WATER FOR FOOD SECURITY AND WELL-BEING

IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

This volume provides an analytical and facts-based overview of the progress achieved in
water security in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region during the last decade,
and its links to regional development, food security and human well-being. Although the
book takes a regional approach, covering a vast amount of data pertaining to most of the
LAC region, some chapters focus on seven countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia,
Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru).
A full understanding of LAC’s progress requires framing this region in the global context:
an ever more globalized world where LAC has increasing geopolitical power and a
growing presence in international food markets. The book’s specific objectives are: (1)
exploring the improvements and links between water and food security in LAC countries;
(2) assessing the role of the socio-economic ‘megatrends’ in LAC, identifying feedback
processes between the region’s observed pattern of changes regarding key biophysical,
economic and social variables linked to water and food security; and (3) reviewing the
critical changes that are taking place in the institutional and governance water spheres,
including the role of civil society, which may represent a promising means to advancing
towards the goal of improving water security in LAC.
The resulting picture shows a region where recent socioeconomic development has
led to important advances in the domains of food and water security. Economic growth
in LAC and its increasingly important role in international trade are intense in terms of
use of natural resources such as land, water and energy. This poses new and important
challenges for sustainable development. The reinforcement of national and global
governance schemes and their alignment on the improvement of human well-being is
and will remain an inescapable prerequisite to the achievement of long-lasting security.
Supporting this bold idea with facts and science-based conclusions is the ultimate goal
of the book.

Bárbara A. Willaarts is a Researcher at the Water Observatory – Botín Foundation and a

Postdoctoral Researcher at the Research Centre for the Management of Agricultural and Environmental
Risks (CEIGRAM), Technical University of Madrid, Spain.

Alberto Garrido is a Professor in Agricultural Economics, Technical University of Madrid, Director

of the Research Centre for the Management of Agricultural and Environmental Risks (CEIGRAM) and
Deputy Director of the Water Observatory – Botín Foundation, Madrid, Spain.

M. Ramón Llamas is the Director of the Water Observatory – Botín Foundation and Emeritus
Professor at Complutense University, Madrid, Spain.
Authors of the Water Obser vator y – Botín Foundation:
Bárbara A. Willaarts
Alberto Garrido
Maite M. Aldaya
Lucia De Stefano
Elena López-Gunn
Pedro Martínez Santos
Emilio Custodio
Enrique Cabrera
Fermin Villarroya
Daniel Chico
Aurélien Dumont
Insa Flachsbarth
Marta Rica
Gloria Salmoral

Latin American team leaders and authors:

Pedro R. Jacobi and Vanessa Empinotti (PROCAM /IEE Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil)
Rosario Pérez Espejo (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)
Guillermo Donoso (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile)
Diego Arévalo (Centro de Ciencia y Tecnología de Antioquia, Colombia)
Julio Kuroiwa (Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, Peru)
Patricia Phumpiu (Centro del Agua para América Latina y el Caribe, Mexico)
María Josefa Fioriti (Subsecretaría de Recursos Hídricos – Ministerio de Planificación, Argentina)
Andrea Suárez (Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica)

EARTSHCAN – Fundación Botín, Santander (Spain)

London-Sterling, VA

Language editor:
Ruth Cunningham

Editorial Assistants:
Daniel del Olmo Rovidarcht
Olga Fedorova
Desireé Torrente

Designer:
María Carmona www.cedecarmona.com
WATER FOR FOOD SECURITY AND WELL-BEING
IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
Social and Environmental Implications
for a Globalized Economy
Edited by Bárbara A. Willaarts, Alberto Garrido and M. Ramón Llamas
First published 2014
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

And by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2014 The Botín Foundation

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trade-

marks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Water for food security and well-being in Latin America and the Caribbean:
social and environmental implications for a globalized economy / edited
by Bárbara A. Willaarts, Alberto Garrido, M. Ramón Llamas.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
TD227.5.W38 2014
338.1’98--dc23
2013043668

ISBN: 978-0-415-71368-9 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-88313-7 (ebk)

Typeset in Futura Std light

by M. Carmona

Publisher’s note
This book has been prepared from camera-ready copy provided by the authors.
To Eduardo, for his unconditional support, and to Jacques, for his courage
Bárbara A. Willaarts

To my sons, Andrés and David

Alberto Garrido

To Alvaro del Portillo, for his life example and advice

M. Ramón Llamas
Cont ents
List of figures VIII

List of tables XII

List of contributors XIV

Foreword XVI

Preface XVII

Acknowledgements XX

List of abbreviations XXI

Part 1 Introduction

Chapter 1. Water and food security in Latin America and the Caribbean: 3
regional opportunities to cope with global challenges

Part 2 Setting the scene

Chapter 2. Water resources assessment 27

Chapter 3. Trends in land use and ecosystem services in Latin America 55
Chapter 4. Socio-economic megatrends for water and food security in Latin America 81
Chapter 5. Globalization and trade 119
Chapter 6. Tracking progress and links between water and food security in Latin 143
America and the Caribbean

Part 3 Water for food and non-food

Chapter 7. Water and agriculture 177

Chapter 8. Water security and cities 213
Chapter 9. Water, energy, bioenergy, industry and mining 239

Part 4 Economic, legal and institutional factors for achieving water and food security

Chapter 10.
Water efficiency: status and trends 261
Chapter 11.
Reforming water governance structures 285
Chapter 12.
The role of stakeholders in water management 317
Chapter 13.
Economic instruments for allocating water and financing services 343
Chapter 14.
Legal framework and economic incentives for managing ecosystem 365
services
Chapter 15. Rethinking integrated water resources management: towards water 385
and food security through adaptive management

Index 419

VII
Figur es
1.1 Biophysical dimensions of human well-being -- water and food security -- in LAC 8
and in the rest of the world
1.2 The book’s framework: topics, inter-dependencies, drivers and focus 9
2.1 Long-term annual rainfall in selected Latin American countries 31
2.2 Renewable resources per capita over the last twenty years in selected countries 32
2.3 Regional rainfall variability in Chile 33
2.4 (A) Total rainfall (1961–1990) and (B) Water use across the world 37
2.5 Water withdrawals per sector in the Latin American region 38
2.6 Water Pollution Level for nitrogen (N) per river basin in Latin America (year 2000) 44
2.7 Water Pollution Level for phosphorus (P) per river basin in Latin America (year 2000) 44
2.8 Observed (left) and expected (right) impacts linked to Climate Change in Latin 49
America
3.1 Land use in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) in 1990 and 2010 (in million 58
hectares
3.2 Land use and land cover changes occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean 61
between 1993 and 2009
3.3 Evidence of forest transition in São Paulo State (Brazil) according to four different 63
data sources
3.4 Factor analysis explaining drivers of forest area change in Latin America and the 66
Caribbean between 1990 and 2010
3.5 Trends in Ecosystem Service provision in Latin America and the Caribbean between 69
1990 and 2010
3.6 Greenhouse Gas Emission (GHG) inventory by sector in LAC countries 70
3.7 Annual growth rates of agricultural land, yields and net production value 75
4.1 Trends in urban population between 1950 and 2000 86
4.2 Population living in slums and population with access to piped water 87
4.3 Annual rate of urban–rural population change (%) 89
4.4 Comparative Evolution of GDP per Capita (GDP, logarithmic scale). (Historic and 91
Projections: 1800–2030)
4.5 Comparative Evolution of GDP per Capita (GDP, logarithmic icab). (Historic and 91
Projections: 1800–2030)
4.6 Population growth in LAC (1990–2000), Water consumption in LAC (1990– 92
2000) and Evolution of GDP (1990–2000)
4.7 Annual freshwater withdrawals per capita vs GDP per capita (1977–2011) 93
4.8 Percentage of population below poverty line 96
4.9 Percentage of population below indigence line 96
4.10 Water Poverty Index in LAC countries 98
4.11 Annual GDP per capita growth (expressed in current USS) for the time period1980– 98
2010
4.12a Inequality in income distribution. Percentage of the income share held by highest 99
20% subgroup of population
4.12b Inequality in income distribution. Percentage of the income share held by lowest 99
20% subgroup of population
4.13 Informal employment and the informal economy as part of GDP in LAC 100
4.14 Mexican food consumption pattern. Quantity, energy, water footprint of main 103
food products. 1992 and 2010

VIII
 FIGURES

4.15 Development scenarios for Latin America in 2030 107

4.16 Trends in entrepreneurship and access to information and ICT 107
4.17 Net enrolment rate in first-level education 109
4.18 Net enrolment rate in second-level education 109
4.19 Gross enrolment rate in third-level education 109
4.20 Type of natural hazards and population affected in selected countries in Latin 112
America
5.1 Commodities price indices (1960–2011) 123
5.2 Trade as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) (1961–2011) 123
5.3 Inward foreign direct investment flows, annual, 1970–2011(in million US$) 124
5.4 Official development assistance in agriculture & infrastructure by area, in 1995, 124
2002 and 2009
5.5 Private participation in infrastructure by area in 1995, 2002 and 2009 125
5.6 Value of imports and exports of LAC between 1992 and 2011 expressed in 127
nominal US dollars
5.7 Breakup of exports from Latin America and the Caribbean to different world regions 128
in 2000, 2005 and 2011 (%)
5.8 Trade agreements in the LA region 130
5.9 Trade partners in the LA region 130
5.10 Changes in extensive and intensive trade margins in the LA region 131
5.11 Trade and agricultural growth nexus in five LAC countries (1995–2010) 136
5.12 Trade and income of the poorest decile in five LAC countries (1996–2010) 137
5.13 Trade and poverty rates in five LAC countries (1996–2010) 137
6.1 Indicators and operational frameworks for measuring water security 149
6.2 Existing food and nutrition indicators 152
6.3 Blue water scarcity and population distribution estimates for 2010 in Latin American 153
6.4 Percentage of population with access to drinking water and sanitation coverage in 155
urnban (left) and rural (right) areas in LAC
6.5 Irrigation efficiency (measured in terms of water requirement ratios) for Latin 155
American countries, average for the period 1990–2012
6.6 Allocation of public investments in water supply and sanitation in LAC, 2000–2010 157
6.7 Economic losses (expressed in % of annual GDP, bars) attributed to water-related 157
hazards (storms, floods and droughts) and GDP evolution (in USD, line) in Latin
America and the Caribbean, 1980–2012
6.8 Water security performance in LAC countries 158
6.9 Percentage of undernourished and overweight children under five years old 164
(2000–2009)
6.10 Food consumption pyramids (in consumed kg per capita per year) for Brazilians 166
during the last two decades
6.11 Three pairs of water and food security indicators measured in 2000 and 2010 167
(countries of the first quartile of per capita income in 2010)
6.12 Three pairs of water and food security indicators measured in 2000 and 2010 167
(countries of the second quartile of per capita income in 2010)
6.13 Three pairs of water and food security indicators measured in 2000 and 2010 168
(countries of the third quartile of per capita income in 2010)
6.14 Three pairs of water and food security indicators measured in 2000 and 2010 168
(countries of the fourth quartile of per capita income in 2010)

IX
FIGURES

7.1 Green and blue water footprint (in cubic gigametres per year) of agricultural 183
production for the LAC region (average 1996–2005)
7.2 Distribution of the agricultural green and blue water footprint (in cubic hectometres 185
per year) of Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Chile (average for the years
1996–2005)
7.3 Water footprint (in cubic metres per inhabitant per year) of the consumption of 187
agricultural products (green and blue) in the LAC region (average 1996–2005)
7.4 Composition of the agricultural grey water footprint (in cubic hectometres per year) 190
by crops in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru
7.5 Largest total (green and blue) net virtual water importers and blue net virtual water 192
importers (in cubic Gigametres per year) of agricultural products in the LAC region
(average 1996–2005)
7.6 Green (above) and blue (below) virtual water exports (in million cubic metres) per 194
country and main products (1996–2009)
7.7 Green (above) and blue (below) virtual water imports (in million cubic metres) per 196
country and main products (1996–2009)
7.8 Blue and green virtual water exports and imports (in million cubic metres) between 199
1996 and 2010 in LAC
7.9 Compound growth rate (%) of land physical (t/ha) and economic productivity ($/ 204
ha) between av. 1991–1993 and av. 2008–2010 for selected countries and
crops
7.10 Average cultivated area (1,000ha/yr), economic water productivity (US$/m3) 206
and share of blue WF in crop WF for selected countries and crops. The data
shown corresponds to an average of the years 2007–2010
8.1 Median age of population and of water pipes in the USA 225
8.2 Access to water and sanitation (% population) and child mortality (deaths per 226
1,000 born) in different American Countries
8.3 Water network losses in representative urban areas in LA 228
10.1 The relation between the blue water footprint of production (upper) and consumption 263
(lower) and the level of economic development
10.2 Global irrigation efficiencies, year 2000 271
10.3 The water footprint of national production in LAC (Mm3/yr). Period 1996–2005 272
10.4 Water footprint of domestic water supply by national production (Mm3/yr). Period 273
1996–2005
10.5 Water footprint of industrial production (Mm3/yr). Period 1996–2005 273
10.6 Total water footprint of agricultural crop production for the LAC region (average 274
1996-2005)
10.7 Water footprint of livestock production (Mm3/yr). Period 1996–2005 275
10.8 Economic water productivity (US$/m3) in agriculture and industry in LAC countries 276
(2011)
10.9 Economic water efficiency of industrial production for the LAC region (average 277
1996–2005) (US$/m3)
10.10 Economic water efficiency of agricultural production for the LAC region (average 277
1996–2005) (US$/m3)
11.1 Timeline of the approval of the Water Act, domestic supply legislation and specific 295
groundwater law in selected LAC countries
11.2 Growth of population and water well drilling in Guanajuato State 298
11.3 Timeline: international legal and political recognition of the human right to safe 299
water and sanitation

X
 FIGURES

11.4 Map on voting for UN General Assembly resolution recognizing the human right to 300
safe drinking water and sanitation
11.5 Map on inclusion of Human Right to safe drinking water and sanitation (HRWS) 301
in constitutions
11.6 Map with examples of the implementation of the Human Right to Water and 304
Sanitation
11.7 Water-related expenditures that need to be funded and sources of incomes in LAC 306
countries
11.8 Evolution of international public and private funding to the Latin American water 309
sector over the period 2001–2011
11.9 Evolution of international public investment during the period 2001–2011 310
11.10 Global and regional private investment in the water sector 310
11.11 Geographical distribution of investments with private participation in the watersector 311
during the period 2001–2011 323
12.1 Location of mining conflicts in LAC 334
12.2 Timing of approval of information transparency law in LAC 340
14.1 Watershed PES trends in the Latin America region 370
14.2 Constitutional recognition of the right to a clean environment in LA 375
14.3 The percentage of national territory covered by cadastre survey 378
15.1 The ‘anthropo-hygeodrogeological’ cycle 389
15.2 Population and areas most affected by droughts and floods in the Andean 392
Community
15.3 Population and areas most affected by droughts and floods in the Andean 392
Community and Peru
15.4 Understanding the nexus. The water, energy and food nexus 395
15.5 Water footprint of electricity production in Latin America 396
15.6 Electricity generation by source and per sub-region (Southern Cone, 398
Mesoamerican, Amazon and Andean) in Latin America
15.7 Water consumption and water use for electric generation per sub-region (Southern 399
Cone, Mesoamerican, Amazon and Andean) in Latin America
15.8 United Nations Human Development Index versus Carbon Footprint (tons C per 401
capita per year), Water Footprint (cubic metres per capita per year) and Ecological
Footprint (global hectares per capita per year)
15.9a Multi-level governance gaps in LAC countries’ water policymaking 404
15.9b Multi-level governance gaps in LAC countries’ water policymaking 405
15.10 Preliminary categories of LAC countries 407
15.11 Venn Diagram of dominant, outcast and respected actors in Costa Rica’s water 408
management
15.12 Social networks of actors in Costa Rica: connections, level of centrality and ease 408
of access
15.13 The WRM cycle to achieve water security 413

XI
Tables
1.1 Millennium Development Goals (MDG) progress in Latin America and the 17
Caribbean between 1990 and 2010
2.1 Approximate amount of annual precipitation, evaporation and runoff per continent 29
in relation to the water footprint
2.2 Renewable water resources and storage capacity in selected countries in Latin 30
America
2.3 Water availability in Peru’s hydrographic regions 34
2.4 Blue and green water footprint of countries in the Latin America and Caribbean 36
region (those with more than one million inhabitants)
2.5 Distribution of water responsibilities in selected countries 47
3.1 Deforestation rates across Latin America between 1990 and 2010 59
3.2 Trends of native and non-native agricultural crops cultivated in Latin America 72
3.3 Changes in ecosystem service supply (expressed in percentage) across Latin 73
America and the Caribbean between 1990 and 2010
4.1 Evolution of urban population, percentage living in urban areas by region (1925– 86
2000)
4.2 Real per capita income growth 1960–2010 91
4.3 Comparative best and worst cases (or international indexes for the year 2010 94
using the STEEP (Society–Technology–Economics–Ecology–Politics) approach
4.4 Trends of human wellbeing across different regions of LAC in the last two decades 95
4.5 Degree of merchandse trade in LAC 102
4.6 Social vulnerability assessment to climate change in Latin America 111
5.1 Percentage of GDP and population of each region with respect to the world 122
5.2 LAC’s busiest ports in thousands of TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) in 2011 123
5.3 Participation of LAC in world agricultural trade in dollar terms 125
6.1 Human well- being dimensions considered under different approaches to water 147
security
6.2 Evolving definition and scope of the food security concept 150
6.3 Water security progress between 2000 and 2010 in LAC 156
6.4 Food and nutritional security indicators selected to assess Food and Nutritional 159
Security (FNS) performance in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)
6.5 Food security progress between 2000 and 2010 in LAC 161
6.6 Percentage of people suffering from hunger 162
6.7 External dependencies of wheat and maize in LAC, (average 2007/2008 and 163
2011/2012)
7.1 Irrigation techniques in the LAC region 183
7.2 Evolution of the arable land in Latin American and Caribbean countries, for the 201
years 1995, 2002 and 2011
7.3 Yield compound annual growth rate by crop and country 202
7.4 Impact of irrigation by type of system 207
7.5 The green, blue and grey water footprint in the Porce River Basin 209
8.1 Data on some of the largest cities in LA. 215
9.1 General data for the first decade of the 21st century (values rounded up) 243
9.2 Economic productivity of used water in Chile 243
9.3 Energy and water in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) in 2005 244
9.4 Average water consumption rates for thermoelectric plants with closed cooling 246

XII
 TA B L E S

9.5 Geothermal energy in several LA countries 247

9.6 Sugar–cane production and crop area 248
9.7 Approximate costs of producing bio-alcohol and comparative cost of oil 248
9.8 Water needs for fuel production, including processing 250
9.9 Industrial water use in Mexico for the main water-intensive sectors 250
9.10 Current water consumption in mining (values rounded up) 252
11.1 Allocation of responsibilities in water governance at sub-national level and the role 290
of the central government in selected LAC countries
11.2 Main challenges in water policy making and their relative importance in selected 293
LAC countries
11.3 Ownership of water in selected LAC countries 296
11.4 State recognition of the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation (HRWS) 302
in national constitutions, laws and policies in selected LAC countries
12.1 Features of main water conflicts in LAC 321
12.2 Comparative overview of participatory levels in selected LAC countries 326
12.3 Latin American companies involved in water networks and initiatives on water 332
accounting tools
12.4 Strengths and weaknesses of the existing transparency laws in several LAC countries 335
12.5 Examples of benchmarking initiatives of water and sanitation utilities companies 336
12.6 Online availability of information about selected issues in five LAC countries 337
13.1 Levies for water use for different zones in Mexico, 2010 (US$ cents per 346
m3,exchange rate Mexican peso /US$ of 2010)
13.2 Average monthly bill and average price in the main fourteen water utilities in LA 351
13.3 Payment schemes for watershed protection and water-related ecosystem services 356
in LAC
13.4 Main characteristics of water-related PES programs in LAC 357
13.5 WR transactions and prices for the period 2005–2008 359
14.1 Overview of payments for ecosystem services (PES) initiatives found across Latin 369
America and the Caribbean
14.2 Main characteristics of water- related payments for ecosystem services programmes 371
14.3 Legal frameworks supporting ecosystem services directly or indirectly 376
14.4 Summary of the advantages and disadvantages of having legal regulation for 377
ecosystem services payment schemes
15.1 Comparative features of different components of water resources portfolios 390
15.2 Population prone to suffering droughts and floods in the Andean community 392
countries
15.3 Total water footprint and total virtual water flows in Latin American countries 394
15.4 United Nations Human Development Index versus (per capita) Carbon Footprint 402
(CF), Water Footprint (WF) and Ecological Footprint (EF)
15.5 Ministries and institutions responsible for the management of water, energy and 406
food resources in different Latin American countries

XIII
Cont ribut ors
Ramón AGUIRRE Sistema de Aguas de la Ciudad de México, México
Aziza AKHMOUCH Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paris, France
Maite M. ALDAYA Water Observatory – Botín Foundation, and Complutense University of Madrid,
Spain
Virginia ALONSO DE LINAJE Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
Diego ARÉVALO URIBE Water Management and Footprint. CTA – Centro de Ciencia y Tecnología de
Antioquia, Colombia
Pedro ARROJO AGUDO Universidad de Zaragoza, and Fundación Nueva Cultura del Agua, Spain
Maureen BALLESTERO Global Water Partnership, Costa Rica
Manuel BEA Geosys S.L.,Spain
Elisa BLANCO Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Emilia BOCANEGRA Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Argentina
Wilson CABRAL DE SOUSA Jr Aeronautics Technology Institute, São José dos Campos, Brazil
Enrique CABRERA ITA, Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Spain
Xueliang CAI International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Pretoria, South Africa
Claudia CAMPUZANO Centro de Ciencia y Tecnología de Antioquia, Colombia
Gerson CARDOSO DA SILVA Jr Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Luis F. CASTRO School of Civil Engineering, Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria, Lima, Peru
Manuel CERMERÓN Aqualogy, Barcelona, Spain
Daniel CHICO Water Observatory – Botín Foundation, and CEIGRAM, Technical University of
Madrid, Spain
Vanessa CORDERO CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
Emilio CUSTODIO Dept. Geo-Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona,
Spain
Javier DÁVARA Aqualogy - SEDAPAL, Peru
Gabriela DE LA MORA Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales, Mexico
Angel DE MIGUEL IMDEA Agua – Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies, Madrid, Spain
Lucia DE STEFANO Water Observatory – Botín Foundation, and Universidad Complutense de Madrid,
Spain
Gonzalo DELACÁMARA IMDEA Agua – Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies, Madrid, Spain
Guillermo DONOSO Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Aurélien DUMONT Complutense University of Madrid, Water Observatory-Botín Foundation, Spain
Marta ECHAVARRÍA Ecodecisión, Colombia
Antonio EMBID IRUJO Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain
Vanessa EMPINOTTI PROCAM /IEE Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Juliana S. FARINACI Environmental Studies Center (NEPAM) - State University of Campinas, (UNICAMP),
Brazil
Olga FEDOROVA CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
Maria Josefa FIORITI Subsecretaría de Recursos Hídricos, Ministerio de Planificación, Argentina
Insa FLACHSBARTH Water Observatory – Botín Foundation, and CEIGRAM, Technical University of
Madrid, Spain
Gabriela FRANCO Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Alberto GARRIDO Water Observatory – Botín Foundation, and CEIGRAM, Technical University of
Madrid, Spain
Luis GUROVICH Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Anne M. HANSEN Instituto Mexicano de Tecnología del Agua, México
Thalia HERÁNDEZ- AMEZCUA Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México

XIV
 CONTRIBUTORS

Ricardo HIRATA Universidad de Sao Paulo, Brazil

Pedro Roberto JACOBI PROCAM /IEE Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Alejandro JIMÉNEZ Stockholm International Water Institute, Sweden
Julio M. KUROIWA Laboratorio Nacional de Hidráulica- Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, Lima,
Peru
Jonathan LAUTZE International Water Management Institute (IWMI), South Africa
Ramón LLAMAS Water Observatory – Botín Foundation, and Complutense University of Madrid,
Spain
Elena LÓPEZ-GUNN I-Catalist, Complutense University of Madrid, and Water Observatory – Botín
Foundation, Spain
Marielena N. LUCEN Ministry of Energy and Mines, Peru
Gonzalo MARÍN Fundación Canal de Isabel II, Madrid, Spain
Joaquim MARTÍ Aguas Andinas, Chile
Pedro MARTINEZ SANTOS Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and Water Observatory – Botín
Foundation, Spain
Ariosto MATUS PEREZ Universidad Iberoamericana, México DF, Mexico
Beatriz MAYOR Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
Mesfin MEKONNEN University of Twente, The Netherlands
Oscar MELO Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Marcela MOLANO CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
Julio I. MONTENEGRO School of Civil Engineering,Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria,Lima, Peru
Markus PAHLOW University of Twente, The Netherlands
Ignacio PARDO Universidad de la Republica, Montevideo, Uruguay
Julio Cesar PASCALE PALHARES Embrapa Cattle Southeast, São Carlos, Brazil
Lorena PEREZ I-CATALIST, Uinversidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
Rosario PÉREZ-ESPEJO Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México
Patricia PHUMPIU CHANG Centro del Agua para América Latina y el Caribe – ITESM, Monterrey, Mexico
Marta RICA Water Observatory-Botín Foundation, and Universidad Complutense de Madrid,
Spain
Gloria SALMORAL Water Observatory-Botín Foundation, and CEIGRAM, Technical University of
Madrid, Spain
Andrea SANTOS Universidade Federal Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Maria José SANZ-SÁNCHEZ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Rome, Italy
Christopher SCOTT University of Arizona, Tucson, USA
Miguel SOLANES IMDEA Agua- Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies, Spain
Bárbara SORIANO CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
Ursula Oswald SPRING Centro Regional de Investigaciones Multidisciplinarias, Universidad Nacional
Autónoma México
Laurens THUY Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Desiree TORRENTE CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
Roberto C. TOTO Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México
Natalia URIBE WaterLex, Switzerland
Fermín VILLARROYA Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
Bárbara WILLAARTS Water Observatory-Botín Foundation, and CEIGRAM, Technical University of
Madrid, Spain
Erika ZARATE Good Stuff International, Switzerland
Guoping ZHANG Water Footprint Network, The Netherlands
Pedro ZORRILLA-MIRAS Cooperativa Terrativa, Madrid, Spain
Ibon ZUGASTI Prospektiker, Spain

XV
For eword
In 1964 Marcelino Botín Sanz de Sautuola and his wife Carmen Yllera, founded the
Marcelino Botín Foundation to promote social development in Cantabria, in the north of
Spain. Today the Foundation, faithful to the spirit of its founders and after nearly 50 years
of work, is Spain’s number one private foundation both in terms of the investment capacity
and social impact of its programmes.
The Botín Foundation’s objective is to stimulate the economic, social and cultural
development of society. To achieve this, it acts in the fields of art and culture, education,
science and rural development, supporting creative, progress-making talent and exploring
new ways of generating wealth. Its sphere of action focuses primarily on Spain and
especially on the region of Cantabria, but also on Latin America. The main office is
located in the city of Santander, the capital of Cantabria, in what used to be the Sanz de
Sautuola family´s house. Its exhibition room is located nearby. Two of the city’s emblematic
buildings, El Promontorio and Villa Iris, are used for official ceremonies, exhibitions and
workshops. The Casa Rectoral in Puente Pumar is the Foundation’s centre of operations in
the Nansa Valley (Cantabria).
Since the end of 2012 a refurbished, former industrial building in the centre of
Madrid houses the Foundation’s offices in the capital. In 2014, coinciding with its 50th
anniversary, the new Botín Centre will be opened in Santander.
In 2008 the Board of the Botín Foundation decided to create a section devoted to
water resources within its Trends Observatory, under the title of Water Observatory of the
Botín Foundation. The overarching theme of the Water Observatory is improving water
management, using innovative approaches, independent thinking and debates. During
the last six years, the water programmes of the Foundation have looked at, among others,
groundwater issues, water governance, the role of trade in water resources management,
water footprint evaluations and water policy. Carrying out independent research and
studies, disseminating the findings and engaging in honest debates with stakeholders,
politicians and scientists from all over the world have been the main priorities of the Water
Observatory. All our publications and seminar materials can be freely accessed from the
Foundation’s web page.
The Botín Foundation seeks to make a different in the way water resources are
managed and governed in Spain and around the world. This book on water and food
security in Latin American is the result of two years of collaborative work with dozens of
scientists from both sides of the Atlantic and seven prestigious institutions of Argentina,
Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cost Rica, Mexico and Peru. We hope scientists, politicians and
stakeholders from all over the world and, especially from Latin America, find in this book
useful ideas and inspiration to lead their work in water issues and contribute to a more
equitable and sustainable use of this vital resource.

