Do UK Imports Impact on Water Security?

The agricultural sector consumes approximately 70% of accessible freshwater globally, which is more than double what industry uses.

According to a report by the World Economic Forum (WEF), entitled 2015 Global Risks Report, water is the biggest potential economic impact risk.

Do UK Imports Impact on Water Security?

While organisations such as Fairtrade International, Bonsucro, Round Table on Responsible Soy, Organic, the Better Cotton Initiative, Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, and the Rainforest Alliance have already gone a long way to ensure the growth of sustainability standards in agriculture, it is insufficient.

According to WWF research, around 40% of UK imports come from regions that have a high water risk, and although sustainable managers are well aware that water security is an issue, supply chain water risks are not being mitigated.

While traditional methods of water stewardship have been for the farmers to ensure that their chemical and pesticide inputs are minimised, that there is a strip of vegetation beside any river their farm might border on, efficient irrigation and ensuring that their farm in no way adversely affect others, this has also not wholly worked.

Even though producers may have certification, this does not insulate them against severe droughts such as California is currently experiencing or the risk of devastating floods such as the coffee producers in Colombia are faced with.

Although agricultural sustainability standards do provide various prerequisites that increasingly address water risks to varying degrees, no certification or standard will ever be able to sufficiently decrease water risks.

It is vital that the correct balance between on-site and river basin-linked water management must be found, which led to the concept of water stewardship. The Alliance for Water Stewardship defines this as “the use of water that is socially equitable, environmentally sustainable and economically beneficial, achieved through a stakeholder-inclusive process that involves site and catchment-based actions.”