Strengthening water and food security requires more efficient water use, fairer allocation and a shift towards circular and regenerative approaches, FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said today at a high-level session of the Rome Water Dialogue 2026 during the World Food Forum.
Recent El Niño events have underscored the urgency, Qu noted, showing how quickly shifts in rainfall can cause droughts and floods, resulting in the loss of human life, livestock and crops. These extreme events are putting greater pressure on scarce water resources and intensifying competition among agriculture, communities, industry and ecosystems.
“Water security is food security. Water is food. Water is life. We cannot achieve one without the other. And we cannot secure water without changing how agriculture uses and manages it,” the Director-General said.
Advancing the 4R approach
The Director-General called for wider use of the 4R approach- reduce, reuse, recycle, and replenish. The approach can help countries produce more and better with less water while reducing agriculture’s impact on water resources.
He set out four interconnected priorities: improving water-use efficiency through innovation, reliable data and transparent water accounting; ensuring fair and reliable access, particularly for small-scale producers, women, Indigenous Peoples and vulnerable communities; strengthening preparedness for droughts and floods through early warning and proactive risk management; and protecting forests, rivers, lakes, soils and ecosystems that regulate water cycles and sustain agricultural production.
“These four objectives must be advanced together,” the Director-General said. “Efficiency without inclusion deepens inequality. And resilience cannot last without healthy ecosystems or viable livelihoods.”
Through its Framework for Integrated Land and Water Resources Management, FAO supports Members in improving water productivity and strengthening the resilience of agrifood systems.
Water tenure at the heart of effective governance
The Dialogue also addressed how water is priced and allocated. Appropriate pricing and incentives, supported by sound public policy, can encourage efficiency, while safeguarding basic needs and protecting vulnerable communities.
“Water has cultural, social, economic and environmental value. Responsible governance must recognize all four,” the Director-General said.
Launched by FAO at the 2022 UN Water Conference, the Global Dialogue on Water Tenure brings together country-driven assessments and broad stakeholder consultations to develop global guidance grounded in local realities.
FAO will continue to support countries through water tenure assessments, water accounting and National Water Roadmaps, while strengthening partnerships among governments, farmers, researchers, civil society, financial institutions and the private sector.
Other participants at the high-level segment included: King Letsie III of Lesotho; LI Junhua, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs; Yasmine Fouad, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification; Retno L. P. Marsudi, United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Water; Qurbon Hakimzoda, Minister for Agriculture, Tajikistan; Ibrahim Yumakli, Minister for Agriculture and Forestry, Türkiye; Arsen Zhakanbayev, Vice Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Kazakhstan; Moustapha Zakia, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Syrian Arab Republic; Abdulaziz bin Malek Al Malek, Deputy Minister for Research and Innovation, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (online); Chayan Muangsong, Secretary-General, Office of the National Water Resources, Thailand; Salahddine Dahbi, Director General of Water, Ministry of Equipment and Water, Morocco; Xinyang Chi, Deputy Director General, International Economic and Technical Cooperation and Exchange Center (INTCE), Ministry of Water Resources, China; Winfried Wicklein, Director General, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and government representatives from Germany and Sri Lanka.
New platform to guide smarter irrigation investment
FAO also launched a digital platform to help countries identify where irrigation is feasible, most needed and likely to deliver sustainable benefits.
The Mapping of Irrigation Potential and Needs Initiative (IRMA) provides a decision-support framework that brings together data on existing irrigation, biophysical suitability, sustainable development needs and expected benefits. The platform enables agricultural areas to be assessed, compared and prioritized.
By replacing fragmented assessments with structured, evidence-based planning, IRMA can help countries align irrigation development with national priorities, strengthen coordination between water and agriculture institutions, and reduce financial and environmental risks.
