World Water Day

  Feeding 10 Billion people by 2050 will require urgent changes in how water is used in agriculture . Join us March 19th to launch of the Nourish & Flourish report on scaling solutions that boost agricultural productivity , create jobs & support sustainable growth .

What will it take to feed 10 billion people by 2050?  It starts with rethinking how we use water. Join us March 19 (09:00 EDT) to launch World Bank Group ’s new report Nourish & Flourish & a live discussion on transforming water use in agriculture. 

  Agriculture accounts for over 70% of global freshwater withdrawals , providing food, employment opportunities, and stable livelihoods to billions of people. But about 3 billion people and over half of the world’s food production are located in regions that are already experiencing, or are projected to face, declining trends in total water storage — including surface water, soil moisture, snow, ice, and groundwater—driven largely by groundwater depletion  and irrigation . Around 1.2 billion people already live in agricultural areas facing severe water constraints , and over 170 million hectares of irrigated cropland, roughly the combined land area of France, Spain, Germany, and Italy, are under high or very high water stress. These conditions translate directly into food insecurity as well as employment and income shocks. In many low- and middle-income countries, agriculture still accounts for 25–60% of total employment; when water shortages reduce yields or force fallowi...

  At the global level, freshwater withdrawals slightly increased by 0.1 percent between 2015 and 2022, though notable regional differences exist. Northern Africa saw the largest increase, with  freshwater withdrawals rising by 16 percent, from 117 million m3 in 2015 to 135 million m3 in 2022. Western Asia and sub-Saharan Africa also experienced significant increases in their withdrawals by 13 percent and 12 percent respectively during the same period. In contrast, Central Asia experienced the most significant reduction, with withdrawals dropping by 9 percent (from 123 million m3 in 2015 to 112 million m3 in 2022 (Figure 5). Eastern Asia, Southern Asia, and Europe and Northern America also recorded decreases of 3 percent or less. Per capita freshwater withdrawals showed a consistent downward trend since 2015, decreasing by 7 percent until 2022. In 2022, sub-Saharan Africa recorded the lowest per capita annual withdrawals at 89.5 m3 per person, down from 100.4 m3 in 201...

Globally, Water Use efficiency (WUE) rose from 17.47 USD/m3 in 2015 to 21.50 USD/m3 in 2022, marking a 23 percent efficiency increase (Figure 15). Oceania and Europe and Northern America remained the most water efficient regions, with WUE levels of 71.71 USD/m3 and 54.64 USD/ m3 , respectively (Figure 16). However, Eastern, Central and Southern Asia recorded the highest growth in WUE between 2015 and 2022, with increases of 51.32 percent, 46.25 percent and 34.13 percent respectively. In contrast, Latin America and the Caribbean experienced a slight decline in WUE, decreasing by 0.47 percent over the same period. At the sectoral level, agriculture exhibited the lowest  Water Use Efficiency (WUE)  among economic sectors. In 2022, the global average WUE for agriculture was 0.69 USD/m3 , significantly lower than that of the industrial sector (38.43 USD/m3 ) and the service sector (114.45 USD/m3 ). However, agriculture recorded the largest improvement in Water Use Efficiency ove...

 In 2022, global water stress levels reached 18 percent. However, there were many regional variations. Northern Africa and Southern Asia displayed critical levels of water stress at 121 percent and 76.7 percent respectively, and high levels of water stress were observed in Central Asia (70.2 percent) and Western Asia (65.1 percent) placing enormous pressure on people, economies and ecosystems. Conversely, Europe and North America (12.3 percent), Latin America and the Caribbean (5.7 percent), Oceania (3.2 percent), South-eastern Asia (20.6 percent) and sub-Saharan Africa (6.3 percent) presented low levels of water stress. An upward trend in water stress levels was observed since 2015 in some regions, with Northern Africa, Western Asia and Oceania experiencing the most significant increases, rising by 15.6 percent, 12.9 percent and 12.3 percent, respectively, between 2015 and 2022. In contrast, Central Asia recorded a notable decrease, with water stress falling from 76.8 percent in...

  Although global food production has kept pace with population growth, close to 750 million people (or 10% of the global population) were exposed to severe levels of food insecurity in 2019. Unfortunately, this number has increased even further over the course of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impacts worldwide. Rainfed agriculture covers 80% of the world’s cropland and accounts for the major part (60%) of food production. Rainfed agriculture has a global water footprint of5,173 km3 per year . Irrigated agriculture covers about 20% of cultivated lands, yet it accounts for 40% of food production, and has a global water footprint of 2,230 km3 per year. The global water footprint related to crop production in the period 1996–2005 was 7,404 km3 per year, representing 92% of humanity’s water footprint . Despite striking economic growth in the past, there are still 2.1 billion poor people, of whom 767 million people live in extreme poverty. Of all people...

Water stress , essentially measured as water use as a function of available supply, affects many parts of the world. Over two billion people live in countries experiencing water stress. Physical water stress is often a seasonal rather than an annual phenomenon, as exemplified by the seasonal variability in water availability . An estimated four billion people live in areas that suffer from severe physical water scarcity for at least one month per year. About 1.6 billion people face ‘economic’ water scarcity , which means that while water may be physically available, they lack the necessary infrastructure to access that water ( Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture ).  Several of the world’s main aquifers are under increasing stress and 30% of the largestgroundwater systems are being depleted .  Water withdrawals for irrigation are The primary driver of groundwater depletion worldwide.

Global freshwater use has increased by a factor of six over the past 100 years and continues to grow at a rate of roughly 1% per year since the 1980s. Much of this growth can be attributed to a combination of population growth, economic development and shifting  consumption patterns . Agriculture currently accounts for 69% of global water withdrawals , which are mainly used for  irrigation but also include water used for livestock and aquaculture. This ratio can reach up to 95% in some developing countries (FAO, 2011a)  Industry (including energy and power generation) accounts for 19%, while municipalities are responsible for the remaining 12%. Globally, agriculture accounts for only about 4% of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with an average contribution per country of 10.39%, the trend being a decreasing share of GDP. Such figures suggest that the value added of water use in agriculture is very low. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ...