Risk-Informed Water Governance, a Critical Tool to Avert Hunger and Conflict

Mar 27, 2023 | Emma Whitaker
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To build resilience to water insecurity among vulnerable communities in Eastern Africa and beyond, research from the adelphi-WFP Climate Adaptation Learning Facility has identified the importance of linking water security to climate adaptation of food systems and livelihoods.

World leaders are currently coming together in New York from 22 – 24 March for the first water UN Water Conference in more than 40 years: their aim, to avert a global water crisis. But for farmers in Eastern Africa facing catastrophic food insecurity due to the sixth failed rainy season, or pastoralists who have lost over eleven million animals since drought started in 2020, the crisis is already here.

So, what can we hope for from this gathering? Much debate will be on how to address dwindling global water resources. But equitable governance of changing access to water, informed by the hazards climate change poses, will be key.