The ‘2025 Snow Update Report’ published by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Nepal, finds that the region experienced its third consecutive below-normal snow year in 2025, with snow persistence (the fraction of time snow is on the ground after snowfall) falling to a 23-year record low of -23.6%.

With nearly two billion people across 12 major river basins relying on seasonal snowmelt from the region, the report’s authors are calling for immediate targeted actions towards adaptive water resource management at basin-level to mitigate impacts on agriculture, hydropower generation, and other vital ecosystem services.

The report finds the most concerning declines in snow persistence impacting the Mekong (-51.9%) and Salween (-48.3%) basins, followed by the Tibetan Plateau (-29.1%), the Brahmaputra (-27.9%), Yangtze (-26.3%), and the Ganges (-24.1%) basins.

The report highlights the need for adaptive infrastructure, including seasonal storage systems, water efficiency measures, national preparedness and response plans, along with national water strategies for hydropower, agriculture, and allied sectors, and a strengthening of evidence-based decision-making and sectoral coordination.

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Water scarcity is becoming a major issue in many regions, including the southwestern United States and Mexico, northern and eastern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and the North China Plain. These areas are already experiencing severe water imbalances that are expected to intensify under climate change, causing catastrophic losses to human life and infrastructure, and substantial economic impacts.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has projected that extreme weather events will increase in both frequency and severity, and that temperatures globally will continue to rise. Extreme weather events, such as the 2023 extended heatwaves in Europe, western North America and Asia, and floods in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Australia and Libya, are occurring at increased frequency and severity, causing further disturbances to the hydrological cycle, demonstrating the need for urgent action.

Ensuring the effective management of water resources is of utmost importance for global food security and sustainable development. A recent review paper published in Nature Reviews Earth and Environment, titled ‘Sustainable wastewater reuse of agriculture’, takes a close look at the many potential benefits and the possible difficulties that using treated urban wastewater for irrigation might entail.

Right now, the world produces about 400 km3 of wastewater every year. However, less than 20% of this is treated to a useable level. Of that treated wastewater, only 2–15% is reused for irrigation, depending on its country of origin.

The primary concern of using treated wastewater for irrigation is that current treatment technologies cannot fully eliminate all micropollutants, and some of these substances could affect crops, the environment and human health. Nonetheless, it is possible to ensure a stable water supply for agriculture, even in arid regions, by using advanced water treatment and reuse systems. These systems can provide treated wastewater that is safe for use on crops – a reality that has been demonstrated with years of experience in the United States and Israel.

Net gains

Such systems could potentially provide a net positive energy output, as the energy embedded in wastewater far exceeds what is needed for treatment by a factor of nine to 10. Agriculturally useful nutrients, such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, could also be recovered and reused.

Reusing treated wastewater for irrigation can significantly contribute to a circular economy and sustainable development. However, the initial steps towards making this a reality – funding and implementing advanced, sustainable treatment technologies, and gaining social acceptance – are crucial and must be prioritised.

The current mindset that sees wastewater as merely a waste to be discarded must shift. Most wastewater treatment systems today follow a linear, energy intensive approach that is not only inefficient, but also ineffective in terms of resource recovery. There is great potential, however, for these systems to evolve into something much better – a system that is fully circular and efficient at recovering resources and delivering them back into the system.

The reuse of treated wastewater for agricultural irrigation has become a vital strategy for countries facing water scarcity and requiring sustainable water management. Many regions across the globe have adopted treated water reuse schemes to enhance agricultural productivity while preserving freshwater resources.

Transferable international examples

Israel is a pioneer of treated wastewater reuse for agricultural irrigation. Because of the region’s chronic water scarcity, more than 85% of produced effluents are reused, supplying more than half of agricultural irrigation needs. Around 160,000 hectares (~45% of cultivated land) is irrigated with treated wastewater, contributing significantly to agricultural output. Key drivers include a centralised water system (where all water is state property), financial incentives (loans and grants for wastewater treatment plants, pipelines and irrigation equipment), and research assessing treated wastewater’s long-term impact on soil and crops. Strict regulations govern the health and agronomic quality of treated wastewater, ensuring sustainable usage.

Cyprus, with the highest water exploitation index in Europe (124% in 2019), reuses nearly 80% of its tertiary treated wastewater. In other European countries, treated wastewater irrigation is practised on a smaller scale. For example, treated wastewater is used for rice and vegetable irrigation in Valencia, Barcelona and Murcia, Spain, and in Milan, Italy.

In the USA, treated wastewater reuse schemes are based on comprehensive regulations. In Florida, treated wastewater is mainly reused for landscape irrigation, while in California’s Monterey County, disinfected tertiary treated wastewater plays a critical role in the ‘One Water’ management scheme. This involves treated wastewater reuse for aquifer recharge (to manage seawater intrusion) and irrigation of high-value crops such as artichokes, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, and lettuce. Additionally, it supports indirect potable reuse systems.

