Food Fight

World Food Day

World Food Day | 16 October 2023

Water is life, water is food. Leave no one behind.

Water is essential to life on Earth. It makes up over 50% of our bodies and covers about  71% of the Earth’s surface. Only 2.5% of water is fresh, suitable for drinking, agriculture, and most industrial uses. Water is a driving force for people, economies and nature and the foundation of our food. Indeed, agriculture accounts for 72% of global freshwater withdrawals, but like all natural resources, fresh water is not infinite.

Rapid population growth, urbanization, economic development, and climate change are putting the planet’s water resources under increasing stress. At the same time, freshwater resources per person have declined 20% in the past decades and water availability and quality are deteriorating fast due to decades of poor use and management, over extraction of groundwater, pollution and climate change. We risk stretching this precious resource to a point of no return.

Today, 2.4 billion people live in water-stressed countries. Many are smallholder farmers who already struggle to meet their daily needs, particularly women, Indigenous Peoples, migrants, and refugees. Competition for this priceless resource is increasing as water scarcity becomes an ever-increasing cause of conflict.

Around 600 million people who depend, at least partially, on aquatic food systems for a living are suffering the effects of pollution, ecosystem degradation, unsustainable practices and climate change.

It’s time to start managing water wisely

We need to produce more food and other essential agricultural commodities with less water, while ensuring water is distributed equally, our aquatic food systems are preserved, and nobody is left behind.

Governments need to design science and evidence-based policies that capitalize on data, innovation and cross sectoral coordination to better plan and manage water. They need to support these policies with increased investment, legislation, technologies and capacity development, while incentivizing farmers and the private sector to engage in integrated solutions for a more efficient use of water, and for its conservation.

What can you do?

We all need to stop taking water for granted and start improving the way we use it in our daily lives. What we eat, and how that food is produced all affect water. We can make a difference by choosing local, seasonal, and fresh foods, wasting less of it – even by reducing food waste, and finding safe ways to reuse it while preventing water pollution.

Together, we can take water action for the future of food, people, and the planet.

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