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Water - The Key to Securing Food in the Future

It might seem obvious, but a new Study, as reported on CommonDreams, details how water will be the key in the future if we are to secure food for all the world's peoples.

"The ongoing food crisis, characterized by growing shortages and rising prices of staple commodities, has far reaching implications for the world’s scarce water resources, says a new study released here.

“More food is likely to come at a cost of more water use in agriculture,” according to the report titled “Saving Water: From Field to Fork“.

The emerging challenges facing the food sector include growing water scarcity; unacceptably high levels of under-nourishment; the proliferation of people who are overweight or obese; and of food that is lost or wasted in society.

“All these challenges mean that a narrow perspective on food security in terms of production and supply is no longer sufficient,” the study notes.

It’s time to take a broader perspective incorporating the steps from growing crops in the field to consuming a meal at home: “A field to fork perspective.”

Jointly authored by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), in collaboration with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), the 26-page study points out that water will be a key constraint to food production — “unless we change the way we think and act about water resources.”

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