China has a long history of using treated wastewater in the southeastern suburbs of Beijing for irrigation, providing substantial food supplies to the city.

Australia is also increasingly adopting treated wastewater reuse in agriculture, to secure ‘climate-independent’ water supplies. In the period 2019–2020, 6,500 hm3 of water was used for agriculture, of which 124 hm3 (1.9%) was reclaimed from off-farm sources. The utilisation of treated wastewater from wastewater treatment plants located near vegetable growing areas has been particularly successful.

Using treated wastewater for crop irrigation has pros and cons. On the plus side, treated wastewater is a stable water source that enriches crops with nutrients, thus reducing the need for commercial fertilisers. But it does come with potential problems. Soil salinity could be an issue, and so could the presence of many kinds of organic chemicals in the water, including pharmaceuticals and determinants of antibiotic resistance. Careful monitoring and adherence to water quality standards are necessary to ensure the many agronomic benefits of treated wastewater do not come at too high a price.

Risk reduction

Priority should also be given to upstream measures that prevent water pollution at its source – through restrictions and the development of greener alternatives – which are more effective than traditional end-of-pipe treatments. It is crucial to implement both ‘upstream’ and ‘downstream’ measures to secure public health and the quality of the environment.

Legal and regulatory frameworks for treated wastewater reuse in irrigation vary globally, with several organisations and countries implementing standards to ensure public health, environmental protection, and sustainable agricultural practices. Below is a summary of key regulations and guidelines across various regions. Across these regions, treated wastewater reuse regulations focus on ensuring water quality, mitigating health risks, and balancing agricultural viability with environmental protection. These frameworks emphasise tailored risk assessments and comprehensive monitoring for sustainable water reuse in agriculture.

• International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Guidelines
  ISO 16075:2020 provides technical standards for the reuse of treated wastewater in irrigation. It defines permissible levels of E. coli, biological oxygen demand (BOD5), total suspended solids (TSS), and turbidity, depending on water treatment levels. It also includes recommendations for agronomic parameters such as nutrient levels, salinity, and heavy metals, to protect soil and crops.
  ISO 20426:2018 outlines an approach for health risk assessment and management for non-potable treated wastewater applications, ensuring that treated wastewater reuse is safe for users and the environment.
  The World Health Organization guidelines also offer a global methodology for safe treated wastewater reuse, including frameworks to assess and minimise health risks.
• European Union Water Reuse Regulation
  The EU Regulation 2020/741 sets out minimum harmonised water quality standards and monitoring requirements for treated wastewater, categorised into four classes (A, B, C and D) based on crop type and irrigation methods. These include strict limits for E. coli, BOD5, TSS, and turbidity.
  The regulation mandates the creation of a risk management plan for treated wastewater reuse systems, which addresses additional water quality issues, such as micropollutants, depending on the outcome of specific system risk assessments. Permits for treated wastewater production and supply are issued by national authorities, which can impose further conditions depending on local requirements.
• US Regulatory Framework
  There is no federal standard for treated wastewater reuse in the USA. Instead, individual states regulate the practice. Standards vary depending on the crop type, irrigation method, and treatment levels. For example, California’s Title 22 imposes strict criteria for total coliform bacteria, turbidity, and viruses such as F-specific bacteriophages MS-2 or poliovirus when using disinfected tertiary treated wastewater for irrigating edible crops. The US EPA Guidelines for Water Reuse provide non-binding national guidance based on risk management principles, helping states develop their own regulations.
• Israeli Water Reuse Law
  Israel’s 2010 water reuse law governs the unrestricted use of treated wastewater for agricultural irrigation. The law, approved by the Ministry of Health, provides a permitting process for treated wastewater irrigation, ensuring public health and environmental protection.
• Australian Guidelines
  Australia’s 2006 Guidelines for Water Recycling provide recommendations for the safe reuse of treated wastewater, though they are not mandatory. These guidelines are based on a health and environmental risk management approach, offering flexibility to set water quality standards depending on the intended use of treated wastewater.

The global opportunity

At the global level, especially in developing countries, there is incredible potential to transform wastewater reuse into a viable and valuable practice. This transformation can occur through effective management practices that are enforced by suitable legal and regulatory frameworks. These frameworks must be adapted to local conditions, sufficiently implemented, and empowered by political, institutional and financial support. They also need to be transparent and involve citizens in decision-making. In addition, regulations should encourage circularity in wastewater management by permitting recovered resources, such as nutrient fertilisers, to enter the market. l

The author:

Professor Despo Fatta-Kassinos is Head of the Laboratory of Environmental and Engineered Water Processes and Systems at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nireas International Water Research Center, University of Cyprus

More information

www.nature.com/articles/s43017-024-00560-y

Key highlights of the review paper ‘Sustainable wastewater reuse of agriculture’, published in Nature Reviews Earth and Environment

