How do we secure food and water supplies in an age of climate change?

It’s clear that food and water are vital to life, but the ramifications of their lack of security extend well beyond this, inextricably tied with the health of economies as well as individual health, sustainable development and equality. Already, 4 billion people worldwide live in water-scarce areas. The MENA region is home to 7% of the world’s population but has just 1% of its freshwater resources. By 2030, global freshwater demand is expected to outstrip supply by 40%. What freshwater is available is at risk from pollution. Existing food supply chains face disruption from challenges ranging from climate change to geopolitical tension. Without large-scale and swift change, humankind faces an uncertain future marked by famine and widespread water shortages.

More positively, and if action is taken now, there are ways to improve the long-term outlook for water and food security. The exact recipe for each situation is different, reflecting the inherently localized nature of solutions, but the principles and broad thrust of the ideas remain the same the worldwide.

There are five focus areas at the heart of change.

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Generating efficiencies

The agricultural sector is riddled with inefficiencies, ranging from post-harvest losses to supply chain holdups, poor hygiene in food distribution channels, and consumer food waste. Overall, it is estimated that 30% of all food produced is lost or wasted. It is also a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, responsible for approximately one-third of the total.

It is a difficult sector to address holistically because of its size and multitude of often small-scale stakeholders. Greater efforts should be made to improve the linkages between production and consumption centres, as well as streamlining transport, bureaucracy, and other impediments that impede the farm-to-fork process.

Alongside this, changes to how land is farmed are being piloted in different parts of the world. Of increasing policy interest is regenerative agriculture, which aims to rehabilitate topsoil, reduce the use of water and inputs like pesticides, and prevent further land degradation. The regenerative element, coupled with the crop diversification that accompanies this approach, typically makes farming more productive and profitable.

In terms of water efficiencies, focus needs to be placed on better managing existing supplies, with reducing wastage a priority. Beyond this, restoration and improved conservation are vital. Local and federal authorities should prepare, monitor, and oversee projects, including infrastructure modernization and improvements, and all funding must be sustainable and transparent.

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Stronger, more holistic policy

This type of action points to stronger local and global policy. Strong, clear policy direction at the federal level – with appropriate follow-through locally – can make or break a nation’s food and water security. Consider the influence that federal water policy can have on a water-intensive sector like agriculture.

Broadly, among the main policy areas that authorities can pursue include:

·?????? Integrating the management and governance of water and food systems rather than pursuing this piecemeal, as is often the case.

·?????? Improving the integration of domestic food markets to enhance efficiency and, in turn, save costs.

·?????? Reducing food trade barriers, streamlining supply chains globally.

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Boosting finance

Good governance is likely to encourage greater investment, particularly from the private sector, funds from which will be crucial to long-term success. The food and water sectors, despite their vital nature, are woefully underfunded, particularly the latter.

It is estimated that by 2030, $6.7 trillion USD will be required to fund water infrastructure, yet the sector currently attracts less than 2% of public spending.

Far greater investment and financing is needed for both infrastructure and governing institutions like utilities and water agencies because infrastructure needs to be maintained once it’s been developed.

Steps like this should help to improve the resilience of the food and water sectors. To enhance them further, however, will require the power of technology.

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Technological answers

There are many headline-catching inventions. In the UAE, for example, Khalifa University is developing solar-powered water generators, which extract water from the air, producing up to 5,000 litres of water a day.

One area attracting a lot of attention is AI, particularly to support the pursuit of efficiencies. In agriculture, AI is being used to improve and offset wastage, reduce water usage, and improve supply chain management. As a technology, it is particularly well-suited to finding solutions in the agricultural sector, which is defined by large amounts of unstructured data, complex supply chains, large numbers of producers, and lengthy R&D cycles. Digital irrigation platforms have been shown to reduce water usage by as much as 30%.

Saudi Arabia is exploring the use of AI technologies to deliver new solutions to its water supply issues. It is seeking to optimize water resource management, improve agricultural efficiencies, and boost water sustainability. Specifically, it is pursuing research into smart irrigation and predictive modelling that will address problems with water quality and detect potential vulnerabilities in the water infrastructure.

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Research and development

Alongside technology comes research and development, where scientists, engineers, biologists, ecopreneurs and others are pursuing specific solutions. These are as varied as they are bold and innovative.

Attention is being channelled into areas like editing the genes of crops, artificial photosynthesis, improving the micronutrient content of foods, the creation of new soil types that require far less water or better retain their nutrients, and hydroponics, which both Bahrain and Jordan are investigating. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University is researching water purification, including developing nanotechnologies that treat pollutants in water.

Progress in these areas offer the tools to meet the world’s growing water and food security challenges. Through enhancement, conservation, restoration and adaptation, the aim is to make these vital resources and the systems that surround and support them more resilient to the growing risks from climate change.