Observations and key messages on Nature-Based Solutions for agricultural water management and food security

Observations and key messages on Nature-Based Solutions for agricultural water management and food security

Year of publication 2018

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 4p.

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet

Edition 1

Full item page

Synopsis (short abstract) Food and agricultural systems are under a set of pressures to feed an increasingly hungry population and to cope with an intensifying competition over natural, human and financial resources, all subject to impacts of climate change. The natural resource base is already degraded to significant levels, and ‘’business as usual’’ is no longer an option. FAO has been emphasizing the need to accelerate a global transition to sustainable food and agriculture systems, advocating an integrated approach to ensure sustainability in production and subsequent value chains processes, taking into account the sustainable management of natural resources, and water resources in particular. This document focuses on the management of water for agricultural use, which holds the largest share of total water demand for many countries as illustrated by Figure 1. Moreover, for many countries, the prospects of improving water availability under changing climatic conditions remain a challenge, as both droughts and flood hazards are expected to increase. Conventional interventions founded on ‘hard’ water engineering and infrastructural development provided valuable lessons but often showed that they compromise the very ecosystem services that are required for stable water flows. Hence, calls for a paradigm shift in water management are justified and should be a priority on the political agendas.

Language English

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

Book (series)

Nature-Based Solutions for Agricultural Water Management and Food Security 2018

Also available in:

No results found.

Accessibility to clean and sufficient water resources for agriculture is key in feeding the steadily increasing world population in a sustainable manner. Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) offer a promising contribution to enhance availability and quality of water for productive purposes and human consumption, while simultaneously striving to preserve the integrity and intrinsic value of the ecosystems. Implementing successful NBS for water management, however, is not an easy task since many ecosystems are already severely degraded, and exploited beyond their regenerative capacity. Furthermore, ecosystems are large and complex and the many stakeholders involved might have conflicting interests. Hence, implementation of NBS requires a structured and comprehensive approach that starts with the valuation of the services provided by the ecosystem. The whole set of use and non-use values, in monetary terms, provides a factual basis to guide the implementation of NBS, which ideally is done according to transdisciplinary principles, i.e. complemented with scientific and case-specific knowledge of the eco-system in an adaptive decision-making process that involves the relevant stakeholders. This discussion paper evaluated twenty-one NBS case studies using a non-representative sample, to learn from successful and failed experiences and to identify possible causalities among factors that characterize the implementation of NBS. The case studies give a minor role to valuation of ecosystem services, an area for which the literature is still developing guidance. Less successful water management projects tend to suffer from inadequate factual and scientific basis and uncoordinated or insufficient stakeholder involvement and lack of long term planning. Successful case studies point to satisfactory understanding of the functioning of ecosystems and importance of multi-stakeholder platforms, well-identified funding schemes, realistic monitoring and evaluation systems and endurance of its promoters.
Book (stand-alone)

Nature-based solutions in agriculture: Sustainable management and conservation of land, water and biodiversity 2021

Also available in:

No results found.

In recent years, considerable progress has been made in the area of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) that improve ecosystem functions of environments and landscapes affected by agricultural practices and land degradation, while enhancing livelihoods and other social and cultural functions. This has opened up a portfolio of NbS options that offer a pragmatic way forward for simultaneously addressing conservation, climate and socioeconomic objectives while maintaining healthy and productive agricultural systems. NbS can mimic natural processes and build on land restoration and operational water-land management concepts that aim to simultaneously improve vegetation and water availability and quality, and raise agricultural productivity. NbS can involve conserving or rehabilitating natural ecosystems and/or the enhancement or the creation of natural processes in modified or artificial ecosystems. In agricultural landscapes, NbS can be applied for soil health, soil moisture, carbon mitigation (through soil and forestry), downstream water quality protections, biodiversity benefits as well as agricultural production and supply chains to achieve net-zero environmental impacts while achieving food and water security, and meet climate goals.
Presentation

FAO discussion paper: Nature-Based Solutions at the service of agricultural water management and food security
Webinar 5: Nature-based solutions for agricultural water management and food security
2018

Also available in:

No results found.

There are major challenges to feed the world by 2050. External inputs must grow at about the same rate while decreasing returns in productivity can be compensated or possibly surpassed by further efficiency gains. Agriculture is responsible for approximately 70 percent of water withdrawals and about 60 percent of the population lives in areas of water stress. Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) can be part of the solution to meet this demand. Nature Based Solution has more than one definition. There is no straightforward distinction between NBS and other human induced management of ecosystem services. NBS is an umbrella concept that covers various processes.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

No results found.