From ground to growth: can Africa's hidden water resource help secure future agricultural growth and food security?

ODI’s Water Policy Programme (WPP)[3], the Global Water Initiative East Africa (GWI)[4] and UEA’s  Water Security Research Centre (WSRC)[5] will host a flagship event on 21 March 2014 to mark World Water Day (22nd March). The event will bring together international experts from a range of disciplines and sector perspectives to discuss four key themes:      

• The groundwater perspective: Are recent headlines about Africa’s vast groundwater potential credible? What do we know – and what don’t we know – about the development potential and management needs of groundwater resources in SSA?
• The agriculture and poverty perspective: Does better land and water management, and more irrigation in particular, hold the key to ‘climate-proofing’ agriculture, raising yields and reducing rural poverty?
• The financing and economic perspective: How are irrigation pathways – from smallholder farming to major multipurpose schemes - shaped by economics and institutions? Does irrigation really pay, and what kind of institutional environment is needed to support responsible and inclusive development?
• Lessons from the Asian perspective: thanks to a groundwater boom, millions of farmers have improved their livelihoods and food security in South Asia and northern China. But the costs of runaway withdrawals are now hitting hard – on poorer farmers, the environment and other sectors, not least energy. What important lessons can be drawn? 

The day will conclude with the launch of a new book, Water Security, Principles, Perspectives and Practices, published by Earthscan, with mini-presentations from some of the well-known authors.