Medienmitteilung

Humboldt Forum for Food and Agriculture Declaration on Water and Food Security

Zurich (ots) -

Currently, about one billion humans are
undernourished. The prospects for achieving world food security in 
the next decades are bleak. Global food demand is likely to double in
the first half of the century. As a consequence, prices of key 
agricultural commodities may be expected to be 50 to 100 percent 
higher towards the end of this decade than they were after the turn 
of the millennium. Higher food prices would dramatically increase the
number of undernourished, and they have the potential to trigger 
violent food riots and mass migration away from food insecure 
countries.

Agriculture withdraws about 70% percent of all fresh water. In the
past agricultural production growth has always been paralleled by 
increasing water withdrawals for farming. Therefore, future food 
production growth is increasingly constrained by water. Humboldt 
Forum for Food and Agriculture (HFFA) released a declaration on 
"Water and World Food Security" on the 2010 World Water Day.

It calls for:

• Additional R&D investment in for more efficient water institutions.
• Increasing water efficiency of crops through increased investment in plant breeding research and water infrastructure.
• A liberal international agricultural trade system such that food can flow freely from areas with abundant water and other natural resources to where it is needed
• Pricing water such that it reflects its value to society.
• Emphasis on water and world food security in the international policy debate.

HFFA also calls for a global summit on water and world food 
security. It also proposes to create an international A25 group 
which, much like the G20, develops implements and coordinates 
international efforts to alleviate hunger around the globe.

Berlin Declaration: www.humboldtforum.org

Contact:

Mathis Brauchbar, Media Relations
Mobile: +41/79/407'93'62
E-Mail: info@humboldtforum.org

Permalink:

https://www.presseportal.ch/de/pm/100017165/100600203