Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Water is essential to food systems and is vital for ensuring food security and for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This has become even more evident in the light of the current multiple water crises across the globe; water scarcity, drought, floods, and pollution, all further enhanced by climate change and degrading land and soil resources. Accounting for over 70 percent of global freshwater withdrawals, agriculture is the largest water use sector globally. The  water crises therefore  make agrifood systems more vulnerable to changes in water availability and quality.

As demand for water, energy, and food rises due to population growth, change in dietary patterns, urbanization and other global trends, different sectors compete for already limited resources. Several solutions exist within agrifood systems to address these challenges, including the efficient use of water in agriculture, the sustainable cultivation of drought-resilient and biodiverse crops, and the integrated management of water, land, and soil resources. These measures require global adoption, supported by well-designed policies and incentives. It is eminent that integrated approaches of water resources management and governance are more critical than ever to achieve both food and water security as well as the human rights to food and water.

Although the interconnections between water, agrifood systems, food security, and the environment are increasingly acknowledged by governments and the UN system, the implementation of integrated actions remains limited. For instance, only a minority of the National Pathways for Food Systems Transformation submitted during the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit incorporated water meaningfully, and despite the 2023 UN Water Conference highlighting the importance of resilient agrifood systems, only 13% of commitments in the Water Action Agenda included agriculture. This gap underscores the urgent need for cross-sectoral integrated management and governance in both the agriculture and water sector to translate global commitments into coherent action.

This High-Level Panel will explore how best to address control over, competition for, and access to water resources for agriculture and other sectors, while at the same time ensuring efficient and effective management. It serves as a platform to discuss policies and legal frameworks that can promote integrated approaches to water management and governance across sectors and identifies key entry points for strengthening the integration and enhancing coherence between water and agrifood systems through the upcoming UN 2026 Water Conference.