Íñigo Sáenz de Miera y Cárdenas

General Director of the Botín Foundation

XVI
Pr ef ace
The Botín Foundation was created in 1964, but began its activity in the field of water
resources in 1998 when it launched the Groundwater Project (Proyecto Aguas Subterraneas
or PAS), one of the first interdisciplinary assessments of groundwater governance. The
project, which I was honoured to coordinate, showcased Spain as an example of many
of the ethical dilemmas faced by countries across the world, such as the intensive use
of groundwater resources for development. This project has been followed by various
workshops organized mainly in Santander since 2003, and then published as part of a
series of essays under the following titles: ‘Water Crisis: myth or reality?’ in 2004; ‘Water
and Ethics’ in 2007; ‘Water and Food Security in a Globalised World: ethical issues’
in 2010; ‘Water, Food and Agriculture in Spain: can we square the circle?’ in 2013.
The latest workshop on ‘Integrated Water Resources Management in the 21st Century:
revisiting the paradigm’ took place in Madrid in November 2013, and the book of the
proceedings will be published in 2014.
In 2008 the Board of the Botín Foundation decided to create a section devoted to water
within its Trends Observatory, under the title of Observatorio del Agua de la Fundación
Botín (Water Observatory of the Botín Foundation). In the last few years, all the water
programmes of the Water Observatory (WO) have focused on three goals: to develop
independent research and studies, to disseminate the findings and to create a venue for
debate and discussions. A team of twelve researchers, assisted by an active advisory
board of three members, has devoted its energies, skills and talent to formulating relevant
research questions, obtaining rigorous answers and communicating these findings where
the ultimate goal is to enhance the quality and relevance of political decision making with
regard to water issues in Spain and around the world.
In virtually all its programmes and activities, the WO has sought to team up and
create partnerships with the most respected scholars, public officers, business managers
and representatives of international organizations from all over the world. Openness and
independence have always been the foundations of the Observatory.
Between 2008 and 2012 most of the publications, seminars, workshops and activities
have focused on Spain’s water problems. Much of the substantive judgement and most of
the recommendations drawn from this line of work were published in 2013 in the essay
‘Agriculture and the Environment in Spain: can we square the circle?’ and then in Spanish
in a shorter volume called ‘El agua en España: bases para un pacto de futuro’ (‘Water in
Spain: the basis for a future pact’). A single sentence synthesizes this line of work by the
Water Observatory: water problems in Spain are not related to physical scarcity, but to
poor governance. As the book outlined, recent technological and social advances can
help to achieve better governance in a way that is socially and economically acceptable.
One of the main efforts of the WO is to create a general awareness of this to the society
at large.

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P R E FA C E

A fundamental transformation of Spain’s water problems and a change in paradigm,

focus and thinking came about when the role that international trade with agricultural
commodities was outlined in the WO work ‘Water Footprint and Virtual Water Trade
in Spain: policy implications’, published in 2010. By looking thoroughly at water uses
and traded commodities since 1996, it emerged that Spain was using significantly more
‘virtual water’ than real physical water in 2004 and thereafter. Furthermore, most of the
virtual water was increasingly and massively imported in the form of low-value products (in
economic terms) with high virtual water content (cereals, grains and feeds). Spain is also
a big exporter of agricultural products, but principally the exports are in the form of more
valuable products in terms of economic productivity (livestock products, wine, olive oil,
fruits, vegetables and nuts). Another finding of that work was that Spain increasingly relies,
as does the rest of the European Union, on imports from the rain-fed based agriculture in
South America.
The results and conclusions of several WO’s analyses of the water policy in Spain were
innovative and in some respects were against what was generally considered ‘politically
correct’. Therefore, the WO team deemed it appropriate to test its ideas and methods in
other countries with different hydrological and socio-economic conditions.
In view of this, and Latin America being a region of special interest in today’s globalized
world and an area where the Botín Foundation had already a number of activities, in
2011 the WO decided to launch a new project focusing on Water and Food Security
in Latin America. The main, though neither the only nor the last, output of this project is
this book.
In order to carry out this project in Latin America, the WO created a partnership with
seven other institutions. In Argentina, the work was led by María Josefa Fioriti of the
Water Resources Office of the Planning Ministry (Subsecretaria de Recursos Hídricos del
Ministerio de Planificación Federal); in Brazil by Prof Pedro R. Jacobi and Dr Vanessa
Empinotti from Sao Paulo University (Universidade de São Paulo); in Chile by Prof
Guillermo Donoso of the Catholic University of Chile (Universidad Pontifica Católica de
Chile); in Colombia by Diego Arévalo, from the Technological Water Institute of Antioquia
(Centro Tecnológico del Agua de Antioquia); in Costa Rica by Andrea Suárez and Dr
Patricia Phumpiu from the National University (Universidad Nacional Costa Rica) and the
Technological Centre of Monterrey (Centro Tecnológico de Monterrey) respectively; in
Mexico by Dr Rosario Pérez Espejo of the Autonomous University of Mexico (Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de Méjico); and in Peru, by Prof Julio Kuroiwa, of the Hydraulic
Laboratory of Engineering University (Labotario de Hidraúlica, Universidad Nacional de
Ingeniería). I am very grateful to our Latin American partners and co-authors for the useful
and valuable input provided to this book.
Immediately after this partnership was formed, it was clear that the project was a
challenging one. Much like playing with matryoshka dolls (Russian dolls), when an issue
or topic was addressed, it soon became clear there were others underlying or behind it.
The scope of the project continued to widen as we worked and as other key organizations
such as the Inter-American Network of Academies of Science (IANAS), the Food and

XVIII
 P R E FA C E

Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Organization for Economic Cooperation Development

(OECD), the World Water Council (WWC), and the Global Water Partnership (GWP)
published their reports on the same topics.
On 28 May 2013, in the course of an intense meeting held in Madrid, we were
lucky enough to receive comments, criticisms and suggestions from a team of four deeply
knowledgeable and world-renowned reviewers, who had read the first manuscript of the
book. Our reviewers were Prof Anthony Allan (King’s College London, United Kingdom),
Prof Ignacio Rodríguez-Iturbe (University of Princeton, USA), Prof Blanca Jiménez Cisneros
(UNAM, Mexico, and presently UNESCO) and Maureen Ballestero (Global Water
Partnership, Costa Rica). We are indebted to them for their honest and acute criticisms.
Their comments guided our work during the summer of 2013 when we thoroughly revised
the manuscript. Whatever was left unaddressed will be taken on in our following projects.
In any case, the responsibility on the result of that revision is entirely with this book’s
authors.
The Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Technical University of Madrid, UPM) also
contributed to this project, under the project ‘Red Temática UPM-USP-PUC-Análisis de
Riesgos Agrarios y Medioambientales: estrategias para mejorar la adaptación y la
mitigación al cambio climático (AL12-RT-13)’, a joint programme the UPM shares with the
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and with the Universidade de São Paulo.
Regarding the project, we had difficulties in deciding the geographical scope of the
study. The project began with a special focus on the partner countries (Argentina, Brazil,
Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru), but then as we gathered larger databases
we widened the scope to most of the countries South of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo. The
focus on Latin America was misleading because this is more of a cultural denomination
rather than a classification used by the main regional organizations (IDB-Inter-American
Development Bank, ECLAC-Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean,
or the FAO-Food and Agriculture Organization). In the end we decided to associate the
book to the largest and commonest denomination, Latin America and the Caribbean,
although we were unable to gather large amounts of data on some of the smallest island
states in the Caribbean. Neither the volume nor any book chapter has the ambition to
cover the LAC region entirely, but many chapters provide data and draw conclusions
covering a large percentage of LAC countries.
Last but not least, I would like to convey my sincere gratitude to Emilio Botín O’Shea,
member of the Board of the Botín Foundation. Emilio has always followed and supported
our activities since the beginning in 1998.

Prof M. Ramón Llamas

Director of the Water Observatory of the Botín Foundation

(All cited books can be downloadable for free from the Botín Foundation’s website:
www.fundacionbotin.org/water-observatory_trend-observatory.htm)

XIX
Acknow ledgments
This book is the product of the project ‘Water and Food Security in Latin America’ (2010–
2013) led by the Water Observatory of the Botín Foundation. This project has been
carried out by a consortium of eight partners, including the Water Observatory. The
editors would like to express their gratitude to all authors and contributors and their host
institutions of Latin America for the exceptional cooperation in the past months.
The book has also received funding from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
(Technical University of Madrid), under the project “Red Temática UPM-USP-PUC-Análisis
de Riesgos Agrarios y Medioambientales: Estrategias para mejorar la adaptación y la
mitigación al cambio climático (AL12-RT-13)”, which the UPM shares with the Pontificia
Universidad Católica de Chile and with the Universidade de São Paulo.
We are deeply grateful to the book reviewers Prof Anthony Allan (King’s College
London, United Kingdom), Prof Ignacio Rodríguez-Iturbe (University of Princeton, USA),
Prof Blanca Jiménez Cisneros (UNAM, Mexico, and presently UNESCO) and Maureen
Ballestero (Global Water Partnership, Costa Rica), for the useful and wise advices.
A special mention should be made to our team of editorial assistants. Olga Fedorova,
Daniel del Olmo Rovidarcht and Desireé Torrente checked formats, data and consis-
tency tirelessly, enduring large days of work and providing very valuable contributions.
Bárbara Soriano managed the data gathering work, assisting many chapters’ authors,
and becoming the author of some on her own right. Our designer, María Carmona, did
a superb work and understood the complexities of the project. Special thanks go to Ruth
Cunningham for providing the editorial assistance and correcting the style and language.
Also, the editors would like to thank the staff members of CEIGRAM, Esperanza Luque,
Katerina Kucerova, Begoña Cadiñanos and Elena Vivas for their constant and valuable
support.
We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to Ashley Wright, Alanna
Donaldson and Tim Hardwick from Routledge, who have provided us with useful and
timely guidance at all times during the book production process.
As always, all members of the Water Observatory are deeply grateful to the Botín
Foundation for confiding in our judgement to carry out this and many other projects.

XX
Abbr evia tions
ACUMAR:Autoridad de Cuenca Matanza-Riachuelo
ADB:Asian Development Bank
ADERASA:Asociación de Entes Reguladores de Agua Potable y Saneamiento de las Américas
ALADI: Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración
ARESEP:Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos de Costa Rica
AWWA:American Water-Works Association
AySA:Agua y Saneamientos Argentinos S.A.
CADER:Cámara Argentina de Energías Renovables
CAF:Cooperativa Andina de Fomento
CAN:Comunidad Andina
CATI:Coordenadoria de Assistência Técnica Integral-Brazil
CAWT:Central America Water Tribunal
CDM:Clear Development Mechanism
CDP:Carbon Disclosure Project
CF: Carbon Footprint
CFS:Committee on the World Food Security
CONAGUA:Comisión Nacional del Agua de Mexico
ECLAC/CEPAL: United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
ECP:Emissions Compensation Programmes
EF: Ecological footprint
ENSO: El Niño Southern Oscillation
ERS-USDA: Economic Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture
EPA:Environmental Protection Agency
ES: Ecosytem Services
FAO: United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
FCCyT: Foro Consultivo Científico y Tecnológico
FCPF:Forest Carbon Partnership Facilities
FNS:Food Nutritional Security
FONAG:Fondo para la protección del Agua
FONAFIFO:Fondo Nacional de Financiamiento Forestal-Costa Rica
FTA:Free Trade Agreements
GDP:Gross Domestic Product
GEF:Global Environment Fund
GFSI:Global Food Security Index
GHI:Global Hunger Index
GMOs:Genetically Modified Organisms
GSM/EDGE:Global System for Mobile communications/Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution
GWP:Global Water Partnership
HDI: Human Development Index
HLTF:High Level Task Force
HRC:Human Rights Council
HRCI:Hunger Reduction Commitment Index
HRWS:Human Right to Water and Sanitation
IANAS:Inter-American Network of Academies of Science
IBGE:Instituto Brasileño de Geografía y Estadística
ICESCR:International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
ICT:Information and Communication Technology

XXI
A B B R E V I AT I O N S

IDB:Interamerican Development Bank

IFAD:International Fund for Agricultural Development
IICA:Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura
IISD:International Institute for Sustainable Development
IMECHE:Institution of Mechanical Engineers
IMF:International Monetary Fund
INPE:National Institute for Space Research
IOM: International Organization for Migration
IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
IT: Information Technology
IUCN:International Union for Nature Conservation
IWA:International Water Association
IWRM:Integrated Water Resources Management
LAC: Latin American and Caribbean
LAWT:Latin America Water Tribunal
MDG:Millenium Development Goals
MERCOSUR: Common Market of the South
NIC:National Intelligence Council
OAS:Organization of American States
OECD:Organization for Economic Cooperation Development
OHCHR:Office of the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights
OMS/WHO:Organización Mundial de la Salud/World Health Organization
OPEC:Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
PES:Payments for Ecosystem Services
PHI:Poverty and Hunger Index
PTA:Preferential Trade Agreements
RBO:River Basin Organizations
REDD+:Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation
STEEP: Society-Technology-Economics-Ecology-Politics
TARWR:Total Actual Renewable Water Resources
TL: Trade liberalization
TLC:Trans Latina Companies
UNASUR: South American Nations Union
UNDP: United Nations Development Program
UNEP: United Nations Environment Programme
UNESCO:United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNFCCC:United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
UNGA:United Nations General Assembly
UNICEF: United Nations Children’s Fund
USDA:United States Department of Agriculture
US-EPA:United States Environmental Protection Agency
USGS:United States Geological Survey
VWT:Virtual Water Trade
WBCSD:World Business Council for Sustainable Development
WEC:World Energy Council
WF:Water Footprint
WS:Water Security
WSSD: World Summit on Sustainable Development
WTO: World Trade Organization

XXII
Part 1

Introduction
 1
WATER AND FOOD SECURITY
IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN:
REGIONAL OPPORTUNITIES TO COPE
WITH GLOBAL CHALLENGES

Authors:
Bárbara Willaarts, Water Observatory − Botín Foundation, and CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
Lucia De Stefano, Water Observatory − Botín Foundation, and Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
Alberto Garrido, Water Observatory − Botín Foundation, and CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain

Contributors:
Ramón Llamas, Water Observatory − Botín Foundation, and Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
Emilio Custodio, Dept. Geo-Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain
Fermín Villarroya, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
Pedro Martínez-Santos, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
Maite M. Aldaya, Water Observatory − Botín Foundation, and Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
PA R T 1 :
INTRODUCTION

1.1 Set ting the scene

1.1.1 Placing Latin America and the Caribbean in the global
context
The world has never been so globalized and interconnected as today. Advances in
transportation, logistics, telecommunications and global production systems have attained
unprecedented levels of economic integration. Agricultural commodities are transported
across hemispheres and trade makes consumers believe that food production no longer
respects the traditional seasons. Thanks to technological progress, increasing production
specialization, and the wide dissemination of scientific knowledge, world food systems
have become more integrated and developed than ever before (Prakash, 2011).
Despite these achievements, important questions still exist as to whether the world’s
agriculture has the potential to feed a growing population, expected to reach 9 billion by
2050, unless significant improvements are made in production efficiency alongside the
promotion of healthier consumption habits. In 2012, 870 million people were still suffering
from hunger and malnutrition, equivalent to nearly 12.5% of the global population (FAO,
WFP and IFAD, 2012). Furthermore, somewhat ironically, today there are more people
overweight than people suffering from hunger globally. According to WHO (2013), in
2008 1.4 billion people were overweight, of which nearly 500 million were obese.
Bridging the hunger gap and addressing the high calorie intake of a growing and
wealthier population, demand vast amounts of inputs: water, land, minerals, and
energy. The challenge of feeding the world thus becomes particularly acute if it is to be
accomplished without adding further pressure on natural resources and surpassing critical
environmental tipping points. The National Intelligence Council (NIC) has identified the
water–food–energy nexus as one of the four ‘megatrends’ which is likely to have major
impacts on the world’s future up to 2030, as an increasing, wealthier and more urbanized
population will pose a higher demand on these inextricably linked resources (NIC, 2012).
The NIC report also predicts that the diffusion of power and geopolitical gravity shifts
are ongoing megatrends that are likely to influence the world’s future in the short term. As
Naím (2013) claims, power1 in the world is decaying as a result of a so-called ‘triple-M
revolution’: the more revolution, the mobility revolution and the mentality revolution.
Among the ‘more revolution’ facts that Naím mentions, a few are worth bearing in mind:
the world’s economic output has increased fivefold since 1950 and income per capita
became 3.5 times greater; between 1990 and 2010, the number of people living
on less than US$1.25 a day decreased to 700 million, thus meeting the Millennium
Development Goal on halving extreme poverty five years earlier than planned; child
mortality has dropped by 17% since 2000; undernourishment decreased from 34% in

1 Naím defines power as the ‘ability to direct or prevent the current or future actions of other groups and indi-
viduals’ (p.16).

4
 CHAPTER 1
WAT E R A N D F O O D S E C U R I T Y I N L A C . R E G I O N A L O P P O RT U N I T I E S T O C O P E W I T H G L O B A L C H A L L E N G E S

1980 to 17% in 2008; the middle class increased from 1 billion in 1980 to 2 billion in
2012, and will likely reach 3 billion in 2020; 84% of the population is literate, up from
75% in 1990; and, last but not least, between 2000 and 2010 the human development
index – an overall measure of global human well-being and living standards – has risen
everywhere in the world with just a handful of exceptions. This promising picture of
countries and citizens progressing, living longer, with healthier lives and improved basic
needs, is crucial to understanding today’s shifts and redistributions of power, and why it is
becoming harder to obtain power and easier to lose it.
Much of these socio-economic transitions have occurred in Latin America and the
Caribbean (LAC), a region that over the course of the last decade has shown great progress
in social, institutional, political and economic spheres. Part of the economic success is due
to the region’s ‘natural dividend’, related to the relative and absolute abundance of natural
resources, ranging from minerals and energy sources to land and water. As Naím (2013)
argues, demand and access to abundant resources are in fact one of the main world
drivers of power decay for countries that lack them and of power conquest for those that
are well endowed. This partly explains why LAC countries with very little global power
until recently are now influential members in the G20 (Argentina, Brazil and Mexico),
major world energy providers (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela), crucial countries
for LAC’s overall security (Mexico, Colombia), key EU trading partners (Chile, Peru and
Colombia, and the Central American states of Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador,
Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama), and leaders of the transpacific cooperation, as four
countries (Chile, Peru, Mexico, Colombia) have created the Pacific Alliance to enhance
cooperation within the region and across the Pacific with Asia. By all accounts, the LAC
region has become a key player in global geopolitics. Exploring how these changes play
out in the domain of water and food security contributes to understanding what paths
of development this region is following and what are the implications regionally and
globally.

1.1.2 Water for regional and global food securit y

Globally, the largest share of consumptive water use is associated to agricultural production,
and just a minor fraction (less than 10% on average) is for cities and industries. Because of
the prevalence of rain-fed agriculture over irrigation, the largest share of water consumed
in agriculture is green water, soil moisture. Blue water – water taken from rivers and
aquifers – represents a smaller fraction of the agricultural water footprint, although it varies
amongst countries. The importance of water for agricultural production and the fact that
agriculture is the lion’s share of water consumption, renders it relevant and necessary to
look at water and food security through the double lens of what Allan (2013) defines as
‘food-water’ water needed to secure agricultural production, either green or blue- and
‘non-food water’, which refers to the fraction of blue water providing all other water-related
services, beyond food, which are important for human development and well-being.

5
PA R T 1 :
INTRODUCTION

LAC’s agriculture is a strategic sector for rural development and poverty alleviation
and it plays a key role in overcoming local and global food insecurities. During the
last fifteen years, LAC’s agricultural sector has grown considerably, to a large extent
driven by trade liberalization policies, which have contributed to turning LAC into an
increasingly important competitor in the global agricultural market (for both food and
biofuel production). Its weight is not so much in terms of economic value, but in calories
and vegetal and animal protein supply, making both developed and emerging economies
increasingly more dependent on LAC’s output. In recent years, this region has captured
an increasing share of the global market of agricultural products, and LAC now controls
over 18.4% of the world agricultural trade compared to the 11.4% in 1990 (World
Bank, 2013a). Oilseeds, soybean, cereal grain and to a lesser extent livestock products
accounted for more than half of this export growth, with a few countries such as Brazil,
Argentina and Chile generating over 65% of total LAC exports (ibid.).
The expansion of agricultural production and exports has been partially stimulated by
the peaks in commodity prices seen in 2007, 2008 and 2012. However, increased
price volatility has a lingering effect in the minds of those responsible for managing and
governing food systems at international and national levels, even after the price crises
subsided. Many governments concluded that relying too much on food imports entailed
serious economic and social risks. The notion of food security was thus redefined after
the price crises, and food sovereignty is now gaining more prominence to the extent that
increasing national food production is becoming an overarching objective in all domains
of world and national governance. Nevertheless, under the likely scenario of reaching
9 billion people by 2050, the ongoing process of global urbanization and dietary shifts,
the reliance on food imports will remain an indispensable strategy in order to overcome
global water and land shortages and cope with future food demand. In this context, it is
very likely that LAC will be a major supplier in this long-term scenario as it has already
demonstrated over the last decade.

1.1.3 Water for economic development and human well-being

If food-water is essential for achieving food security, non-food water is an equally strategic
element for human well-being and social progress. Population growth and the aspiration
for higher incomes, greater services and job opportunities, have favoured a rapid and
sustained migration flow from rural to urban areas over the last decades. Today, LAC is
more urbanized than the average ‘high-income’ country, with almost 80% of the popula-
tion living in cities in 2012 (World Bank, 2013b). The region holds four of the largest
and most populated cities in the world (the megacities of Mexico D.F., Sao Paulo, Buenos
Aires and Rio de Janeiro) and a fast-growing number of middle-size urban areas. This
booming process of urbanization, often poorly planned, and the resulting high urban
density, pose major challenges for managing water and the delivery of key services to citi-
zens. These include securing access to safe water and sanitation, protection against water
hazards such as floods, guaranteeing water provisioning services during drought periods

6
 CHAPTER 1
WAT E R A N D F O O D S E C U R I T Y I N L A C . R E G I O N A L O P P O RT U N I T I E S T O C O P E W I T H G L O B A L C H A L L E N G E S

or addressing the growing water pollution problem and environmental degradation of

freshwater ecosystems resulting from poor wastewater management policies, amongst
other factors.
Non-food water is also a critical input for the industrial sector, including mining,
energy production and navigation. Hydropower is the main energy source in the LAC
region and still has a large growth potential. Yet its development faces growing physical
and socio-economic constraints, including the rights of native and local inhabitants and
environmental concerns. Similarly, the growth of the mining sector in LAC, particularly
in South America and Mexico, is also generating a growing number of water conflicts.
On one hand, because it competes with other economic sectors for sometimes scarce
water resources. On the other hand, because of the large pollution problems this sector
generates for downstream water users and ecosystems.

1.1. 4 Development and sustainabilit y goals: confrontation or

alignment?
The strategic value of LAC’s natural dividend offers a triple-sided topic of research and
inquiry. On the one hand, the role of LAC in the world’s current food system and its contri-
bution to global food security cannot be emphasized enough. Interestingly, this crucial
role has become a reality in just one decade, and the consequences are now beginning
to emerge, in both the political and the scientific spheres. On the other hand, the local,
national and regional impacts of this plethora of economic and business opportunities
pose enormous challenges for LAC governments. In a time of rapid reconfigurations of
power, civil society, NGOs and grassroots organizations have advocated bold reforms at
the highest political level (reaching the constitutional one) that enshrine basic rights such as
those regarding access to food and water. Last but not least, a fundamental question for
the region is whether existing development opportunities and sustainability goals should
be framed in terms of trade-offs, or they could also be thought of as win–win opportunities.
This dilemma is pertinent worldwide, since decisions concerning to LAC’s development
and natural resource use will have global consequences for biodiversity, the earth energy
balance and the world’s climate (Rockström et al., 2009; Gloor et al., 2012).

1.1.5 This book’s conceptual approach: linking food and water

securit y
Over the last few years numerous authors and organizations have been looking at the
consequences of LAC agricultural growth and globalization. Questions like What are the
socio-economic and environmental implications of this trend for regional development?
How does it contribute to local water and food security? and What is the role of LAC in
global water and food security? are of critical importance to the region, but knowledge
remains sparse and the overall picture is unclear. Behind all these key questions there are
numerous interrelated phenomena and processes at the global, national and local levels

7
PA R T 1 :
INTRODUCTION

that must be jointly analysed in order to provide convincing explanations that allow valid
conclusions to be drawn.
The answers to these questions have to be sought in the linkages between regional
development, economic globalization, well-being, water resource use (food-water and
non-food-water), and the global dimension of water and food systems in LAC. To tackle
this complex phenomenon a first and fundamental concern is the biophysical sphere,
the realization that no social and economic progress of human beings exists without
an adequate material stratus. This link is sketched in Figure 1.1. A crucial feature that
distinguishes LAC from other regions is that most of its vast agricultural production is
obtained in rain-fed systems, relying thus primarily on green water. This green water
embedded in agricultural exports are of critical importance for global food and water
security. Likewise, LAC’s food-water and non-food water are also crucial for regional
development and for meeting its growing domestic consumption needs. In the particular
case of LAC, with its booming economy and a heavy reliance on natural resources, one
can imagine scenarios where the rest of the world’s craving for food and natural resources
compromises the livelihoods of future LAC’s generations and scenarios where the two
positively reinforce each other. The latter implies that the booming economy and social
progress run along more sustainable paths. This book is an inquiry into the type of path
LAC countries seem to be following.

Next generations HUMAN WELL-BEING

LAC Rest of the World

Present generations

REGIONAL Water & Food Security

Non-Food Water Food Water

(Blue) (Blue & Green)
· Cities & rural areas · Agriculture
· Industry GLOBAL
· Energy
· Mining Water & Food Security

LAC natural capital

Global natural capital

Figure 1.1 Biophysical dimensions of human well-being – water and food security – in LAC
and in the rest of the world. Source: own elaboration.

A second and equally fundamental concern is the governancel system. If the bios-
phere represents the material stratus needed for the realization of any kind of security,
governance systems represent the intangible stratus (Figure 1.2). An underlying theme of

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this book is that LAC’s future depends dramatically on strong governance and institutional
frameworks, both within countries and at regional and global levels. Countries’ gover-
nance systems are where rules for land and water uses are developed and where the
bases for water and food security are laid out, as they intervene on how humans interact
with the biophysical sphere. Furthermore, the global governance system – e.g. interna-
tional trade policy, free trade agreements, food safety and sanitary measures – has also
become pivotal for food security in LAC and globally. Considering the relatively weak
global governance structures of present times, the engagement of national governments
in far-seeing and inclusive policies and the demand of citizens of being lead equitably
and responsibly are prerequisites for thinking optimistically about the future. This book
does not attempt to revise all governance forces operating inside and out of LAC and
summarized in Figure 1.2, but to specifically focus on those that have a direct impact on
water governance in LAC.

Socio-economic trends
National and Regional - Income/Jobs
Water Governance - Technology
WATER SECURITY
- Human and social capital
- Urbanization
- Access to safe drinking - Cities/Towns - Transportation
Non-food
water and sanitation water - Mining - Equity and democracy
- Adequate livelihoods (Blue) - Energy - International commodity prices
- Resilience to water - Industry
hazards
- Environmental

GLOBALIZATION
sustainablity
Food access
- Peace & stability Food-water Food Nutritional quality
(Green & Blue) Agriculture
production Stability
Safety

National and Regional LAC FOOD GLOBAL FOOD

Agricultural Policies SECURITY SECURITY

- Food programmes
- Rural development
- Agricultural extension
- Credit & insurance
- Trade policies Global Governance
- Infrastructure - Trade policy (WTO) – G20
- Gender policies - Free Trade Agreements (Bilat, Multi Lat, Regional)
- Minimum wage - Food safety and and sanitary measures
(Bio-secuirity)

Figure 1.2 The book’s framework: topics, inter-dependencies, drivers and focus.
Source: own elaboration.

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1.2 The objectives of this book

This book’s main goal is to provide an analytical and facts-based view of the progress
of LAC’s regional water and food security, its contribution to global water and food secu-
rity and the challenges ahead. A full understanding of these regional changes requires
framing LAC in the global picture: a region with increasing geopolitical power in an ever
globalized world and a growing presence in global food markets. This overview ultima-
tely aims at facilitating policy debates at national and global levels about these compe-
lling issues. Within this overarching goal, the book has the following specific objectives:

• To diagnose water and food security issues in LAC, using prospective analysis and
up-to-date literature. The book pays particular attention to food-water, how it is being
used and the links to regional and global food security, without neglecting the impor-
tance of non-food water, as it also represents a key asset for development and progress.
• To investigate the role of the socio-economic ‘megatrends’ in LAC, identifying feedback
processes between the region’s observed pattern of changes of key biophysical,
economic and social variables linked to water and food security.
• To document and analyse the environmental implications linked to the growth of a
natural resources-intensive economic model over the last decade, i.e. LAC becoming
the world’s food basket and a key economic actor in domains such as mining and
some key industrial products, whilst reviewing the policies in place that have been
pursued to mitigate their negative consequences.
• To review the critical changes that are taking place in the institutional and governance
water spheres, including the role of civil society, which may represent promising means
to advance towards the goal of improving water security in LAC.

Covering a wide array of spheres and databases ranging from biophysical, social and
economic variables to detailed records of legal and institutional reform in LAC countries,
the book’s unique approach offers a complementary view of previous works, including
Jiménez-Cisneros and Galizia-Tundisi (2012), Regional Process of the Americas (2012),
FAO (2012) and OECD (2013). The first two publications provide considerable updated
data on water-related aspects and formulate extremely relevant policy conclusions, while
FAO (2012) offers a valuable review of the food security challenges in the LAC region,
and OECD (2013) in the world. While this book has a central focus in LAC’s water and
food challenges, compared to other publications it makes two main contributions: 1) it
focuses primarily on the synergies and relationships that both food and water security
goals represent for LAC, and 2) it seeks to cover a much vaster domain linking trade
and globalization, with water economic uses, pressures on environment and ecosystem
services, and water policies, with an overarching view of water and food security for the
people and the productive economy in LAC. It does so by first considering international
food trade flows and using water accounting techniques to quantify its significance in
terms of virtual water movements.

