Policymakers should also work to ensure that water charges to agriculture better reflect full supply costs. And they should improve the coherence between agriculture, water, energy and environmental policies, to reinforce progress and prevent initiatives from cancelling each other out. Efforts to strengthen agriculture’s resilience to climate change, for instance, will also be important for water management (see article on climate change).
Last but not least, knowledge is vital for underpinning better management. Water is a global problem with local solutions. Policymakers must work together to fill information gaps, learn from one another and ensure that farmers and managers have access to the information they need.
Farmers in many situations are beginning to adopt practices and technologies that will lead to more efficient use of water. By adopting such measures as these, policymakers would help reinforce this trend.