Press release -
Water as a precious commodity: competition for natural resources prevents sustainable development and excludes entire communities from water resources
Milan, 27 January 2022 - Competition for water resources caused by large-scale investments in agricultural land can have serious social and economic consequences. These are the findings of a study by the Politecnico di Milano in collaboration with the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Notre Dame, Colorado State University, the University of Delaware, and the Vrije Univeristeit in Amsterdam, published in Nature Communications.
The ongoing agrarian transformation towards large-scale commercial agriculture often pursues the goal of increasing agricultural production through the expansion of irrigation. In this process, translation large-scale land acquisition (LSLA) is playing a primary role.
The study by Politecnico di Milano analysed the water status of 160 acquisitions and the resulting emergence of water scarcity associated with the cultivation of the land involved. The results confirm that the lands of interest to investors are those with preferential access to surface water and groundwater resources. In addition, the research shows that such agricultural investments often exacerbate water scarcity through both the cultivation of crops that demand a lot of water and the expansion of irrigated crops. Of the 160 large-scale acquisitions analysed, 105 resulted in competition for water, often to the detriment of local users.
"Combining the growing demand for water with limited water resources is a key challenge for sustainable development,”comments Maria Cristina Rulli, Professor of Hydrology at Politecnico di Milano. “The use of water resources for agricultural production in large-scale land acquisitions can generate hydrological and social consequences for local users. To date, there have been only a few timid attempts to regulate, mainly on a voluntary basis, large-scale agricultural land acquisitions in the Global South and, unfortunately, recent progress in understanding the water dimension of these acquisitions has not yet been translated into a water governance perspective that takes into account any hydrological constraints, the need for water to ensure rural livelihoods, and environmental law".
In many parts of the world, water rights are inseparable from land, and remain intrinsically linked to land rights, as pertaining to land overlying an aquifer or bordering a surface water body. As a result, water is often acquired through land ownership or long-term land leases and concessions.
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Politecnico di Milano is a scientific-technological university which trains engineers, architects and industrial designers.
The University has always focused on the quality and innovation of its teaching and research, developing a fruitful relationship with business and productive world by means of experimental research and technological transfer.
Research has always been linked to didactics and it is a priority commitment which has allowed Politecnico Milano to achieve high quality results at an international level as to join the university to the business world. Research constitutes a parallel path to that formed by cooperation and alliances with the industrial system.
Knowing the world in which you are going to work is a vital requirement for training students. By referring back to the needs of the industrial world and public administration, research is facilitated in following new paths and dealing with the need for constant and rapid innovation. The alliance with the industrial world, in many cases favored by Fondazione Politecnico and by consortiums to which Politecnico belong, allows the university to follow the vocation of the territories in which it operates and to be a stimulus for their development.
The challenge which is being met today projects this tradition which is strongly rooted in the territory beyond the borders of the country, in a relationship which is developing first of all at the European level with the objective of contributing to the creation of a single professional training market. Politecnico takes part in several research, sites and training projects collaborating with the most qualified European universities. Politecnico's contribution is increasingly being extended to other countries: from North America to Southeast Asia to Eastern Europe. Today the drive to internationalization sees Politecnico Milano taking part into the European and world network of leading technical universities and it offers several courses beside many which are entirely taught in English.
