16 October: World Food Day

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) celebrates World Food Day each year on 16 October, the day on which the Organization was founded in 1945. The World Food Day and TeleFood theme for 2006 is ‘Investing in agriculture for food security’.

Agriculture may have become a minor player in many industrialized economies, but it must play a starring role on the world stage if we are to bring down the curtain on hunger. Investment in infrastructure in rural areas, especially in water, roads, power and communications, has a crucial role in kindling agricultural growth. If countries get these conditions right, dramatic benefits to agriculture and poor rural households can be expected.

Official website

8^th Regional Training Course on Flood Disaster Risk Management
16-27 October 2006, Bangkok, Thailand -Organizer: Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre

23^rd IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems
17-21 October 2006, Yokohama, Japan -Organizer: International Association of Hydraulic Engineering and Research (IAHR)

10^th Work sessions of the Chilean IHP Committee ‘Water in arid and semi-arid zones: anticipating the crisis’
26-27 October 2006, Santiago, Chile -Organizers: Chilean National Committee (Conaphi-Chile) for the UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme (IHP); Centre of Arid and Semi-Arid Zones of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAZALAC); Talca University, Chile; General Water Directorate, Chile

International Workshop on Groundwater for Emergency Situations
29-31 October 2006, Tehran, Iran -Organizers: Regional Centre on Urban Water Management (RCUWM – Tehran), Iran; UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme (IHP); UNESCO Teheran Cluster Office (UTCO), Iran

3^rd International Conference on Scour and Erosion
1-3 November 2006, Amsterdam, Netherlands -Organizer: International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE)

Water Resources in Ireland and Climate Change Seminar
14 November 2006, Tullamore, Ireland -Organizers: Irish National Committee for the UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme (IHP); Irish Committee on Climate Change (RIA)

Access a complete list of water events around the world

• It is estimated that more than 1.3 billion people in the developing world survive on less than a dollar a day and almost 3 billion survive on less than two dollars per day.
• In order to free people from the burden of disease and malnutrition, the need for secure access to water for the poor has been more strongly recognized.
• Those affected most by the water crisis are the world’s poor. It is they who suffer most immediately from unsafe water, lack of sanitation, food insecurity and from the effects of pollution and a degraded environment. Without representation or any voice in social, economic and political affairs, they are often powerless to improve their situation. This position of powerlessness only reinforces the vicious cycle of poverty, poor health, insecure livelihood and vulnerability to risks of every kind.
• There is a positive, albeit complex, link between water services for irrigation and other farm use, poverty alleviation and food security. Many of the rural poor work directly in agriculture, as smallholders, farm labourers or herders. The overall impact can be remarkable: in India, for example, in non-irrigated districts, 69% of the population are poor, while in irrigated districts, only 26% are poor.
• Data on the linkages between disasters and poverty are not always available, sometimes for political reasons. However, the statistics show that the victims of disasters in places where preparedness has been low are generally the poor and the marginalized, most of whom live in low-quality housing in flood-prone or drought-prone regions or along polluted watercourses. The poor are the most vulnerable to disasters, being exposed to the resulting health hazards but without the capacity to prepare for them or re-establish life-supporting conditions after the catastrophes.
• Flood and drought are the main causes of poverty and of the displacement and migration of poor populations.
• In many developing countries, women and female children are frequently the main providers of water for household use. Drought alleviation could reduce the annual expenditure of many million women years (a unit of measurement based on a standard number of woman-days in a year of work of effort to carry water from distant sources).
• As one of the major public health problems in tropical countries, malaria contributes substantially to the erosion of development achievements and hampers poverty alleviation efforts in the world’s poorest countries. It has been claimed that the disease has reduced economic growth in African countries by 1.3% each year over the past 30 years.
• 1.1 billion people lack access to improved water supply and 2.4 billion to improved sanitation. In the vicious poverty-ill-health cycle, inadequate water supply and sanitation are both the underlying cause and the outcome: invariably, those who lack adequate and affordable water supplies are the poorest in society.

Information from the 1^st United Nations World Water Development Report 'Water for People, Water for Life' (2003) and the 2^nd United Nations World Water Development Report, 'Water, a shared responsibility' (2006).

Linking Poverty Reduction and Water Management [PDF format – 1. 08 MB]
By the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Poverty-Environment Partnership and the Stockholm Environment Institute. © Poverty-Environment Partnership 2006

This publication analyzes the link between poverty reduction and water management, and outlines the different ways in which improvements to water management can advance the cause of poverty reduction. Indeed, improving access to water is in some cases an essential pre-condition to the attainment of other MDG targets: there is little prospect of many health, environmental or income targets being achieved unless action is taken to address water problems. The paper also gives a clear and optimistic message for the future. It illustrates that improving the contribution of water management to poverty reduction is not just achievable: it is affordable.

Access the full publication [PDF format – 1. 08 MB]

Water and Poverty – A Collection of Thematic papers [PDF format - 651 KB]
Various authors. © Asian Development Bank 2003.

The Water and Poverty Initiative, coordinated by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), is a partnership of organizations with shared interests and a commitment to poverty reduction through better water management. The partnership was formed in March 2002 with 13 collaborating partners to support the 3^rd World Water Forum’s ‘Water and Poverty’ theme.

This publication discusses in detail 10 successful efforts to improve water security for the poor. The case studies are taken from countries across Asia and Africa and showcase different, and often unique, approaches towards achieving success.

Access the full publication [PDF format - 651 KB]

Water Poverty Index

The Water Poverty Index (WPI) was developed by a team of researchers, practitioners and stakeholders, led by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) in the United Kingdom, to help determine priorities for action and to monitor progress towards specific targets.

This website explains this water management tool: what the WPI is for, how it monitors progress, and WPI criteria. A leaflet describing the WPI in more detail is available for download, and a worldwide Water Poverty Index map at the national level, and publications are also available, among other resources.

Water and Poverty Initiative

This Asian Development Bank website explains the link between water and poverty, who are the most affected groups, the need for collaboration, the aspects of water security for the poor and gives an account on six key result areas for action.

Poverty, Gender and Water

This International Water Management Institute (IWMI) website explains the link between poverty, gender and water; the definition of 'water deprivation' and the relation between women and irrigation.

Gender, Water and Poverty

This website explains the linkages among gender, water and poverty, and analyzes the following aspects: measuring poverty: the gender dilemma; gender, poverty and environment: a three-way interaction; policy implications; etc.

Access a complete list of water links around the world

Access the UNESCO Water Portal Weekly Update archives (starting at issue N° 85)

For contributions or comments, contact the editor at waterportal@unesco.org