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Promoting water tenure for food security, climate resilience and equity

  • FAO
  • adelphi
Promoting water tenure for food security, climate resilience and equity cover

Water tenure considers all types of water uses, including those that are not formally recognized by law. A major challenge to improving sustainable water use and food security for rural populations, particularly in areas affected by water scarcity, is to determine how customary arrangements for accessing and using water resources can be recognized as legitimate use rights and included in broader water governance frameworks. Secure water tenure is a prerequisite for investments in the efficient operation of water infrastructure. For these reasons, it is important that water tenure informs political agendas and is recognized as a crucial element of inclusive and sustainable development.

The workshop “Promoting Water Tenure for Food Security, Climate Resilience, and Equity” was implemented by FAO and adelphi on 18 and 29 June in Berlin, Germany, with the support of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), and the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). This report presents its main findings.

The objectives of the workshop were to increase knowledge and awareness about the role that water tenure plays in managing water resources and in its impacts on people’s food security and livelihoods. 

The workshop focused on three topics: 

  1. Water tenure and food security
  2. Water tenure and social inclusion
  3. Water tenure to increase climate resilience and mitigate conflicts

The workshop built on the results of the FAO project “Knowing Water Better – towards fairer and more sustainable access to natural resources (KnoWat).” The goal of the KnoWat project is to strengthen water governance processes in Rwanda, Senegal and Sri Lanka by building capacity in water accounting and developing and testing a methodology to assess water tenure. 

The project aims to contribute to global discourse and to advance the understanding of water tenure in the development sector, with the goal of increasing food security by safeguarding water rights. The workshop concept was developed in discussions with GIZ project teams on the potential uses of the water tenure concept for development.

Download the report

This description was retrieved from fao.org

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