Open AccessFood Security as a Water Grand Challenge
Author(s) -
Bangira Courage
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of contemporary water research and education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1936-704X
pISSN - 1936-7031
DOI - 10.1111/j.1936-704x.2018.03293.x
Subject(s) - food security , food processing , agriculture , natural resource economics , agricultural productivity , business , production (economics) , population , food systems , population growth , water security , food prices , world population , water resources , agricultural economics , geography , economics , economic growth , developing country , political science , ecology , biology , demography , archaeology , sociology , law , macroeconomics
Perhaps the biggest challenge the world faces is providing sufficient, nutritious, and safe food at the right time for its ever‐increasing population. Considering current world population growth trends, it is estimated that the global population will be about 10 billion by the year 2050. Therefore, food production should at least double in the same period if food security is to be satisfied. Water and land resources play a pivotal role in agriculture and directly connect to food security. At the same time, the capacity to produce food is constrained by global climate changes and increased pressure on land resources. These challenges are more severe in Southern Asia, Sub‐Saharan Africa, and East Asia, where conflict and lack of capacity to fund agricultural research and food production are common. Strategies that simultaneously increase food production and reduce threats to food security are therefore needed. The objectives of this paper are to review the grand challenges of global food security and to propose strategies for mitigating food insecurity, with an emphasis on the link between water resources and food production.