With such significant focus on carbon emissions reduction, water is often not part of the mainstream public discourse concerning our natural resources use. However, while Europe is largely considered to have adequate water resources, water scarcity and drought is an increasingly frequent phenomenon, and one that demands increasing attention in today’s climate change-affected world.

Water is a critical input for agricultural production and central to ensuring food security. Irrigated agriculture represents 20 percent of the total cultivated land and contributes 40 percent of the total food produced worldwide. Irrigated agriculture is, on average, at least twice as productive per unit of land as rainfed agriculture, thereby allowing for more production intensification and crop diversification. 

Currently, agriculture accounts for nearly 70% of global freshwater consumption, and with climate change, increased urbanization and the necessity to feed a global population set to grow to more than 10 billion by 2050, competition for water resources will increase significantly in the coming  decades, with agricultural production having to expand by approximately 70% by 2050 to meet  the demand for calories.

This edition of the Bayer Life Talks will look at the EU’s current approaches to water management, which are most recently addressed in the context of the Green Deal and the EU’s Circular Economy Package, and to develop the conversation around the value and role of water in Europe  and around the globe. It will reflect on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, which carry a number of targets for water action as we head towards 2030, and the discussion will focus on the  tools, both policy and innovation, that can be utilised to move the water scarcity agenda forward.