Blue Water and the Consequences of Alternative Food Security Policies in the Middle East and North Africa for Water Security
In the Middle East and North Africa, food security and water security are tightly entwined. In particular, choices about the extent to which food security policies rely on trade rather than domestically produced staples have stark consequences for...
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2013
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/05/17772661/ http://hdl.handle.net/10986/15598 |
| Summary: | In the Middle East and North Africa,
food security and water security are tightly entwined. In
particular, choices about the extent to which food security
policies rely on trade rather than domestically produced
staples have stark consequences for the region's
limited water resources. This paper builds on previous
modeling results comparing the cost and benefits of policies
to protect consumers against surging international wheat
prices, and expands the analysis to consider the
consequences of the policies for water resources. A
self-sufficiency policy is analyzed as well. Results suggest
that trade-based food security policies have no significant
effect on the sustainability of water resources, while the
costs of policies based on self-sufficiency for water
resources are high. The analysis also shows that while
information about the water footprint of alternative
production systems is helpful, a corresponding economic
footprint that fully measures the resource cost of water is
needed to concisely rank alternative policies in economic
terms that are consistent with sustainable outcomes. |
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