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This book will provide an overall picture of LAC’s current status and the challenges
regarding these compelling issues. But problems and challenges greatly differ across and
within countries. LAC is a highly heterogeneous physical territory, even though culturally it
is more homogeneous. Whilst this cultural convergence helps in terms of human relations,
the different national identities do have an influence on how countries share resources
and address common problems, including the widely different standpoint each one has
about globalization and the major megatrend. A similar phenomenon can be observed
within regions (provinces, states) of the same nation. Thus, although the continental view
provides an overall picture, it may also greatly differ from the local vision. It would be
impossible to include such a degree of detail within the scope of this book, but in the
different chapters some of the striking differences are identified as examples.
1.3 The structure, scope and contents of this volume
This book contains a collection of fifteen essays (including this one) that look at funda-
mental issues surrounding water for food and human well-being in an increasingly globa-
lized LAC. Most chapters take a regional approach, covering a broad range of data and
variables pertaining to most of countries in the region, although a sharper focus is placed
in some chapters on seven countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica,
Mexico and Peru), as these are the countries represented in the partners’ consortium of the
project which lead to the present book (see the Foreword). To cover this vast number of
issues, the book generates new data, delves into the vast array of already existing litera-
ture and datasets about the region and explores linkages among phenomena and trends.
The book is structured in four parts. Part 1 is this introductory chapter. Part 2 sets the
scene for the book looking at the biophysical and socio-economic context of LAC. Part
3 describes the main drivers for land and water uses in the region and for the particular
case of the seven aforementioned countries. Part 4 presents the economic, legal and
institutional context where those uses occur and where water and food security is to be
achieved. In the following sections, the topics, data and approaches of each volume’s
part and chapter are outlined.

1.3.1 Part 2 on the biophysical and socio-economic context

Chapter 2 provides a general overview of the status and trends of water resources in LAC:
its spatial and temporal distribution, its uses and the main challenges that those uses pose
to the conservation of water and its associated ecosystems.
Chapter 3 describes the status and main pressures on land and ecosystem services and
shows that, as a result of the expansion of agricultural and livestock production, LAC has
undergone some of the most noteworthy land use changes in modern history. Associated
with these changes significant reductions in the provision of ecosystem services have
occurred. The chapter discusses the available options to minimize competition between
agricultural land and forests.
Chapters 4 and 5 seek to identify the major socio-economic drivers of change within
LAC, looking both at endogenous and exogenous global aspects. Chapter 4 describes

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and documents a wide selection of socio-economic megatrends of LAC including

demographic dynamics, economic growth, migration, income growth, disparity and
poverty, human development, education, trade and liberalization, food-consumption
patterns, technological change, and climate change. Chapter 5 provides an overview
of the trends of direct investment, trade flows and policy, and adds further data about the
region’s connectivity with the rest of the world. The predominance of trading agricultural
and mining commodities stands out for its amount, growth and continuity. The chapter also
reviews the literature on the impacts of virtual water trade and some of the most serious
concerns, anticipating a more complete presentation of data and discussion in Chapter 7.
Chapter 6 explores the meaning of water and food security in the context of LAC
countries, taking a wide perspective and trying to account for all those aspects concerning
water and food which are important for human well-being beyond its physical availability.
It provides a quantitative analysis on the performance of water and food security indicators
between 2000 and 2010 with a view to assessing progress and the links between them.
This chapter concludes with a final section assessing the influence of socio-economic
factors on water and food security advances.

1.3.2 Part 3 on water demand and drivers

Chapter 7 analyses the challenges and opportunities of water management in the
region from the perspective of the agricultural sector. The chapter provides detailed data
pertaining to water quantity and quality obtained under the framework of the water
footprint indicator. Connecting the data on trade presented in Chapter 5, virtual water
trade in the LAC region is also analysed with reference to both countries and time. In the
final section, the chapter includes a productivity analysis taking into account social and
economic aspects.
Chapter 8 focuses on the urban sector. First, it reviews the major challenges associated
with the objective of expanding coverage and sanitation to hundreds of large and middle-
size cities which are constantly undergoing processes of expansion and economic growth.
It further goes on to analyse the challenge of maintaining the existing infrastructure to
provide safe water to hundreds of millions of LAC people. This is illustrated in a number of
case studies including Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Mar del Plata, Mexico D.F., Santiago
de Chile, Buenos Aires and Lima. In many cases groundwater has a very significant r
ole, even if is not a dominant one. It is also remarked upon that some poor natural water
quality problems are a concern, especially in small towns and rural areas.
Chapter 9 focuses on mining, energy and industrial sectors. Each of these is reviewed
covering the major challenges each faces as water users and potential pollutants. The
mining and industrial sectors stand out for having large impacts on the environment,
in addition to wastewater discharges from large cities. The mining sector is potentially
subject to water shortages since many mines are in desert areas and they compete for
scarce water resources with the urban users and the environment.

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1.3.3 Part 4 on the economic, legal and institutional context

for achieving water and food securit y
Chapter 10 reviews the efficiency of water resource use in LAC. To this end, it provides
the concepts and definitions together with the drivers for water efficiency. Then, it analyses
the efficiency of water resources use in Latin America, looking at the different water users:
urban and industrial, mining, agriculture, energy and the environment.
Chapter 11 describes fundamental aspects of water governance, including the consti-
tutional provisions in relation to water, water laws, and the recognition of the human right
to water and sanitation. The chapter also analyses financial aspects, funding schemes
and investments made and needed in order to ensure the enforcement of constitutional
and legal mandates on water.
Chapter 12 focuses on different strategies that stakeholders apply in order to influence
water governance in LAC. After reviewing the main sources of tensions regarding water
in the region, the chapter looks at practices of activism and advocacy often triggered by
disputes that represent informal but important spaces for the participation of civil society.
Then the chapter discusses means to achieve transparency, accountability and more
robust governance, including, the creation of formal venues of participation as a space
for negotiation, the role of the private sector, water certification approaches and legal
provisions to ensure access to information.
Chapter 13 explores the role of economic instruments in coping with the most pressing
challenges of LAC’s water problems. The chapter covers pricing policies, as applied to
users of natural resources or mere abstraction activities, and to final users in the urban
sector or agricultural sectors. It also reports on a few initiatives with pollution charges and
the use of payments for ecosystem services. Since Chile is the only country in the region
with experience with water markets, the chapter also offers a brief assessment of how they
function and mentions the most recent reforms. The chapter concludes with the potential for
improving water and food security indicators by using economic instruments.
Chapter 14 explains how LAC countries are confronting the environmental downside
of an economic model based on the intensive use of natural resources and the process of
urbanization. It reviews the constitutional and legal approaches and economic initiatives
meant to address environmental protection that have been implemented in a large number
of LAC countries. It then looks at the impediments and the potential effects private rights
and ownership could have. It ends with a technical and detailed discussion of the role
of payments for ecosystem services, complementing the brief introduction in Chapter 13.
Chapter 15, the last chapter, relates most of the topics and aspects that have been
covered in the book with the changing and ambiguous concept of integrated water
resources management (IWRM). The reasons for rethinking the concept of IWRM include
a number of innovations and recent findings in fields traditionally not placed at the core of
water resource sciences, such as non-conventional water resources, climate science and
water globalization.

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1.4 Main book’s highlights

While it is not prudent to make generalizations for the entire LAC region, as it is obvious that
LAC challenges might differ across and within countries, the following section summarizes
the main highlights emerging from this volume, grouping them under six main headings:
(1) globalization, trade and the role of LAC in international food and water security; (2)
implications for LAC’s role in the social and environmental spheres; (3) the performance
of LAC’s indicators of water and food security; (4) the challenges of urbanization, large
cities’ water, intensive industrial and mining sectors; (5) progress in water governance; (6)
democracy, education and good governance as a basis for LAC’s natural resources and
social dividends.

1. 4.1 Globalization and international trade have changed the

way of coping with food and water securit y challenges
and L AC is a key player in this new setting
In 2011 the value of traded goods globally was equivalent to 59% of the world’s GDP,
up from 49% in 2000, and 39% in 1990. With US$1.356 trillion traded in 2011,
agricultural products represent the world’s third largest sector in traded value, after fuels
and non-pharmaceutical chemicals. LAC’s agricultural exports now account for 18.4% of
global agricultural exports and in value terms they grew by 21% in 2011, mostly because
of the increase in commodity prices. In total, LAC’s exports of mining and agricultural
products represent between 38% and 40% of all goods exports.
The growth in exports of agricultural and mining products has been a major source
of income for the wealthiest nations of LAC. But the region’s exports have not been
sufficiently diversified and hence un-manufactured and less processed products still
account for the largest share of LAC agricultural exports. Within the group of the eleven
largest economies of LAC, only Argentina (with automobile exports in the third place)
and Mexico (with exports of sound and telecommunication equipment in the third place)
had, in 2008, a non-agricultural or non-mining sector amongst the three largest exporting
sectors (Dingemans and Ross, 2012).
Because of the abundance of agricultural land and the favourable climate, agricultural
production in LAC is primarily rain-fed. International demand for agricultural products
is mostly satisfied with green water and thus through the use of vast amounts of land.
Over 95% of the production water footprint in LAC (≈1060km3/year, an average for
the time period of 1996–2005) is for food production and nearly 20% of this ‘food
water’ (≈ 203km3/year) is exported from LAC, mostly to Asia and Europe.2 The growing

2 According to Dalin et al. (2012), South America exported in 2007 approximately178 km3 of virtual water
outside the LAC region, i.e. to Asian and European countries. This would imply that roughly over 87% of the
‘food water’ exported annually by LAC countries is meant to meet the demand from other regions, and only 13%
is traded regionally.

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international demand for protein crops, oilseed, cereal grains, and meat products has
contributed to increasing virtual water exports of 37.5% between 2000 and 2010. The
remaining 80% of food water consumption is used for to satisfy the internal demand of a
growing and wealthier population.
South America’s main trading partners are now in Asia, especially China and India,
while Central America and the Caribbean still export primarily to North America. Exports
from South America to Asia contributed to 30% of the virtual water trade increase between
1986 and 2007, 95% of which is green water. In this context, Brazil and Argentina are
now major players in the global markets of agricultural commodities, providing up to 13%
of the global annual green water exports. The expansion of transportation infrastructure
connecting ports with vast inland regions will probably enhance the effects of globalization
in the more remote areas of the region.
Falkenmark and Rockström (2011), Dalin et al., (2012) and OECD (2013) amongst
many others conclude that international trade is a basic element for achieving global food
and water security, particularly taking into consideration the future global population and
the shifting dietary habits. This points to the key role that global governance architecture,
including the World Trade Organization as part of its founding elements, should play in
ensuring a fair food trade as a necessary premise for global security. It also suggests that,
despite the growing importance the food sovereignty discourse is gaining across many
countries, agricultural trade will be still necessary, and LAC is likely to remain a key food
provider globally.

1. 4.2 Pursuing global water and food securit y intensively taps

into L AC’s natural capital and has social and environ-
mental trade-offs
The growth of the agricultural sector in LAC is a result of rapid modernization and
competitiveness gains, pushed by technology adoption and innovation, infrastructure
development and increasing production efficiency, in both physical and economic terms.
LAC still has much potential for scaling up its agricultural output owing largely to its rich
natural endowment, especially in terms of land and water. Currently, the appropriation of
land for agriculture represents 27% of the total LAC area, a figure comparatively lower than
the 38% global average. With less than 13% of this land equipped for irrigation (FAO,
2012), the green water dependency of LAC’s agriculture is considered a comparative
advantage compared to blue water intensive agricultural production systems. However,
relying largely on rain-fed agriculture for food security is not exempt from trade-offs since
its expansion implies important environmental impacts and the loss of valuable ecosystem
services (e.g. deforestation, widespread pollution, carbon emissions, biodiversity loss).
The growth of rain-fed agriculture in LAC has significantly changed land use patterns.
Yet, LAC is the second largest deforestation hotspot in the world, only preceded by
Southeast Asia. Between 2000 and 2010, close to 1 million km2 of forest have been
transformed into agricultural land, an area equivalent to the size of Venezuela, with large
consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem services. Deforestation has been particularly
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INTRODUCTION

intense in South America, with Brazil accounting for 60% of LAC’s forest clearing during the
last decade. The great majority of the ongoing deforestation in South America is related
to the growing international demand for oilseeds grains. In Mesoamerica, deforestation
has advanced at a slower pace, and the drivers seem to be related mainly to the low
agricultural productivity, which keeps pushing at the agricultural frontier in order to
overcome local food insecurity gaps. Annual deforestation rates peaked between 2000
and 2005 and declined slightly in 2005–2010, but are still higher than in 1995–2000.
The sustainable intensification argument was brought up with enthusiasm, as a ‘win–
win’ solution, which may allow the achievement of the triple goal of ensuring food–
water–environmental security. However, gains from this sustainable intensification will be
slow and require large investments in research and field trials to avoid falling in the
‘intensification trap’, since as agriculture intensifies, input demands (e.g. energy, fertilizers,
water) also rise, and this has additional environmental consequences (Titonell, 2013).
Non-point source pollution of water and soil is, jointly with biodiversity loss and built-in
resistance to pests and weeds, the main unwanted consequence of agricultural expansion
in LAC. Important causes are the extensive application of pesticides and fertilizers,
irrigation-induced salinity and the reuse of insufficiently treated wastewater for irrigation.
Improvements in agricultural productivity across many countries in LAC will surely help to
spare land and reduce the impacts of deforestation, but important challenges remain in
order to mitigate the resource-use dependency of agriculture.
1. 4.3 LAC’s water and food security indicators have improved, but
important goals remain and new challenges are emerging
The buoyant global tailwinds that enabled the remarkable economic development of
LAC over the last decade have undoubtedly contributed to social progress in the region.
Social advances are obvious in the achievements of LAC countries to meet many of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (see Table 1.1). At the continental level, LAC
has made notable advances in alleviating extreme poverty (MGD1a), undernourishment
(MDG1c) and improving access to drinking water and sanitation (MDG7). Yet progress
achieved upon the rest of MDGs, albeit notable, is still not sufficient to meet the 2015
objectives.
When analysing the achievements made by countries separately, the wide divergences
in accomplishing the different MDGs become evident. Overall, high and medium-high
income countries (e.g. Southern Cone countries, as well as Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica,
Peru, Panama or Ecuador) are on good track to meet at least those MDGs related to basic
indicators of water and food security (MDG1 and MDG7). Goals related to improved
education, health, equity and female empowerment are progressing but at a slower pace,
and there is a risk that they will not be accomplished by 2015 if the prevailing trend
continues. In the Caribbean islands there is a large knowledge gap and the information that
is available shows slow progress for the most part. Low-income countries also run the risk
of not meeting most of the 2015 goals, except in Bolivia, Nicaragua and Honduras.

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Table 1.1 Millennium Development Goals (MDG) progress in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) between 1990 and 2010.
Target goals on track to be accomplished by 2015 or earlier are represented in green, observed progress but off track if prevailing trends persist
are presented in yellow, and off-target ones in red.
PROGRESS SCORE

MDG 1a MDG 1c MDG 2 MDG 3 MDG 4 MDG 5 MDG 7c

Extreme Undernourishment Completion Gender and Reduction of Improve Access to Access to

poverty primary women child mortality maternal safe drinking sanitation
schooling empowerment health water

Honduras
Mexico
Nicaragua
Mesoamerica Panama
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Guatemala
Cuba
Dominican Republic
St. Kitts and Nevis
Caribbean
St. Lucia
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Haiti
Bolivia
Colombia
Andean Ecuador
Peru
Venezuela
Amazonian Brazil
Chile
Paraguay
South Cone
Uruguay
Argentina
On Target 9 13 1 4 6 1 17 10
LAC countries Some Progress 8 6 17 16 17 16 4 9
Off Target 0 4 0 3 0 3 1 3

Source: own elaboration based on UN (2013).

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These improvements imply that between 1990 and 2012 the percentage of the
population living in poverty in LAC has decreased from 49.4% to 28.8%. Still there are
168 million people living in poverty, the majority living in urban areas (ECLAC, 2013).
Income distribution inequality is still the Achilles heel of LAC, but a clear downtrend has
been evident since the early 2000s. Nevertheless, by 2011, 30% of the population still
received over 60% of the total income (ibid.).
With regard to food security improvements, the number of people undernourished
has decreased from over 65 million in 1990–1992 to 49 million in 2010–2012 (FAO,
2012). The prevalence of stunting in children under five years has also decreased from
19% in 2000 to 14% in 2010, but the problem remains that one in every seven children
born in LAC will have stunted growth. In addition to sub-nutrition, LAC is also facing a
growing problem of malnutrition. Obesity now affects nearly 18% of the Latin American
population (> 110 million people) and overweight up to 33% (> 200 million people)
(Finucane et al., 2011). Malnutrition is particularly affecting middle and high income
countries like Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Mexico. Current rates of overweight
and obesity in LAC are at least double those of other developing regions and comparable
to the ones found in Europe.
Regarding water security, LAC boasts the highest renewable water resources per person
among the world’s regions, but climatic variability, together with urbanization patterns,
generates asymmetries between water demands and water availability across the region,
and results in water stress in some of the most economically dynamic areas of the region.
Over 100 million LAC citizens currently live in basins which face physical water scarcity.
The number of people without access to an improved sanitation facility has decreased
from 146.7 million in 1990 to 103.8 million in 2011 (WHO-UNICEF, 2013). The
greatest improvements, however, have been achieved in reducing the number of people
without access to safe drinking water from 63.8 million in 1990 to 32.8 million by
2011 (WHO-UNICEF, 2013). These figures mask important differences across countries,
between urban and rural areas, as well as within urban areas. Overall, and particularly
across the poorest countries, water service deficiencies in rural areas are still very
significant.
The vulnerability of countries to growing water hazards stands as another important
priority when attempting to increase regional water and food security. The frequency of
extreme hydro-meteorological events such as floods has quadrupled between 2000 and
2009, compared to the period of 1970–1979 (EM-DAT,2013). The social impacts of
floods and storms have remained relatively stable (< 3% of the LAC population affected
annually) at the LAC scale, but in countries like Belize, Guyana or Cuba, social exposure
risk has increased. The economic impacts have grown considerably, and in 2010 they
peaked with damages accounting for almost 2% of LAC’s GDP. A major reason for this high
vulnerability to floods in LAC is related to accelerated urbanization with little or no urban
planning, but also to the fact that many cities are located in very flat areas, where large
concentrated rain events may produce serious problems such as the 2013 flooding of La
Plata. Hydro-climatic variability, in the form of droughts, also represents a major risk for

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regional food security. Currently, only 13% of the total agricultural area in LAC is equipped
with irrigation (FAO, 2012) which makes the agricultural sector in LAC highly vulnerable
to drought. Only some parts of Mexico, Chile, Peru, the Northwest of Argentina, and the
Northeast of Brazil rely on irrigation water for food production, mostly for the production
of value added products such as fruits and vegetables. The potential to expand irrigation
is huge but fairly unrealized: FAO (2013) includes Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico
and Peru in the list of twenty world countries with the largest potential, but only Brazil and
Mexico stand among the twenty countries with the largest area already equipped with
irrigation. However, groundwater salinity, poor drainage in flatlands and droughts make
irrigation developments very risky unless large infrastructure investments are made.

1. 4. 4 The development and operation of the urban water

cycle in large cities, intensive industries and the mining
sector pose major environmental challenges
Providing a quality drinking water service, improved sanitation and adequate treatment
of wastewater is challenging, especially in LAC where the population, particularly in
urban areas, has expanded rapidly. The root of the problem is neither economic (scale
economies allow for the provision of good quality and sustainable water services at
a reasonable cost) nor technical (current engineering can deal with the most complex
problems). Barriers to cope with the already diagnosed problems are mostly the lack of
governance and institutional leadership, as well as political agendas that often do not
include the universal coverage of water supply and sanitation as key priorities.
During the last decade, infrastructure development for domestic supply has been for
the most part orientated towards water service provision while sanitation and wastewater
management investments have received less attention. In fact, public and private investment
on this front has levelled off recently. Another challenge associated with urban water
supply is that initial investments for providing access to water have not been followed by
stable funding for maintenance and in fact many water services are currently in dire need
of replacement and modernization. This and the large population growth, especially in
urban areas, are responsible for the deficient quality of supplied services. Regional Process
of the Americas (2012) explicitly highlights among these deficiencies: the insufficient
water disinfection, the poor surveillance of water abstractions, discontinuous service,
insufficient pressure, high leakage percentage (above 40% in many cases) and the limited
wastewater treatment. These are big challenges and making use of economies of scale
seems to be the most logical and feasible solution to provide a good quality urban water
service to the citizen at the lower possible cost, when all involved costs and long-term
economic balances are considered (Cabrera et al., 2013). However, this needs a good
administrative structure, political support and remarkable leadership amongst decision
makers. Although the main focus of water services in large cities is on domestic supply
improvements, natural hazards and pollution are also serious concerns in many rural and

19
PA R T 1 :
INTRODUCTION

small urban areas. These are brought to the attention of national authorities through local
political and social representatives.
Although water consumption for energy, industry and mining may only be a small
percentage of countries’ consumption, it can be locally significant, especially in small
basins and in the arid and hyper-arid areas of LAC. This consumption may also be
economically and socially important, and therefore water quantity and quality should be
guaranteed.
Mining and industrial production are emerging sectors in the region and represent
an important share of LAC’s economy. Furthermore mining is a key source of income and
employment. Nonetheless, industrial activities, and in particular mining, contribute to water
resources deterioration, threatening water security locally and downstream. This is due to
the disposal of water with high salinity, often containing acids and diverse unwanted and
noxious solutes. These unwanted constituents are derived from minerals – diverse heavy
metals – or from concentration and processing, such as flotation compounds. Quicksilver
(mercury) and cyanide can also be found in the case of the many gold mines in LAC,
especially the small and artisanal ones. Pollution management is hindered by financial
constraints, as well as by insufficient monitoring programmes and wastewater treatment
investments. Yet pressures to maintain and expand mining activities will grow because of
the world’s demand for metals and non-ferrous products. LAC countries currently supply
51% of the world’s silver, 45% of its copper and overall 25% of the world’s metal market.
The production of lithium, a series of secondary metals and coal are also important, as
well as gems. Water productivity in the mining and industrial sector is at least one order
of magnitude higher than in the agricultural sector.

1. 4.5 In LAC water governance is evolving to address the challenges

posed by rapid socio-economic changes, however, as is
often the case, the implementation of reforms lags behind
Large unexploited natural resources, coupled with the sustained growth pattern of
many LAC countries, contribute to create situations where different needs, interests and
understanding of the concept of socio-economic development lead to tensions. Poor
legal compliance, insufficient legal instruments and lack of funds are often at the root
of significant environmental damages and conflicts. Disputes are mainly related to the
construction and operation of water works, water diversion, industrial and mining pollution
and the privatization of water supply and sanitation coverage in urban areas. This means
that most tensions spin around ‘non-food water’, i.e. a small fraction of the water actually
consumed in the region, as high potential of pollution, new risks of flood and fear to
lose the precarious water supply in marginal urban areas act as powerful catalysts for
stakeholders concern.
Advocacy networks play a key role in empowering and giving national and
international visibility to local populations directly affected by environmental degradation
or social unfairness. During the past two decades, the demands from civil society for

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 CHAPTER 1
WAT E R A N D F O O D S E C U R I T Y I N L A C . R E G I O N A L O P P O RT U N I T I E S T O C O P E W I T H G L O B A L C H A L L E N G E S

more inclusive, sustainable, efficient and effective governance, as well as the influence
of international organizations and supranational agencies, have triggered significant
institutional reforms in the region in the form of much legislative activity.
Common elements in those reforms include: a shift towards decentralization, often
complemented with the creation of coordination and supervising bodies at a higher
level; the formulation of new water laws and policies that include IWRM principles
(environmental sustainability, integration, participation, accountability, transparency, cost
recovery); and the creation of water use taxes and tariffs for cost recovery. Additionally,
in its search for improved water security, LAC has pioneered the recognition of the right to
water and sanitation as a human right.
In most of the countries the focus is now on implementing institutional reforms, where
the main challenges are related to the lack of integrated planning of water use, the
poor coordination of the main stakeholders (both governmental and non-governmental),
insufficient local capacity and the need for management instruments that best fit the specific
regional differences.
In the spaces for dialogue and participatory decision making created by reforms
(e.g. watershed committees, water councils or customary tribunals), formal participation
is mainly limited to water users, usually those representing large-scale economic activities.
Some accomplishments in participation deserve to be acknowledged, and there are
efforts for refining those formal instruments to make them more inclusive and representative
of civil society. Nonetheless, the credibility of participation is often questioned due to
stakeholders’ unequal capacity to participate and the direct access of strong economic
lobbies to decision-makers. Other interests not associated to water rights or the perspectives
of indigenous population are often underrepresented and social activism still prevails as
the main instrument to voice their demands.
Governance failures at different levels have spurred civil society’s claims for higher
accountability of elected representatives and public authorities. As a reaction, most LAC
countries passed, during the last decade, information transparency laws, which apply
also to environmental and water-related public information. The actual implementation of
the legal obligations to disclose information, however, is still deficient, thus hindering the
process of accountability of public authorities before their constituents.
The progressive deterioration of water resources and the need to finance water
services provision have fostered the establishment of economic instruments to implement
the ‘polluter-pays-principle’ and increase cost recovery rates. Environmental taxation has
been implemented in some LAC countries, but enforcement and collected revenue are
still low and do not act as a true deterrent to polluters. After decades of little or no cost
recovery rates in irrigating schemes, some countries, such as Argentina, Mexico, Peru
and Brazil, have taken steps to make farmers pay for operation and maintenance costs
of the infrastructure supplying their water. This may be a tax on exports to compensate for
government investments in infrastructures when the product is sold to other country.
Incentives for environmental conservation like payments for ecosystem services
(PES) and PES-like schemes have been developed in LAC over the last few years as a

21
PA R T 1 :
INTRODUCTION

complementary instrument to conventional command-and-control and financial instruments.

Yet the most successful initiatives have been orientated towards securing availability and
quality of water for urban areas (e.g. Produtor Agua in Brazil or Fondo para la Protección
del Agua (FONAG) in Ecuador), and thus are geared towards protecting non-food water
for cities. The dependency of many PES schemes on international funds, their often weak
financial sustainability and the lack of secure land tenure and property rights, amongst
other factors, hinder the implementation and long-term sustainability of many other PES
initiatives.

1. 4.6 Democracy, education and good governance are the

basis for using LAC’s large natural and human capital for
the achievement of human well-being
At present, in LAC, fertility and birth–death rates have decreased, and the population
structure is fairly young, with over 50% of working-age. Such a ‘demographic dividend’, if
maintained and accompanied with the corresponding investments and policies, represents
a key asset for assuring LAC’s socio-economic development in the decades to come. A
deeper democratization, the emergence of a powerful civil society, the rise of a middle
class, economic openness, and macro-economic stability are also key elements explaining
the recent evolution of LAC societies (World Bank, 2013c).
Economic development and the rapid urbanization process have changed societies in
LAC, their needs and the way the population use their natural resources. Economic growth
and international trade are contributing to changing the dietary habits of LAC citizens,
thus affecting the use of water and land. During the past few decades, globalization and
the global trade of goods has opened up new development paths and has triggered
dynamics whose implications in terms of water and food security in LAC are still difficult
to grasp in full.
The opportunities for LAC to achieve a more sustainable and efficient use of their
resources, and facilitate a transition towards a green economy are numerous. In fact, there
are already a number of successful cases of application and a window of opportunity
for the evaluation of trade-offs whilst identifying the potential for significant improvement.
The extraordinary natural endowment coupled with the population dividend represents a
unique opportunity to foster LAC’s socio-economic development.
Nevertheless many challenges still need to be faced, as in several cases economic
growth in LAC has been achieved at the expense of land use, energy and water
resources intensification, combined with an increase in the levels of pollution and the loss
of ecosystems and biodiversity. The reinforcement of national and global governance
schemes and their alignment on the achievement of true and universal human well-being,
under ethical and moral principles, and will remain an inescapable prerequisite to facing
these challenges.

