With the goal of supporting countries to build partnerships and streamline action on agriculture water management, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has launched a regional Initiative on Water Scarcity in the Near East.
September 2013: With the goal of supporting countries to build partnerships and streamline action on agriculture water management, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has launched a regional Initiative on Water Scarcity in the Near East.
The Initiative will work on a Regional Collaborative Strategy on sustainable agriculture water management for increasing the level of food security, and a Regional Partnership to support countries in the level of implementation of the collaborative strategy. The launching workshop took place in June 2013, and described the process of developing a regional review, followed by a series of National Assessments that will include, water accounting/auditing, the development of a water and food supply cost curve, and a knowledge gap analysis.
The Initiative builds on the FAO’s publication, Coping with Water Scarcity: an Action Framework for Agriculture and Food Security. Recommendations will be presented for endorsement to the 32nd FAO Regional Conference for the Near East in February 2014. [Publication: Coping with Water Scarcity: an Action Framework for Agriculture and Food Security] [FAO Initiative Website] [Publication: Regional Initiative on Water Scarcity in the Near East Preliminary Regional Review and Gap Analysis]