World Water Forum 2018: introducing IPC-IG publications related to water and sanitation

By IPC-IG

 girl drinking water

By Isabelle Araújo, Communications Intern*

 

Brasília, March 2018 - The IPC-IG is attentive to the agenda of the 8th World Water Forum, which, for the first time since its creation in 1997, will be hosted in the Southern Hemisphere, in the Brazilian capital, Brasília—a city which has been dealing with a protracted water shortage crisis. Considering the inextricable link between water, the environment and sustainable development, we have gathered a selection of our recent publications surrounding these themes and related topics, such as agriculture, food security and urban planning.

 

                                                              

 

Agriculture is the human socioeconomic activity that requires the largest amount of water. According to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 69 per cent of the water abstraction from the world's rivers and aquifers is devoted to activities related to the sector. In this context, discussing sustainable family farming is fundamental. In a special 2016 issue of the Centre’s flagship publication—the Policy in Focus magazine—entitled “Public policies for the strengthening of family farming in the Global South”, 8 articles draw attention to issues surrounding family farming in developing countries.

In the same year, another issue of Policy in Focus, entitled “Food and nutrition security: towards the full realisation of human rights”, features 12 articles addressing the challenges involved in attaining the human right to adequate nutrition and food sovereignty in Brazil and in various African countries. Water-related themes permeate all of the volume’s studies in some way and are the main subject of two specific articles: “Global convergence of land and water struggles in West Africa: building an economic community” and “The impact of the international fisheries agreements on food sovereignty: the case of Cape Verde”.

 

                                                                         

 

The following issue, entitled “A new urban paradigm: pathways to sustainable development”, brings insights and new ways of thinking about the contemporary world and the new ‘urban era’, providing inputs for policy makers, practitioners and researchers to address new challenges related to sustainable urban development. The articles “What makes our cities fragile?” and “City Climate Leadership and the New Urban Agenda” are especially relevant contributions to the broader discussion on sustainability, water and sanitation in urban areas.

 

* Under the supervision of Denise Marinho dos Santos, Senior Communications Officer