WWAP (United Nations World Water Assessment Programme)/UN-Water. 2018. The United Nations World Water Development Report 2018: Nature-Based Solutions for Water. Paris, UNESCO
Agriculture will need to meet projected increases in
food demand by improving its resource use efficiency
while simultaneously reducing its external footprint, and
water is central to this need. A cornerstone of recognized
solutions is the ‘sustainable ecological intensification’ of
food production, which enhances ecosystem services in
agricultural landscapes, for example through improved soil
and vegetation management. ‘Conservation agriculture’,
which incorporates practices aimed at minimizing soil
disturbance, maintaining soil cover and regularizing crop
rotation, is a flagship example approach to sustainable
production intensification. Agricultural systems that
rehabilitate or conserve ecosystem services can be as
productive as intensive, high-input systems, but with
significantly reduced externalities. Although NBS offer
significant gains in irrigation, the main opportunities to
increase productivity are in rainfed systems that account
for the bulk of current production and family farming (and
hence provide the greatest livelihood and poverty reduction
benefits). The theoretical gains that could be achievable
at a global scale exceed the projected increases in global
demand for water, thereby potentially reducing conflicts
among competing uses.