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Publication with online media attention: new research why the world fails to be more efficient with water and food resources
Can the world succeed in becoming more efficient with water and food resources, while preserving sufficient nature by 2050? No, according to a recent study of WRM researchers *(Seijger et al., 2025) that assessed the period after the Green Revolution, from 2000 to 2020, and concluded considerably more agricultural land was required than initially anticipated. This will result in significant depletion of water reserves and loss of natural land. Compared to envisioned scenarios for water and agriculture, the world is on a trajectory toward the direst conceivable outcome. Anticipated enhancements in international trade, rain-dependent farming, and irrigated agriculture have not been realized. Who bears the immediate consequences? Primarily, the environment, with diminished forests, dwindling rivers, and diminishing natural habitats. Moreover, the most impoverished suffer, as disappointing yields and reduced grain trade will contribute to escalating food costs and food insecurity.
Researchers of WRM collaborated with researchers from IRRI, IWMI, IIASA and IHE Delft. The study was published in Agricultural Water Management. It sparked online discussions on feasible and realistic gains in water and food, with a news item on the WUR website** and blog posts on the Dutch Foodlog*** and international Water Alternatives Forum ****.
* https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377424005651
*** https://www.foodlog.nl/artikel/onderwijl-blijkt-water-het-probleem