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Jiménez-Cisneros, B. & Galizia-Tundisi, J (Coord.) (2012). Diagnóstico del Agua en las Américas.
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being in charge isn’t what it used to be. New York, Basic Books.
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June, 2013].
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Rev.1_Sustainable_Development_in_Latin_America_and_the_Caribbean_WEB.pdf [Accessed
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to feed the world and promote development. Washington DC, World Bank.
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worldbank.org/data/views/variableSelection/selectvariables.aspx?source=world-develop-
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Caribbean. Washington DC, World Bank. [Online] Available at: www.worldbank.org/
content/dam/Worldbank/document/LAC/PLB%20Shared%20Prosperity%20FINAL.pdf
[Accessed September, 2013].
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Part 2

Setting the scene

 2
WATER RESOURCES
ASSESSMENT

Coordinator:
Pedro Martínez-Santos, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and Water Observatory – Botín Foundation, Spain

Authors:
Claudia Campuzano, Centro de Ciencia y Tecnología de Antioquia, Colombia
Anne M. Hansen, Instituto Mexicano de Tecnología del Agua, México
Lucia De Stefano, Water Observatory – Botín Foundation, and Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
Pedro Martínez-Santos, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and Water Observatory-Botin Foundation, Spain
Desiree Torrente, CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
Bárbara A. Willaarts, Water Observatory – Botín Foundation, and CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain

Contributors:
Elisa Blanco, Departamento de Economía Agraria − Pontificia Universidad Católica, Santiago, Chile
Luis F. Castro, School of Civil Engineering, Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria, Lima, Peru
Guillermo Donoso, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Gabriela Franco, Departamento de Economía Agraria Pontificia Universidad Católica, Santiago, Chile
Julio Kuroiwa, Laboratorio Nacional de Hidráulica − Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, Lima, Peru
Marielena N. Lucen, Ministry of Energy and Mines, Lima, Peru
Julio I. Montenegro, School of Civil Engineering, Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria, Lima, Peru
Markus Pahlow, Department of Water Engineering & Management, University of Twente, The Netherlands
Guoping Zhang, Water Footprint Network, The Netherlands
PA R T 2 :
SETTING THE SCENE

Highlights

• Latin America boasts some of the world’s largest rivers, lakes and aquifers. Overall,
these store and yield more water per person than any other region in the planet.

• Climatic variability, together with urbanization patterns, generates strong asymmetries

between water demands and water availability across the region. This results in
severe water stress in some of the most economically dynamic areas.

• Despite the abundance of surface water resources, groundwater use is gradually

increasing. This is partly because of the growing costs associated with surface water
storage and treatment, and partly because the advantages of groundwater use are
becoming better known and accepted.

• Water quality poses a major cause for concern across the region. Pollution
management is complicated by financial constraints, as well as by the absence of
adequate monitoring programmes and wastewater treatment facilities.

• A much needed step towards protecting the environment and the health of water-
related ecosystems is to implement integral management systems that cater for the
maintenance of forests, wetlands, lagoon systems and coastal estuaries.

• Latin American water resources face threats derived from population growth,
urbanization, changes in land use patterns and climate change.

2 .1 Introduction
The Latin America and Caribbean region is water-abundant. It boasts some of the world’s
largest rivers, lakes and aquifers, which yield more water per person than any other
region in the planet. However, water is irregularly distributed in time and space due to
climatic variability. While heavy rainfall takes place across the year in the Amazon rain-
forests, it barely ever rains in the Atacama Desert. Besides, the majority of the population
is concentrated in cities. This generates strong asymmetries between water demands and
water availability. Largely as a result, many freshwater ecosystems are endangered by a
wide array of different pressures. Adaptation to climate change, universal access to water
and sanitation services, pollution control and an integrated approach to transboundary
water resources management are the main challenges ahead.

28
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WA T E R R E S O U R C E S A S S E S S M E N T

2 .2 Water availabilit y
Latin America only accounts for 13% of the total emerged lands and 6% of the global
population, but it produces over one-third of the world’s total runoff (Table 2.1). This region
is home to some of the world’s most important rivers, including the Amazon, Parana,
Orinoco, and Magdalena, as well as some of the largest lakes. Take for instance the Titi-
caca Lake in Bolivia and Peru, the Nicaragua Lake, and Lake Chapala in Mexico. Surface
water accounts for over 80% of Latin America’s renewable resources, but the region is
also endowed with abundant groundwater (Table 2.2). This includes the Guarani aquifers
which are shared by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Groundwater also repre-
sents a strong environmental element, discharging an estimated 3,700km3/year into Latin
America’s rivers. From an economic viewpoint, groundwater storage is particularly impor-
tant because it remains relatively stable over time and is comparatively better protected
from domestic, agricultural and industrial pollution sources (Rebouças, 1999).
Looking at these facts one would think that water scarcity is hardly a matter of concern
in Latin America. Overall figures are, however, misleading, as Latin America is diverse
within itself. The irregular distribution of water, in both time and space, natural quality
problems and an asymmetric occupation of the land imply that the above situation is not
representative of all basins across the region. As a result, some are subject to mounting
pressures, if not already confronted with water scarcity. For instance, the basins of the Gulf
of Mexico, the South Atlantic and the Río de la Plata cover some 25% of Latin America’s
territory and are home to more than 40% of the population, but contain just 10% of the
available water resources (WWC, 2000). Meanwhile, about 53% of the region’s total
renewable water supply comes from just the one river, the Amazon.

Table 2.1 Approximate amount of annual precipitation, evaporation and runoff per continent
in relation to the water footprint
TOTAL RAINFALL
POPULATION

TOTAL EVAP.

FOOTPRINT

FOOTPRINT
(% of rainfall)
AVG.EVAP.
(1000 km²)

AVERAGE
SURFACE

RAINFALL

RUNOFF

WATER

WATER
(million)

(mm)
(km³)

(km³)

(km³)

(km³)
(mm)

REGION
Asia 43,820 4,216 650 28,500 410 18,000 10,500 4,850 17.0
Africa 30,370 1,072 740 22,500 630 19,000 3,500 1,400 6.2
North America 24,490 346 800 19,500 470 11,500 8,000 970 5.0
South America 17,840 596 1,600 28,500 900 16,000 12,500 1,130 4.0

Europe 10,180 740 820 8,400 590 6,000 2,400 1,250 15.0

Oceania 9,010 37 440 4,000 400 3,500 500 45 1.1

Source: Martínez-Santos et al. (2014)

29
PA R T 2 :
SETTING THE SCENE

Table 2.2 Renewable water resources and storage capacity in selected countries in Latin
America

COUNTRY RENEWABLE RENEWABLE RESERVOIR

SURFACE WATER GROUNDWATER STORAGE CAPACITY
(km³/yr) (km³/yr) (km³)

Belize 19 8 –
Mexico 409 139 180

Costa Rica 75 37 –
El Salvador 25 6 –

Guatemala 103 3 –
Honduras 87 39 9

Nicaragua 193 59 0.5

Panama 145 21 –

Guyana 241 103 –

Suriname 122 80 22.7

Bolivia 596 130 0.3

Colombia 2,132 510 –

Ecuador 424 134 –

Peru 1,913 303 3.9

Venezuela 1,211 227 164.1

Brazil 8,233 1,874 513.1

Argentina 814 128 –

Chile 922 140 4.7

Paraguay 336 41 37.7

Uruguay 139 23 18.8

Total 18,139 4,005 955

Source: FAO (2013)

Brazil alone generates 37% of Latin America’s surface runoff, while no other country
reaches 10%. In contrast, arid zones have no surface runoff, except during rare and
extreme rainfall events. Rainfall averages 1,600mm/year across the region (Figure 2.1),
but ranges from 20mm/yr in the Atacama Desert to over 2,000mm/yr in the mountains of
southern Chile (Box 2.1). Rainfall is also characterized by its strong seasonal component.
Take for instance Central America, where about half of the precipitation occurs from
August to October, and only 7% between February and April. In South America, 35%
of stream flows take place between May and July, whilst only 17% corresponds to the
November–January period (Shiklomanov, 1999).
Seasonal variability is influenced by cyclic atmospheric phenomena known as El Niño
and La Niña. Both are associated with major temperature fluctuations in the tropical
Pacific Ocean. El Niño is an abnormal warming of the sea surface temperature, whereas
La Niña is a cool ocean phase. During El Niño, droughts take place along the Pacific

30
 CHAPTER 2
WA T E R R E S O U R C E S A S S E S S M E N T

coast of Central America. Conversely, higher precipitations occur in the Caribbean

coasts. In South America, El Niño generates the opposite response. In the Pacific and
Southern Atlantic coasts, rains become more intense, whereas in the tropical Atlantic
coast drought frequency increases. The cold phase La Niña causes different patterns.
Rain events increase along the Pacific coast of Central America. The same occurs with
the frequency of hurricanes in the Caribbean Sea. Along the Southern Pacific coast of
South America, droughts tend to become more frequent and temperatures drop. Overall,
El Niño events are more frequent than La Niña. In the last decades a higher frequency
of El Niño events has been recorded, leading some experts to contend that this might be
related to climate change (Magrin et al., 2007).

3,500

3,000

2,500
Rainfall (mm/yr)

2,000

1,500

1,000

500

0
Costa Rica

Panama

Colombia

Nicaragua

Ecuador

Guatemala

Honduras

Venezuela

Brazil

Peru

El Salvador

Belize

Chile

Uruguay

Bolivia

Paraguay

Mexico

Argentina

Figure 2.1 Long-term annual rainfall in selected Latin American countries. Source: FAO
(2013)

Overall, water availability per capita has steadily decreased over the last decades,
mostly due to the fact that the population has grown from 420 to 550 million inhabitants
between 1992 and 2011. Currently, water availability ranges from Mexico’s 3,500m3/
person/yr to Peru’s 55,000m3/person/yr (Figure 2.2). In other words, all of Latin America’s
countries are safely located above Falkenmark’s 1,700m3/person/yr threshold for water
scarcity. The regional average is around 25,000m3/person/yr, well above Europe’s
8,500m3/person/yr or Asia’s 3,600m3/person/yr. However, while most standard
indicators underline Latin America’s privileged position in terms of water resources, water
scarcity does occur at the regional scale. This is because water resources are mostly
located in the inland, while urbanization and land development followed the path of
decisions made in colonial times. Thus, cities and economic activities were concentrated
either near the coast to facilitate exports to Spain and Portugal, or close to the main cities

31
PA R T 2 :
SETTING THE SCENE

of the Aztec and Inca empires to take advantage of the abundant labour (Mejía, 2010).
In practice, this means that large countries such as Venezuela, Mexico and Peru show
strong asymmetries between water availability and population density (Box 2.2).

100,000

Peru
Chile
Belize
Colombia
Panama
Nicaragua
Bolivia
Ecuador
Brazil
Water availability per capita (m³/person/yr)

Venezuela
Costa Rica
10,000
Uruguay
Paraguay
Honduras

Guatemala
Argentina

Mexico

El Salvador

100

1992 1997 2002 2007 2012

Figure 2.2 Renewable resources per capita over the last twenty years in selected countries.
Source: FAO (2013)

Box 2 .1 Large countries are naturally diverse:

rainfall variabilit y in Chile

Although Latin America is best described as a water-rich region, average water

availability is decreasing. Chile is an excellent example since the country’s unique
geography, including a number of short river valleys running from the Andes to the
Pacific Ocean, provides a variety of climatic conditions. Two primary mountain ranges,

32
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WA T E R R E S O U R C E S A S S E S S M E N T

the Andes and the Coastal Mountains, span the length of Chile and provide the limits
between the coastal plain and the central valley. Average precipitation ranges from near
zero in the north to about 2,000mm/yr in the south (Figure 2.3).
The rainy season is in winter, from June to September, and much of the precipitation
is stored in the snowpack of the Andes. Water flows in most river basins have a mixed
origin, since waters come from winter precipitations and summer snow melt, presenting
highest flows in summer (November–February) due to said snow melt, and pronounced
reductions in winter (from April to June). Additionally, rainfall fluctuations show greater
variability in the arid and semi-arid north (between the Arica-Parinacota Region and the
Coquimbo Region). South of 37ºS latitude, rainfall becomes more uniform. Therefore,
the hydrological regime of Chile is rather irregular.
Within the global context, Chile as a whole may be considered privileged in terms
of water resources. The total runoff is on average equivalent to 53,000m3/person/yr
(World Bank, 2011a), a value considerably higher than the world average (6,600m3/
person/yr). However, there exist significant regional differences: north of the city of
Santiago, arid conditions prevail with average water availability below 800m3/
person/yr, while south of Santiago the water availability is significantly higher, reaching
over 10,000m3/capita/yr.

Norte Grande

Norte Chico

SANTIAGO
Centro

Sur

Patagonia
Norte

Patagonia
Sur
0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000
Average rainfall per region (mm/yr)

Figure 2.3 Regional rainfall variability in Chile. Source: modified from Donoso (2014)

33
PA R T 2 :
SETTING THE SCENE

Box 2 .2 Water and population asymmetries:

Mexico, Peru and Venezuela

Many Latin American countries show a significant disparity between water resources
abailavility and the population distribution. Take for instance Mexico. In this country,
77% of the population, 84% of the economic activity and 82% of the irrigated land is
located in the central and northern plateaus, some 1,000 metres above sea level. In
contrast, 72% of water availability occurs in the south and below that altitude. Another
example is Venezuela, where 90% of population and economic activity is located in
the north of the country with less than 10% of water availability. In contrast, most of the
water availability is found south of the Orinoco River away from the northern coast. But
perhaps the most startling case is Peru. Rainfall in the Peruvian part of the Amazon basin,
which is home to 30% of the country’s population, accounts for 97.5% of the country’s
surface water. Conversely, the Pacific basin hosts 65% of the population and produces
only 1.8% of the water resources of the nation. Rainfall in the capital, Lima, is 10mm/yr
or lower. This asymmetry makes the most economically dynamic regions of Peru severely
water stressed.

Table 2.3 Water availability in Peru’s hydrographic regions

POPULATION

POPULATION

(m³/person/yr)
AVAILABILITY

AVAILABILITY

AVAILABILITY
(1,000km²)

RAINFALL

(% of total)

(% of total)
(hm³/yr)
WATER

WATER

WATER
(mm/yr)
BASIN

(million)
AREA

Pacific 279.7 274 37,363 1.8 18,315,276 65 2,040

Amazon 958.5 2,061 1,998,752 97.7 8,579,112 30 232,979

Titicaca 47.2 814 10,172 0.5 1,1326,376 5 7,669

Total 1,285.20 2,046,268 100 28,220,764 100 72,510

Source: Kuroiwa et al. (2014)

Development of non-conventional water resources remains relatively uncommon. Take

for instance desalination. Peru and Chile are Latin America’s premier users of desalinated
seawater, on which they rely for specific developments. Most of the investments in
Chilean desalination projects are located in the dry north of the country. These have
been designed to underpin mining activities, as well as urban supply. In coastal Peru,
desalination provides water for the industrial sector, households and agriculture.
Drinking water and sanitation services reach a relatively large share of the Latin
American population. Total coverage amounts to 87% in the case of water supply and
78% in the case of sanitation. However, these figures hide an uneven distribution. For
instance, important variations in drinking water coverage are observed across countries.

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In Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Colombia, this figure exceeds 90%, whereas in Peru it
is lower than 75%. In terms of rural areas, only Mexico and Costa Rica exceed 85%. Few
other countries reach 60%. Sanitation systems are largely insufficient to meet demands.
Coverage is similar to that of water supply, exceeding 80% in some urban agglomerations,
but rural areas rarely ever reach 50%. Chile poses a remarkable exception, having
increased its water services dramatically over the last decade (World Bank, 2011a).
Currently, it exceeds 95% in terms of water supply and sanitation coverage in urban areas
and 60% in rural regions. The vast majority of sewage goes untreated, thus generating
downstream pressures. Less than 40% of sewage is treated in countries such as Argentina,
Brazil or Colombia. All these issues will be discussed in more depth in Chapters 6 and 8.

2 .3 Water uses
The available water data mostly refer to water withdrawals within each country. In other
words, it does not distinguish between water use for production, for domestic consumption
or for producing goods for exportation, and exclude virtual water. Moreover the lack of
sufficient data on climate, soils and growing seasons in most countries is often the factor
limiting the ability to produce meaningful information on consumptive uses. This is most
often due to inadequate databases or to the absence of data. In this sense, it is important
to distinguish between consumptive uses and withdrawals. Not all water withdrawals
result in consumptive water use. This is due to the fact that a large share of withdrawn
waters goes back into the hydrological cycle in the form of pipeline losses, wastewater
or irrigation returns. On the other hand, not all consumptive uses stem directly from with-
drawals. Rain-fed agriculture, for instance, represents a significant fraction of the total
water use without being responsible for any direct extraction from the water cycle.
Despite these clarifications, which apply to water figures across the world, Latin
America is known to be less water-stressed than other regions (Figure 2.4). Unlike Asia,
where a significant part of the water resources are already in use, a large share of Latin
America’s waters remains untapped. Figure 2.5 shows the distribution of water with-
drawals per sector and sub region in Latin American and Caribbean regions. Agriculture
comprises irrigation and livestock. Consumption due to water uses such as hydropower,
navigation, fishing or recreation is considered negligible for practical purposes.
Rainwater can be split into ‘green’ and ‘blue’ water. Green water refers to the share
of rainwater that stays in the soil rather than running off or recharging groundwater. In
other words, green water is that which underpins rain-fed agriculture. On the other hand,
blue water refers to the water in rivers, lakes, reservoirs, ponds and aquifers. Irrigated
agriculture uses blue water as a supplement to rainfall. As will be discussed in Chapters
6 and 7, green and blue water have different implications for the purpose of water and
food security.
The water footprint provides a useful indicator of water use. As shown in Table 2.4,
green water agriculture accounts for the largest share of the region’s water footprint
(Mekonnen and Hoekstra, 2011). Blue water follows in magnitude, well ahead of indus-

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trial and domestic use. Irrigation efficiency is however low. Efficiency is measured by
taking into account the difference between the volume of water captured and the actual
delivery to the farms, and is mostly dependent on the type of irrigation system. In many
Latin American countries, irrigation efficiency ranges between 30% and 40% (San Martín,
2002). Inefficient irrigation technologies do not necessarily imply a wasteful water use, as
the losses return to the hydrological cycle. However, these rank among the main causes
behind the loss of fertile soils and are largely a consequence of policies that promote
production. This represents one of the main threats to agricultural sustainability across the
region.

Table 2.4 Blue and green water footprint of countries in the Latin America and Caribbean
region (those with more than one million inhabitants). All consumption figures are rounded to
the nearest decimal.
COUNTRY POPULATION CONSUMPTION CONSUMPTION DOMESTIC
(million) OF AGRICULTURAL OF INDUSTRIAL WATER
PRODUCTS PRODUCTS CONSUMPTION
INTERNAL EXTERNAL INTERNAL EXTERNAL
(hm³/yr) (hm³/yr) (hm³/yr) (hm³/yr) (hm³/yr)
GREEN BLUE GREEN BLUE BLUE BLUE BLUE

Argentina 37.1 47,746 3,258 1,298 146 116 61 491

Bolivia 8.4 25,764 377 2,489 124 4 4 18
Brazil 175.3 288,345 8,498 27,981 2,075 420 147 1,202
Chile 15.5 6,994 2,101 5,071 278 93 32 142
Colombia 40.1 35,863 1,386 9,101 716 16 33 539
Costa Rica 4 2,725 148 1,381 187 12 11 79
Cuba 11.1 13,194 831 1,944 130 47 9 156
Dominican Rep. 8.9 6,590 826 3,263 211 2 13 109
Ecuador 12.4 17,175 1,440 2,464 134 33 12 212
El Salvador 5.9 3,441 42 1,482 215 7 7 32
Guatemala 11.4 8,137 149 1,553 202 10 13 13
Haiti 8.7 6,809 225 1,230 434 0 2 5
Honduras 6.3 5,754 113 777 172 2 4 7
Jamaica 2.6 2,162 45 1,510 164 3 6 14
Mexico 99.8 83,841 8,654 65,986 8,475 135 358 1,359
Nicaragua 5.1 3,498 134 536 99 1 4 19
Panama 3 2,226 54 928 95 1 8 55
Paraguay 5.4 9,673 214 14, 59 2 6 10
Peru 26.2 13,142 3,299 8,050 404 74 18 168
Trinidad & Tobago 1.3 0 1,588 115 2 4 21 1,590
Uruguay 3.3 177 1,286 13 2 8 8 1,268
Venezuela 24.6 21,551 1,194 12,985 547 16 21 381

Source: Mekonnen and Hoekstra (2011)

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(A)

(B)

Figure 2.4 (A) Total annual rainfall (av. period 1961–1990) and (B) Water use across the
world. Country areas are deformed as a function of total rainfall and water use, i.e. the larger
the country is represented, the larger is its proportional share relative to other countries. Source:
modified from Sasi Group (University of Sheffield) and Mark Newman (University of Michigan)

Industry uses relatively little water in comparison with other sectors. Water-intensive
industries include food processing, pulp and paper, petro-chemical and textile sectors.
These demand raw materials that are abundant in the region, creating significant multiplier
effects in the local and national economies (San Martín, 2002). However, industries are
responsible for environmental degradation by dumping untreated sewage into rivers and
aquifers. This is particularly true of the mining industry, whose water use is relatively low,
but which is considered one of the main water polluters across the region (Chapter 9).
While surface water is the preferred source of water in the region, groundwater use
has increased in recent decades (Box 2.3). This is partly because of the growing costs
associated with surface water storage and treatment and partly because the advantages
of groundwater use are becoming more accepted (Llamas and Martínez-Santos, 2005).
Most of the existing groundwater-based developments are concentrated in areas of
economic or political interest, or where surface water is under stress. In contrast, funda-

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mental hydrogeological knowledge is still under development in many parts of Latin

America and there are vast regions where groundwater data are scarce or non-exis-
tent (Ballestero et al., 2007). Besides, natural water quality problems, such as elevated
concentrations of arsenic, are yet to be fully assessed in countries such as Argentina,
Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru.

100

90

80

70
% Water withdrawal

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Mexico

Central
America

Greater
Antilles

Suriname
and Guyanas

Andean
Sub-region

Brazil

South
Sub-region

LAC
Agriculture Municipal Industrial

Figure 2.5 Water withdrawals per sector in the Latin American and Caribbean region.
Central America comprises Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Panama
and Nicaragua; the Greater Antilles include Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica;
the Andean sub-region refers to Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia and Peru; and the South
sub-region includes Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile. Source: FAO (2013)

Groundwater use is especially relevant in Argentina, where it accounts for 30% of

the total water withdrawals. Likewise in Chile, where it is of particular importance in the
mining sector. In this country, 63% of the water used in mining and 46% of domestic water
supply comes from aquifer sources. Groundwater is also the primary source for human
consumption in Costa Rica and in Mexico, where groundwater accounts for 50% of
industrial demands, 70% of domestic supply in cities and practically all domestic supply
in rural areas.
The wealth of water resources in Latin America is reflected in the region’s natural
resources and the environmental services that these provide (UNEP, 2003). Natural forests
cover 47% of the total surface area of the region, the northern part of the Amazon and
the Guyana area being home to the largest expansion of virgin forest in the world. About
95% of the green surface corresponds to the tropical rainforests of Central America, the
Caribbean and the South American sub-tropics. The remainder is located in temperate
South America, primarily Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.

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Box 2 .3 Ground water mining in Latin America

[By Prof Emilio Custodio (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain)]

As is the case of diverse regions of the world, and especially in arid and semi-arid areas
(Custodio, 2010, 2011), in some of the driest areas of Latin America groundwater
reserves are being depleted due to intensive exploitation, at a rate much higher than
they are being replenished. Groundwater mining is mostly produced in two areas. One
corresponds to the hyper-arid areas of the Andean Region, comprising coastal Peru,
northern Chile, southwestern Bolivia and northwestern Argentina, where groundwater
renewal is scarce to nil. Groundwater abstraction takes place primarily to supply the
mining of metal ores and also for brine extraction in terminal salt lakes (‘salares’) in order
to exploit some solutes such as lithium, potassium and nitrate. The sustainability of small
springs and groundwater discharges that are important for some human settlements,
tourism in the area and have a significant ecological value, such as the high altitude
wetlands (‘bofedales’), is of special concern. Rainfall in the intermediate depressions is a
few mm/yr on average and the limited replenishment is occasionally produced by some
sporadic floods in gullies whose headwaters are in the highlands (‘Altiplano’). Albeit
rainfall in the Altiplano is scarce, a combination of almost bare soil with low humidity
retention (mostly acidic ignimbrites) and rainfall retention in the seasonal snow cover
favour some recharge. This manages to sustain some springs that yield water with a very
long turnover time. Although mining may deplete groundwater reserves and their reco-
very may take centuries, there are no specific studies on groundwater reserve depletion.
Other groundwater mining areas can be found in the dry areas of Mexico, where
reserves are being depleted at a rate greater than recharge, even if recharge is still
significant. In this case groundwater is mostly used for irrigation, but also for mining and
industrial activities. In some coastal areas freshwater in the aquifer is being replaced by
laterally or vertically intruding saline water, as in Sonora’s coastal aquifers. In Mexico,
104 of the existing aquifer systems are considered over-exploited by the Federal Water
Authority (Comisión Nacional del Agua). Even though this is a small fraction of the
existing aquifers receiving a groundwater recharge of 2,500m3/s, these aquifers yield
800m3/s. This amounts to 80% of used groundwater (Jiménez-Cisneros and Galizia-
Tundisi (2012). About 20–25% of groundwater reserves, equivalent to171m3/s, have
been ruined, which is equivalent to about half the water used for public supply.
Some cases of groundwater resources depletion are located in the agricultural
valleys of western Peru, such as Ica–Villacurí. The main problem here is the integrated
management of water resources and the adequate use of the aquifer as a storage reser-
voir. A key issue is the mixing of freshwater and old saline water. Similar problems are
found in the dry northeast of Brazil and also in the dry areas of the Argentinean Pampas
(the Chaco-Pampean region), where arsenic and fluoride groundwater quality problems

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and deep-seated relict saline water upcoming add to periodic, non-permanent depletion
of water reserves.
Other well-known groundwater problems, such as seawater intrusion in Mar del
Plata and Recife, or land subsidence around Mexico City or Queretaro, are better
described as they hydrodynamic results of intensive groundwater development, rather
than as groundwater mining problems.

Computing environmental requirements for ecosystems is a recurrent stumbling block for

academics and managers across the world. Latin America’s ecosystems are no exception.
Although the importance of marine and coastal flora and fauna is widely acknowledged
(WSSD, 2003), there is less recognition of water needs to support ecosystems, which are
themselves legitimate water users (UNEP, 2012). Ecosystems, which provide life-supporting
goods and services, need water of adequate quantity and quality. Appropriate timing is
also crucial in many cases. A much needed step towards protecting the environment and
health of water-related ecosystems is to implement integral management systems that cater
for the maintenance of forests, wetlands, lagoon systems and coastal estuaries.
Hydropower is the main non-consumptive use across the region. Take for instance
Chile, whose hydropower sector has grown to account for 38% of its total energy
production, and whose current flow rate is in the order of 4,190m3/s (Ayala, 2010).
This is largely explained by sustained economic growth over the last three decades, which
has led to a significant increase in energy demands. About 82% of Colombia’s reservoirs
are devoted to energy generation, but even so, it is estimated that the country is only
taking advantage of 10% of its potential for producing energy, since many of its rivers
are still unregulated. Mid- and long-term developments are therefore expected, the main
challenge being the need to balance environmental, social and economic constraints.
Hydropower is an important water user in several other countries, including Brazil. In
Costa Rica, this industry holds 82% of the water licenses.
Due to the size of many Latin American rivers, navigation is another relevant user. It is
particularly important in countries such as Argentina, which operates along the Paraguay-
Paraná and Alto Paraná waterways. Buenos Aires boasts South America’s most important
harbour. Maintaining adequate navigation conditions implies continuous work on the
Río de la Plata. The Patagonian harbours, to the south of the country, have experienced
notable development over the last decades in order to favour tourism.
Fishing is an important activity in many regions, allowing for the economic subsistence
of local communities. It is also an established industry and features highly among tourist
destinations. However, this sector has experienced setbacks in recent years due to the
construction of reservoirs, over-fishing, the introduction of exotic species and contamination.
Water pollution has proved particularly detrimental to recreational uses. Indeed, poor or
non-existent treatment of wastewater effluents has endangered tourism and ecosystems in

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freshwater bodies across the region. Many Latin American lakes, including Lake Chapala
in Mexico and Lake Titicaca in Bolivia and Peru, are at present severely polluted.
Water demands are leading to increasingly important conflicts between users (Chapters
11 and 15). In terms of consumptive uses, agriculture is usually displaced by the domestic
and industrial sectors. In most cases, however, the environment is the net loser. There is a
general consensus that contamination due to untreated wastewater, industrial and mining
effluents, and widely dispersed agricultural pollutants are serious problems in many areas
across the region.