• More than 80% of the world’s wastewater is released untreated, where it can infiltrate groundwater and flow into rivers and lakes. Sometimes this untreated water is used – either directly or indirectly – in the production of food and can pose the risk of contamination.
• The implementation of advanced water treatment and reuse systems can ensure a reliable and safe supply of water for agriculture, potentially replacing an equal amount of fresh water that could be used for drinking or other essential purposes.
• Reusing treated wastewater for irrigation can counteract the water imbalances that plague agriculture in many regions. Expanding this practice, particularly in areas that are already short of water, has the potential to keep food production levels up and even boost them. In places where treated wastewater is available, and systems are in place to deliver it to farms, this resource can make a considerable difference.
• Ongoing research and site-specific assessments are essential for making advanced wastewater treatment processes cost effective and sustainable.
• Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have the potential to become facilities for recovering water, energy, and nutrients. This transformation can
• occur because technological opportunities exist to implement the kinds of changes needed to achieve this new management of WWTPs. One significant prospect is that these technological changes can lead not only to a transformation of the role of WWTPs, but also enable them to become energy-carbon neutral.
• A detailed and all-encompassing regulatory framework is needed to ensure the smooth operation and sustainability of treated wastewater reuse systems. These frameworks are necessary not only for public health and environmental protection, but also to reassure the public.

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FAO and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) have released the report entitled More People, More Food, Worse Water? on behalf of the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems.

Its aim is to flag the fact that agriculture causes more ecological damage in many countries than human settlements or industry.

“Industrial agriculture is among the leading causes of water pollution, especially in most high-income countries and many emerging economies, where it has overtaken contamination from settlements and industries as the major factor in the degradation of inland and coastal waters,” the report states.

Pesticide accumulation in water that is later carried down the food chain threatens human health, and has led to the widespread ban on certain pesticides, including DDT, a common insect control chemical once used in the United States until its cancellation in 1972. DDT was also banned in China in 1983, but is still used in India.

The report also adds that nitrate used in farming ranks among the most common contaminants found in groundwater aquifers. To tackle the problem, the report recommends a wider range of data-driven outcomes, including data collection that can help develop water quality models and produce better water policies.

Authors of report conclude that the report 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is designed to shape policies and strategies around the reduction of water pollution, in particular those that are based around SDG target 6.3. FAO launched the report at the High-Level International Conference on the International Decade for Action ‘Water for Sustainable Development’ 2018-2028 in June 2018 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

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The Forum addressed one of the region’s most ecologically complex and politically sensitive issues, and elevated groundwater on the foreign policy front, leaving India and its neighbours open to multilateral engagements.

“All who came, did so with an open mind to engage and learn from each other,” said Sushmita Mandal, IWA’s India Programme Manager and one of the report’s editors. “It was an opportunity that made the issue of groundwater visible. The timing was critical, as the region was reeling under the impacts of drought, poor monsoons, and improper management of available resources in the summer of 2016.”

How reliant is South Asia? Consider that India, Pakistan and Bangladesh together pump almost half of the world’s groundwater used for irrigation. Groundwater supports the livelihoods of 60-80 percent of the population, and has, as during the Green Revolution, helped lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.

Yet groundwater has also been undervalued and overexploited. Excessive, intensive, and unregulated use has resulted in dry wells and declining water tables. Depletion itself can be fixed. But related land subsidence, saline intrusion, or contamination from arsenic, fluoride, sewage, effluent and chemicals may be too costly or impossible to reverse.

The 100-page synthesis is comprehensive, but more valuable than its words are the unique process and diverse people who spoke them. In a thirsty region often known for quarrelling over shared water resources and transboundary basins, the gathering was marked by mutual respect and active engagement.

The Forum provided the first transnational meeting of its kind, a platform to address groundwater management and governance. By generating broad consensus that there is scope to engage, interact and learn from each other, the new report provides a stable foundation for the next.

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How utilities can recover and reuse potent greenhouse gases from across the wastewater sector. By James Workman

When we talk of “emissions” we tend to think of carbon dioxide, factory smokestacks and vehicle exhaust pipes but rarely do we think of water.

But with the clock ticking and temperatures rising, wastewater utilities from Jordan and Mexico to Peru and Thailand are now increasingly motivated to go after their own emissions given that methane is a staggeringly potent greenhouse gas.

You can’t see it, smell it, or taste it and it doesn’t last long in the atmosphere. But in a twenty-year span, methane has proven 85 times more successful at trapping heat than carbon dioxide. In fact, scientists now estimate that methane causes a quarter of all global warming.

The good news is that, since these volatile methane emissions are usually man-made and related to water, we can judiciously hunt them down to unmake them, and earn credits while doing so.

“Actions to reduce methane emissions will have an impact in this generation,” says Ricardo Cepeda-Marquez of C40, a network of megacities tackling climate change. “Aggressive mitigation of methane across all sectors can reduce global warming over the next 50 years by as much as 0.5 ̊C, with most reductions delivered by 2040.”

