WC133 NovDec 2023 - Magazine - Page 38
H2OPINION
Climate change and its impact on agriculture
As our population grows, there are simply more people to feed.
But climate change is affecting the agricultural sector in a big way.
As the climate shifts patterns away from conventional agriculture practices, farming productivity is on the decline. As the
land’s productivity changes, farmers can no longer operate with
conventional methods. Will they sell their land and move to a
city to find a new job? Will the generations after them continue
to farm?
In Canada, it’s important to monitor the Prairies, which grows
80 per cent of the country’s agricultural produce. In the summer
of 2021, drought conditions had a huge impact in the region.
According to Statistics Canada, major grains grown in the region
had large yearly yield decreases—with several grains experiencing the biggest drops on record. Nationally, canola production
dropped 35.4 per cent and wheat production fell 38.5 per cent.
As climate change leads to hotter and drier conditions in the
Prairies, we could see multi-year droughts, which could have an
even bigger impact on the country’s agricultural system.
With less reliable agriculture, food sources become more
uncertain, even as there are more mouths to feed.
Our water’s future: Where will it come from?
So, how do we solve these problems? Let’s place our answers in
two buckets—engineered solutions and policy solutions.
Engineered solutions include dams and reservoirs, seawater and
brackish desalination, inter-basin transfers, green infrastructure,
water harvesting, virtual water trading, sustainable agricultural
practices, and more. Not all solutions are available in every region,
but they can work well in certain situations. For many of the counties facing water stress conditions, however, affordability may be an
issue. These solutions can be expensive and, thus, unaffordable.
So, we need to also consider water policy solutions—and
this is where the true progress will come. We need to monitor
population growth, curtail urbanization, implement water conservation, reduce leakage losses, promote sustainable irrigation
practices, price the full value of water, and use integrated regional
community and urban planning. All these are about policy, not
technology.
The only way to make water available? Make more supply
available by cutting down how much you and I use. And that’s
what everybody must do—people in water-scarce areas and water-rich areas. We must reduce our own personal water per capita
use so that it becomes available for those who either can’t afford
it, or can’t access it, or both. And it’s not just about individual
consumption—utilities, governments, commercial businesses,
institutions, industries, and other entities must change the way
they consume and use water.
According to a 2019 report by Statistics Canada, average
Canadian residential water usage is around 215 litres per day—
nearly twice as much as Germany and the UK. Canada’s combined water usage for industrial, commercial, and institutional
sectors—which includes agriculture and manufacturing—used
1,350 million cubic metres in 2019. That’s a big number.
Our global per capita water demand must come down. Until
it does, areas under water stress will only get worse, and climate
change will continue to impact agriculture in more significant
ways, exacerbating the lack of availability. And then there won’t
be enough food, let alone not enough water.
I realize this sounds dire. But I hope it inspires us to action.
When we reduce global demand, we’ll have more water available. And then we can apply those engineered solutions in ways
that preserve the availability of that water. Let’s work together to
ensure a future where water flows for everyone.
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WATER C AN ADA • NOV EMBER/ DECEMBER 2023
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
