Overview

Use Aqueduct tools to identify and evaluate water risks around the world. Aqueduct Food aims to help decision-makers map and proactively manage water-related risks to food production.

Seventy percent of global water withdrawals are used for agriculture. However, challenges to supplying the water needed to grow the world’s food are emerging as the climate changes, the population grows, and demand for already scarce water resources increases. By 2050, to feed a planet of 8.9 billion people, the world will need 56 percent more calories than are grown today. From crises in Syria to Somalia, it’s clear the devastation drought-driven losses in agricultural productivity can cause to lives and livelihoods. More than ever before, stakeholders from water and agricultural sectors need to consider the impacts these two vital resources have on each other, and plan proactively for the future.

Aqueduct Food combines global data on water risks and agriculture to illustrate water-related threats to and opportunities for food security, and how these dynamics may develop over time. WRI’s Aqueduct water risk maps are cross-referenced with data from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), showing spatially explicit global crop area along with data on food production, demand, trade, prices, and hunger for every country in the world. By providing users with a better understanding of how population growth and climate change will affect global food systems, Aqueduct Food aims to enable proactive management of water-related risks to food security.

Learn more about the social analysis and specific social factors to consider when using Aqueduct Food data.

Audience

Aqueduct Food was designed with a variety of potential users in mind. A few example users and uses are described below:

• Ministries of water and agriculture: Government officials within relevant ministries can use Aqueduct Food to see how changes in climate and demand for water could affect their food‐producing areas.
• Multinational agricultural corporations: Corporations that source agricultural products can use Aqueduct Food to help inform where they could consider working with producers on water‐efficient crop management, or from where they might sustainably source new ingredients. The information provided by the tool can help companies make business‐smart, water‐smart, and socially smart procurement decisions.
• International development organizations: Development banks and international aid agencies can use Aqueduct Food to help identify or confirm high priority areas with water risks to food security to which they may consider allocating resources.