November 2014: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has released a report, titled ‘Water and the Rural Poor: Interventions for Improving Livelihoods in Asia,’ which examines the relationship between poverty, agriculture and access to water in rural areas of Asia.

The report includes sections on: water and rural livelihoods; rural livelihoods, water and agriculture – trends and transformations in Asia; mapping poverty, water and rural livelihoods in Asia; and water interventions for improving rural livelihoods. Among intervention options the report outlines: rainwater management; groundwater management; community-based irrigation schemes; water storage; delta and lowland water management; livestock-water interventions; water management for aquaculture and fisheries; and consideration of climate change.

The report identifies a number of options to reduce rural poverty through water management, including: increasing availability of, and access to, water; increasing water productivity and value added of water; addressing vulnerability to floods and droughts, and rainfall variability in general; and promoting multiple-use water services (MUS). [Publication: Water and the Rural Poor: Interventions for Improving Livelihoods in Asia]