2 .4 Water qualit y
Water pollution in Latin America is caused by human activities and refers in general to the
presence of pollutants from anthropogenic sources. In addition, natural phenomena such
as volcanic activities, storms or earthquakes cause changes in water quality. Pollutants
may cause water to be unfit for human consumption or to sustain aquatic life.
Water quality is associated with the use it is given. García (2006) explains that a
water body is polluted when it contains substances that make it inadequate for certain uses,
and contaminated when it contains substances that endanger human health. Therefore, a
water body may be polluted and not contaminated. Conversely, if it is contaminated, it is
polluted. Due to its capability to dissolve chemicals, natural and residual waters, as well
as water for human consumption, always contain dissolved substances. Depending on
their concentrations, all pollutants have the potential to become contaminants.
Water pollutants include both organic and inorganic chemical substances as well as
pathogens. These substances can be man-made or of natural origin, such as plant residues.
Some are found naturally in Latin American water bodies and their concentrations may
assist in defining their natural origin or classification as contaminants. Many chemicals are
toxic and some of them are biodegradable, thus consuming oxygen dissolved in water.
In Latin America pollutants are frequently discharged into water bodies from both
point and non-point sources, producing physical, chemical, and biological changes that
cause adverse effects in humans and in ecosystems. Point source pollutants are those that
enter water bodies through discharge pipes or channels. They include municipal and
industrial wastewater discharges, with or without previous treatment, and urban runoff
drains. Diffuse source pollution does not come from a single source but is the accumulation
of pollutants after runoff from areas with diverse land uses. This type of pollution is the main
cause of water eutrophication, which refers to the increase in concentration of nutrients.
This, in turn, may increase the primary production in water bodies, causing anoxia and
decreased water quality, affecting ecosystems and other water uses.
Land uses in Latin American watersheds and water uses for human purposes introduce
changes in the natural cycle of precipitation, absorption, water flow, infiltration, and
evapotranspiration. While part of the used water is consumed, part is returned to the water
bodies but most often with different quality. While agricultural use return flows contain
salts, nutrients, pesticides, and organic matter, industrial discharges contain organic

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matter, metal ions, chemical residues and salts and what’s more, at higher temperatures.
Domestic discharges carry grease, detergents, dissolved solids, bacteria, and viruses
(García, 2006).
Agricultural effects on water quality are mostly due to chemical contamination of
fertilizers and pesticides that accumulate in some aquifers, and reuse of sewage effluents
for irrigation that can transmit a number of pathogens, even after secondary water
treatments (World Bank, 2011b). Significant water pollution due to irrigation has been
reported in Barbados, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic and
Venezuela (Biswas and Tortajada, 2006; FAO 2004; LA-Mexico, 2012).
Salinity due to irrigation has been a serious constraint in countries such as Argentina,
Cuba, Mexico, and Peru, and, to a lesser extent, in the arid regions of northeastern
Brazil, north and central Chile and some small areas of Central America (ibid). The reuse
of domestic wastewater for irrigation has been established as a common practice on the
outskirts of the cities located in arid and semi-arid areas, where intense competition for
water for agriculture and urban uses often occurs.
Arsenic and fluoride pose groundwater quality concerns in several parts of the
region. Arsenic content in groundwater is sometimes natural, but can also be attributed
to economic activities such as gold or lead mining or to industrial effluents. High arsenic
concentrations are known to be a problem in parts of Mexico, the Andean range and
Argentina. High fluoride concentrations are often associated to sodium-bicarbonate
waters found in weathered alkaline and metamorphic rocks, coastal aquifers affected by
cation exchange or aquifers affected by evaporation. Thus, high fluoride concentrations
have been observed in parts of Brazil and the Andes.
As indicated by Biswas and Tortajada (2006), water is becoming increasingly polluted
in Latin America. Such pressures vary in the different sub-regions, and some sectors, such
as mining and agriculture as well as large cities, are quite conspicuous, representing
specific local water quality concerns for both surface and groundwater (Box 2.4). While
large mining companies recycle and treat discharges, most small and artisanal mining
companies do not have control and measures of their water pollution, and constitute
important sources of contaminants to adjacent water bodies (World Bank, 2011b).

Box 2 .4 Pollution by metals, metalloids and other

contaminants in Chile

Rivers in the north of Chile have relatively high concentrations of metals from both natural
sources and mining activities. Recent studies address the variation in concentration of
heavy metals and sulphates, which is also a by-product of mining, in eleven rivers in
the north of Chile. These show high concentrations of heavy metals and sulphates that

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in many cases exceed Chilean regulations. Arsenic is an important contaminant related

to natural pollution in Chile. High evaporation and increased extraction of water have
caused higher contents of salts in water. Aluminium is also an important pollutant in the
central zone of the country. In order to control changes in waters quality, regulations of
discharges must be fulfilled and norms are being developed that specify water quality
limits for these releases to aquatic systems, considering the specific conditions of the
receiving water bodies (Jiménez-Cisneros and Galizia-Tundisi, 2012).

Barrios (2006) points out that water quality management is not a substitute for efficient
water management but a strategic issue that requires the integration of water quantity,
pollution control, efficient use of water, environmental considerations and human health
implications. Since Latin American countries are heterogeneous in terms of physical,
climatic, economic, social, institutional, and environmental conditions (Biswas and Torta-
jada, 2006), water quality management should be specifically planned and developed
and be an integral component of water management policies. The region’s water quality
management is complicated by the lack of wastewater treatment, financial constraints,
difficulties in complying with standards and criteria of receiving waters, and the lack of
monitoring programmes (García, 2006).
Not all of Latin America faces the same water quality problems, since these vary
according to development and types of economic activity. While standards have been
established to control point source pollution, García (2006) affirms that the resulting
water quality is still not adequate. Among the problems are the disposal of sewage and
lack of wastewater treatment. Besides, the attention has mostly been towards industrial
discharges, ignoring municipal and non-point source pollution. The lack of monitoring and
assessment has prevented the development and application of receiving waters criteria for
more efficient basin-wide approaches to cope with such problems.
Given the magnitude of non-point source pollution’s contribution to water quality losses,
there is widespread agreement that many water quality goals cannot be reached without
reducing this type of pollution. The cost-effectiveness of controlling non-point source pollu-
tion is generally recognized as opposed to narrowing regulations so that tertiary treatments
of point source discharges are required (Russell and Clark, 2006).
Hoekstra et al. (2011) developed the Water Pollution Level (WPL) as an indicator
of the level of water pollution. WPL is defined as the ratio between the total grey water
footprint in an area or a watershed to the actual runoff. In Latin America, the overall WPL
related to nitrogen (N) that are close to or higher than 1.0 are widespread over the entire
region (Figure 2.6), while those related to phosphorus (P) that are close to or higher than
1.0 are mostly in Mexico and to the south and east of the region (Figure 2.7).

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Figure 2.6 Water Pollution Level for nitrogen (N) per river basin in Latin America (year 2000).
Source: Liu et al. (2012)

Figure 2.7 Water Pollution Level for phosphorus (P) per river basin in Latin America (year
2000). Source: Liu et al. (2012)

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Water quality is acquiring great relevance because of the role of water in transporting
contaminants and the growing concern over emergent forms of pollution such as
endocrine-disrupting substances, in addition to persistent organic pollutants and other
toxic compounds. Very few developing countries are prepared to face these concerns
(Barrios, 2006) and, although there are specific case studies in Latin America that relate
to the presence of these pollutants, to date there is no general overview of their presence
in water bodies of the region. No permanent programmes exist for the monitoring of
persistent organic pollutants, emerging pollutants, and other toxic compounds, and there
are therefore no inventories or formal valuations of the exposure and risks associated with
these substances (Box 2.5).

Box 2 .5 Water qualit y policies in Mexico

The priorities of the Mexican water policy are to assure enough water of appropriate
quality, recognize the strategic value of water, efficient use of water, protect water
bodies, and to ensure the sustainable development and environmental conservation
(CONAGUA, 2008).
The National Water Law (DOF, 2012) establishes the water quality requirements
depending on its use, with the priority on human consumption relative to other uses
of water. The norm NOM-127-SSA1-1994 (permissible limits of water quality and
treatments for water purification) and NOM-179-SSA1-1998 (monitoring and evaluation
of water quality control for human use and consumption, of water distributed by public
supply systems), establish limits for human use and consumption. On the other hand,
NOM-001-SEMARNAT-1996 establishes the limits for discharges to waters and national
properties and NOM-002-SEMARNAT-1996 establishes the limits for discharges to
municipal and urban sewage systems. The ecological criteria for water quality, CE-CCA-
001/89, include limits for urban public use, recreation with direct contact, irrigation,
livestock and aquatic life.
Currently, the evaluation of water quality in Mexico is based on three basic
indicators: biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and
total suspended solids (TSS). In 2009, twenty-one of 1,471 river basins were classified
as heavily contaminated according at least one of these indicators. Nearly 13% of the
Mexican surface water was polluted owing to BOD, 31%, to COD, and 7.5%, to TSS.
Hansen and Corzo-Juárez (2011) highlighted the priorities and requirements for the
evaluation of pollution of watersheds, referring to the policy of water management in
Mexico, and the above-mentioned regulations. They remark that the national programme
for monitoring and evaluation of toxic persistent and bioaccumulable substances (STPB)
is recently being implemented and up until now there had been no formal valuations or
cataloguing of the substances and the associated risks. A proposed list of substances
to be included in a monitoring program of STPB in watersheds and aquifers has been
presented by Hansen (2012).

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Water quality problems are not only solved by constructing and operating wastewater
treatment plants. Water quality management should include the formulation and
implementation of water policies, monitoring and evaluation of water quality, installation
of appropriate legal and institutional frameworks, capacity building, and evaluation and
control of non-point sources pollutants.

2 .5 Transboundar y resources
A significant number of the region’s basins are shared by two or more countries. These
transboundary basins cover an area where a relatively large fraction of the population is
concentrated. Take for instance South America, where there are thirty-eight international
water basins that cover almost 60% of the continent area and that are home to more than
one hundred million people (nearly 30% the population) (UNEP, 2007). Despite this, only
four transboundary basins in South America have transboundary agreements in place (La
Plata, Titicaca, Amazon and Lagoon Mirim). Remarkably, the Orinoco and Essequibo
basins, i.e. the third and fourth largest of the continent, are not governed by international
treaties (De Stefano et al., 2012).
Another important factor influencing the territorial structure of water management is that
four of the largest countries in the continent are federal (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and
Venezuela). This means that most transboundary basins are directly or indirectly influenced
by federalism. In those cases, strong state-level authorities will determine land and water
use based on social, economic and political interests that may not take into account the
interests of upstream or downstream users.
The distribution of water management responsibilities in Latin American countries is
diverse (Table 2.5). Water resources commissions and river basin organizations have
often demonstrated themselves to be useful bodies to coordinate inputs from sectors and
stakeholders acting at the chosen management scale. This can be seen in the institutional
evolution of several countries in Latin America. In Mexico, for example, management
units include basins and sub-basins, and basin organizations at both scales. Mexico
together with Brazil and Argentina have a tradition of river basin organizations, whereas
in other countries, e.g. Peru, such entities are still being set up. River basin organizations
have had deficiencies since their creation, partly due to weak institutional and policy
frameworks, weak investment or financing methods (Dourojeanni, 2011). Take for
instance Argentina, where the lack of financial autonomy of the river basin committees
makes them highly dependent on provincial and local governments (OECD, 2012). In
some cases, decentralized watershed management exists but is isolated and not formally
recognized, stemming from local initiatives or pursued by sub-national authorities through
informal processes and without the support of national political elites (see for instance
Ecuador, Kauffman, 2011). Dourojeanni (2001) identified several challenges for river
basin organizations, including the clarification of their role (and the potential competition
with other authorities), economic viability and funding.

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Table 2.5 Distribution of water responsibilities in selected countries

COUNTRY WATER DOMESTIC RIVER BASIN WATER USER

RESOURCES SUPPLY ORGANIZATIONS ASSOCIATIONS
Argentina Provinces Provinces, municipalities Yes Yes

Central Government,
Brazil Municipalities Yes Yes
Water-specific bodies, RBO

Central Government,
Chile Central Government water-specific bodies, No Yes
local rural, committees
Costa Rica Central Government Municipalities No No
Municipalities,
inter-municipal bodies,
El Salvador None n/a No
water-specific bodies,
RBOs
Guatemala RBOs Municipalities Yes Yes
Municipalities, Municipalities,
Honduras inter-municipal bodies, inter-municipal bodies, n/a No
water-specific bodies water-specific bodies
Regions, municipalities, Regions, municipalities,
Mexico inter-municipal bodies, inter-municipal bodies, Yes Yes
RBOs RBOs
Regions, municipalities,
Nicaragua inter-municipal bodies, Regions, municipalities, Yes Yes
water-specific bodies, RBOs
RBOs
Panama None Municipalities, others n/a No

Regions, municipalities, Regions, municipalities,

Peru water-specific bodies, water-specific bodies, Yes Yes
RBOs RBOs

Source: OECD (2012); OECD (2011); LA–Chile (2012); LA–Costa Rica (2012)

2 .6 Climate change and water resources

Many countries of LAC have reported multiple evidences of a changing climate.1 The most
frequent impacts reported include an increase in average temperature, higher frequency
of extreme rainfalls, sea level rise and coastal retreat, droughts, hurricanes and strong
winds, and glacier melting. The magnitude and importance of each impact differs across
regions and within countries (see Figure 2.8).
Based on the number and frequency of recorded impacts, the Andean region is the
most vulnerable zone to climate change. Mean temperature has increased in all countries,

1 Most of the information under this heading stems from National Communication reports (NCs) in compliance
with the United Framework Convention on Climate Chagne (UNFCC) by twenty LAC countries (Non-annex I
parties), including: Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Peru,
Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Brazil, Suriname, Guyana, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

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most importantly in the higher altitudes, e.g. in the Bolivian Andean altiplano (between 1.1
to 1.7ºC) and in the high Colombian plains (up to 1ºC). In these parts of the Andes rainfall
has decreased and droughts are becoming more frequent. Such trends are probably
behind observed glacier melts, particularly in Peru and Colombia. In contrast, the Andean
lowlands are becoming wetter and more prone to extreme rainfall. These changes have
been linked to the intensification of El Niño events.
The South Cone also appears to be suffering important changes. The most frequently
recorded phenomenon is an increase in extreme rainfall events, particularly in the northern
part of the region. In central and northern Argentina the number of extreme rainfalls has
increased fourfold since the 1960s. Also, a sea level rise of up to 4mm/year has been
recorded on the coast of Rio de la Plata during the last two decades. The persistence of
both trends is worrisome given the population density in this area. Elsewhere, along the
Andean mountains of Chile and Argentina, the frequency and length of droughts have
increased. Dryness has been associated with the intensification of La Niña. In Chile for
instance, the number of dry years has increased substantially over the last century, e.g.
during the first quarter of the 20th century the frequency of dry years was 15%, during
the last fifty years, the frequency has increased to 50%. In the South Cone, an increase
in mean temperature has mostly occurred in the Patagonian region (up to 1ºC) and the
Andean Mountains (+0.25ºC) but not along the coastal areas. Eighty-seven out of one
hundred glaciers under study along the Andean region have receded during the last
century.
The intensification of El Niño events has been linked to the increasing frequency of
extreme rainfall events and hurricanes along the Caribbean Coast. In Belize, for instance,
four out of the eight major storms recorded during the 20th century have occurred in the
last twenty five years. Likewise, Honduras is the third country in the world with the highest
record of extreme event occurrence between 1990 and 2008. Extreme rainfall has caused
nearly sixty floods in Costa Rica over the last six decades. While the Caribbean coast
is becoming wetter and rain events more extreme, droughts are increasing along much
of the Pacific coast of Central America. In the north of Costa Rica the frequency of dry
years has increased remarkably between 1960 and 2005, and the average reduction
in precipitation during these dry years surpasses 32% of the mean annual precipitation.
These observed trends largely coincide with the climate projections made by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for the region (Figure 2.8). According
to Galindo et al. (2010), 2100 climate projections show an increasing frequency of
hurricanes in the Caribbean and Central America, as well as a higher drought frequency
and a reduction in annual rainfall. Glacier melting will continue along much of the Andean
tropical glaciers of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, as well as in Chile and Argentina.

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Observed Expected in 2100

IMPACTS
Increasing temperature
Higher frequency of
extreme rainfalls
Increasing rainfalls
Decreasing rainfalls
Sea level rise and
shoreline retreat
Higher frequency of storms,
hurricanes
Glacier melting
Higher frequency of
droughts
OBSERVED FREQUENCY

75−100% 50−75% 25−50%

LIKELY TO OCCUR South Cone
Mesoamerica
N Andean
0 625 2500 km
Amazonian

Figure 2.8 Observed (left) and expected (right) impacts linked to Climate Change in Latin
America. Source: own elaboration based on the information on observed impacts recorded from
the National Communications (NCs) performed by twenty Latin American countries and summarized
by major regions (UNFCCC, 2013); and expected climate change impact projections for the year
2100 in LAC as summarized in Galindo et al. (2010).

2 .7 Future challenges
Latin American water resources face important threats derived from population growth,
urbanization, land use patterns and climate change, among others (Jones and Scarpati,
2007). United Nations’ estimates suggest that the population will increase significantly in
the coming years. By 2030, the population in northwest South America, from Venezuela
to Bolivia, is expected to grow by one-third. Countries such as Brazil, Argentina or
Chile will experience a demographic growth of about 20%. In addition, Latin America
is experiencing other changes, namely, the shift of population from the countryside into
the cities. As a result, per capita water consumption is rising dramatically in urban areas
(see Chapter 8). This increases the pressure on local resources, such as Mexico City’s
aquifer, leading to problems of groundwater quality degradation, aquifer depletion and
subsidence. Besides, the increase in paved areas, coupled with inadequate drainage,
favours devastating floods such as the ones that have occurred in Sao Paulo, Mexico
City, Rio de Janeiro or Buenos Aires in the recent past (Regional Process of the Americas,
2012).
Climate change is likely to cause increasing variability in precipitation and runoff,
in both time and space, resulting in the excess or scarcity of water, and extreme events.

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Inevitably this will cause changes in hydropower generation, agriculture, industry and
domestic water supply. Some of the practical effects of climate change include the
gradual substitution of Amazon rainforest with savannahs, changes in crop patterns and
yields across the region, increased vulnerability to floods and droughts in Central and
South America, augmented effects of the El Niño and La Niña oscillation phenomena and
glacier melting in the Andes (EuropeAid, 2009).
In a context of unevenly distributed water resources and increasing drought in some
regions and precipitation in others, enhanced water efficiency and management poses
a major challenge, not only for direct water users and managers, but also for indirect
water users such as policy makers, businesses, agricultural commodity trading companies
and consumers. In contrast, consistent water accounting systems are yet to be developed.
Quantifying and accounting for water flows within the economy (including environmental
needs) and related impacts on the appropriate time and spatial scales would allow
transparent information to be attained and thus contribute to the development of robust
allocation and management systems needed to underpin a green economy (UNEP, 2010).
Deteriorating water quality due to urban and agricultural waste has long threatened
public health and ecosystems. Full integration of water quality into the management debate
is needed in order to ensure the preservation of water resources for the future. In this
regard, systematic water quality monitoring, pollution control and wastewater treatment
programmes are perceived as both urgent and essential.
Although some encouraging steps have been taken in the last few years, integrated
water resources management is still absent in most countries (Chapter 15). Water
governance opportunities are associated with the administration of water resources, the
need to broaden and strengthen the capacity of public institutions, the establishment of
clear and effective regulations for the provision of efficient services or the formulation and
implementation of effective policies, with the subsidiary action of governments and with
the participation of all water users including public–private cooperation strategies at local,
sub-national and national levels (Regional Process of the Americas, 2012). Amongst all
the challenges not least is the need to devise adequate governance frameworks for shared
basins.

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 3
TRENDS IN LAND USE
AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES

Authors:
Bárbara A. Willaarts, Water Observatory − Botín Foundation, and CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
Gloria Salmoral, Water Observatory − Botín Foundation, and CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
Juliana S. Farinaci, Environmental Studies Center (NEPAM) − State University of Campinas, (UNICAMP), Brazil
Maria José Sanz-Sánchez, FAO, Roma, Italy
PA R T 2 :
SETTING THE SCENE

Highlights

• The land used for agricultural production in Latin America and the Caribbean
(LAC) comprises 26% of its total surface area: 10% for crops and 16% for livestock
grazing. This share still remains below the global average land appropriation (38%).

• Between 1990 and 2010 LAC lost approximately 92 million hectares of forests,
becoming the second most important deforestation hotspot worldwide, only preceded
by Southeast Asia. Some 88% of this forest loss has occurred in South America and
12% in Mesoamerica. Brazil alone accounts for 60% of LAC’s deforestation. In the
Caribbean forest area has increased.

• Agriculture is the major driver of deforestation in LAC. In South America the

cultivation of agricultural commodities, mostly oilseeds and grains, underpin much of
the ongoing deforestation together with the sharp expansion of the livestock sector. In
Mesoamerica, the low agricultural productivity keeps pushing the agricultural frontier
in order to overcome national food in security problems.

• LAC has outstanding natural capital and contributes to the provision of multiple
ecosystem services on a wide range of scales. Yet, land use changes are a major
driver of ecosystem services loss even above climate change.

• The deep transformations that have occurred in LAC over the last two decades have
had important impacts on the provision of key ecosystem services. Regulating services
such as carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation have experienced the
largest impacts, with an average loss of 9%. Also, native agro-diversity has shrunk
almost 6%. Cultural services like ecotourism has grown over 150% and provisioning
services like forestry and water provision have also increased (35% and 6%,
respectively).

• Deforestation rates are slowing down. Yet, the growth of agriculture in LAC is
increasingly being decoupled from expanding the agricultural frontier and more
based on increases in agricultural yields.

• To cope with the increasing world food demand while ensuring the conservation of
LAC’s natural capital and ecosystem services, it is necessary to develop integrated
land use approaches, including agricultural oriented measures (e.g. land sparing
and land sharing) and conservation initiatives (e.g. Reducing Emissions from
Deforestation and Forest Degradation- REDD+).

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TRENDS IN LAND USE AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES

3.1 Introduction
Latin America and the Caribbean region (LAC) is currently facing a daunting challenge:
producing food, fibre, and fuel to satisfy an increasing internal and international demand
and at the same time preserve its outstanding natural capital and related ecosystem
services (ES) (Martinelli, 2012). Compared to other regions, LAC has a major advantage
to achieve this double goal due to its rich natural endowment in terms of land, water and
its low population density.
Ongoing pressure on LAC natural resources is linked to internal development but also
to economic globalization, population growth and principally changing diets throughout
the world. FAO (2009) estimates that by 2050 agricultural production will need to double
in order to satisfy the increasing world food and biofuel demand. This future demand
can partly be met by intensifying existing agricultural land and improving resource use
efficiency (e.g. bridging the yield gap, the development of genetically modified crops-
GMOs, etc.), however, most experts agree that between 50 and 450 million hectares
of additional agricultural land will also be required (FAO, 2009; Fisher et al., 2009;
Lambin and Meyfroidt, 2011). This additional land demand is most likely to be absorbed
by developing countries that have the greatest land availability, primarily sub-Saharan
Africa and LAC (Smith et al., 2010).
Food and fibre are key provisioning ES to LAC as they provide important benefits
which are contributing to overcome local and global food insecurity gaps and at the
same time allow for regional economic development. By 2011 annual gross revenues
of LAC’s agriculture accounted for over 120,000 million US$ (FAO, 2013), and
generated approximately 18% of the employment (World Bank, 2013). In some of the
major agricultural producing countries, like Brazil, agro-industry accounted for 22% of the
national GDP in 2011 (CEPEA, 2013). A large part of this agricultural market expansion
is taking place at the expenses of replacing natural ecosystems, mostly tropical savannahs
and forests. The ecosystem productivity of these tropical forests ranks among the highest
in the world due to their extension and quality, particularly along the Amazon basin and
much of Central America (Pfister et al., 2011). Their replacement entails important trade-
offs for the provision of other key non-market ES, like carbon sequestration, pollination,
water flow regulation or biodiversity conservation. Balancing these ES trade-offs are key
to LAC but also globally since the Amazon tropical forests play a key role in the global
carbon and water cycle (Rockström et al., 2009; Gloor et al., 2012).
Despite the pressure, significant improvements in agricultural production have been
achieved in many LAC countries, in an attempt to increase efficiency, decouple production
from water and land resource consumption and thus minimize existing ES trade-offs. Efforts
in this direction are critical since deforestation, as opposed to climate change, causes
abrupt changes in ecosystems, limiting and often precluding opportunities for adaptation.
Accordingly, this chapter aims to explore: 1) what major changes in land use have
occurred in LAC during the last two decades of significant economic changes; 2) what

57
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SETTING THE SCENE

are the drivers behind these land changes; 3) how are those changes influencing the
flow of ES across the region; and 4) what policy options are in place to safeguard LAC’s
natural capital while contributing to global food security.

3.2 What have be en the main land use trends over

the last decades?
As Chapters 4 and 5 describe, LAC has experienced significant changes over the last
decades as a result of its great economic acceleration and the strong development of its
agricultural sector. This growth has been accompanied by the expansion of LAC’s agri-
cultural area by almost 57 million hectares (see Figure 3.1). Such increase is related to
the expansion of pastures for livestock production and arable land. Likewise, shrublands
and secondary forests have also experienced an important area increase (≈ +27 million
hectares). Much of these land uses have grown at the expense of replacing natural
meadows and even more notably, natural forests, which have shrunk 92 million hectares,
an area equivalent to the size of Venezuela. This forest reduction represents 46% of
the total forest losses occurred in the southern hemisphere over the last two decades
(FAO, 2010; Rademaekers et al., 2010), demonstrating that LAC, and particularly South
America, is one of the most important global deforestation hotspots.

138 164
133 19 154
20
153 18 180 22
27
295 320
37
160 137

1990 2010

1025 933

Forest Permanent crops Arable land

Pastures Meadows Shrubland
Built-up and barren Irrigation Inland waters

Figure 3.1 Land uses in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) in 1990 and 2010 (in million
hectares). Source: own elaboration based on FAO (2013)

Within LAC, the most important deforestation hotspots are located in Brazil and to
a lesser extent in Venezuela, Bolivia and Argentina (Table 3.1). Since 1990, Brazil
alone has lost over 55 million hectares, although the rates of deforestation have slowed
down significantly over the last years. According to the National Institute for Space
Research (INPE) deforestation rates in the Brazilian Legal Amazon have diminished from
about 2.9 million hectares per year in 2004 to 0.47million hectares per year in 2012

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(INPE, 2012). Deforestation rates in other Brazilian biomes (e.g. Cerrado, the Brazilian
savannah) remain high, but overall it is patent the progressive regression of deforestation
on a national level. This slow down in forest cover loss has not been observed yet in
Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador, where deforestation rates have remained stable or even
increased in the last years. In Mesoamerica, the largest forest losses have occurred in
Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala. In the Caribbean region the trend points
into a different direction, since forest area has increased over 10,300 hectares between
2000 and 2010 (FAO, 2010).

Table 3.1 Deforestation rates across Latin America between 1990 and 2010. Figures have
been rouded to the nearest decimal.
ANNUAL RATE OF DEFORESTATION TOTAL DEFORESTATION
(million ha/yr) (million ha)

COUNTRY 1990−2000 2000−2005 2005−2010 1990−2010

BRAZIL 2.9 3.1 2.2 55.3

VENEZUELA 0.3 0.3 0.3 5.8

BOLIVIA 0.3 0.3 0.3 5.6

ARGENTINA 0.3 0.3 0.2 5.4

ECUADOR 0.2 0.2 0.2 4.0

PARAGUAY 0.12 0.2 0.2 3.6

PERU 0.1 0.1 0.2 2.2

COLOMBIA 0.1 0.1 0.1 2.0

MEXICO 3.5 1.2 0.8 5.5

HONDURAS 1.7 0.6 0.6 2.9

NICARAGUA 0.7 0.4 0.4 1.4

GUATEMALA 0.5 0.3 0.3 1.1

Source: FAO (2010)

Figure 3.2 shows the prevailing land use trends across LAC’s territory since the 90s.1
Overall, LAC’s territory has been very dynamic during the last two decades, with 40%
of the territory (over 900 million hectares) experiencing either a change in land use or in
land cover. This dynamism is the result of two major trends: (1) a pronounced reduction
of the forest cover, either due to large-scale deforestation for cultivation or through small to

1 The land use trends have been obtained from the land use transition matrix created by combining the 1993
Global Land cover (USGS 2008) and the 2009 Glob Cover Map (ESA 2010) for LAC. Map sources have
different spatial resolutions and legends, therefore figures on land use trends need to be considered as a first
gross approximation to the real size of ongoing land use trends in LAC.

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medium-scale forest clearing for cattle, mining and subsistence agriculture; and (2) a less
pronounced but growing trend of reforestation, which combines processes of secondary
natural succession, human-induced afforestation and woody encroachment on previous
cultivated areas.
Deforestation and expansion of the agricultural frontier has been the dominant trend
in LAC in the last two decades (Figure 3.2). The greatest expansion of pastures and
arable land has occurred in South America, mostly in Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. In
Mesoamerica, countries like Nicaragua, Honduras, Panama and Guatemala have also
seen an increase of their agricultural area, mostly arable land but also permanent pastures
for grazing.
Although less intensive, the progressive trend of forest degradation observed in many
parts of the region is still important. This can be seen along the northern part of Mexico,
in the region of Los Llanos in Venezuela, northwest of Colombia, the Amazonian belt in
Brazil, and along much of the Andean region of Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. This trend
of forest degradation comes from the clearing of natural forest and shrubs to be turned into
pastures. The underlying reasons of this trend might be diverse but some common causes
include the extended practice of slash and burn agriculture, extensive livestock grazing,
gold mining, illegal logging and crop plantation.
Despite this reduction in LAC’s forest area, symptoms of forest recovery, the so-called
‘forest transitions’ (Mather, 1992), are emerging in some areas. The clearest example
of this forest transition is the emergence of new forests on previously cultivated areas or
pastures. These new forests are either naturally regenerated or planted (afforested). Such
trend is widespread in the southeast and northeast of Brazil and across various areas of
northern Mexico (Figure 3.2). Another important reforestation trend is the development of
new shrub areas in previously cultivated or grazed areas. The development of this woody
vegetation is a natural ecological response to the abandonment of agriculture or grazing
activities. In grasslands the ceasing of agriculture normally ends with the encroachment of
shrubs, whereas in forest areas, the appearance of this woody vegetation could represent
an early successional stage of forest regeneration. Across LAC, this shrub encroachment
has mostly occurred in the central-north region of Brazil and in the Argentinean Pampa.
These processes of forest recovery largely overlap with the reforestation hotspots identified
by Aide et al. (2012), although the size of the reforestation trends seem to be greater
in our study. Differences in methodologies, scales and data sources might explain the
divergences found across both studies, highlighting the need for further investigation and
the difficulties in providing precise figures. Overall, according to our analysis, reforestation
in all its forms i.e. through forest natural succession, afforestation, or woody development
represents at least 20% of the current forest area in LAC. The extent to which these new
‘secondary’ forests have or fulfil the same ecological processes as those of primary forests
remains unclear and needs further investigation (Lambin and Meyfroidt, 2011).
Grau and Aide (2008) argue that a main driver underpinning reforestation in LAC is
related to the industrialization of agriculture, which has contributed to the concentration
of production to the most fertile areas, while marginal agriculture has progressively been

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abandoned, leading to ecosystem recovery. In addition to the changes in the agricultural

production system, the strong rural–urban migration flow together with the implementation
of conservation policies in many rural areas (ibid.) has also favoured forest regeneration.
Such evolution of the land use pattern, in which agricultural areas have become highly
intensified on the most fertile or suitable lands, and natural areas tend to stand along the
slopes or less accessible zones, resembles the land use path followed by other regions
such as Europe. Box 3.1 summarizes the complexity of the factors underlying forest
transitions and reforestation processes in southeast Brazil.

