Dr. Banarsi Lal
Every year 16th of October is commemorated as the World Food Day by millions of people across the globe to honour the founding date of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) launched by the United Nations Organisation (UNO) in 1945. This day is celebrated by various organisations concerned with the food security with full enthusiasm and people commit together to eliminate hunger and poverty from society. The objective of this special campaign is also to highlight the millions of people across the globe who cannot afford a healthy diet and access to nutritious food. This day reminds us that we should take action for the eradication of hunger and poverty. World Food Day was established by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) member countries at the Organization’s 20th General Conference in 1979.The idea of celebration of World Food Day was given by Dr. Pal Romany, the then the Minister of Hungary for Agriculture and Food. On this day awareness on eradication of hunger and poverty from the society is created among the people. The reasons behind hunger and poverty are acknowledged. The celebration of this day also helps in increasing awareness on the effective agriculture and food policies to mitigate the food problem. This day is also celebrated as the food engineers’ day. On this day several organisations guide the people about the use of safe and healthy food and avoid the fast food. The theme of World Food Day in 2023 is “Water is Life, water is food. Leave no one behind”. This year theme aims to highlight the significant role of water for life on the Earth and water as the foundation of our food. It also aims to create awareness about the importance of managing water wisely as increasing population growth, economic development, urbanization and climate change threaten the water availability. This day spotlights the plight of 2.4 billion people in water-stressed countries and 600 million reliant on aquatic food systems who face pollution, ecosystem degradation and climate change impacts.
Water is a finite and irreplaceable resource that is fundamental to human well-being. It is indispensable for the existence of animal and plant eco-systems and is an essential element in the development of economic activities of any nation. It is the most vital resource for the existence of life on earth. No other natural resource is having such an overwhelming influence. Earth three-fourths surface is covered by the oceans. Freshwater constitutes a very small proportion of this enormous quantity. About 2.7 per cent of the total water available on the earth is fresh water of which 75.2 per cent lies frozen in Polar Regions and another 22.6 per cent is present as ground water. Rest of water is available in rivers, lakes, atmosphere water and soil and vegetation. India is having 2.4 per cent of the world’s geographical area, 4 per cent of the world’s water resources and 17.7 per cent of the world’s population. It has been observed that less than one per cent of the world’s fresh water on earth is readily available for human consumption. As the human population grows, the demand on freshwater resources will also grow. Presently the world is facing a freshwater crisis. If per-capita consumption of water resource continues to rise at its current rate, humankind could be using over 90 per cent of all available freshwater within 25 years leaving just 10 per cent for the rest of the world’s species. The availability of water is falling overtime and water crisis is the fifth highest risk to the society according to the 2020 edition of the World Economic Forum’s Global Risk report. Valuing the multiple uses of water from agriculture to power generation, domestic use, industry, fisheries, ecosystem and livelihoods can help to transform this looming crisis into an opportunity for advancing crisis.
Each year, there are about 250 million cases of water borne diseases with around 5-10 million deaths. It is not only people who are threatened by water shortages and pollution, freshwater ecosystems which harbour the world’s greatest concentration of species are among the most vulnerable on earth. Around half of the world’s wetlands have been destroyed in the last 100 years. Two-fifths of the fish are freshwater species and of these around 20 per cent are threatened, endangered or have become extinct in recent decades. Presently the freshwater demand is increasing not only because of demographic pressures but also because of improved living standards, urban and industrial growth. The world’s thirst for water is likely to become one of the most important issues of the 21st century. Global water consumption raised six fold between 1990 and 1995-more than double the rate of population growth and continues to grow rapidly as agricultural, industrial and domestic demand increase. In some areas, water withdrawals are so high relative to supply that surface water supplies are literally shrinking and ground water reserves are being depleted faster than they can be replenished by precipitation. Due to overexploitation of ground water, water tables are dropping and some rivers often become dry before they reach the sea. Freshwater is available as rainfall, surface water, ground water and atmospheric moisture. All these sources vary over place and time both seasonality and from year to year to year. Over exploitation of water resources, degradation of water recharge structures, paucity of funds, depleting water resources due to failure of monsoon and competing demand on the available water resources are the factors that cause concern on the supply front. On the demand side, factors such as growing urbanization, increase in population, change in life styles etc. also increase the complexity of the problem. Presently many Indian cities do not have enough sources of water and in future, it would have to be transported over large distances as the water is found more away from the cities. The country’s present and future situation can be gauged by the trend in water availability. It has been observed that irrigation alone accounted around 83 per cent of the total water use in 1997-98 on the demand side and it is likely to slow down to 69.5 per cent by the year 2050 due to the impact of technological advancement in irrigation. Demand of water for domestic, industrial and thermal power generation is expected to increase sharply. The limited ground water sources have not been able to keep pace with recharge and discharge to renew the balance. The amount of water available per person in India has decreased steadily over a period of time. It is predicted that the world in the year 2050 will be largely different from what it is today. Water sector will undergo dramatic changes in the years to come. We have no option but to depend on the available sources of water and have the responsibility to save and conserve them without fail. The water crisis has both quantitative and qualitative dimensions. We have glaring instances of water sharing conflicts not only between the states but also among the farmers or other water users. Urgent steps should be taken for drastic reduction of wastage of water in all sectors and protection of water sources from industrial pollution. There is need to frame an appropriate water policy and equally important indomitable conscience of water users to utilize water judiciously are necessary for sustainable utilization of water.
(The writer is Sr. Scientist &
Head, KVK, Reasi).
