Speaking during the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture in Berlin, Da Silva defined the increasing lack of water as one of the main challenges for sustainable development, a situation that would become worse with the constant global population growth and intensification of climate change.
In that reference, he proposed to take actions in two different fronts: promoting first a more efficient use of water and in second place, to guarantee that farm workers and poor families have access to this resource.
He clarified that these measures would not prevent drought from happening, but would prevent hunger and the socioeconomic crisis from worsening.
He insisted on the urgent need to reduce food waste, something that also represents a more sensible use of water, and explained that every year, a third of the food produced is lost or wasted and together with them, a huge volume of water used in agriculture.
He recalled that faced with these challenges and in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, international community promised a better management of this natural resource, which is essential among other goals to eradicate abject poverty, hunger and malnutrition, and take actions to adjust to the climate change.
The FAO director general warned that the struggle for access to water would be more intense in 2050, when the number of inhabitants in this planet exceeds nine billions.
PL/MNA
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