Figure 3.2 Land use and land cover changes occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean
between 1993 and 2009. Source: own elaboration based on 1993 Global Land cover (USGS,
2008) and the 2009 Glob Cover Map (ESA, 2010)

Overall, agricultural expansion is the predominant land use trend in LAC, although
deforestation rates seem to be slowing down and in some cases even reversing. As
described in Chapters 1, 5 and 7, the growth of the agricultural sector in LAC is largely
related to a growing internal demand for food and energy and ongoing dietary shifts,
but is also driven by the rising international demand for oilseeds and cereal grains. To
understand past, but foremost, future land use decisions in LAC and develop possible
solutions for curbing deforestation and environmental degradation, it is crucial to
understand the drivers underpinning the increasing need for agricultural land in this part
of the world.
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Box 3.1 Drivers of forest transition: theor y and

practice in São Paulo, southeastern Brazil

Forest transitions – the change in land use characteristics from a period of constant
reduction of forest cover to a period of net forest increase – have diverse drivers,
including a variety of socio-economic, cultural and political factors. In the last decades
some ‘pathways’ have been proposed to explain the processes and factors behind
observed forest recovery across countries (see e.g. Rudel et al., 2005; Lambin and
Meyfroidt, 2010). The most common argument is the so-called ‘economic development’
pathway: economic development associated with industrialization, urbanization, and
land use intensification results in agricultural land abandonment and reforestation through
secondary succession or tree planting. Also, forest transition would occur when a lack of
forest products prompts governments and landowners to plant trees – the ‘forest scarcity’
pathway (Rudel et al., 2005).
Much of the research conducted in LAC countries like Argentina (Grau and Aide,
2008), Brazil (Perz and Skole, 2003; Baptista, 2008; Walker, 2012), El Salvador
(Hecht et al., 2006), and Mexico (Klooster, 2003; Bray and Klepeis, 2005), raised
doubts about the broad applicability of forest transition models based on economic
development or forest scarcity, emphasizing the importance of a variety of factors linked
in a complex network of institutional, social, biological, cultural and physical interactions.
In this sense, Lambin and Meyfroidt (2010) proposed the ‘globalization’, the ‘state forest
policies’ and the ‘smallholder, tree-based land use intensification’ pathways, which offer
more refined explanations of processes involved in forest transitions.
In Brazil, although deforestation rates are greater than forest recovery, forest increase
seems to be occurring in some regions. In São Paulo, a southeastern state, evidence
suggests that a forest transition took place in the 1990s at the state level, which coincides
with a period of overall economic growth in the country (Farinaci and Batistella, 2012)
(see Figure 3.3).
Considering only a broad scale, it would be reasonable to explain the forest
transition in São Paulo in terms of the ‘economic development’ pathway, as the state
became increasingly urbanized, industrialized and wealthy. However, analysing the
processes occurring on a smaller spatial scale, Farinaci (2012) concluded that the
transitions observed in municipalities in eastern São Paulo were more influenced by crises
and economic stagnation in late 1980s and 1990s – a period in which sustainable
development became part of the political discourse in different sectors of society – than
by the acceleration of economic growth during the 2000s. Moreover, at the intra-
municipality level, forest recovery was not driven by local economic development or
agricultural adjustment, but rather by the failure of production systems to ensure the
livelihoods of rural population. In São Luiz do Paraitinga, which exemplifies changes
occurring in rural areas in eastern São Paulo over the last few decades, the decline
of dairy farming was the most important factor influencing recovery of native forest,

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a) b)
3,500,000
10,000
3,250,000
Native vegetation cover (ha)

Mean deforestation (ha/yr)

3,000,000 8,000
2,750,000
2,500,000 6,000

2,250,000
2,000,000 4,000

1,750,000
2,000
1,500,000

1,250,000 0
2010
1990
1995
2000
2005
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010
Instituto Florestal Agricultural census IBGE SOS Mata Atlántica/INPE Projeto LUPA

Figure 3.3 Evidence of forest transition in São Paulo State (Brazil) according to four different
data sources. (a) Temporal variation on native vegetation cover (b) Deforestation rates between
2000 and 2010 (annual mean values for each period) - (Sources: Kronka et al., 1993, 2005;
SIFESP, 2010; Fundação SOS Mata Atlântica and INPE, 2008, 2009, 2010; IBGE (2009);
SAA, CATI and IEA (2009).

predominantly via secondary succession. Modernization of the dairy sector, shortage

of rural jobs, lack of public investment on rural infrastructure, and competition with other
regions contributed to a decline in dairy farming. Moreover a reduction in soil fertility
and rugged relief restricted the possibilities for alternative land uses. Concurrently, an
increasing number of people who are willing to purchase land for second residences
or tourism activities, often motivated by conservation values, favoured forest recovery. In
addition, laws restricting tree cutting and hunting, improvement of fire monitoring systems,
and protected areas were important prompters of forest conservation and reforestation.
When smaller-scale processes are considered, and put into socio-economic, political
and cultural contexts, it is clear that the ‘globalization’ pathway in association with the
‘state forest policies’ pathway, as proposed by Lambin and Meyfroidt (2010), provide
more comprehensive explanations of the processes leading to forest transitions as
observed by Farinaci (2012) in São Paulo.

3.3 What are the drivers of the obser ve d

deforestation trends?
Deforestation and land appropriation is an ancient and constant process throughout
human history, although driving forces have evolved over time. Around the tropics,
deforestation between the 1970s and the early 1990s was largely ‘state-driven’ to

63
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promote rural development (Rudel, 2007). Government policies varied from region to
region, but generally provided incentives for the colonization of remote forests, such as
cheap land, and investments in infrastructure (e.g., road building) in order to foster the
development process. In the case of LAC, since the 1990s different structural adjustment
programmes endorsed by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other
international donors favoured the development of trade liberalization policies. Ever since
then, deforestation in LAC has been primarily ‘enterprise-driven’, particularly by large
multinationals (Rudel, 2007). Yet, governments still contribute to these efforts indirectly,
e.g. through tax incentives for businesses to settle and also by developing infrastructures,
which facilitate and speed up the transportation of goods and natural resources to the
nearest harbours (Rudel et al., 2009; DeFries et al., 2010). Tree felling, agricultural
industrialization, trade, mining and biofuel are the dominant drivers of current deforestation
in many tropical countries (Butler and Laurance, 2008).
Figure 3.4 summarizes some of the main drivers explaining ongoing deforestation
trends in LAC.2 Economic globalization (Factor 1), and particularly the specialization
of LAC’s economies in the exportation of agricultural commodities (e.g. cereals and
oilseeds), explains approximately 21% of the observed forest losses in LAC between
1990 and 2010. This factor is the underlying reason for most of the deforestation in South
American countries like Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Ecuador and Paraguay. Despite the
migration of rural population to the cities, the ongoing efforts to increase the area under
protection and the yield improvements, deforestation in these countries has not halted.
Whether deforestation is likely to continue in LAC is very much linked to the major drivers
underpinning the expansion of agriculture (e.g. international food and biofuel demand,
agricultural specialization) and undoubtedly the set of policy instruments and economic
incentives (e.g. increases in agricultural productivity, Reduced Emissions from Deforestation
and Forest Degradation – REDD+) that may be put in place to reverse deforestation and
promote a greener economy. According to FAO (2010), Brazil is responsible for almost
60% of current LAC deforestation, therefore this country is called on to play a key role in
this respect, and more recent data suggests that government measures are starting to be
effective (Table 3.1).
Nevertheless, the globalization of LAC’s economies does not always lead to
deforestation. In fact those countries with a high GDP per capita, high agricultural
productivity, greater agricultural investments (e.g. in machinery) and with a powerful
forestry sector (e.g. Chile or Uruguay) have experienced a net forest area increase despite
their strong exporting policies. The extent to which these new secondary forests provide
an equivalent flow of ES as the native ones requires further investigation as was mentioned
previously.

2 To assess the factors underpinning ongoing land use trends in LAC we conducted a multivariate factor
analysis (FA) by combining information from twenty-four different socio-economic variables. All variables repre-
sent national values for the time period 1990–2010.

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Another critical factor of LAC deforestation beyond globalization is the high reliance
of many countries on a primary-based economy (see Figure 3.4. Factor 2). High rates
of deforestation overlap with countries where agriculture and mining represent a large
percentage of their GDP. This factor could explain much of the deforestation observed
in Mesoamerican countries like Guatemala, Honduras or Nicaragua, where around
23% of their national GDP is linked to agriculture. These countries have low yields and
are mostly land stressed, i.e. they have a low land per capita availability and over
67% of the actual agricultural area is used to produce staples like maize, beans and
export crops like coffee. Deforestation in these countries is probably less related to the
growth of agricultural exports, and more influenced by the expansion of agriculture to
overcome food insecurity problems. The development of the mining industry, mostly in
South American countries like Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador, also appears to be
influencing deforestation. Likewise, the development of the livestock sector is an important
driver of tropical deforestation. The majority of cattle in LAC is produced extensively in
pastures, making the growth of this sector highly dependent on land availability. Since
1990 livestock production has increased 21% in the Caribbean, 44% in South America
and 53% in Mesoamerica (FAO, 2012). The value of livestock products in two decades
has increased by almost 10,000 million US$ in Mesoamerica and up to 32,000 million
US$ in South America (World Bank, 2013). In the Caribbean region, the predominance
of a service-oriented economy largely relying on fuel exports and tourism has contributed
to preserve and even augment the forest area.
Nevertheless, and despite the importance of the two drivers mentioned above,
agricultural expansion and forest area change are also influenced by many other
socio-political and legal aspects. For instance, in Colombia much of the reforestation
observed between 2001 and 2010 (about 1.7 million hectares) is due to the coca crops
eradication programmes enforced by the government (Sánchez-Cuervo et al., 2012).
Land tenure and undefined property rights may also be a driver on land use change
and its influence will depend on site specific socio-economic dimensions. In Mexico,
Bonilla-Moheno et al. (2013) show that the private-common-pool dichotomy was not the
dominant explanatory dimension for deforestation; since the greatest differences occurred
between types of common-pool systems. Physical variables like altitudinal differences,
usually not included in most models of deforestation, can also play an important role in
identifying intraregional drivers. One example can be seen in the differences between
lowland and montane forest cover changes in Colombia, due in part to the accessibility
of forests and differences in wealth and economic activities (Armenteras et al., 2010).
The energy sector (e.g. dam construction) is most likely to be an important driver of actual
deforestation but no data was found to include this variable in the assessment. All these
factors need to be jointly considered in order to identify sustainable land use options at
the local level and hence providing opportunities for development and the minimization
of environmental trade-offs.

65
 0.9
Mineal rents (%of GDP)

Fuels and mining products industry

Livestock production

Primary economy
0.6 Sugar raw centrifugal exports
Agriculture, value added (%GDP) Beans production

Agricultural productivity(US$/ha) Population

Soybean exports
0.3 Maize exports
Protected areas
Investments in machinery Land stress Bananas exports
Higher GDP per capita Agricultural land
Crop yields
0.0 Urban population
Forest rents (%of GDP) Mineral fuel exports Exports goods and services (% GDP)
Forest area increase
-0.3 Services (%of GDP)

-0.6

Economic specialization Factor 2 (15.3% of the total variance)

Services economy
-0.9
-0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
Globalization Factor 1 (20.8% of the total variance)
Exportation of high-value added commodities Exportation of low-value added commodities

Figure 3.4 Factor analysis explaining drivers of forest area change in Latin America and the Caribbean between 1990 and 2010. Factors I and II explain the
percentage of total variance. Variables’ values represent the correlation with the two factors. Source: own elaboration based on FAO (2012) and World Bank (2013)
 CHAPTER 3
TRENDS IN LAND USE AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES

3.4 Impacts of land use changes on ecosystem

ser vices
The observed changes in land use in LAC have deep implications for the provision of
ES. Yet knowledge of the performance of ES in LAC is sparse across countries but overall
significant (Balvanera et al., 2012). Much of the existing knowledge on ES is primarily
focused on provisioning services, e.g. timber production and freshwater provisioning and
regulating services such as water flow regulation or carbon sequestration (ibid.). However,
less knowledge is available on other key ES, e.g. pollination and pest regulation. Figure
3.5 summarizes the quantification of six ES at the national scale and their trends between
1990 and 2010.
3. 4.1 Carbon sequestration
Carbon (C) stocks vary depending on the type of biome and the management practices.
Across LAC, the largest aboveground C pools are found in the native tropical forests of
Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela and Bolivia (FAO, 2010). Together these countries store
87,280MtC (million tons of carbon); around 84% of the total aboveground C stock of
LAC. The importance of these stocks is related to the extension of their tropical forests but
also to the average C content per hectare (>105t/ha), which is above the LAC average.
Between 1990 and 2010 approximately 8,600t C have been lost which is equivalent
to 10% of LAC’s total C stock. Some 80% of these C emissions have occurred in the
aforementioned countries (Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela and Bolivia). Nowadays
land use changes, and particularly deforestation, is the most important source of green
house gas emissions (GHG) across most LAC countries, and therefore represents a major
driver of climate change (see Figure 3.6). Among some of the most important initiatives
currently under negotiation to halt deforestation and mitigate climate change in LAC is
through the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) (see
Box 3.2).

Box 3.2 Enhancing forest conser vation through

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation
and Forest Degradation (REDD+)

Since the end of 2006 negotiations have been held under the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to support developing countries
in reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and enhancing forest carbon sinks as a
key mitigation strategy. Initially only emission reductions from deforestation and forest
degradation were considered, the so-called REDD strategy. But soon given the different
national circumstances and the position on the forest transition curve (Perz, 2007a and
b) of tropical developing countries, in addition to reducing emissions from deforestation

67
PA R T 2 :
SETTING THE SCENE

and degradation, the negotiations expanded to further include the conservation of forest
carbon stocks, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon
stocks. This wider scope was agreed upon to allow broad non-Annex I parties (mostly
developing countries), based on differing national circumstances, and was renamed
REDD+. This climate change solution for developing countries has been endorsed by
different initiatives (e.g. the UN-REDD programme, the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility
(FCPF) and the Forest Investment Program (FIP), hosted by the World Bank). Currently the
UN-REDD programme supports different activities in forty-six countries, including Bolivia,
Panama and Ecuador.
Negotiations relating to REDD+ can be traced back to the 11th session of the
UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP) in Montreal (2005), where it was raised as an
agenda item that later initiated a two-year process under the UNFCCC’s Subsidiary Body
for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), including several technical workshops
on the issue. This lead to the introduction of REDD+ as part of the Bali Action Plan at
COP13 in 2007, as Decision 2/CP.13, that also provided some early methodological
guidance. At COP 15 (Copenhagen in 2009), several principles and methodological
guidelines were defined further (Decision 4/CP.15). Parties at COP16 (held in Cancun,
2010), adopted Decision 1/CP.16, section C, defined guidance and safeguards, the
need of a phase approach and the five activities under REDD+ in its paragraph 70 by
saying: ‘Encourages developing country Parties to contribute to mitigation actions in the
forest sector by undertaking the following activities, as deemed appropriate by each
Party and in accordance with their respective capabilities and national circumstances:
Reducing emissions from deforestation; Reducing emissions from forest degradation;
Conservation of forest carbon stocks; Sustainable management of forests; Enhancement
of forest carbon stocks.’
Since the Bali Action Plan (2007) put forest in the UNFCCC agenda, there is not
one single understanding of REDD+ and even greater diversity of views on how best
to slow or halt deforestation, but there is a wide recognition of the complexity and
that progress is being made in understanding diversity and the importance of national
circumstances and drivers of the deforestation and forest degradation. For example,
some view REDD+ strictly as a mechanism that provides financial payments for verified
emission reductions while for others it is a broader suite of actions and incentives that,
when combined, reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
In light of the new challenges, the lessons learnt during the past three years and the
recent discussion at COP18 in Doha, it seems several pathways may be considered for
the financing of REDD+ activities and allow countries to adopt alternative development
pathways in which deforestation is reduced by tailoring the measures to their needs and
national circumstances. However, when creating a forest protection climate agreement,
which includes international incentives, it is important to note that if markets have to
be considered, deeper commitments from major emitters, with their large mitigation
potential, would be required if they need to be environmentally acceptable or politically
palatable.

68
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1990 2010 1990 2010

Carbon stocks (million t) Freshwater use (% of TARWR)

0 - 2,050 2,050 - 4,700 4,700 - 6,850 6,850 - 8,600 68,200 No data <1 1-2 2-8 8 - 28 > 28 No data

1990 2010 1990 2010

Threaten vertebrates species (% of total) Agrodiversity (Shannon-Wiener Index)

0-5 6 - 15 16 - 25 263 - 35 36 - 50 No data 0.0 -1.5 1.6 - 2.0 2.1 - 2.4 2.5 - 2.8 2.9 - 3.2 No data

1990 2010 1990 2010

Timber and NTFP (mill t) Eco-cultural sites (number)

0 -1.1 1.1 - 2.4 2.4 - 7.5 7.5 - 12.3 12.3 - 45.0 No data <3 4-9 9 - 15 15 - 25 26 - 61 No data

Figure 3.5 Trends in Ecosystem Service provision in Latin America and the Caribbean
between 1990 and 2010. Data and indicators to measure the ES performance are as follows.
Carbon sequestration was measured using data on aerial carbon pools obtained from the Global
Forest Resource Assessment (FRA) performed by FAO (2010) and the indicator used accounts
for the total amount of carbon stored aboveground. Soil carbon stocks are not considered here.
Freshwater use data was obtained from FAO (2013) and refers to the % of total actual renewable
water resources (TARWR) withdrawals for human uses. Biodiversity data was obtained from the
Red-list database of the International Union for Nature Conservation (IUCN, 2013). In order to
account for the LAC’s agro-diversity, we used the Shannon-Wiener index to measure the variety of
crops grown in each country and the relative importance of each one (in terms of area dedicated
to its cultivation) during two time periods (1990–2000 and 2000–2010). Timber and non-timber
forest products (NTFP) data was obtained from FAO (2010) and the number of ecosites represents
the sum of World Heritage Sites (WHS) and Biosphere Reserves (BR) by country and was obtained
from UNESCO (2013).

69
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SETTING THE SCENE

2,000

1,500
t CO2 equiv./yr

1,000

500

0
Brazil

Mexico
Ecuador

Argentina

Venezuela

Colombia

Peru

Belize

Chile

Paraguay

Nicaragua

Bolivia
Uruguay

Panama

Guatemala

Costa Rica

Honduras

El Salvador

Suriname

Guyana
Agriculture Energy Industr y Land use Waste Land use C of fsets

Figure 3.6 Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) by sector in LAC countries. Source: own elabo-
ration UNFCCC (2013)

3. 4.2 Freshwater use

LAC is an extremely well-endowed region in terms of blue water availability. As described
in Chapters 2 and 6, this region holds one-third of the global renewable blue water
resources and the average blue water availability per capita for the whole region exceeds
the 30,000m3/cap/yr (FAO, 2013). Over the last few decades water withdrawals
have increased, both as a result of endogenous factors such as irrigation development,
population growth and urbanization and as a result of exogenous factors such as the
globalization of LAC’s economies and the increase in exports of agricultural virtual water
trade (see Chapter 7).
Freshwater abstractions in LAC have increased nearly 5% between 1990 and
2010, from 277 million cubic metres in 1990 up to 290 in 2010 (FAO, 2013). Such
increase implies that 5% of the total actual renewable water resources (TARWR)3 of LAC
is extracted for human uses (Figure 3.5). Only in Mexico, Cuba or Dominican Republic
water extractions surpass 15% of the national TARWR. Despite these positive figures,
regional water scarcity problems exist in countries like Mexico, Chile, Argentina or Brazil
where at least 13% of the population lives in water-scarce basins (see Table 6.3, Chapter
6). Also, as Chapter 6 also outlines, in the majority of countries, pollution rather than over-
abstractions represents a greater threat for maintaining this provisioning ES in the medium
and long run.

3 TARWR stands for total annual renewable water resources

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3. 4.3 Biodiversit y conser vation

LAC is home to seven out of twenty-five world biodiversity hotspots for Conservation
Priority (IUCN, 2013). Mega-diverse countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador,
Mexico, Venezuela and Peru alone cover less than 10% of the world’s terrestrial surface
but contain approximately 70% of the world’s mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, plants
and insects (ibid.). Yet 11% of the total number of vertebrate species identified in LAC
are threatened (IUCN, 2013) as shown in Figure 3.5. Yet the countries with the largest
ratio of threatened species are: Chile (50%), Brazil (43%), Colombia (42%) and Mexico
(41%). Countries with ranges of threatened species varying between 20 and 40% are:
Ecuador (32%), Peru (28%), Argentina (25%) and Venezuela (20%). The underlying drivers
of this decline in order of importance are (IUCN, 2013): agricultural expansion and
habitat change (in 25% of the cases); tree felling and wood harvest (22%); urbanization
(13%); agricultural and forestry pollution (12%); and alien and invasive species (10%). In
less than 10% of the cases climate change was the underlying driver of species pressure,
which highlights a key fact: among global drivers, land use changes by far exert the
largest pressure on biodiversity, even above climate change.
3. 4. 4 Agro-diversit y
LAC is the home to some key food components of our diets. The highest agro-diversity
within LAC is found in the Andean region and Brazil, although in the last two decades,
this agro-diversity has decreased sharply (see Figure 3.5). This loss of agricultural diversity
is very much related to the progressive trend of agricultural specialization into oilseed and
cereal grain production (mostly soybeans, maize, wheat, barley) and also into bio-fuels
such as sugar cane. Among all the crops grown in LAC, over sixteen were originally
domesticated in this part of the world (see Table 3.2). Cotton, beans and sunflower are
the native crops that have experienced the greatest reduction in area cultivated since
the 1990s. Maize on the other hand has experienced a sharp increase, particularly in
Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil and also Nicaragua and Venezuela. Much of the loss in
agricultural area of native species has been due to the expansion of non-native crops like
soybean, which has increased its area 2.5 times since 1990. Sugar cane area has also
increased substantially. Soybean expansion in Brazil is mostly related with the increasing
demand of animal feed by the EU27 and more recently China, whereas sugar cane
production has mostly increased as a result of internal biofuel demand.

3. 4.5 Forest products

Commercial forestry in LAC is mostly oriented towards the production of non-timber
forest products (NTFP) such as pulp. This pulp comes predominantly from softwood tree
plantations of Eucalyptus spp. and Pinus radiata and it is used to produce paper. The
development of the paper industry in LAC is relatively new compared to other parts
of the world. To a large extent this has been driven by government policies that have
boosted forestation based on high-yielding species to promote the paper industry. Brazil,
Chile and Uruguay are currently the three leading countries in the paper industry within

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Table 3.2 Trends of native and non-native agricultural crops cultivated in Latin America

COMMON NAME / ORIGINALLY DOMESTICATION AREA 1990 AREA 2010

SCIENTIFIC NAME FROM DATE (ha) (ha)

Beans Andean Region <1000 BC 8,178,705 6,788,716

Pachyrhizus ahipa
Pachyrhizus tuberosus
Phaseolus vulgaris

Squash and Mesoamerica 7000 BC 152,556 6,788,716

pumkins
Cucurbita pepo

Maize Mesoamerica 6000 BC 24,893,987 28,735,226

Zea mays

Manioc/cassava Lowland South 6000 BC 2,744,838 2,697,564

Manihot esculenta America

Avocado Mesoamerica 2000 BC 160,276 272,564

Persea americana

Chilli peppers Mesoamerica 5000 BC

NATIVE

Capsicum annuum
139,843 237,227
Chilli peppers Andean Region 4000 BC
Capsicum baccatum

Cotton Mesoamerica 5000 BC 3,723,923 1,617,139

Gossypium hirsutum

Sunflower Eastern North 2000 BC 2,948,417 2,054,437

Helianthus annuus America

Sweet potato Andean Region 4000 BC 252,571 273,136

Ipomoea batatas

Tobacco Andean Region 1000 BC 473,209 609,169

Nicotiana tabacum

Pinaple Lowland South <1000 BC 96,227 222,481

Ananas comosus America

Cocoa Mesoamerica 2000 BC 1,490,618 1,529,507

Theobroma sp

Quinoa Andean Region 4000 BC 47,585 99,499

Chenopodium quinoa

Soybean East Asia 18,035,280 46,181,492

NON-NATIVE

Glycine max

Sugar cane South Asia 7,932,457 12,014,797

Saccharum ssp

Wheat Near East 10,673,991 8,819,368

Triticum spp

Source: own elaboration based on Pickersgill (2007) and FAO (2013)

LAC. The availability of space for cultivation together with the advantageous climatic
conditions are two important factors explaining its comparative advantage and much of
the growth of this sector, particularly since the mid-20th century (Lima-Toivanen, 2012).
In fact Brazilian and Chilean pulp and paper producers are among the most profitable
companies producing fast-growing eucalyptus trees and have become cost leaders in the
production of market pulp (Gurlit et al., 2007).

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Brazil, Chile and Mexico are the largest producers of pulp and accrue over 80% of
the continental production. Argentina used to be an important producer in the 1990s, but
lately it has lost its market share within LAC (from 11% of total LAC pulp production to less
than 2%). According to FAO (2010), since 1990, pulp production has increased sharply
among the largest producers and also amongst medium producers such as Colombia and
Uruguay (see Figure 3.5).

3. 4.6 Eco-tourism
The rich diversity of species and ecosystems found in LAC together with its diverse
indigenous cultures, provide a wealth of opportunities for recreation and tourism. On
the continental scale it is difficult to measure the performance of this cultural ES, as it is
determined by a large set of natural, cultural and economic factors. As a proxy indicator
to account for the eco-cultural importance of LAC we used the number of World Heritage
Sites (WHS) and Biosphere Reserves (BR) as defined by UNESCO (2013).
Mexico, Brazil and Peru are the countries holding the largest number of WHS and
BR, here grouped under the name of ‘eco-cultural’ sites (see Figure 3.4). These three
countries also account for the majority of the new WHS and BR declared since 1990. The
Caribbean region, except Cuba, has a very small number of ‘eco-cultural’ sites. In South
America, countries like Argentina and Bolivia have experienced a significant increase.
The number and progress of WHS and BR in a way represents the effort that regional and
national governments are performing to preserve important natural and cultural features
and promote them amongst national and international tourists.
Table 3.3 summarizes the trends in ES performance across LAC regions between
1990 and 2010. The general trend points towards a reduction in performance of
regulating and some cultural services, whereas production and other cultural services such
as eco-tourism opportunities are increasing. The Caribbean region, however, follows an

Table 3.3 Changes in ecosystem service supply (expressed in percentage) across Latin
America and the Caribbean between 1990 and 2010. Green values refer to an increase in
service supply, whereas orange values stand for service’s reduction. Note: ES classification is
based on MA (2005)
REGULATING CULTURAL PROVISIONING

Carbon Agro Forest Water

REGION Stocks Biodiversity Ecosites Diversity Products Extraction

AMAZONIAN -8 -15 200 -5 71 0.1

ANDEAN -7 -8 88 -2 8 0.1

CARIBEAN 33 -2 213 11 -14 -1.2

SOUTH CONE -8 -14 128 -13 24 0.2

MESOAMERICA -15 -7 166 3 39 0.4

Source: own elaboration based on data from FAO (2010), FAO (2013), IUCN (2013) UNESCO
(2013)

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inverse trend, with a general increase in the provision of regulating and cultural services
and a general decrease in the demand of provisioning services.
As Chapter 4 outlines, human well-being indicators have improved for the most part,
which raises the question about to what extent the observed loss of ES diversity is a
consequence of having improved the living conditions of LAC inhabitants. For instance,
Rodrigues et al. (2009) found a boom-and-bust pattern in levels of human development
(life expectancy, literacy and standard of living) across the deforestation frontier in the
Brazilian Amazon, where human development increased rapidly in the early stages of
deforestation and then declined as the frontier advanced. Per capita timber, cattle and
crop production also reveal a boom-and-bust pattern across the deforestation frontier.

