Agri-Water Sustainability in India: Setting the Agenda for the Alliance for Thought Leadership and Action
India is a water-stressed region with increasing levels of pollution in water bodies due to untreated sewage and effluents. The agriculture sector, which consumes 80% of India’s water resources and accounts for 90% of the groundwater withdrawals, uses water inefficiently. All these challenges have wide-scale implications for the nation’s water security, further aggravated by climate change, a burgeoning population, and industrialization.
To address these issues, the 2030 WRG and Hindustan Unilever Foundation held a workshop in May 2015. Titled “Alliance for Thought Leadership and Action for Agri-Water,” the workshop highlighted the importance of building an alliance to leverage the collective potential of diverse actors to achieve sustainable water resources management in the country. This synopsis integrates the insights and feedback that panelists and participants expressed during the workshop, and provides an overview of key issues in agricultural water management for further inquiry and action.