Most climate activists blame methane emissions on fossil fuels. Rightly so. The oil and gas industry does generate 1.6 billion metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Yet it turns out water professionals must hold themselves responsible for an equal amount of methane pollution.

While spread out and hard to detect, “the problem is quite big,” warns Astrid Michels, Project Manager of the IWA-GIZ Water and Wastewater Companies for Climate Mitigation (WaCCliM) effort. “The contribution of the water sector to greenhouse gas emissions is complex and therefore often under-recognised.”

Nevertheless, the sector’s emissions add up. In 2010, wastewater accounted for approximately 7 percent of all global methane emissions but if combined with emissions from landfills–where Cepeda-Marquez notes much of the 80 percent of untreated sewage gets dumped–“the wastewater sector represents 20 percent of the overall anthropogenic sources of methane, the same as those from the oil and gas industry.”

The flip side is that, by looking in the mirror and deciding to go after methane emissions, water professionals can single-handedly reduce a fifth of what causes 25 percent of all global warming.

Easier said than done? Not necessarily. According to Cepeda-Marquez, the wastewater sector can reduce half a billion metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent just by installing anaerobic sludge digestion, covering and capturing biogas at existing open air anaerobic lagoons, and retrofitting combustion systems to f lare or utilise methane for onsite electricity or thermal uses.

But it helps to start small, and move in stages. Admitting and identifying that wastewater has a methane problem is halfway towards winning the battle. WaCCliM targets improving operational efficiency. By doing so, says Michels, “utilities from Jordan, Mexico, Peru and Thailand demonstrate how in the short-term they reduce energy consumption by up to 40 percent.”

Next, systems need to be upgraded to become carbon-neutral, or better. “[We need to] explore natural synergic opportunities,” says Cepeda-Marquez, since “food waste co-digestion in wastewater treatment facilities, and energy generation from methane, both have the potential to make the solid waste and wastewater treatment sector a net carbon sink.”

Stringent regulations help, say WaCCliM stakeholders. But a policy framework should harness incentives to focus on benefits like water access, air quality, public health and urban design. Conversely, nationally imposed energy mandates can hinder local governments and cities from seeking finance to invest in more ambitious climate and water actions.

The best strategies unite sectors and scales. Targeting methane may help do exactly that. Carbon accounting can often lead to finger-pointing among rival interests. Water professionals have been struggling to differentiate wastewater from the rest of the waste streams, in order to make utilities realise their distinct contributions to reducing emissions, explains Corinne Trommsdorff of IWA. “But actually, from a full city perspective, it makes most sense to keep these emissions combined in order to trigger an integrated waste and wastewater management approach,” says Trommsdorff.

Going further, Michels hopes methane can advance a ‘circular economy’ approach that closes the water, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus loops. Efforts to reduce methane emissions help recover energy from wastewater, recover phosphates and nitrogen, and reuse the treated wastewater for irrigation.

Ambitious? Absolutely. But the Paris targets give water professionals strong new incentives to mitigate the sector’s large methane footprint across its waste streams. Once they learn to measure the emissions from this silent invisible gas, cities can judiciously take steps to shrink it.

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Jonathan Andrews spoke to a select panel to discuss the best approaches to drive water demands down and push agriculture productivity up

Recent studies suggest the GMO seed revolution won’t reduce farmers’ demands and dependence on irrigation. How can we tackle their demands on water for crops?

Jeremy Bird, Director General, International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

Some people point to savings in water consumption, while others proclaim any such savings are small, incremental changes and that monocrop agriculture has already compromised water efficiencies of a more diverse agricultural system. Probably more important than the changes in the crop water demand of a particular variety is the current emphasis in crop research on addressing resilience to highly variable water supplies–both in periods of excess through flooding and periods of drought and dry spells.

Raising the productivity of crops in relation to the water they consume (for example, in terms of kilogramme per cubic metre or nutritional value produced per cubic metre) to meet food demands of tomorrow’s population is essential. It requires a range of technological, agronomic, institutional and political interventions. The building blocks of many solutions are already available but need to be adapted to individual farming systems in their agro-climatic, political and institutional settings.

Simon Rüger, Product Manager Fertigation Module, Yara International

Effective, well-timed irrigation is critical for sustainable and profitable production with high yields, good harvest quality and optimum fertiliser efficacy. This practice is possible by irrigation on demand–only irrigate as much as the plants need– and made possible by solutions that allow real-time monitoring of crop, soil and weather data to ensure optimal use of scarce resources like water, land and nutrients.

Eduardo Mansur, Director, Land and Water Division, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), UN

We are currently facing new and growing challenges in agriculture, due to a changing climate and the associated trend to more extreme weather conditions. In this context, water management– among other actions–will become increasingly important in crop production. Biotechnologies have a role to play in addressing these challenges, as they offer a wide range of methods for increasing and improving crop production. GMOs represent only a tiny tip of the whole universe that biotechnologies can offer to agricultural sectors. We should recognise that the use of biotechnologies to enhance tolerance to water stress (or drought tolerance) in crops has not been easy. Plants’ response to water deficit is a complex phenomenon involving numerous biochemical pathways, physiological responses and even anatomic features. A successful intervention needs to touch numerous causes at the same time. Regarding water scarcity and agriculture, a more promising strategy is the use of a combination of multiple approaches. The adoption of good agricultural practices is essential–and in many cases, the most viable option. This includes sustainable soil management, water harvesting, targeted irrigations schemes, and more.