3.5 What options are available in order to spare

land and halt deforestation?
Taking into consideration the different drivers of deforestation across LAC, it is clear that a
pool of different measures is needed in order to overcome the existing competition for land
and develop regional land use strategies to balance food production, rural development
and the maintenance of LAC’s ES in the long run.
One possible solution is to unwind land competition in LAC as a further intensification
of agriculture. Strategic and sustainable agricultural intensification, in terms of elevating
yields of existing croplands of under-yielding nations, might be the solution to meet the
global crop demand without causing irreversible ecosystem damage (Tilman et al.,
2011). In countries like Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua, staple crops such as
maize have yields below 2.1t/ha/yr, two and three time smaller than those obtained
in Brazil or Argentina at present (FAO, 2012). In order to bridge this yield gap, rural
development programmes need to be fostered, together with further investments to
modernize agriculture, and ensure greater legal certainty to secure such investments, e.g.
a better definition of tenure rights (IICA, 2013).
Despite the existing yield gaps across some countries, LAC’s agricultural productivity
as a whole has increased substantially during the last few decades (Ludena et al., 2010;
Maletta and Maletta, 2011). Soybean yields in major producer centres such as Brazil
increased at twice the US rate, from a much lower base since 1990 (FAO, 2012), and
the yield of tree plantations for wood and pulp in Chile, Brazil and Uruguay is three to four
times the level that can be achieved in Europe (FAO, 2010). Soybean, maize and wood-
based fuels are the key actors in the agricultural and livestock sector and industries in LAC,
and improvements in their productivity may help to spare land. In fact when assessing the
evolution of the agricultural sector, it is clear that in the last decade, agriculture growth is
mostly being attributed to increasing efficiency and becoming more and more decoupled
from land inputs (Figure 3.7).

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4
Compound annual growth rate (%)

0
1961−1971 1971−1981 1981−1991 1991−2001 2001−2006 2006−2011

Agricultural area expansion Cereal yield Net agricultural value

Figure 3.7 Annual growth rates of agricultural land, yields and net production value. Source:
own elaboration, based on FAO (2012)

Nevertheless, the land-sparing argument, based on modern agriculture, has been

criticized for neglecting some important environmental side-effects. It is well known that
modern intensive and unsustainable agriculture frequently leads to soil degradation and
watershed contamination (Matson et al., 1997; Tilman et al., 2002). Also, natural
ecosystems interspersed between highly intensified and productive areas are often forest
patches with a low conservation value (Tscharntke et al., 2005; Vandermeer and Perfecto,
2007).
Land sparing through agricultural adjustment has been the predominant land use
model followed in Europe and the US. As Tilman et al. (2011) argues, probably the
only path to sustain future food demand without causing further ecosystem services losses
is through a sustainable intensification of current land use policies, including land use
efficiency, together with agricultural practices that avoid depleting soil and biological
properties, e.g. agro-forestry practices. Also, a deeper understanding of the environmental
implications linked to this land use intensification path is needed (ibid.). This will require:
determining how land sharing can deliver sufficiently high yields and ecosystem services,
assessing trade-offs between increasing yields and environmental benefits across different
circumstances and spatial scales, and exploring policy and market mechanisms that
enhance sharing initiatives (Garnett et al., 2013).
Nevertheless, Tittonell (2013) recalls on the importance of not falling in to the
‘intensification trap’, that is the risk of oversimplifying the challenges of feeding a growing
population just by intensifying existing agricultural land and balancing environmental
trade-offs. He warns against this primarily because intensifying existing agriculture goes
hand in hand with larger energy and fertilizer demand, which creates and exacerbates
other related societal and environmental problems.
A different argument brought up in support of a less intensive landscape matrix is
related to the promotion of organic and wildlife farming agriculture. However, critics
argue that organic agriculture may have lower yields and would therefore need more land

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to produce the same amount of food as conventional farms, resulting in more widespread
deforestation and biodiversity loss, and thus undermining the environmental benefits of
organic practices. Differences in yields differ greatly depending on the crop type and the
region where it is cultivated. According to Seufert et al. (2012), organic to conventional
yield ratios of common key LAC products such as soybeans are on average high (0.9).
Lower ratios, however, are found for cereals: maize (0.85), barley (0.7) and wheat (0.6).
Overall, and in addition to the pool of measures that can be adopted to overcome
land use conflicts between agriculture and nature in LAC, it is important to promote also
measures directly aimed at preserving existing nature, e.g. through payment for ecosystem
services (see Chapter 14), incentives to reduce deforestation and forest degradation
(Box 3.2) and sustainable management of forests and landscape restoration including
reforestation. Besides the collection of measures directly targeting at increasing efficient
production in the field, off-site efficiency improvements (e.g. along the supply chain) would
help to reduce food waste and increase production per unit of land. As IMECHE (2013)
highlights we produce about four billion metric tons of food per annum, but it is estimated
that 30–50% (or 1.2–2 billion tons) of all food produced never reaches a human stomach
due to poor practices in harvesting, storage and transportation, as well as market and
consumer wastage. Any such measures should be accompanied by a more transparent
food chain with information that will allow consumers to make informed choices.

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Tscharntke, T., Klein, A.M., Kruess, A., Steffan-Dewenter, I. & Thies, C. (2005). Landscape
perspectives on agriculturall intensification and biodiversity and ecosystem service management.
Ecology Letters, 8: 857-874.
UNESCO (2013). United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. World
Heritage Sites and Biosphere Reserve Database [Online] Available from: www.en.unesco.
org/. [Accessed June, 2013].
UNFCCC (2013). United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Non-Annex
I National Communications submitted in compliance with the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change. [Online] Available from: unfccc.int/national_reports/
non-annex_i_natcom/items/2979.php. [Accessed May, 2013].
USGS (2008). United States Geological Survey. Global Land Cover Chracterization Database
Version 2. Reference year 1993 [Online] Available from: edc2.usgs.gov/glcc/glcc.php.
[Accessed March, 2013].
Vandermeer, J. & Perfecto, I. (2007). The agricultural matrix and the future paradigm for conservation.
Conservation Biology, 21: 274–277.
Walker, R. (2012). The scale of forest transition: Amazonia and the Atlantic forests of Brazil.
Applied Geography, 32: 12–20.
World Bank (2013). World Development Indicators Database. [Online] Available from:
databank.worldbank.org/data/views/variableSelection/selectvariables.aspx?source=world-
development-indicators. [Accessed March, 2013].

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 4
SOCIO-ECONOMIC MEGATRENDS
FOR WATER AND FOOD SECURITY
IN LATIN AMERICA

Coordinator:
Elena Lopez-Gunn, I-Catalist, Complutense University of Madrid, and Water Observatory – Botín Foundation, Spain

Authors:
Rosario Perez-Espejo, Universidad Autónoma de México, México
Elena Lopez-Gunn, I-Catalist, Complutense University of Madrid, and Water Observatory – Botín Foundation, Spain
Manuel Bea, Geosys S.L.,Spain
Guillerno Donoso, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Pedro Roberto Jacobi, PROCAM /IEE Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Julio M. Kuroiwa, Laboratorio Nacional de Hidráulica − Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, Lima, Peru
Ariosto Matus Perez, Universidad Iberoamericana, México DF, Mexico
Ignacio Pardo, Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay
Andrea Santos, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Bárbara Soriano, CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
Bárbara A. Willaarts, Water Observatory − Botín Foundation, and CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
Pedro Zorrilla-Miras, Cooperativa Terrativa, Madrid, Spain.
Ibon Zugasti, Prospektiker, Spain
PA R T 2 :
SETTING THE SCENE

Highlights

• The chapter provides an overview of the main socio-economic megatrends

for Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries and how these link to water
and food security. Main trends include the demographic transition (population
growth, urbanization and migration), development model (income growth, income
inequality, poverty and the informal economy), and the impact of globalization
(trade liberalization, consumption patterns, food security and health). Other trends
are the role of technology and climate change.

• Population will continue to increase, although at a slower pace due to the low
fertility rate. LAC is the second most urbanized region in the world. It is a region
where the urbanization pattern has been rapid, poorly planned and is causing
a growing number of social problems. LAC shows all the signs of international
migration processes. Nearly 20 million people live outside the country in which they
were born and migrants are especially vulnerable since they are more exposed to
risks. Urbanization and migration have changed societies in LAC, their needs and
the way the population use their natural resources.

• During the last twenty years LAC’s per capita growth rate was 1.6%. High commodity
prices are leading to some countries to intensify exports of primary commodities
making the region more vulnerable to the global economy. LAC displays poor
evidence in terms of reducing poverty given its economic growth. Distribution of
wealth is the most important issue for a region which globally is one of the most
unequal. The informal economy is growing and informal jobs can reach very high
levels.

• Market-oriented reforms adopted during the 1990s have not helped to achieve
structural challenges. In many LAC countries the correlation between economic
growth and trade openness is weak and trade liberalization has not improved
income distribution, neither has it reduced poverty. Trade has changed the dietary
patterns of LAC societies thus affecting the use of water. Even though undernourished
population has declined, 49 million people are still suffering from hunger.

• LAC is undergoing demographic, epidemiological and nutritional transitions. The

latter is characterized by a decrease in malnutrition and an increase in obesity
due to dietary changes. The health sector faces two challenges: solving traditional
problems of infectious diseases and maternal-child mortality, and combating diseases
arising from development: chronic-degenerative, senile and mental illnesses, HIV/
AIDS and obesity.

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• Information and Communication Technology (ICT) may help to guarantee food and
water security in LAC. Agriculture can profit from the use of these technologies,
improving water-meters and many areas of the food production chain. The
participatory approach of water users connected via ICT may create new pathways
for water security. LAC countries must increase investment in Research and
Development (R&D) which is on average around 0.6% versus 2.3% for OECD.

• Climate change is another phenomenon to consider for socio-economic trends in

LAC, due to the high vulnerability of many regions. Increase of some diseases, food
insecurity and a growing perception that access to drinking water might be at stake,
are some of the potential impacts from climate change. Floods and droughts are and
will continue affecting agriculture in particular countries.

• Latin American trends have to be modified. Measures orientated towards achieving

a fair income distribution, public policies oriented towards more vulnerable groups
of the population, a model of growth supported by domestic markets, formalization
of the informal economy, investment in science and technology and policies for
improvement and conservation of natural resources, would be key goals to target and
report on future socio-economic megatrends to guarantee water and food security.

4.1 Introduction
Latin America is a continent that has experienced dramatic and largely positive changes
over the last twenty to thirty years. Development, political stability and an increased
global political role bear witness to these changes. This chapter will review these deep
dramatic socio-economic changes, identifying, however, some important pending issues
and trends for the future. It therefore provides an overview of the main socio-economic
and demographic transformations megatrends of Latin American and Caribbean countries
(LAC) and as far as possible how these link to water and food security. It will look at the
rapid evolution over the last decades regarding what we consider the main ‘megatrends’.
First, the demographic transition: population growth, urbanization and migration; second,
income growth, inequity, poverty and the informal economy; third, changing lifestyles,
trade liberalization, consumption patterns, and health; fourth, scenarios on the role of
technology and the emergence of vulnerability due to climate change. Finally, we identify
some main challenges in terms of socio-economic megatrends for water and food security.
Population growth, although slowing down, could place increasing pressure on
resource use in general and especially through a change in consumption patterns and an

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increase in food production, an activity that competes with other economic activities for
land and water use. Demographic trends and economic growth patterns have produced
large differences in economic and social equity, as well as the sustainability of resource
use. In recent years, due to a reduction in external demand, growth in the region has been
driven mainly by the expansion of the domestic market, stimulated by subsidy policies in
most countries.
Economic growth in LAC was 3.9% in 2013 and is projected to be 4.4% in 2014
(UN projections); in 2012 a significant slowdown ended with a Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) increase of 3.1% due to the fall in the export sector of non-food and feed sectors,
showing the fragility of the current development model that depends on the demand from
uncertain and volatile foreign markets for raw commodities.
The global economic crisis of 2008 affected the terms of trade of the region; with
the exception of hydrocarbons (oil), whose prices remained stable, and oilseeds, whose
prices increased (CEPAL, 2012a). Most industrialized countries in the region face
strong competition from Asian economies, which generates a perverse dependence
on the demand for low-value added commodities that affects the development of the
manufacturing industry. Additionally, LAC faces environmental problems derived from an
extraction of natural resources focused on intensive agriculture (biofuels, food and feed
production for export), a model based on the use of high quantities of water and agro-
chemicals which has impaired water quality and poses a risk to human health. In addition
to soil and water pollution, the loss of biodiversity has also been accelerated due to the
pressure from mining, forestry, heavy fishing, urbanization and infrastructure development.
The moderate demographic growth, the relatively steady economic progress mirrored
through some indicators of human well-being, can present noticeable differences between
countries, regions within the same country or between different levels of income. Some
emergent health problems such as obesity affect the population at all different levels of
income in most countries of the region. LAC is becoming an exporter of primary materials,
principally food (and thus virtual water) that contributes to global food and water security
but does not necessarily represent the best development model for the region and for its
own food and water security.

4.2 Main drivers

4.2 .1 Demographic trends and transitions

This section aims to highlight the trends of the demographic transition in LAC. The
tendencies of three main topics are analysed: population growth (fertility and ageing),
urbanization and migration. The evolution and tendency of these factors has and will have
a crucial influence in the growth rate of the demand for food and therefore, in the scale
and intensity of natural resources use. Water, as well as other natural resources, is under
the stress from the requirements of an increasingly younger population whose consumption
habits are radically changed by urbanization processes and migration.

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4.2 .1.1 Population grow th

In the 20th century, countries of LAC, which currently represent almost 9% of the world
population, saw their populations grow at a very high pace. For example, by mid-century
most of the countries grew by as much as 3% (Miró, 2006). Later in the 20th century this
trend had reversed, and population growth in LAC is slowing significantly.
According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, ECLAC
(CEPAL, 2012b), in 2012 there were 603.1 million inhabitants in LAC and the popula-
tion is predicted to continue growing despite the sustained low fertility rate. This is due to
a relatively high concentration of people of reproductive age, coming from periods when
fertility was higher, meaning births exceed the number of deaths.
The regional average of the total fertility rate (TFR) was 5.9 children per woman in the
period between 1950 and 1955, but has steadily decreased since the second half of
the 1960s to the present. From1965–1970, the TFR in the region fell by 59% with huge
variations among countries, ranging from 20% to 70%. Fertility in LAC in the 1950s and
60s was only surpassed by Africa (6.8 children per woman) and was above the world
average of 5.0 children per woman. Currently, the regional value is below the global 2.5
children per woman and resembles the figures seen in Europe forty years ago.
The decline in regional fertility has been sustained, but there are still differences in
the current level of fertility between countries. The total fertility rate of Guatemala for the
2005–2010 period is the highest in LAC with an average of 4.15 children per woman
and nearly threefold that of Cuba, which is the lowest with an average of 1.49 children
per woman
Given the impact of fertility on population projections, the Population Division of the
United Nations recommends developing three evolution scenarios for this variable. In
the case of mortality and international migration there is only one hypothesis for future
changes. In the case of fertility, the most plausible hypothesis is designated as recom-
mended or media, while the other two hypotheses for the top and bottom strips of the
recommended are also estimated. With the media or recommended hypothesis, in 2050
fertility would be 1.85, a figure below the replacement level of 2.2 that is likely be
achieved in the period 2015–2020. However, the population would continue growing
to 760 million inhabitants in 2050; with the high scenario it would reach 900 million
people.
Nowadays the population pyramid of LAC has a rectangular base representing the
age group of 40 years (70% of the population of the region). People over 65 (7% of the
population) gain relative importance, but the top is still narrow compared with 28% of
people under the age of 15. Projections show a decline in varying degrees of the popu-
lation under 15 years, an increase in the population over 65 years and a thickening of
the pyramid between these ages. The region’s population will grow older, but despite the
decline in the population under 15 years, it will continue presenting a young age struc-
ture, allowing for the population to grow as forecasted.

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4.2 .1.2 Urbanization

LAC is the second most urbanized region in the world, with 79.1% of its population living
in cities (UN, 2011); when in 1950 the urban population was less than 42% (CEPAL,
2002). LAC is more urbanized than an average high-income country.
Both megatrends of population growth and urbanization have caused many social
changes in recent years. Cities have witnessed and partly helped generate a middle class
whose importance has caused substantial changes in transport patterns, habitats and
consumption. This urbanization trend is rooted in the early 20th century and is deepening.
In Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Uruguay and Puerto Rico at least nine out of ten people
live in urban settings (Table 4.1).

Table 4.1 Evolution of urban population, percentage living in urban areas by region (1925–
2000)

REGIONS 1925 1950 1975 2000

World 20.5 29.7 37.9 47.0
Most development regions 40.1 54.9 70.0 76.0
Less development regions 9.3 17.8 26.8 39.9
Africa 8.0 14.7 25.2 37.9
Latin America & Caribbean 25.0 41.4 61.2 75.3
North America 53.8 63.9 73.8 77.2
Asia 9.5 17.4 24.7 36.7
Europe 37.9 52.4 67.3 74.8
Oceania 48.5 61.6 71.8 70.2

Source: year 1925: Hauser and Gardner (1982); years 1950–2000: UN (2011)

Urban population (%) 1950−2000

100

90

80
Percentage (%)

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Argentina

Bolivia

Brazil

Chile

Colombia

Ecuador

Paraguay

Peru

Uruguay

Venezuela

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

Figure 4.1 Trends in urban population between 1950 and 2000. Source: CEPAL (2006).

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This pattern of urbanization that has prevailed in LAC has been rapid and poorly
planned, not creating an ideal spatial distribution of the population, which is concentrated
in large cities. In 2005, there were sixty-seven cities with more than one million inhabi-
tants and four ‘megacities’ with more than 10 million (Mexico City, São Paulo, Buenos
Aires and Rio de Janeiro). These ‘megacities’ are characterized by inequality, and social
problems with a segregated profile in spatial and social terms.
However, the current trend is somehow different. Since 2000, the average annual
growth of the urban population is less than 2%, which is a fairly normal population growth
(UN-Habitat, 2012). Moreover, the growth of medium-sized cities is an opportunity to
overcome the urban problems of the larger cities on the continent.
Often, population growth in urban centres outpaces the ability of utilities to provide
adequate services such as water and sanitation. In the absence of piped water systems,
communities in these areas meet their water needs through a combination of different
sources and means. According to the Global Water Partnership (GWP, 2012) the
challenge in LAC is to accelerate the incorporation of the mobile population into informal
settlements in order to ensure the formal structure of housing and water and sanitation
services. Thus the phenomena of urban transition, the formalization of the economy and
water security are all linked. Meanwhile the opposite also holds: rapid urban growth
exacerbates the problem (see Box 4.1).

Box 4.1 Slums and access to piped water

Considering that LAC is the second most urbanized region in the world (after North
America), the case of slums is extremely pertinent. As can be seen in Figure 4.2 there
seems to be a strong correlation between having a high number of people living in slums
and overall lack of access to piped water.
% Population with access to piped water

100

80

60

40 R²=0.5694

20

0
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

% urban population living in slums

Figure 4.2 Population living in slums and population with access to piped water. Source: own
elaboration based on data from: UN-Habitat, (2012), UN-DESA data (2011) and WHO-UNICEF
(2013).

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4.2 .1.3 Migration

International migratory processes are motivated by economic, social, cultural and political
factors. Recently, studies have also included environmental factors. The total migrant
population has been calculated as 3% of the total inhabitants of the planet and 13% of
them (about 25 million) were born in LAC. It could be seen as a minor phenomenon but it
has a true significance not only in quantitative terms, but also in its impact on social and
economic life for both the migrant’s country and the host country (CEPAL, 2003).
The Report on Migrations in the World 2010, published by the International
Organization for Migration (IOM, 2011), reveals that the number of international migrants
increased 11%, from 191 million in 2005, to 214 million in 2010. The Report also
indicates that the number of domestic migrants was 740 million in 2009; implying that
globally the number of domestic and international migrants is close to 1,000 million, a
figure likely to keep increasing (Domínguez-Guadarrama, 2011).
LAC is the scene of intense migration processes that have changed societies in many
ways. In this region, all the different types of modern international migration have taken
place, from the migration of LAC people (the most visible feature), to immigration, return,
irregular migration, forced displacement and the search for shelter, plus the flow of
remittances, skilled migration and the presence of dense communities abroad (ibid.).
According to the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations,
in 2010 six out of ten migrants live in developing regions, three-quarters of migrants
are concentrated in only twenty-eight countries, and one in every five lives in the United
States (UN, 2011). But it is important to point out that only 37% of global migration is
from developing countries to developed countries. Most of the displacement takes place
between countries in the same category of development.
Furthermore, in LAC nearly 20 million people live outside the country in which they
were born and three-quarters of them move to the United States, mainly from Mexico and
the Caribbean. From 1970 to 1980, this migration grew two and a half fold, and then
duplicated between 1980 and 1990. In 2010, the United States hosted around 43
million foreign nationals, representing 13.5% of the total US population (World Bank,
2011). Results of the 2010 Census indicate that Hispanics made up 16.3% of the total
population and that the population increased from 35.3 million in 2000 to 50.5 million
in 2010 (Pew Hispanic Center, 2011).
Canada, Spain, United Kingdom, Japan and Australia are other countries where
Latin American migrants often go. Spain has recently turned into the second destiny for
regional migration; in 2001 there were 840,000 people from South America (mainly
from Ecuador) living in Spain and in 2009, one in three foreigners resident in Spain were
from LAC (2,479,035 registered) (CEPAL, 2011).
LAC migration has been also intraregional, due to geographic and cultural proximity.
In the 1970s, the number of intraregional migrants was near 2 million; in the 1980s and
1990s it grew slowly but by 2000, migrants numbers reached 3 million and by 2005
almost 4 million (3,800,000). At the beginning of the 1990s, most of the immigrants

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were from outside the region but in 2010, the majority came from the same region,
most of them living in Argentina and Venezuela. Costa Rica was the main destination for
Central American migrants (CEPAL, 2012b; IOM, 2012).
Throughout its history, Argentina has received immigrants from all its neighbouring
countries: Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia, Uruguay and Brazil. This is the case of Venezuela too,
where migration was stimulated by the internal conditions such an economic growth and
political stability. Immigration in these two countries is higher than emigration. Recent data
shows Argentina, Brazil and Chile as the three South American consolidated regional
migration receptors. In Brazil, the number of foreigners has experienced strong growth in
the past decade: 961,867 in 2010 and 1,510,561 in 2012.
Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru maintain a profile mainly for
emigration. Within the region, the Bolivians have a strong presence in Argentina and
Brazil, Colombians in Ecuador and Venezuela, Paraguayans in Argentina (325,046
in 2001 and 550,713 in 2010), the Peruvian in Argentina (88,260 in 2000 and
157,514 in 2010) and Chile (39,084 in 2002 and 130,859 in 2010) (IOM, 2012).
Inter-urban flows, moving from one city to another, account for the largest volume of
population movement within countries of the region. In Mexico, for example, between
1995 and 2000, 70% of the transfers between municipalities were urban–urban type,
while rural–urban migration reached 14%. Internal migration is closely related to regional
inequalities. In establishing territorial disparities relevant to migration, labour markets play
a major role, especially in regard to wages and unemployment in the different zones.
There is no evidence, however, that migration reduces the severity of regional inequalities
(CEPAL, 2006).

5.0

4.0
Population change (%)

3.0

2.0

1.0

-1.0
Argentina

Bolivia

Brazil

Chile

Colombia

Ecuador

Paraguay

Peru

Uruguay

Venezuela

Annual rate of urban population change 1940-2007

Annual rate of urban poplation change 1963-2004
Change differential

Figure 4.3 Annual rate of urban–rural population change (%). Source: own elaboration based
on data from CEPAL (2006)

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Trade and economic cooperation agreements in LAC (see Chapter 5) such as

MERCOSUR (Common Market of the South), CAN (Andean Community of the Nations)
and UNASUR (South American Nations Union) have also favoured migration due to its
recognition of the importance of the free movement of people (CEPAL, 2012b). Recently,
there has been interest in researching the effects of natural disasters; the environment and
climate change on migration (see Box 4.4). For example, over 1 million people were
estimated to have been displaced due to Haiti’s earthquake in 2010 (IOM, 2009).
Even though during the last few years a human rights approach has been progressively
introduced into the national and international debate, migrants are very exposed to situa-
tions which prevent the exercise of these rights, both during the journey and upon arrival
at their destination. These situations include slavery, prostitution, abuse, gender violence,
discrimination, expulsion, lack of social support networks and barriers in access to basic
health services. In general, this vulnerability is worse in the case of border migrants
(CEPAL, 2012b).
4.2 .2 Development, income grow th, income disparit y and
pover t y
In terms of economic development, LAC was a relatively wealthy region at the start of the
19th century (Millennium Project, 2012). In fact, some countries of LAC were richer than
the nascent USA. The Dominican Republic, Mexico and Peru had universities almost one
century before Harvard was founded. Haiti was a very wealthy colony in 1800, richer
than many parts of the USA. LAC was on a par with most of Europe, and it was richer
than Africa, China, India and Japan. At the beginning of the 20th century, Argentina was
still one the ten wealthiest countries in the world, and many poor Chinese and Japanese
migrated to richer LAC countries like Brazil, Mexico and Peru. However, by the beginning
of the 21st century, LAC fell behind, and many countries in East Asia had overtaken it in
terms of economic growth. If current trends continue, China will overtake LAC in terms of
GDP per capita by the 2020s (Figure 4.4).
Economic growth in LAC in the last thirty years has been modest (in per capita terms)
and the varying growth regimes are due to the shocks the region has faced during
that period. During the 1970s, shocks were associated with the collapse of the Bretton
Woods exchange rate parities and oil-price increases. Throughout the 1980s the region
confronted the debt crises and high inflation which was followed by a period of slow and
unstable growth and macro-economic instability. Market-oriented reforms were adopted
by several LAC countries during the 1990s; however, the slow growth cycle has lasted
more than two decades. The different per capita growth rates of seven LAC countries
during these periods are presented in Table 4.2.
During the last twenty years (1990–2010) LAC’s per capita growth rate has been
1.6% and, of the seven economies studied, only Chile, Costa Rica and Peru exhibit
more vigorous growth rates (Figure 4.5). The per capita growth rates observed in LAC
throughout the 1980–2010 period also coincide with slower per capita growth in the
world economy during the same period.

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100,000

10,000
GDP (logaritmic scale)

1000

100
1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 2050

Africa China India Japan Russia USA EU27 LAC

Figure 4.4 Comparative Evolution of GDP per Capita (GDP, logarithmic scale). (Historic and
Projections: 1800–2030). Note: The GDP per capita projections are an extrapolation to 2030
using the same growth forecast 2011–2015 by the IMF. Source: Millennium Project (2012).

Table 4.2 Real per capita income growth 1960-2010

PERIOD LESS THAN ZERO 0%−1% 1%−2% 2%−3% ABOVE 3%

1960−1980 Chile, Peru Argentina Brazil, Costa Rica,
Colombia, Mexico

1980−2010 Argentina, Peru Brazil, Costa Rica, Chile

Colombia, Mexico

Source: own elaboration on basis of CEPAL (2005).

3.4
GDP per capita average
annual growth rate (%)

3
3.0
2.6
2
2.1
1.5 1.5 1.5 1.6
1

0
Argentina

Brazil

Chile

Colombia

Costa rica

Mexico

Peru

LAC

Figure 4.5 GDP mean annual growth rate, period1980–2010. Source: own elaboration based
on UN data.

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LAC’s GDP growth for 2013 was projected to be 3.9% and 4.4% in 2014, but
growth volatility is a real possibility. In Brazil, for instance, consensus forecasts for 2012
moved from 3.3% in January to 1.6% in October and drastic corrections are being
registered for Argentina (Gurría, 2012). The region still has to tackle many structural
challenges in order to turn stability into long-term growth. For example, high commodity
prices are leading some countries to favour an economic model based almost exclusively
on primary commodities, and this is making the region vulnerable; Chile is an example
of this tendency.
Solimano and Soto (2006) found a direct relationship between each country’s real
GDP per working-age person and ‘total factor productivity’ (TFP) and the efficiency and
rate of the use of capital and labour. Figures 4.6 and 4.7 analyse what appears to be
a decoupling in some countries between GDP growth, water consumption and popu-
lation growth. At LAC scale, this decoupling between population growth and GDP per
capita increase and annual freshwater withdrawals seems clear (Figure 4.6). However, a
detailed country analysis shows different trajectories (Figure 4.7). While in some countries
(Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Costa Rica and Chile) decoupling is a clear, i.e. higher GDP
per capita and less water consumption, in other countries (Brazil, Colombia and Mexico)
there is no clear trend.

1,000

800

600

400

200

0
1960
1962
1964
1966
1968
1970
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010

Annual freshwater withdrawals, total (billion cubic meters) Total population (mill)
Merchandise exports, total (10.3 million US$) GDP per capita (current 10 US$)

Figure 4.6 Population growth in LAC (1990–2000), Water consumption in LAC (1990–2000)
and Evolution of GDP (1990–2000). Source: own elaboration based on data from World Bank-
World Development Indicators database (Population and GDP per capita), FAO-AQUASTAT
(Annual freshwater withdrawals) and IMF-World Economic Outlook Database (Total merchandise
exports).

