Water!
Sustainable Agriculture
Karen Mahrous Roa Elbizri Nesmarie Negron Agustina Besada August 2014
Water • The Problem – Quantity – Quality
• The Solutions – Management practices – Technologies – Regulations/Policy
The Problem: Quantity
Development Needs: Availability Water Availability Per capita by Region
Africa Asia La3n America Europe North America
120 Per Capita *000m3
100 80 60 40 20 0 1950
AGRICULTURE
Source: World Water Development Report 4. World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP), March 2012
WATER CRISIS
1960
1970
1980
2000
AGRICULTURE CRISIS
Graph created with informa3on from source: N.B. Ayibotele. 1992. The world's water: assessing the resource. Keynote paper at the ICWE, Dublin, Ireland.
The Problem: Quantity
ESG Risks
Drought
New Systems
Supply
Demand
Flood
Crop Requirements
The Problem: Quantity
Market
55%
increase in global water
demand in 2050
The Problem: Quality
Sources of Water Pollutants
The Problem: Quality
Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone
The Problem: Quality
Water Contamination by Nitrates
Source: United Na?ons Water Quality
The Problem: Quality
Agricultural Pollutants Pollutant
Key water quality issue related to pollutant
Main agricultural ac?vi?es that are the source of the pollutant
Nutrients mainly nitrates and phosphates
Eutrophica3on and impairment of drinking water mainly harmful to aqua3c life, but also human heath in some cases
Agricultural produc3on (runoff of excess nitrates and phosphates from fer3lizers and animal manure into water)
Toxic contaminants Harmful to aqua3c life and impairs (largely heavy drinking water (contamina3on of water) metals pes3cides)
Spreading sewage sludge on agricultural land (heavy metals) and plant protec3on (pes3cides)
Soil sediments
Harmful to aqua3c life and water transport systems (turbidity of water)
Inappropriate soil conserva3on prac3ces (wind and water soil erosion)
Organic maaer
Harmful to aqua3c life (deoxygena3on of Manure-‐spreading on livestock farms water)
Acid substances
Harmful to aqua3c life (acidifica3on of water)
Livestock produc3on (ammonia vola3lisa3on)
Biological contaminants
Impairs drinking water (pathogenic bacteria and viruses) and bathing water
Faecal discharge from livestock into water
Mineral salts
Impairs drinking water, the use of water for irrigua3on, and aqua3c life (salinisa3on of water)
Inappropriate land use (cleaning of parennial vegeta3on and irriga3on prac3ces)
Source: OECD, “Agriculture and Water Quality: Sources, Trends, Outlook and Monitoring” 2012
The Solutions:
The IWRM Solution
The Solutions -‐ Boycots -‐ Media campaigns
Farm Level
Consumer Level
-‐ Biological farming -‐ Irriga3on and cul3va3on technologies
Water Quan3ty and Quality -‐ Pollu3on charges -‐ Water quality trading
Market Level
Basin Level Gov. Level -‐ Technical outreach and training -‐ Financial incen3ves
-‐ Contour farming -‐ Terracing
The Solutions: Policy
Water Quality Policy and Regulations Trends in the U.S. Agri-‐environmental Conserva3on Payments (1985-‐2012)
Farmer Awareness
Holis3c
Data Deficiencies
Improving Science and Knowledge
Pollu3on Time Lags
The Solutions: Policy
Water Quantity Policy and Regulations
Quan3ty Regula3on
Price Regula3on
Transferable Permits
Conserva3on Subsidies
Thank you.