Water for people.pdf - WHO Thailand Digital Repository

2 1 0 / C H A L L E N G E S T O L I F E A N D W E L L - B E I N GSecuring Food for a Growing World Populationexhaustible resource. Thus, for example, the large sedimentaryaquifers of North Africa and the Middle East, decoupled fromcontemporary recharge, have already been exploited for large-scaleagricultural development in a process of planned depletion. Thedegree to which further abstractions occur will be limited in somecases by the economic limits to pumping, but promoted where strongeconomic demand from agriculture or urban water supply becomeseffective (Schiffle, 1998). Two countries, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (seebox 8.4) and Saudi Arabia, are already using considerably more waterfor irrigation than their annual renewable resources, by drawing onfossil groundwater reserves. Several other countries rely to a limitedextent on fossil groundwater for irrigation. Where groundwaterreserves have a high strategic value in terms of water security, thewisdom of depleting such reserves for irrigation is questionable.Ensuring Access to Food for AllThe markets fail to provide food for allSince the 1960s, market food prices have been low while foodproduction satisfied market demand. However, FAO’s estimates indicatethat in 1998 there were 815 million undernourished people in theworld: 777 million in the developing countries, 27 million in countriesin transition and 11 million in the industrialized countries. The world iscapable of producing sufficient food to feed its population until 2030and beyond (actually, a growing part of cereal production is alreadydedicated to animal feed). The 1996 World Food Summit set a targetof reducing the number of undernourished people to 400 million by2015. FAO projections indicate that this target may not be achievedbefore 2030. The normative target and the projection of the currentcourse of events are illustrated in figure 8.7.The plight of undernourished people needs to be addressedthrough pro-active implementation of food security programmes.Necessary policy adjustment should be tailored to ensure that peoplecan apply their initiative and ingenuity to access food and establish alivelihood. Food security programmes should identify the mostvulnerable categories of population and consider their assets andconstraints in order to emerge from poverty. FAO has developedspecific indicators for this purpose (see box 8.5). A first level ofsupport is emergency assistance to households that have been hit bynatural or man-made disasters, or by conflicts. Households weakenedby hunger and disease need to be restored to the levels of strengthnecessary to apply themselves to the construction of a viablelivelihood. At this point, people may need timely support to realizetheir plans. External support may take a variety of forms, fromprovision of seeds and tools to capacity-building and infrastructuredevelopment. Many poverty alleviation activities bear some relationwith water. The role of irrigation is discussed further on.The undernourished: where, who and why?Figure 8.8 and map 8.3 identify the countries with the highestprevalence of undernourished people. Many of these countries havebeen stricken by war and natural disasters, including extended periodsof drought. Within the countries, large numbers of undernourishedpeople live in environmentally degraded rural areas and in urbanslums. During the 1990s, the number of undernourished people fellsteeply in east Asia. In south Asia, although the proportion fell, thetotal number remained almost constant. In sub-Saharan Africa, theproportion remained virtually unchanged, which meant that thenumber of undernourished people rose steeply. Food security actionhas therefore a special focus on sub-Saharan Africa.Many undernourished people are refugees who have lost theirphysical and social assets in displacement caused by war or naturaldisaster. The cause of displacement can also be unmitigatedexternalities stemming, for example, from urban development andconsequent water pollution, as well as construction of dams andBox 8.4: Libya – the Great Man-MadeRiver ProjectLibya is situated in the northern part of the African continent.Despite having an area exceeding 1,750,000 km 2 , only asmall part of the country has escaped the grasp of thedesert. However, cave paintings in the south of the countryindicate that the area once enjoyed considerable rainfall,which raised the question, is it possible that huge quantitiesof high-quality water might still exist in the depths of theLibyan Sahara Desert?Geological surveys revealed that more than 120,000 km 3of pure freshwater had been lying undisturbed beneath thedesert for between 14,000 and 38,000 years. In 1984, workbegan on laying a pipeline that would convey 6 million m 3 ofwater per day on a journey of 3,500 km from thegroundwater source in the Sahara to the Mediterranean coastin the north. The pipeline extends over an area roughly thesize of western Europe. The total depth of wells drilled in thedesert for the Great Man-Made River Project is over seventytimes the height of Mt. Everest.The pipelines re-emerge at the end and feed into hugecoastal reservoirs. Today there is enough freshwater to supplyeach citizen in the Great Jamahiriya with over 1,000 litres perday and provide irrigation for 135,000 hectares of arid land.The water brings new life to the desert and offers a brilliantshowcase of human inventiveness and engineering skill.Source: Prepared for the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) by UNESCO/IHP, 2002.