Japan Hosts Third World Water Forum: New Partnerships Forged for Averting Water Crisis

Water demand is increasing three times faster than the world’s population growth rate. By 2025, 30 percent of the world’s population—a record 2.3 billion people in 50 countries—will be threatened by water scarcity. The gloomy arithmetic of water is alarming and cries out for solutions.

The recently-concluded Third World Water Forum in Japan is helping catalyze actions for a water-secure world. Given that 70 percent of the world’s freshwater is used in agriculture, CGIAR had a major presence at the Forum which was the largest ever, attracting thousands of participants from 182 countries. The Forum offered new opportunities for building partnerships and strengthening cooperation with key Ministries such as Foreign Affairs, and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

“Harnessing the potential of water as a driver of responsible growth is key to meeting the challenges of water, food, and income security,” said Ian Johnson, Chairman, CGIAR. “Science and technology must be brought to bear on the water challenges. CGIAR has a key role to play in developing the next generation of less thirsty crops, farming practices and policies.” He chaired a sub-group of the “Ministerial Conference on Water for Food and Rural Development” charged with examining ways to improve the efficiency of water use in agriculture. Ministers from 96 countries participated in the ministerial meeting held in conjunction with the Forum.

For the first time, agricultural issues, need for innovation in research and development and for sharing best practices and experiences in the water sector received some prominence in Forum debates and discussions. This is heartening news for the CGIAR alliance whose mandate of promoting sustainable agriculture for food security, reducing poverty, and protecting the environment was given prominent attention at the 2002 World Food Summit and World Summit on Sustainable Development.

The Ministerial Declaration issued by the Forum recognizes “water is essential for broad-based agricultural production and rural development in order to improve food security and eradicate poverty,” and called for renewed efforts to “reduce unsustainable water management and improve the efficiency of agricultural water use.”

Frank Rijsberman, Director General, IWMI and Chairman of the CGIAR Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture organized a special session on “Water Management for Agriculture—Implications for Water, Food and Environment.” Researchers from IFPRI, IRRI, and WorldFish Center participated, highlighting the challenges of raising agricultural water productivity in rainfed and irrigated agriculture and demonstrated the important role of research in promoting sound public policies and investments in the water sector. A new book on water productivity in agriculture was launched at the session.

The Middle East and North Africa is the most water-scarce region in the world. ICARDA organized a session on “Sustainable Management of Scarce Water Resources in the Dry Areas” that brought together key stakeholders for a discussion of the specific challenges facing agriculture in the dry areas. Adel El-Beltagy, Director General, ICARDA briefed participants about the range of promising new technologies being developed at ICARDA, including new water harvesting techniques that draw on the wealth of local knowledge and indigenous water-conservation practices.

“CGIAR participation in the Forum was valuable,” said Francisco Reifschneider, CGIAR Director. “We are pleased that the critical role of agricultural science and technology in averting the water crisis featured in the discussions.”

The Forum was held in three neighboring cities of Kyoto, Shiga, and Osaka during March 16–23, 2003. The Forum featured 351 separate sessions on over 30 interlocking themes relating to water. More than 100 new commitments on water were made at the Forum. A new CD-ROM “Making Water Flow for All” containing descriptions of 3,000 new water projects was released at the Forum.

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