trends and future of sustainable development - TransEco

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE OF WATER SECURITY INAGRO-FOOD VALUE CHAINS AND NETWORKSSuvi SojamoWater & Development Research Group, Aalto University, Finland 1ABSTRACT This study investigates the sustainability of water security and the global politicaleconomy of agro-food value chains and networks. As agriculture is the biggest water user sector, it isemphasized that crucial decisions regarding water security are made by farmers managing irrigationefficiency with different techniques and water endowments, by traders sourcing from farmers indifferent parts of the world, by processors branding their products, by retailers setting valuestandards to their brands and by the consumers buying the products.However, as power in the global value chains and networks is concentrating in the hands of fewconglomerates of transnational corporations and state-led enterprises especially from China, there arestark asymmetries in decision making between different parts of the agro-food system in the global“South” and “North”. The findings of the study suggest that the growing water security risks mayfurther change the dynamics of the agro-food system for the benefit of the powerful bargaining actors.Hence, in order to ensure sustainability of water security from local to global level, actors of the agrofoodsupply chains and networks need to be brought under greater stakeholder scrutiny andinteraction in the context of global water governance and just international trade.1. Introduction and backgroundThe current multiple world system crises ranging from climate change to economic recession andincreasing global inequality ultimately epitomize in the global water-food-energy-trade nexus, whereresource scarcity has become the new norm (Brown 2011; Gills 2010). The purpose of this study is toinvestigate the nexus dynamics from the perspective of water security, concentrating on the role ofdifferent actors of global agro-food value chains and networks. It is argued that these chains andnetworks form a thus far non-evident but increasingly important global water governance structure.Most economies world-wide are tackling worsening physical, economic and social water scarcity(Kummu et al. 2010). Accordingly, focus on water security in this analysis is justified in a widersustainability context as access to water underlies food and energy security, poverty reduction, economicgrowth, conflict reduction, climate change adaptation and biodiversity preservation (World Economic1Corresponding address suvi.sojamo@aalto.fi.This study is based on a M.Sc. Dissertation research undertaken at King’s College London, United Kingdom, 2010.159