David Molden, Director General, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)

Farming practices including soil management, rainfall management, and crop varieties make a significant difference in water use, and this can be to use more water or use less water. One caveat is that the impacts of various practices are very much context specific and depend on a variety of perspectives from a farmer’s perspective, to society’s perspective, and from farm to river basin to global considerations.

Can micro-till or even no-till play a role to help farmers reduce water use? What are the constraints?

Bird, IWMI
Maintaining crop residue cover on the soil surface through limited or zero tillage approaches can reduce evaporative losses from the soil in early stages of crop growth but introduces a need for measures to reduce growth of competitor plants/weeds. It is one of a number of soil and landscape management measures, such as mulching and contour bunds of different types, which can improve soil moisture management and retain more of the rainfall in the root zone. These also have considerable and probably greater benefit in reducing soil erosion and ultimately avoiding land degradation, thereby securing the livelihoods of already vulnerable populations. An estimated 2 billion hectares–23 percent of landscapes under human use–are degraded, negatively impacting ecological integrity and agricultural productivity. The related carbon mitigation benefits of improved soil management raise opportunities for some of these initiatives to be financed through climate funding mechanisms.

Rüger, Yara International
In the debate about sustainable agricultural water use, focus is needed on the combination of many issues such as irrigation technology, water retention of the soil and drought tolerant varieties. In addition, nutrient management is central when looking at water footprint analyses, as nutrient supply exerts strong control over crop yield, water consumption, and potentially contributes to pollution of freshwater bodies. If crops are not optimally fertilised, more water is needed for every kilogram of final product. Proper crop nutrition management can substantially improve agronomic water use efficiency.

Mansur, FAO
No-tillage or minimum tillage systems are gaining increased attention as a way to reduce the water footprints of crops. Indeed, they are effective in reducing evaporation from soil, increasing soil water infiltration, and increasing the soil water holding capacity and soil moisture. In turn, they also contribute to improving the recharge rate of the water table and allow for more constant flow in the river system. But the water-use- efficiency of crops is also related to soil health. Healthy soils counting on a stable biological porosity and well-developed root systems permit an efficient water and nutrient cycling. Soil organisms improve soil structure, prevent compaction and facilitate root penetration.

The downside effects of practising minimum/zero tillage are related to management decisions, which have to be adapted to the local characteristics of the field (topography, geology, soil type), to the climate, and to the social and cultural settings. In this regard, possible ‘side-effects’ should be assessed beforehand. For example, when no-tillage is not properly conducted, it can result in an increased use of herbicides for weed management and, as a consequence, a reduction of the water quality.

Molden, ICIMOD
Tillage practices influence soil water and minimum or no-till practices are an especially important means for farmers to manage their water supplies. As such it is a very important water management practice for now and the future. It is important to unpack the words water use.

Two important considerations are water applied, and second, water consumed by evapotranspiration. In water scarce environments it is important to think in terms of evapotranspiration, because that water goes to the atmosphere and is not available for reuse. So many practices like no till help maintain soil moisture and reduce the need for water application, but may or may not increase evapotranspiration. Tillage practices that reduce the evaporation component are quite important, as crop transpiration contributes to more crop biomass.

In which situations can GMO help boost agricultural resilience?

Bird, IWMI
Biotechnology aims to speed up the more conventional selective breeding process and therefore has potential to increase resilience, but in a shorter time frame. Most obvious applications are on increasing tolerance to pest attacks, during periods of drought and flood submergence, as well as for heat and salinity tolerance. However, in many countries, the question remains as to whether or not GMO varieties can be used at all, meaning that continued emphasis on selective breeding approaches for stress-tolerant varieties remains important.

Mansur, FAO
Climate change and other issues such as water scarcity, access to arable lands and a growing population with changing food habits are significant challenges to agricultural production. Enhancing productivity, i.e. increasing production per unit of inputs is a need to feeding the world. Plant breeding aiming to obtain optimal yields while using fewer inputs–such as water, fertilisers or pesticides–may enhance the overall resilience of food systems. Cultivation of water-use efficient and drought-tolerant plants can have significant effects on agricultural resilience only if accompanied by adoption of improved agronomic practices like sustainable soil management, rotations, crop residues management, and water harvesting.

Molden, ICIMOD
Crop varieties (GMO or otherwise) that are more disease resistant or drought resilient are important to deal with climate and environmental uncertainties and are a component of resilience building. Also, if crop yields are ruined because of disease or drought, it can represent a huge loss of water that could have been better used. Having said that we do need to take a holistic approach for resilience building that considers other important issues, institutions and diversity.

