By Abbas Nazil
Ensuring water security is essential for food security and agricultural transformation in Europe and Central Asia, according to the newly released 2024 Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition report.
The report, prepared by seven United Nations entities, highlights how sustainable water management can enhance efficiency, inclusivity, resilience, and sustainability in the region’s food and agriculture sectors.
It calls for intensified action to eliminate hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition by 2030.
Despite the region having lower hunger and food insecurity rates compared to the global average, some countries still struggle due to socioeconomic factors, climate risks, and conflicts, including the ongoing war in Ukraine.
While global undernourishment remained at 9.1 per cent in 2023, Europe and Central Asia maintained a rate below 2.5 per cent since 2005.
However, in Central Asia, approximately 2.3 million people (3 per cent of the population) still experience inadequate dietary intake.
Additionally, about 107.2 million people—11.5 per cent of the regional population—faced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2023, though this was a slight improvement from the previous year.
The region has made progress in reducing childhood stunting and wasting, and anaemia among women aged 15-49 is significantly lower than the global estimate.
However, adult obesity is rising, with over 20 per cent of the population affected in 2022, surpassing the global average of 15.8 per cent. While childhood overweight rates are declining, they still exceed global figures.
Furthermore, 64.3 million people—6.9 per cent of the population—could not afford a healthy diet in 2022, a figure far below the global average of 35.4 per cent.
Water security remains a critical issue, extending beyond scarcity to include drinking water access, sanitation, hygiene, water-use efficiency, quality, and governance.
The report identifies deteriorating infrastructure, climate variability, water pollution, weak governance, and transboundary cooperation issues as key challenges.
In highly water-stressed countries, inefficient agricultural water use exacerbates these problems, especially with rising demand for water-intensive animal products.
The findings suggest that higher-income countries tend to be more water secure, but rural areas in Central Asia and the Caucasus still face poor water access, affecting nutrition outcomes.
The report urges tailored national water strategies, investments in conservation, recycling, and reuse, and improved transboundary cooperation to enhance water management.
By addressing these challenges, the region can strengthen agricultural resilience and ensure long-term food security.
