An analysis of the framings of water scarcity in the Jordanian national water strategy

This viewpoint analyzes the Jordanian water strategy to investigate how water scarcity is framed, and what solutions are suggested. It also analyzes how the framings and discourses have changed in the two versions of the strategy, why, and their implications. The Jordanian national water strategy has been overlooked by the literature of hydropolitics.  The analysis here also contributes by showing the interplay between discourses of scarcity and policy solutions

Perspectives : How global food traders manage our water

To many analysts, global water governance is about getting the institutions right: more accountable water users and more public participation in decisions. But are we barking up the right tree? In this analysis, we argue that when analysing global water governance, one needs to look at the global players that really matter – an exclusive group of global food traders. These traders must be held accountable for their water footprint

Handbook of Land and Water Grabs in Africa; Foreign direct investment and food and water security

According to estimates by the International Land Coalition based at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), 57 million hectares of land have been leased to foreign investors since 2007. Current research has focused on human rights issues related to inward investment in land but has been ignorant of water resource issues and the challenges of managing scarce water. The geographical scope of this book will be the African continent, where land has attracted the attention of risk-taking investors because much land is under-utilised marginalized land, with associated water resources and rapidly growing domestic food markets. The successful implementation of investment strategies in African agriculture could determine the future of more than one billion people. An important factor to note is that sub-Saharan Africa will, of all the continents, be hit hardest by climate change, population growth and food insecurity. Sensible investment in agriculture is therefore needed, however, at what costs and at whose expense? The book will also address the livelihoods theme and provide a holistic analysis of land and water grabbing in sub-Saharan Africa. Four other themes will addressed: politics, economics, the environment and the history of land investments in sub-Saharan Africa

Virtual water hegemony: the role of agribusiness in global water governance

The recent global food crises have highlighted how the agro-food system tends to be subject to powerful agribusiness players, with thus far unidentified consequences for global water security. By connecting hydro-hegemony and virtual water concepts, this study illustrates the Western dominance over the virtual water embedded in international agro-food commodity trade flows. Accordingly, foreign direct investment in land by emerging Asian and Arab economies and their increased competition over the sources of global food supply chains appear as strategies to challenge the Western agribusiness “virtual water hegemony”

Enabling policy environment for water, food and energy security

The complexity of water, food and energy security is analysed from the perspectives of (i) water and food and (ii) water and energy and their interconnectivity and focuses ultimately on water as a primary input into processes, the entry point for participants of the Third World Irrigation Forum. The paper provides an overview of trends in water, food and energy security, highlights the interconnectivity between the various elements and introduces the water–food–energy nexus as a tool for improving productivity and sector policies, avoiding unintended consequences on other sectors. Invariably, there will be trade‐offs and the challenge is to find combinations of measures that have a net positive outcome. In order to quantify security in the three elements and the trade‐offs between them, emerging modelling approaches for the nexus are discussed. Sub‐theme 3 of the forum focuses on productivity and technology interventions and sub‐theme 2 on stakeholder interaction. The combination of modelling, technology innovations and stakeholder participation in a water–food–energy nexus approach leads to better understanding of linkages and more robust policies and is used to derive recommendations for an enabling policy environment