Special focus on nutrition-sensitive programming

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merous sectors, with different degrees of political
or economic power. Policy coordination between
the relevant sectors is necessary, which should
involve national water policies that prioritise
water for food security.
Many different actors, public and private, operate
in water use and management. ere is oen
confusion, and a need for clear rules and common
understanding, on their roles and functions,
the way they interrelate, their different responsibilities
and how they can be made accountable.
Regulatory oversight is needed to govern the
important role of the private sector. Decentralised
governance allows a better understanding of
the need of users and state of the resource, but
it is important that local organisations ensure
equitable water access and that the setting up of
specific institutions do not undermine existing
practices that ensure access for weak and marginalised
groups. Allocation systems must give
adequate priority to water for food production,
as well as for the basic needs of poor and marginalised
populations.
At the global level, several international initiatives
have emerged in recent years, including
the Global Water Partnership (see www.gwp.org)
and the World Water Council (see www.worldwatercouncil.org).
In addition, UN-Water (see
www.unwater.org) has been created to strengthen
coordination and coherence amongst the UN
agencies, programmes and funds that have a
significant role in tackling global water concerns.
e human right to safe and clean drinking
water and sanitation was recognised in 2010 by
the United Nations General Assembly. It entitles
everyone, without discrimination, to access to
sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible
and affordable drinking water and to physical
and affordable access to sanitation for personal
and domestic use. e right to adequate food is
also internationally recognised. e human right
to safe drinking water and sanitation and the
human right to food have close ties because
safe drinking water and sanitation are crucial
for health and good nutrition, and because
access to water is indispensable for food producers,
and the right to food of producers. It is
important that these two rights are joined up in
policy and practice. ere are also considerations
about the extra-territorial obligations of States
to regulate the activities of third parties under
their jurisdiction to ensure that they do not
violate the human rights of people living in
other countries.
for sustainable management of ecosystems
and landscapes and consider
co-management of water resources.
2. Ensure an integrated approach to water
and FSN related policies. States should
develop a national integrated water re
source management strategy that
incorporates FSN concerns and is
comprehensive across sectors; water must
be integrated into national FSN strategies
with coordinated cross-sectoral policy
development and implementation. States
should also undertake evidence-based
assessments of actual and future water
demand and plan accordingly, and use
sex-disaggregated indicators on water.
States and civil society organisations
should strengthen the capacity of
households to adopt water-saving practices
and technologies.
3. Prioritise the most vulnerable and
marginalised, including mainstreaming
gender and addressing the specific needs
of women. States and stakeholders should
ensure that men have equal access to water
and other resources and information to
enablethem to meet their FSN
requirements; infrastructure and
technologies should be designed and
implemented to improve water availability
and access at household level; women and
girls must be empowered through targeted
interventions; and rural women’s
participation and representation in water
governance strengthened. Private, public
and public-private initiations are advised
to ensure that no action related to water
has negative impacts on water for FSN for
vulnerable and marginalised peoples.
4. Improve water management in agriculture
and adapt agricultural systems to improve
their overall water efficiency and water
productivity, and their resilience to water
stresses. States and other stakeholders
must develop and implement adaptive
water and agricultural strategies and
action plans; use water management
options to reduce water scarcity risks;
increase the resilience of water systems to
water stress; reduce risks to make rain-fed
agricultural systems a more reliable option
for farmers; invest in irrigation systems to
improve water efficiency; and govern the
sustainable management of groundwater.
Research
investments in research and innovation in
key areas. ey are also advised to build
capacity for research, increase efforts to
collect sex-disaggregated data on water for
FSN, improve climate hydraulics
modelling, improve monitoring systems,
and facilitate knowledge exchange on best
practices. International research
organisations are advised to take a lead
role in research and development
initiatives on water for FSN.
7. Foster an inclusive and effective
governance of water for FSN. States must
establish governance mechanisms to
strengthen policy coherence in water for
FSN; coordinate agriculture, land and
water governance processes; ensure
participation of all relevant actors,
including the vulnerable, the marginalised
and women; and ensure that all parties to
contracts involving large-scale investments
in land are held accountable for the
impacts on natural resources and protect
the rights of the vulnerable and
marginalised to land, fisheries and water in
the fact of large-scale infrastructure
development. In addition, stakeholders are
advised to support communities to take
ownership of water planning and
management, and recognise and support
community-based actors with regard to
water conservation and sustainable use of
water.
8. Promote a rights-based approach to
governance of water. e report
recommends that states comply with their
obligations under international human
rights treaties and ensure the full and
meaningful implementation of the existing
right to safe drinking water and sanitation,
as well as the right to food and related
rights and guidelines. e CFS is advised
to provide guidance to states in support of
this; to address in their work means to
strengthen the realisation of the right to
drinking water and sanitation; and to
explore the implications of the linkages
between water and FSN on the realisation
of human rights.
e presented report was well received at the
CFS Session, with 20 strong endorsing comments
from country representatives, civil society
and UN agencies. e subsequent CFS recommendations
have adhered to the structure of the
HLPE report’s recommendations.
Recommendations
5. Improve the contribution of trade to ‘water
e report includes a comprehensive list of
for FSN’. States must act to restore a
recommendations, which are summarised
e full report is available at:
transparent and accountable multilateral
here:
www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe/en/. e presentation
trading system that takes into account the
1. Ensure sustainable management and con
to the HPLE by Prof. Lyla Mehta, the Project
needs of water-scarce countries, and must
servation of ecosystems for the continued
Team leader for the HLPE study on Water for
strengthen trade rules of food exports.
availability, quality and stability of water
food security and nutrition, is available at:
for FSN. States must ensure the
6. Devise and share enhanced knowledge, www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe/newsarchive/detail/en/c/336514/.
conservation and sustainable management technologies and management tools
of landscapes and ecosystems and the
related to water for FSN. States and
preservation of the quality of water
stakeholders must define global, national
1
HLPE, 2015. Water for food security and nutrition. A report
sources. States and other stakeholders
and local research agendas on water for
by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and
must promote participatory mechanisms FSN, enable innovations, and increase
Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security (WFS),
Rome 2015.
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