In this panel discussion with SIWI and the Government of the Netherlands, experts emphasize the need for integrated approaches to address these interconnected challenges.
Published on: 26/08/2024
This blog was originally published on the World Water Week website and has been co-authored by Sára Bori (IRC) and Lynne Myers (SIWI).
Water, food, energy, and biodiversity are intricately linked, and changes to one can have severe impacts on the other. To shed light on how these domains are connected and why an integrated approach is needed, we invited three (water) experts to an online panel discussion moderated by World Water Week Live Studio Talkshow Host, Hajar Yagkoubi. Hajar was joined by Lisa Hartog from the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, Julius Seinen from the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature, and Malin Lundberg Ingemarsson from SIWI’s Swedish Water House.
During this discussion, the experts explored the connections between water, food, energy, and biodiversity, underscoring the need for cross-sectoral collaboration. The panelists agreed that while the interconnected nature of these challenges is increasingly recognized, discussions often remain siloed.
As they look ahead to World Water Week and beyond, the panelists expressed hope that such platforms will inspire broader engagement and collaboration across sectors.
Here are the highlights of their discussion which they hope to inspire World Water Week participants with.
Land degradation, particularly soil depletion, is a critical issue due to unsustainable agricultural methods, climate change, and intensive land use. This leads to reduced soil fertility and unseen biodiversity challenges underground, affecting crop nutrients and food quality. Improving soil fertility enhances water retention, crucial for the water cycle. In the Netherlands, soil degradation and salinization, especially in coastal areas but globally also in arid areas, reduce soil productivity. The reliance on adapting seeds (and cultivation techniques) to new climate conditions and intensive fertilizer use, linked to energy consumption, further complicates the situation.
The disruption of the hydrological cycle manifests itself in changing rainfall patterns and intensities. New research about the functioning of the water cycle and the sources of rainfall on land, reveals that up to 60% of rainfall on land is also generated on land (as opposed to the oceans) – evapotranspiration from forests, wetlands, agriculture, etc. That implies that changes in land use, drying up of wetlands, deforestation and changes in agriculture on a large enough scale in certain regions, affect the rainfall in other regions! Water, biodiversity, climate and food production are thus highly interconnected.
"Applying nexus thinking means looking at challenges and solutions from multiple angles and in both short and long term. This can lead to difficult discussions, but they are necessary if we're going to successfully adapt systems for the future and ensure food security." – Julius Seinen, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature, the Netherlands
Addressing global challenges is difficult as long as interconnected sectors continue to work in silos. Separate COPs and international events for climate, biodiversity, soil, and water often address similar challenges from different perspectives, missing crucial links. These topics are politically charged, leading to disconnected agendas.
In addressing problems, two distinct approaches are highlighted: the crisis approach and the transformation approach. The crisis approach focuses on rapid change, embracing chaos to achieve urgent goals. The transformation approach is methodical, spanning two to three generations to implement structured change.
"When there is a problem that is urgent, like an armed conflict, people are forced to work together, but when it concerns climate change – although the crisis is all around us, but people don't experience it that way - there are less incentives to work together." - Lisa Hartog, Ministry of Infrastructure and Water, the Netherlands
Tackling the water crisis needs to consider various methods to address issues like soil degradation and salinization from both agricultural and long-term perspectives.
A two-pronged approach promoted by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature includes the following:
"To create the transformative changes that are urgently needed we must think about more than one thing at a time, but our brains are wired to put things into categories. To change our way of thinking is complex and requires time and practice." - Malin Lundberg Ingemarsson, SIWI
Interviewees agree that systemic change is needed but better cross-sector communication and collaboration are crucial to get there.
At SIWI, promoting holistic thinking and integrated approaches is a common practice. Projects often link different issues, such as the forest-water nexus and the water-agriculture-climate nexus. The report “The essential drop to reach Net-Zero: Unpacking Freshwater’s Role in Climate Change Mitigation” emphasizes the need for integrated approaches. Changing our way of thinking is complex and requires time and practice. Building experience from case studies and compiling good examples are crucial steps forward, allowing us to lean on each other instead of reinventing the wheel.
Initiatives like the Forest Water Champions group bring together experts to discuss and align on actions. Hosting multi-stakeholder groups on interconnected topics, such as water, agriculture, climate, and biodiversity, facilitates valuable discussions. SIWI has recently initiated a multistakeholder platform on the latter, involving farmers, municipal representatives, and politicians, that helps adapt successful methods from other countries to local contexts in Sweden.
In the Netherlands, holistic thinking involves using water and soil as a guiding principle for spatial/ infrastructure planning. The cross-sectoral approach aims, for example, to reduce drinking water usage by 20% in households and reduce groundwater abstraction for agriculture. Efficient water use through targeted irrigation and proper soil infiltration is emphasized in policy and practice. Collaboration between sectors and therefore ministries is crucial to connect national policies. This also highlights the importance of integrated efforts to address climate change and resource management challenges.
The Freshwater Challenge initiative, launched at the 2023 UN Water Conference as part of the Water Action Agenda, aims to address gaps in freshwater resources by restoring 300,000 kilometers of rivers and 315 million hectares of wetlands, globally. This country-led effort seeks to restore 30% of degraded freshwater ecosystems and protect another 30% of intact ones. The initiative has mobilized countries and organizations like WWF, IUCN, and Wetlands International. This global effort involves countries from both the Global North and South, including Cambodia, Mali, and Moldova. Gaining momentum at the climate conference in Dubai, it led to further initiatives like the U.S.’s America the Beautiful Freshwater Challenge.
"It is key to bypass our own human bias and work more interconnectedly." – Hajar Yagkoubi
The panelists have high expectations for World Water Week. They hope participants will embrace the complexities of global water issues, challenge themselves, and bring new perspectives. Engaging with experts from various fields is expected to lead to a growing momentum. The theme “Bridging Borders” aims to inspire collaboration and integrated approaches, encouraging attendees to step out of their comfort zones and connect with others from different sectors.
The panelists hope to see continued progress beyond World Water Week towards COP29 and further. They aim to integrate the agricultural perspective within the nexus approach at the Climate and Biodiversity COPs, which will both have Water Pavilions.
The upcoming report from the Global Commission on the Economics of Water is also expected to be crucial for inspiring further systems change.
Overall, there is hope that the trend of increasingly seeing water as a crucial connector in international processes will continue. In line with the GCEW approaches and analyses of the past 2 years, the Netherlands is also increasingly recognizing that managing and governing agriculture, biodiversity, and climate involves addressing various components of the water cycle. While water experts have long understood the cyclical nature of water, the focus has predominantly been on the linear aspect within the blue water space, such as rivers flowing from upstream to downstream. This approach has led to an oversimplification of water management. Now, they realize that the entire water cycle requires comprehensive management and governance. Moving forward, next to biodiversity managers, land use planners and urban planners, farmers and forest managers will be acknowledged as green water managers, potentially as crucial as the blue water managers they have traditionally regarded as the primary water stewards. It is essential to understand that everyone involved can be recognized as water managers. This exciting shifting, inclusive, perspective must be integrated into food, biodiversity, and climate policy discussions to drive meaningful change.
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