How much of a role can non-GMO efforts play?

Bird, IWMI
Given the wide differences in the effectiveness of water management practices around the world, and solutions to many of the problems already exist, there is considerable scope to meet the water security challenge. However, unless water management for a crop is secure, many other investments, including improved seeds, labour and fertiliser, are forgone. It does though require an enabling policy framework and incentive mechanisms to bring about change, and also sometimes a solution that involves other sectors. For example, the solar irrigation revolution. In India, solar irrigation pumps are being subsidised by the government as a carbon mitigation measure. The risk though is that aquifers will then be over-pumped.

Rüger, Yara International
Sustainable agriculture requires best farming practices in all agricultural disciplines, in order to increase agricultural productivity and maximise farm profitability while minimising environmental harm. In our view the key is that resources must be used more efficiently, maintaining or increasing yields while reducing losses to the environment.

Mansur, FAO
Non-GMO biotechnologies have been proven extremely effective in enhancing the resilience of agricultural production systems. An example is the New Rice for Africa (NERICA) varieties, which have been developed using biotechnologies that enable the crossing of two species of cultivated rice, African rice and Asian rice. These NERICA varieties combine the high yields from the Asian rice with the ability of the African rice to thrive in harsh environments and are now widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa.

When safely deployed and accessible to farmers, Marker Assisted Selection (MAS), Genomic Selection (GS) and New Molecular Breeding Technologies, may assist in developing plants that are more efficient in water uptake (deeper root system), transport (reduced plant size) and use (reduced growth duration) or that are more tolerant to drought-induced stresses.

Molden, ICIMOD
It is important to rely on a broad diversity of practices for building resilience. For example, to look beyond the mix of rice, wheat and maize to the many types of crops and farming systems that are necessary to build diversity for the future. We need to pay attention to diversity in agriculture. For many farmers having higher valued crops is important, and for society, the nutrition from a range of agricultural products is important.

Does the answer lie in more efficient irrigation?

Bird, IWMI
To some extent, yes. This is within our grasp with the technology available. However, we need to avoid an over- simplification on irrigation efficiency. It is too easy to look at just field level and say that we can save half the irrigation water by shifting from more traditional surface irrigation to say drip irrigation. Irrigation systems are part of a wider hydrological system. Water seeping through the ground in surface irrigation systems can be reused downstream or to replenish groundwater systems that in turn can be pumped for irrigation elsewhere. In some cases, farmers’ crop choices change to achieve higher returns when more efficient irrigation becomes available. However, these can also be more water-consuming crops, thereby limiting actual water savings.

Rüger, Yara International
Efficient irrigation and supporting tools for improved precision in farm management, including special solutions for water management are key for sustainable agriculture. As part of Yara International’s offerings on Farm Management Systems, the Yara International Water Solution is an integrated tool enabling farmers to irrigate on-demand and save 20 to 30 percent of water. A key component is the innovative Water-Sensor, which assesses the water status of the crop by measuring the pressure of the leaf. Through an online system and software platform, the measurements are translated into precision supply of water and crop nutrients.

Mansur, FAO
Yes. But irrigation is not a stand-alone solution. It has to be associated with other measures, such as sustainable soil and water management. Also, the impact of more efficient irrigation depends on wider policy decisions regarding the destiny of any saved water. For example, whether this water remains available for use within the agricultural sector, or whether it is allocated to the environment, cities or industries. Raising irrigation efficiency, through improvements to the operation and management of irrigation systems, the use of more efficient techniques at farm level including drip irrigation, and changing mindsets, remains an important component of strategies to support resilience. How well these different types of intervention work depend on several factors such as, the type of irrigation system and crop, and the length, severity and predictability of shocks such as drought.

Molden, ICIMOD
Part of the answer will surely be in better irrigation. However, much has been written about what comprises better or more efficient irrigation, and we have to look beyond the classic visions of irrigation efficiency, which can dramatically overstate how much water can be saved from irrigation.

What are some of the non- technological options? Is local farmer knowledge able to assist on a large scale?

Bird, IWMI
There are many cases where traditional technologies can help to improve water management and restore farming systems. Take, for example, the rainwater harvesting techniques in Rajasthan that led to Rajendra Singh, Chairman of the nongovernmental organisation Tarun Bharat Sangh, being awarded the 2015 Stockholm Water Prize. Transferring simple technology across regions can also have significant potential. For example, low-cost laser grading land preparation techniques that provide a more uniform slope to irrigation furrows and can save up to 15 percent of water as well as the diesel used to pump it. Similarly, simple ‘wetting front detectors’ inserted in the soil can inform farmers about when and how much to irrigate, thereby reducing over-applications or water stress. Local knowledge on crop water management can help, but may not be sufficient to build resilience when climate variability increases and undermines the very basis of past experience.

