population, wealth, urbanisation and societal complexity witnessed since the Industrial Revolution cannot continue. Nature’s life-support systems are failing fast. Humanity is facing what might be called “The New Emergency.” If ours is to be a stable world, the restoration of resilience at a local and global level must become a priority. And this resilience has to be achieved with the commitment and pace that countries adopt when, as in 1939, there is an immediate and very real threat to people’s security and well-being.

This conference, marking Feasta’s tenth anniversary, will analyse the systems and the mindsets that have steered the world onto its grotesquely unsustainable current path. Discussions will focus on the new systems (financial, energy, food) and ways of thinking that are urgently required to correct the situation and bring about a rapid transition to a more secure future. Many of the ideas explored are Feasta’s. Others will be presented by international speakers who broadly share Feasta’s analysis of what needs to be done to build a truly sustainable world.

Read the full invitation here.

A coalition of more than 30 non-governmental organisations launched the “Roadmap to End Global Hunger” on February 24th at Capitol Hill. The Roadmap provides a description of specific activities, suggested funding levels and inter-governmental coordination needed to successfully alleviate global hunger.

If the steps are implemented, then world hunger could be cut by half by the year 2015. All that is needed is the political will. The Roadmap calls for the following key elements:

• Strengthened emergency response to better address short-term hunger needs. * More flexible safety nets to mitigate the impacts of shocks on vulnerable populations.

• * Improved nutrition programs to ensure that people in the developing world have access to the nourishment needed to lead healthy lives.
• * Expanded programs to enhance the productivity of smallholder farmers, which is critical in addressing chronic hunger.

Nine individuals, including two Members of Congress, spoke on behalf of the organisations committed to implementing the Roadmap to End Global Hunger.

• Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.)
• Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.)
• Ambassador Tony Hall
• Carl Leonard, chairman, Alliance for Global Food Security
• David Beckmann, president, Bread for the World * Ken Hackett, president, Catholic Relief Services
• Karen Sendelback, president and CEO, Friends of the World Food Program *
• Nancy Lindborg, president, Mercy Corps
• Charles MacCormack, president and CEO, Save the Children

This post reproduced from the blog “you must be the change you wish to see”

To quote a recent article in Farmer’s Guardian

Speaking at a meeting of the British Hydrological Society recently, Tim Hess, an agro-hydrologist at Cranfield University, UK,  said few consumers were aware of just how much water is used to produce food, with a typical balanced diet requiring 3,500 litres of water per person per day.

WATER is used in almost every stage of food production, from growing crops to feed animals to washing and preparing products. Researchers at the university have calculated just how much water is used to produce many common foods:

• Cup of tea – 32.4 litres
• Pint of beer – 160 litres
• 1 glass of wine – 120 litres
• 1 glass of milk – 200 litres
• 1kg of beef – 15,000 litres
• 1kg poultry – 6,000 litres
• 250g packet of peanut M&Ms – 1,153 litres
• 575g Dolmio pasta sauce – 202 litres