Tim AldredHead of Policy

CV: CMS / CAFOD /Progressio

Nottingham & Birmingham University

• Effective governance and participation• Sustainable environment• HIV/AIDS

• Formerly CIIR / Catholic Institute for International Relations

• Of the Catholic church, but not in it…

Waterproofing development

or… why food policy wonks need to think about water

Water – food – energy

• Mulberries or electricity?• Food or energy – water choices• Look for the links

Food and Oil• Ships, lorries, fertiliser,

tractors…need oil• If oil prices go up – so

do food prices• Food prices spike when

oil gets expensive• Look for the links

Planet under pressure…“by 2030, the world will need at least 50% more food, 45% more energy, and 30% more water.”- Caroline Spelman MP (former Environment Secretary)

Over 70% of the freshwater we abstract is used for agriculture - Planet under pressure conference 2012

The population is predicted to rise from 7 to 9 billion by 2050 (but it could be 8 or 10).

Climate change will exacerbate the pressure

Is anybody listening?

Yemen: Food, water – and fuel…

A community pump

• Conflict has pushed up water prices – and fuel and food prices

• I could not afford the water so I gave up on the garden – Omar Ali

Yemen – a story from the ground

• Community management is essential for sustainability and fairness

• Ali’s garden needs 200 gallons every week

• Previously we used to buy vegetables from the market, which is 10 kilometres from the village.

– Ali Sagheer

Somaliland: Pastoral economy (herding)

Increasing water stress (climate change)

Grazing disappearing

Soil erosion

Food insecurity

Somaliland – pastoral economy

Pressure on scarce water resources & climate change – overgrazing, erosion…food insecurity

‘In Somaliland, the backbone of our economy is livestock, but we don’t have any food for the livestock, so we have a lot of overgrazing.’

• Water harvesting• Soil conservation• Inclusive water

management• Awareness-raising• Collaboration with

government

A global or a local issue?• In Peru: good (short term)

for GDP – promoted by government and donors

• Water table dropping by 5-10m / year – long term economic & social cost

• Supermarket supply chain policies

• Regulation & corruption • Our consumption matters

What does a water footprint tell us?• How much water in my glass of wine?

• Where is it from? (rain, rivers, ground)

• Are you taking out more water than you put in? (water stress)

• How good / fair / sustainable is the decision making (water governance)?

• “Market failure” and political failure

• Need to plan 30-50 years ahead – for our grandchildren

Long term thinking needed…

Who controls access & decisions?• Do those affected

by water decisions have a say?

• PM’s 2015 rhetoric vs consultation reality

• On the ground: big business is often heard when smallholders are not

Some Christian responses…• Prophetic voice: speaking truth to power and

complacency

• The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better (Fr Richard Rohr)

• The natural world is a gift to be stewarded, not a threat to be feared

• Solidarity between poor and rich, and with future generations

Benedict XVI (to the FAO in 2011)

“technical solutions, no matter how developed, are not helpful if they fail to take into account the centrality of the human person,

who, in his spiritual and material dimensions, is the measure of all rights and therefore must be the guiding criterion of programmes”

Or if you like…• Test bright ideas

against the impact they will have on real people

• And the rights and dignity of the poorest matter