Rüger, Yara International
Whereas high expectations are set for big data in agriculture, we believe the most critical part of the data revolution in agriculture is related to the agronomic interpretation of the signals received from the various devices. Precision farming is not just about technology, but it is about turning the data into valuable knowledge for the farmer in the form of fertilisation and irrigation recommendations. This translation of data into a decision support tool requires the knowledge and experience from the farmers.

Mansur, FAO
All knowledge starts with local experiences, so of course local farmer knowledge and family farming are perfectly capable, and have actually been assisting increased and improved agriculture for centuries. What is required from researchers and practitioners is to use the available knowledge–including traditional knowledge–to advance innovative approaches that will address the current challenges, such as climate change and increasing water scarcity. That is the reason why FAO launched a new Global Framework to address water scarcity in agriculture in a changing climate.

Molden, ICIMOD
There is much to learn from the farming community who have to live with water scarcity and a dynamic social and ecological environment. We should carefully consider how they adapt and develop solutions for changing environments. There are many resource-poor farmers in the world who are developing water and agricultural solutions that will help improve the livelihoods of millions.

I would like to bring an example from the work of the ICIMOD in the mountains and hills of the Hindu Kush Himalayas. Here there is an issue of too little water, and too much water, and resilience building is a key. For many hill farmers, access to water is a real problem. ICIMOD works to develop resilient mountain villages. Springshed management, water harvesting and soil moisture practices are important. In addition, people are looking to higher value crops and getting them to market for livelihood. Plus they rely on climate services, finances and increasingly on insurance.

Do we need to look beyond the actual farming procedures and more at the bigger picture such as reducing food waste?

Bird, IWMI
The FAO estimates that about one- third of the food produced (1.3 billion tonnes) gets wasted, which has massive implications for resource use. Let me highlight just two dimensions to food waste. One where harvested crops are rendered unusable due to inadequate storage and transport arrangements–this is an issue predominately for small-scale and subsistence farming and requires actions along the value chain. The second relates to waste in processing and shelf life regulations, particularly as expectations on harmonised size and quality of food products have become prominent in consumer behaviour. Both are important in relation to sustainability and efficiency of resource use. By reducing crop losses in storage and transport, there will also be a significant benefit to incomes and livelihoods.

Rüger, Yara International
An important move will be industry partnerships that will offer improved crop management for farmers by optimising the use of water and crop nutrition. The combination of crop, soil and weather data are key to allow fertiliser and irrigation practice on demand.

A recently started collaboration between Pessl Instruments and Yara International allows for such a solution. The combination of Pessl’s holistic solutions of hyper local weather, soil moisture and weather forecast, together with the Yara International Water-Sensor will be the perfect fit for better, more sustainable management of farms.

Mansur, FAO
Yes, absolutely. Changing food habits of a growing population pose a major challenge that requires innovative approaches, and this includes reducing food waste. On average, food losses and waste represent 30 percent of the global food chain. For certain food products, like fruits and root crops, it can reach a shocking figure of 50 percent waste. You can imagine the major impact in water withdrawals in agriculture, if we reduce food waste. We must pursue this path, to feed a growing population. This debate is exploring the keys for agriculture resilience. Irrigation is certainly part of the solution, but we know that only 20 percent of the world agriculture is currently under irrigation schemes, producing about 40 percent of the food crops. We must pay attention to rain fed agriculture, responsible for the other 60 percent.

Molden, ICIMOD
While there is considerable scope for improving agricultural water management practices, there may be more scope for lessening future water demand and use by changing food consumption patterns. Reducing the shameful amount of food waste will lessen the amount of water waste, plus, other aspects of the food chain like packaging and changing diets, especially the growing demand for meat, are also important to consider.

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Xiaohong Yang, ADB’s Country Director for Pakistan, and Tariq Mahmood Pasha, Secretary Economic Affairs Division (EAD) for the Government of Pakistan, signed the loan agreement, and Tariq Rashid, KP’s Irrigation Department Secretary, signed the project agreement.

“Bolstering water resource management is an important step to increase farm productivity across Pakistan,” said Yang. “The Pehur Canal irrigation project will help support agriculture output and raise income opportunities of the farming families in the KP province.”

The project will build on the earlier phase of the Pehur High Level Canal developed with ADB’s assistance by further increasing availability of water to farmers through new irrigation canals and pipeline over 65 kilometres and improving water-use efficiency and farm management capacity to secure the province’s food security targets.

Agriculture remains a vital sector in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where agriculture contributes to 18 percent of the province’s overall gross domestic product, with over 37 percent of people directly employed in the sector’s activities. The project will cut poverty and increase economic well-being and job opportunities for about 75,000 people in the new irrigated area of 21,565 acres in the two districts.

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The total project cost is US$96.60 million, with the Government of Pakistan contributing US$10.2 million. The estimated project implementation period is six years. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Irrigation Department is the executing agency responsible for overall project implementation. The Agriculture Department is the implementing agency responsible for farm management-related work of the project.

