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1 Cook, Simon E.; Fisher, M. J.; Andersson, M. S.; Rubiano, J.; Giordano, Mark. 2009. Water, food and livelihoods in river basins. Water International, 34(1):13-29. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060802673860]
Poverty ; Water use ; River basins ; Water stress ; Water scarcity ; Irrigated farming ; Water productivity ; Food production ; Food shortages ; Food security ; Land degradation / Central Asia / West Africa / Mekong River Basin / Aral Sea / Sao Francisco River Basin / Volta River Basin / Karkheh River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H042309)
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02508060802673860
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H042309.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H042309.pdf
(2.20 MB) (2.20MB)
Conflicting demands for food and water, exacerbated by increasing population, increase the risks of food insecurity, poverty and environmental damage in major river systems. Agriculture remains the predominant water user, but the linkage between water, agriculture and livelihoods is more complex than “water scarcity increases poverty”. The response of both agricultural and non-agricultural systems to increased pressure will affect livelihoods. Development will be constrained in closed basins if increased demand for irrigation deprives other users or if existing agricultural use constrains non-agricultural activities and in open basins if agriculture cannot feed an expanding or changing population or if the river system loses capacity due to degradation or over-exploitation.
2 Cook, S. E.; Andersson, M. S.; Fisher, M. J. 2009. Assessing the importance of livestock water use in basins. Rangeland Journal, 31(2):195-205.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI 636 100 AME Record No: H042781)
(1.08 MB)
Recent concern over food prices has triggered a renewed interest in agricultural production systems. While attention is focused mainly on cropping, a complete analysis of food production systems should recognise the importance of livestock as major consumers of resources – in particular water – and as providers of food and other products and services. We propose that there is a need to examine not just food systems in isolation, but combined food and water systems, both of which are described as in a critical condition. From this broader perspective, it appears even more important to understand livestock systems because first, a total evaluation of agricultural water productivity – the gain from water consumed by agriculture – cannot be made without understanding the complexities of livestock-containing systems and; second, because in most tropical river basins, livestock systems are the major consumers of water. To identify total water productivity of livestock-containing systems, we describe concepts of agricultural water productivity and review the complexities of tracking the flow of water through livestock-containing systems: from inputs as evapotranspiration (ET) of forage and crops to outputs of valued animal products or services. For the second part, we present preliminary results from water use accounts analysis for several major river basins, which reveal that for Africa at least, livestock systems appear to be the major water consumers. Yet, little is known about the fate of water as it passes through these systems. We propose that livestock-containing systems offer substantial scope for increasing total water productivity and that there is considerable merit in improving the capacity to analyse water consumption and water productivity through such systems. Without removing this major source of uncertainty, the potential for systemic improvement to meet the world food and water crisis remains undefined and hence under-acknowledged.
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