November 2012: The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) released the November issue of its newsletter, titled “Stockholm Water Front.” The bulletin identifies takeaways from the 2012 World Water Week on the water and food nexus, and reports on a project aimed at ensuring climate resilient food production in Viet Nam.
The bulletin highlights the outcomes of the 2012 World Water Week, where participants identified challenges as, inter alia: increasing production, malnourishment and food waste; increasing food demand requires sustainable agricultural intensification; clarifying linkages between water, energy and food; recognizing that land deals affect water quality and quantity; encouraging investment in sanitation and hygiene to reduce malnutrition; and recognizing that early warning systems save lives.
The bulletin also welcomes incoming SIWI Executive Director Torgny Holmgren, and reports on the 2.6 billion people projected not to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). On sanitation, the bulletin outlines the economic case for sanitation, highlighting the environmental and human costs of failing to provide proper sanitation facilities. It identifies reasons why sanitation is neglected, including that: the effects fall primarily on the poor; cultural taboos; and the lack of a single government agency responsible for sanitation. Other sanitation initiatives mentioned in the bulletin include the adoption of the Sanitation Water for All Initiative.
On climate resilient food production in Viet Nam, the bulletin notes the flood and drought risks in the Mekong River Delta. It describes actions taken by the Government of Viet Nam to increase disaster preparedness and resilience, such as the 2008 launch of the National Target Programme (NTP) responding to climate change in the short -and long-term. The article concludes by highlighting a partnership between SIWI and the Vietnam Association for Conservation of Nature and the Environment (VACNE) to link policy and practice by communicating climate impacts to farmers in the Red and Mekong River deltas.
The bulletin also reports on the publication by SIWI of an analysis of water research, titled “The Water and Food Nexus: Trends and Development of the Research Landscape,” and a report by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Water Governance Facility (WGF), housed at SIWI, on “Human Rights-Based Approaches and Management Water Resources.” [Publication: Stockholm Water Front No. 3, November 2012]