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The WaPOR open-access database has gone live, tapping satellite data to help farmers achieve more reliable agricultural yields and allowing for the optimisation of irrigation systems.

“Water use continues to surge at the same time that climate change–with increasing droughts and extreme weather–is altering and reducing water availability for agriculture,” said Maria Helena Semedo, FAO’s Deputy Director-General, Climate Change and Natural Resources. “That puts a premium on making every drop count, underscoring the importance of meeting growing food production needs from efficiency gains.”

WaPOR was presented during a high-level partners meeting for FAO’s Coping with water scarcity in agriculture: a global framework for action in a changing climate. It allows for fine-grained analysis of water utilised through farming systems, generating empirical evidence about how it can be most productively used.

Worldwide water utilisation, the majority of which is used by agriculture, has outpaced the rate of population growth for most of the last century and some regions are close to breaching viable limits.

WaPOR sifts through satellite data and uses Google Earth computing power to produce maps that show how much biomass and yield is produced per cubic metre of water consumed. The maps can be rendered at resolutions of as little as 30 to 250 metres, and updated every one to ten days.

“Supporting smallholder farmers with access to geospatial information that can optimise water availability and curb their vulnerability to climate change is a key mission for FAO and this is an important first step,” said René Castro, FAO Assistant Director-General, and Head of the Climate, Biodiversity, Land and Water Department.

FAO’s team of information technology and land and water officers has designed WaPOR–through a US$10 million project funded by the Government of the Netherlands–to cover Africa and the near East, with a focus on key countries that are or are projected soon to face physical or infrastructural water scarcity.

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As the sun sets over the lush fields in the Indian city of Kolkata, it suddenly dawns upon me: this is the circular economy in action. It may be a low-income, low-tech, low-scale setting, but the scene before me is an example of the circular economy as powerful as it is simple. Why? The farmers working their fields are irrigating their crops with wastewater. By just a short pipe from the neighbouring Wastewater Treatment Plant, they are recycling valuable nutrients from human waste into food.

One farmer smiles and proudly tells me how his crop of salad can be sold for a high profit to nearby 5 star hotels. Here, lettuce is a cash crop. The brilliance of this simple solution isn’t lost on me, but there’s also something disturbing about untreated wastewater, possibly containing harmful bacteria, being applied to leafy greens that will end up on someone’s dinner plate.

Later, as I’m heading back to my (not five star) hotel, I remember that Jack Sim once compared human waste with fire. It can be dangerous, but brings great benefits if properly managed. The environmental and economic benefits of resource recovery from wastewater are no longer in doubt. Turning waste into a product, creating new businesses, reducing pollution and making cities more resource efficient are obvious advantages. In addition the potential of recycling an individual person’s waste can, compared to not adding any fertiliser, bring an increase in agricultural yield of US$50 per year. So how can we ensure the recycling of nutrients from toilet to table is safe?

Wastewater reuse must have health–both human an environmental–as the underlying objective. Using a health-based risk assessment to better manage and finance improved sanitation, is exactly what Sanitation Safety Planning (SSP) is all about. Sanitation Safety Planning is a newly launched World Health Organisation tool, which helps optimise reuse of wastewater, greywater and excreta in low-income countries. Solving sanitation though is rather complicated, as it has a long service chain with a complex combination of stakeholders.

A recent visit to Kampala in Uganda reminded me of this. Despite the challenges, Kampala is a sanitation champion with a wide range of successful initiatives. This ambitious agenda is led by the Kampala Capital City Authority together with the water utility, and includes restoring an urban wetland (for both wastewater treatment and flood protection); reusing all the sludge from the wastewater treatment plant; building public-private partnerships, including training and certification, between the city and pit latrine emptiers; creating a call center for all pit latrine emptiers to ensure better and easier services; using social media for citizens to efficiently report local issues; school sanitation clubs to raise awareness among younger generations; as well as GIS-mapping of the entire sanitation status and needs of the city.

Sanitation Safety Planning is now being implemented in Kampala as one way to bring all these projects and actors together, and to ensure safety all the way from toilet to reuse or disposal. These are the two main features of Sanitation Safety Planning: involve all the key stakeholders, and look at the entire sanitation chain. Utilities, ministries, city authorities, pit emptiers’ unions, civil society and farmers all need to work together to achieve success.

Many sanitation challenges remain, and not only in Kolkata and Kampala. But Sanitation Safety Planning can show how conquering health risks can be surprisingly easy, even in a low-income setting–especially when combining many smaller measures.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) clearly state that sanitation is more than a toilet. It’s also about everything after that: it’s about the health and safety of the pit emptier in Kampala, the farmer I spoke to in Kolkata, and the salad-eater in the 5-star hotel. Human waste provides great opportunities as a resource if managed correctly. Sanitation Safety Planning is a powerful tool to do exactly that–allowing us to move towards a circular economy, and achieving the SDGs, one safe salad at the time.

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