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LAC Argentina
500
1,100
490
1,000
480
470 900
460 800
450 700
0 2,000 6,000 10,000 0 2,000 6,000 10,000

Brazil Chile
350 1,500
300
Annual Freshwater withdrawals per capita (m³)

1,000
250
200 500
0 4,000 8,000 12,000 0 3,000 7,000 11,000 15,000

Colombia Costa rica

350 2,000
300 1,500
1,000
250 500
200 0
0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000

Mexico Peru
800 900
850
700 800
750
600 700
650
500 600
0 2,000 6,000 10,000 0 2,000 4,000 6,000

GDP per capita (US$)

The points of each country correspond with the information of water withdrawals and GDP of the same year
(years with available information between 1977 and 2011)
Linear trend
Figure 4.7 Annual freshwater withdrawals per capita vs GDP per capita (1977–2011).
Source: own elaboration on data from FAO-AQUASTAT and World Bank-World Development
Indicators database.

4.2 .2 .1 Beyond GDP: human well-being progress

GDP is an important variable but certainly not the only relevant indicator to measure
progress. An analysis based exclusively on GDP would be too simplistic. Thinking beyond
GDP we can use a Society–Technology–Economics–Ecology–Politics (STEEP) approach,
the Human Development Index (HDI) developed by the United Nations Development
Program and other variables. Table 4.3 shows some of the variables included during the
Latin America 2030 study on Scenarios (Millennium Project, 2012). It is useful to analyse
the, best and worst values for each variable, both in LAC and for the rest of the world.

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Table 4.3 Comparative Best and Worst Cases for International Indexes for the year 2010
using the STEEP (Society–Technology–Economics–Ecology–Politics) approach

VARIABLE / WORLD LATIN WORLD LATIN LATIN WORLD

INDICATOR/INDEX WORST AMERICAN AVERAGE AMERICAN AMERICAN BEST
WORST AVERAGE BEST

Society: HDI (from 0 0.140 0.404 0.624 0.704 0.783 0.938

worst to 1000 best) (Zimbabwe) (Haiti) (Chile) (Norway)

Technology: 2.97 3.97 4.30 5.40 6.49 8.87

E-Readiness index (from (Azerbaijan) (Ecuador) (Chile) (Denmark)
0 worst to 10 best)

Economics: GDPc 340 1,121 10,711 11,188 19,600 88,232

(PPP, Thousand US$ (Congo) (Haiti) (Puerto Rico) (Qatar)
2010)

Environment: CO2 55.5 6.0 4.6 3.7 0.2 0.0

emissions per capita (Qatar) (Venezuela) (Haiti) (Mali)
(Tons/person)

Politics: Corruption 1.1 2.0 3.3 3.6 7.2 9.3

index (from 0 worst (Somalia) (Venezuela) (Chile) (Denmark)
to 10 best)

Source: Millennium Project (2012).

Notes: (1) The best and worst values correspond to the latest information of the countries with
available data in 2010. (2) The Latin American and world averages and based on population-
weighted values

The analysis of educational, health or employment indicators also offers relevant

information to measure progress in contrast to pure GDP metrics. As Table 4.4 shows,
LAC citizens today have greater educational, health and employment opportunities
compared to twenty years ago but key issues like wealth distribution and gender equality
are pending targets. Regarding health, important progress has been achieved. Life
expectancy has increased in all regions, particularly in the Amazonian, Mesoamerican
and Caribbean countries. The current rate of life expectancy surpasses 73 years on
average. Sanitation facilities and access to safe water source have also increased in
most regions but challenges remain in improving access to water and sanitation in rural
and peri-urban areas. Schooling rates are also progressing; between 95 to 97% of LAC
population complete primary school. Important progress has been reached concerning
employment. Nevertheless, the female employment rate (50%) is still far below the men’s
average (over 70%) and employment vulnerability (unpaid family work or self-employment)
has increased for both men and women. Despite this socio-economic progress, income
distribution has not improved across all regions. The GINI index has only decreased in
the Amazon region and in Mesoamerica. In the other regions it has either increased or
remained stable in time. Likewise, the share of the wealth among the richest has increased
while it has decreased among the poorest, widening the distance between those that
have accrued most of the money and those who have less.

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Table 4.4 Trends of human well-being across different regions of Latin America and the
Caribbean (LAC) in the last two decades

DIMENSION AMAZON ANDEAN CARIBBEAN MESOAMERICA SOUTH CONE

INDICATOR 1988/ 2008/ 1988/ 2008/ 1988/ 2008/ 1988/ 2008/ 1988/ 2008/
1992 2012 1992 2012 1992 2012 1992 2012 1992 2012
Rate of males completing
EDUCATION

primary education (% of 95 91 78 96 95 95 73 95 81 100

relevant age group)
Rate of females completing
primary education (% of 88 84 81 97 95 95 71 95 79 100
relevant age group)

Life expectancy at birth

(years) 63. 71 71 73 70 74 68 75 73 76

Population with access to im-

proved sanitation facilities (%) 68 81 59 66 84 83 66 79 77 89
HEALTH

Rural population with access

to improved sanitation 33 64 32 48 81 81 53 71 56 74
facilities (%)
Population with access to 89 94 80 89 91 93 81 92 84 94
improved water source (%)
Female population
employed 15+ (%) 35.8 39.9 35.7 50.6 40.7 48 33.6 43.5 39.4 46.3
JOBS AND EQUITY

Male population
employed 15+ (%)) 72.1 70.3 75.9 76.5 65.9 67.3 77.9 77.8 75.7 73.3

Vulnerable female
employment (% of female 34.1 22.5 37.4 42.1 18.4 31.1 28.6 31.3 27.6 28.4
employment)

Vulnerable male
employment (% of male 31.4 27.1 31.3 34.5 22.5 40.7 39.9 27.2 22.4 27.8
employment)
GDP per capita (constant
2,000 US$) 2,032 2,812 2,258 3,003 6,631 8,498 2,312 3,503 4,020 6,910

GINI index (1−100) 60 55 46 53 45 48 54 51 46 49

WEALTH

Income share held by

47 43 35 41 35 38 39 40 36 38
highest 10%
Income share held by
1 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 2 1
lowest 10%

Source: own elaboration based on data from World Bank-World Development Indicators database

4.2 .2 .2 Income grow th and pover t y re duction

The link between national economic growth and poverty reduction is well known, although
it is different for specific countries, each with its own cultural and political history. Due to
the negative association between growth and the incidence of poverty,1 some analysts
and international agencies support the recommendation that governments focus on growth
in order to alleviate poverty (e.g., Dollar and Kraay, 2001, Ravallion, 2004).

1 Statistical analysis has shown that the poverty-reduction elasticity with respect to national income growth has
been in the range of 2 to 3.5 percent (Ravallion, 2004)

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The debate about growth and poverty is particularly relevant in LAC where countries
show poor evidence in terms of poverty reduction over the last fifteen years given their
economic growth. Argentina experienced an important increase in poverty during the
1990s, despite having a growing economy during the same period. Poverty signifi-
cantly decreased in Brazil during the first half of the 1990s, driven by economic growth
and improvements in income distribution; however, since 1995, poverty reduction has
slowed. There is a positive trend in the reduction of the population below the poverty and
indigence line, for the cases of Chile, Brazil, Peru and Colombia, and less constant reduc-
tion trends for Mexico, whereas Costa Rica seems fairly stable (Figures 4.8 and 4.9).
60

50

40

30

20

10

1989− 1993− 1996− 1999− 2002− 2005− 2008− 2010−

1991 1994 1997 2000 2003 2006 2009 2011

Brazil Mexico Chile Peru Colombia Costa Rica Latin America

Figure 4.8 Percentage of population below poverty line. Source: own elaboration based on
ECLAC (2012).
60

50

40

30

20

10

0
1989− 1993− 1996− 1999− 2002− 2005− 2008− 2010−
1991 1994 1997 2000 2003 2006 2009 2011
Brazil Mexico Chile Peru Colombia Costa Rica Latin America
Figure 4.9 Percentage of population below indigence line. Source: ECLAC (2012).

Chile is a successful story of consistent poverty reduction, from 5 million people below
the poverty line in 1990 – approximately 40% of the population – to 2.5 million in
2009 – i.e. about 15%. The rate of extreme poverty also decreased fast, from 13% of

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the population in 1990 to 3.7% in 2009. The performance of the Andean community
economies in terms of poverty reduction has not been so consistent. Poverty has decreased
in Peru, whereas in Colombia current poverty levels are equivalent to those of two decades
ago. Costa Rica has the lowest poverty rate among Central American countries, and the
poverty line is close to 20% while extreme poverty has fallen to almost 7%. Mexico does
not have a good track record for poverty reduction; poverty rates recorded during the
2000s are not significantly different from those of the 1990s. Box 4.2 shows how water
poverty plays out in LAC, calculated on the basis of research conducted by Lawrence et
al. (2003).
For the particular case of Latin America, the most important aspects are not GDP per
capita and the reduction or increase in poverty, but the distribution of wealth. GDP per
capita has increased in most cases (Figure 4.11) yet things look very different when
considering income distribution (Figure 4.12). The income share held by the highest 20%
sub-group of population has reduced for the cases of Argentina, Brazil and Colombia,
but it is less clear for the cases of Mexico or Chile (Figure 4.12a). In contrast, the income
share held by the lowest 20% sub-group of the population has increased in Colombia,
Argentina, Brazil and Peru, but it is less marked in countries like Mexico or Chile (Figure
4.12b).

Box 4.2 Water pover t y index in L AC

The water poverty index (WPI) is calculated based on a series of parameters related to
resources, access, capacity, use and environment. ‘Resource availability’ is measured
taking into account availability but also quality. ‘Access’ refers to the human access to
water, including distance to a safe source, time needed for collection, access for irri-
gation, etc. ‘Capacity’ refers to the effectiveness of people’s ability to manage water,
whereas ‘use’ refers to the amount of water used for productive uses like agriculture,
industry or urban water supply. Lastly, ‘environment’ accounts for the integrity and flow
of ecosystem services provided by freshwater ecosystems. Globally, Finland has the
highest WPI score (79) and Haiti the lowest (35). As Figure 4.10 shows, WPI varies
across LAC countries, with scores ranging from 55 to 69. Countries with the lowest WPI
values are Paraguay, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua and Guatemala. Meanwhile
Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, Costa Rica and Panama have the highest scores. It is striking
that countries that do not have the highest rain indexes do not have the lowest WPI.
That means that good management is crucial for achieving the best water use given a
particularly water resource endowment. For instance, Peru’s water resources are slightly
more abundant than those of Chile, but Chile has higher levels of the population with
access to clean water and sanitation coverage. On the other hand, there are regional
differences in each country, especially in the bigger ones: Mexico, Brazil, Argentina or
Peru, which have very humid regions and also very dry ones. In these countries water
management has to be tailored for each hydrological region to reduce water poverty.

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Water poverty index

55−59
60−63
64−66
67−69

The five component indices of the WPI

Resources
Access
Capacity
Use
Environment

0 625 2500 km

Figure 4.10 Water Poverty Index in LAC countries. Source: own elaboration based on data
from Lawrence et al. (2003).

16,000

14,000

12,000

10,000

8,000

6,000

4,000

2,000

0.0
1960
1962
1964
1966
1968
1970
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2011

Argentina Brazil Peru Chile Colombia Costa Rica Mexico LAC

Figure 4.11 Annual GDP per capita growth (expressed in current US$) for the time period
1980–2010. Source: own elaboration based on data from World Bank-World Development
Indicators Database.

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a) 70

65

60

55

50

45
1980

1982

1984

1986

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010
Argentina Brazil Peru Chile Colombia Costa Rica Mexico
Figure 4.12a Inequality in income distribution. Percentage of the income share held by
highest 20% subgroup of population. Source: own elaboration based on data from World Bank-
World Development Indicators Database.
7
b)

1
1980

1982

1984

1986

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

Argentina Brazil Peru Chile Colombia Costa Rica Mexico

Figure 4.12b Inequality in income distribution. Percentage of the income share held by
lowest 20% subgroup of population. Source: own elaboration based on data World Bank-World
Development Indicators Database.

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4.2 .2 .3 The informal economy in water and food securit y

The informal economy and its activities are the ‘unregistered economic activities that
contribute to the officially calculated GDP’ (Schneider, 2002). The informal economy
contributes to the country’s economy but these activities are informal in terms of registration,
tax payments, operating licenses, employment conditions and regulations (Becker, 2004).
The informal economy represents a transition period that would under normal development
paths disappear once countries achieved sufficient levels of economic growth and modern
industrial development (Becker, 2004). There is now, however, increased evidence that
the informal economy can no longer be considered as a temporary phenomenon. The
informal economy has a more fixed character in LAC and this is particularly the case for
those countries where incomes and assets are not equitably distributed2 (Figures 4.12a
and 4.12b).
In terms of employment, estimates show that non-agricultural employment as a share of
the informal workforce is 57% in LAC. Meanwhile GDP estimates of the contribution of the
informal sector (i.e. not the informal economy as a whole, but only informal enterprises)
indicate that the contribution of informal enterprises to non-agricultural GDP is significant,
representing 29% for LAC (Flodman, 2004). As can be seen in Figure 4.13, the share of
informal jobs in total employment can be high, reaching in some cases very high levels
like Bolivia, Honduras, Paraguay or Peru, but also pronounced in countries like Colombia,
Mexico or Argentina.
80

70

60

50
Percentage

40

30

20

10

0
Argentina

Bolivia

Brazil

Colombia

Costa Rica

Dominican Rep.

Ecuador

El Salvador

Honduras

Mexico

Nicaragua

Panama

Paraguay

Peru

Uruguay

Venezuela

Figure 4.13 Informal employment and the informal economy as part of GDP. Source: own
elaboration based on data from Herrera et al (2004).

A modern approach to informality does not see informality as an all-or-nothing, but

as degrees of informality and formality, along a spectrum where a number of factors can
impact its evolution. Informality can become a potential nascent entrepreneurial sector for

2 As Becker (2004) states ‘if economic growth is not accompanied by improvements in employment levels and
income distribution, the informal economy does not shrink’.

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growth and innovation or instead a structural problem of under-development and poverty.

The majority of informal economy activities provides goods and services, whose produc-
tion and distribution are legal. LAC has abundant metals, foods and energy resources,
and without strong institutions (Millennium Project, 2012), there are risks of criminalization
of the economy, and lack of personal safety due to deep social inequalities. Hence the
importance of realizing the potential the informal economy has for water and food security
in LAC.

4.2 .3 Trade liberalization, consumption pat terns, food

securit y and he alth transition
4.2 .3.1 Trade liberalization
Over more than four decades, LAC countries have signed agreements and regional
integration treaties of different types. The integration aims to remove barriers to free
interconnection of the economies in order to increase their production capacity, trade,
and investment; that is, to drive economic growth (Guerra-Borges, 2012). There are
significant integration structures in the region, including the General Treaty of Central
American Integration, the Latin American Integration Association (ALADI), the Southern
Common Market (MERCOSUR), the Andean Community and the newly created Union of
South American Nations. There are also treaties and other trade agreements of different
levels such as the North America Free Trade Agreement signed between Canada, the
US and Mexico, or the fifty-eight free trade agreements signed between Chile and other
nations. During the 1980s and 1990s, the region undertook deep processes of structural
reform: the reduction of state functions, deregulation, and privatization of state enterprises,
among others. Trade liberalization (TL), a central component of the reforms, began with a
unilateral reduction of tariffs but nowadays includes complex provisions including labour
and environmental issues (IICA, 2009).
One question that it is important to discuss is whether trade and trade liberalization
benefit the poor in LAC. Trade–poverty linkages are complex and diverse, but according
to orthodox mainstream economic theory and empirical findings, they can be divided into
a few important pathways: (a) trade-induced growth; (b) effects of trade on prices, income
and consumption patterns; (c) effects of trade on wages and employment. Chapter 5
discusses all these pathways in detail. Buitagro (2009) points out that even though trade
liberalization has been considered a key element in economic growth and development,
indiscriminate trade liberalization strategies have not been beneficial for low- and middle-
income countries. Empirical studies conducted in LAC have shown little correlation
between trade liberalization, economic growth and poverty reduction (Buitagro, 2009).
Between 1985 and 2000 all economies in the region experienced important TL.
Exports increased fivefold in Mexico, tripled in Argentina and doubled in Brazil. A low
growth, the unequal distribution of income, and in recent years the high volatility of
agricultural prices, has increased society’s vulnerability and prevent poverty reduction,
especially in the agricultural sector, the most opened in the economy (Table 4.5).

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Table 4.5 Merchandise trade in selected countries of LAC (% of GDP)

1990–2000 2010

ARGENTINA 18 35
BRAZIL 17 19
CHILE 46 61
COLOMBIA 25 31

COSTA RICA 79 64
MEXICO 59 60
PERU 36 45

Source: World Bank-World Development Indicators.

4.2 .3.2 Changes in consumption and dietar y shif ts

Evidence of a change in the dietary patterns of LAC societies have been found since
the 1980s. The consumption of fats, animal products, processed foods, fast food and
non-alcoholic beverages has increased while cereals, fruits and some vegetables and
tuber consumption has diminished. For Regmi (2001), a change in diet occurs gradually
and is the result of income growth, urbanization, changing prices, the rise of the processed
food sector, changes in the age structure of the population and awareness of food
security, among other factors. Morón and Schejtman (1997) and Rastoin (2009) add the
‘terciarization’ of the agro-food sector and the impact of advertisement.
Regmi et al. (2008) recognize that the global expansion of industries, agribusiness
services and supermarket chains, modifies food prices and shapes tastes and diets,
tending to standardize how food is produced, distributed and consumed worldwide.
For Bermudez and Tucker (2003) food supply is the mechanism by which modernization
affects the Latin American diet and the transition or ‘convergence’ occurs in different
social and economic conditions. This has caused a double problem of public health:
malnutrition, due to the prevalence of poverty and unequal income distribution, along
with obesity and chronic degenerative diseases, result of more ‘refined’ diets. More use
of water and its pollution are collateral problems of dietary changes.
According to the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO, 2012) at the regional
level a detrimental change in nourishing patterns rapidly unfolded. Between 1984 and
1998, the purchasing of refined carbohydrates and sodas increased by 6% and 37%
respectively (Rivera et al., 2004).

Box 4.3 The Mexican case

The study by Santos-Baca (2012) corroborates the results of Bermudez and Tucker
(2003). She found that the reduction in animal food consumption was created by
a reduction in milk intake, a phenomenon that some researchers associate with the
increase in soft drink consumption (Rivera et al., 2008: 175). Cereals and legumes

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particularly beans, which was the basis of the Mexican diet, have reduced their impor-
tance. Maize remains the most consumed cereal but the consumption declined 18% from
1992 to 2010, when its price increased 53%. Wheat is the second most important
cereal consumed but in much smaller quantities than corn; however, wheat spending is
similar to that of corn. The average amounts of consumed fruits and vegetables (sources
of essential vitamins and minerals), fell from 0.74kg in 1992 to 0.61kg in 2010;
those amounts represent 70% and 66% respectively of the quantity recommended by
FAO: 400g per person/day. Beverage consumption, except bottled water, increased
37% between 1992 and 2010, due to the significant increase in the consumption of
soft drinks. Consumption of sodas increased 40%, and processed juices and nectars
increased 141%. Mexico has the second highest per capita consumption of soft drinks
in the world. Unlike in developed countries where changes occurred because of moder-
nization, food transition in Mexico from 1992 to 2010 is characterized by the deterio-
ration in food intake (Figure 4.14).

1992 2010
Cereals and legumes Cereals and legumes
70% 70%
60% 60%
50% 50%
40% 40%
30% 30%
20% 20%
10% 10%
Animal products

Animal products
Beverages

Beverages

0% 0%
-10% -10%

Fruits and vegetables Fruits and vegetables

Water footprint Quantity Energy

Figure 4.14 Mexican food consumption pattern. Quantity, energy, water footprint of main
food products. 1992 and 2010. Source: own elaboration with data from INEG (1992, 2010),
Mekonnen and Hoekstra (2010a, 2010b) and Ercin et al. (2011).

4.2 .3.3 Fo od securit y

Hunger currently affects 49 million people living in LAC. This means that 8.3% of the
population of the region does not consume the necessary daily calories. Between 1990–
1992 and 2010–2012, the undernourished population declined by 16 million people
(24.9% over the period), but still an unacceptable number of people are suffering from
hunger (FAO, 2012).

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The trend in hunger reduction has slowed from 8% between 1990–1992 and 2007–
2009, to 2% in 2010–2012. This is the result of the world economic crisis and the slower
economic growth in the region but also due to structural problems. The number of hungry
people in LAC declined from 57 million in 1990–1992 to 49 million in 2010–2012.
The increase in commodity prices and the drought of the last three years have added 3
million people to the category of the poor. Countries like Bolivia and Paraguay, but also
Peru, Ecuador and Colombia display hunger problems according to the indicator of
chronic malnutrition in children under five years old (FAO, 2012).
On the other hand, adequate calorie consumption does not mean adequate nutritional
conditions. Nutrition problems arise from insufficient vitamins and intake of other essential
micronutrients. The nutritional problems of the region are not only about hunger in the
sense of insufficient energy consumption. Malnutrition caused from inadequate diets which
provoke health problems related to nutrients deficiency can also lead to obesity problems
(FAO, 2012). According to FAO (2012) Cuba, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Uruguay
and Venezuela have managed to eradicate the scourge of hunger. The case of Brazil is
outstanding with the reduction of hunger in absolute and relative terms. The prevalence
rate of malnutrition in the total population, and in children under five, diminished from
1999–2000 to 2010–2011. In Peru and Brazil this decrease is very strong but their
levels remain high, particularly in children under five years.

4.2 .3. 4 He alth transition

LAC is currently undergoing important demographic, epidemiological (PAHO, 2012) and
nutritional transitions (Rivera et al., 2004). The demographic transition is characterized by
a reduction in fertility and mortality rates, the increase in life expectancy and by population
ageing (PAHO, 2007a and b). The nutritional transition is characterized by a decrease
in the prevalence of malnutrition and an increase in obesity, which is a risk factor for
chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer (Pi-Sunyer, 2002).
The epidemiological transition is characterized by a triple burden of disease comprising:
infectious diseases, whose prevalence is declining; chronic diseases, registering a rapid
increase, and external causes, related to accidents and violence.
The drivers of the nutritional transition are complex and multi-causal. Important
determinants are the process of urbanization and economic growth, technological
changes and innovations that lead to reduced physical activity at work, in leisure and
in transportation, and changes in nourishing patterns and dietary intake, with particular
emphasis on the increased consumption of processed foods with high-energy content.
The nutritional transition has evolved at different rates in LAC (Barría and Amigo,
2006). Nevertheless, they all display a twofold pattern. On the one hand, there is a
diminishing tendency in the prevalence of low weight and height. On the other hand,
there is a tendency in the increase in caloric intake, information which has been captured
by all surveys of food availability per country (Rivera et al., 2004). Coupled with an
increasingly sedentary lifestyle, the result has been a dramatic increase of obesity in many

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LAC countries. These are risk factors for morbidity and mortality from diabetes mellitus,
hypertension and myocardial infarction, among others.
The health sector in LAC faces a number of challenges: solving problems of infectious
diseases and maternal-child mortality, and combating the changes in the disease profiles
arising from development and changes in diet; the increase of chronic-degenerative,
senile and mental diseases, HIV/AIDS and obesity. Mortality from transmissible diseases
and perinatal period decreased while chronic and degenerative diseases linked to
external causes (violence, accidents and injuries) have increased. Infant mortality has
fallen and the change in age structure has led to an increase of deaths among older adults
(Arriagada et al., 2005; CEPAL, 2005).
Obesity is now a widespread growing health problem. Changes in dietary patterns
(excessive caloric consumption), sedentary lifestyles, and heavily advertised products with
excess fats, salts and sugars, have triggered a rise in obesity (Olaiz-Fernández et al.,
2006). Prevalence of hypercholesterolemia found in two cross-sectional samples of adult
men and women living in Santiago de Chile increased dramatically in just five years, from
34% in 1987 to 42.5% in men and 46.1% in women in 1992. In Mexico, the mortality
rate from diabetes mellitus is 12%. An analysis from 1980 to 1998 of age-adjusted
standardized mortality rates for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), diabetes mellitus and
hypertension showed a rapid increase of 53% for AMI, 62% for diabetes and 55% for
hypertension (Olaiz-Fernández et al., 2006).
In LAC obesity prevalence in adults is high and accounts for over 20% of the population:
in Mexico, 33%, Venezuela 31%, Argentina 29% and Chile 29%. The prevalence in
children is also concerning. In 2010, more than 2 million under five years old in South
America were classified as overweight or obese, more than a million in Central America
and approximately 300,000 in the Caribbean. Barría and Amigo (2006) found there is
a prevalence of more than 6% of the child population in five countries. Surveys showed
that child obesity exceeds 6% in Argentina, Chile, and Peru (Olaiz-Fernández et al.,
2006).
The three causes of death (myocardial infarction (AMI), diabetes mellitus and
hypertension) have different causes and risk factors. Undeniably, genetics has its influence,
but the relationship between these diseases and obesity, poor diet and lack of physical
activity is strong and well established in the literature. An important observation about the
epidemiological trends in LAC is that obesity and communicable diseases are affecting
the populations of all socio-economic levels. Moreover, several studies have found a
negative relationship between socio-economic status and prevalence of obesity (PAHO,
2011). Also socio-economic status appears to be positively related to physical activity
(Monteiro et al., 2002). These results confront the misconception that obesity is a feature
of wealthy populations.

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4.3 Other drivers

4.3.1 Scenarios of technolo gical change 2030
A study on potential scenarios for LAC for 2030 was undertaken in 2012. According to
the Scenario 1 ‘Mañana is Today: Latin American Success’ of the Latin America 2030
study by the Millennium Project3 (see Figure 4.15) breakthroughs in science and technology
around the world will play a key role. No matter where these advances originated, they
will spread quickly throughout the planet. Imagine a scenario in LAC for 2030 where
the WTO and Internet 7.0 will help ensure that knowledge moves fast from country
to country. Technology will continue improving and synergies among nanotechnology,
biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science (commonly known as NBIC
technologies) shall boost technology value and efficiency whilst lowering costs. However,
some people could complain about too much technology and unintended consequences
like over reliance on technological solutions and furthermore feasible scenarios where
socio-political instability and economic constraints become barriers for technology
deployment. However, this is one of four possible scenarios for LAC in 2030. These
scenarios highlight the role of ICT and technology as game changers, compared to
megatrends (NIC, 2008). However, these game changers will probably not materialize
without political leadership and vision to address the issues raised earlier in terms of
development challenges and opportunities.

4.3.2 Socio-economic impacts of technological change

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) may be the most developed aspect
within the NBIC technologies and the best example to analyse their expected impact.
ICT has become a key feature in modern life and has proliferated across many sectors,
providing new challenges and opportunities. Cell phones that used to be a luxury product
can now be bought at an affordable price which has fuelled a rising global ICT market
(Figure 4.16).
In 2012, the 2G connection technology (GSM/EDGE) was used by 80% of mobile
phones in LAC, although a fast deployment of 3G technologies is foreseen, and the
latter should be dominant by 2018 (ERICSSON, 2012). If economic development and
consumer demand allow this forecast to be fulfilled, the percentage of individuals using
the Internet could skyrocket from 35% in 2011 (16.5% in 2005) to an interval between
70 and 80% in 2018, not far away from the current figures of America’s most developed
countries, the US and Canada, with approximately 85% (ITU, 2013).4

3 www.proyectomilenio.org
4 ITU (International Telecommunication Union) is the United Nations specialized agency for information and
communication technologies – ICTs.

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Social political axis

SCENARIO 4 SCENARIO 1
A union attempted to integrate people from all Latin Breakthroughs in science and technology around the world
America and the Caribbean. It was a unique variation of will play a role. The WTO and Internet 7.0 will help ensure
the European Union. The mission of the network was to that knowledge move fast from country to country.
advance political integration, assure peace on the Technology will keep getting better cheaper, and faster. It is
continent, prevent poverty, detect and reduce corruption, estimated that almost all Latin American will continously be
enhance economic development, improve decision making, connected to Internet 7.0 with their mobile jewelry and
and foster social equity, as well as promoting bottom-up clothing nanotelecomputers. Synergies among
development and empowerment. The Network provided a nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology,
forum to improving participatory democracy. Idealists who and cognitive science (commonly known as NBIC
were participants also hoped to change development technologies) will dramatically improve the human condition
paradigms while reducing rich-poor gaps, promoting a by increasing the availability of energy, food, and water
worldwide friendship and fraternity; without destroying and by connecting people and information anywhere,
cultural and natural diversity, and traditional ‘ingenious’ anytime. The positive effect will be to increase collective
values of close communion with the environment. intelligence and to create value and efficiency while
lowering costs.
THE NETWORK: ‘MAÑANA’ IS TODAY:
DEATH AND REBIRTH LATIN AMERICAN SUCCESS
Techno- Techno-
Economic Economic
axis REGION IN FLAMES: THIS TECHNOLOGY AS IDEOLOGY: axis
REPORT IS SECRET BELIEVERS AND SCEPTICS
The trends of the last two decades − drugs, corruption, Although Latin America has some NBIC-based technologies
poverty − have come together to create a situation that is today, these new capabilities have not accelerated the
worse than we could have imagined. Families do not know social and economic development. Applying external
where to take refuge. The drug chain has specialized by technologies without understanding both their potential
following the trends of legitimate business. Bolivia and Peru downside, leads to an inconsistency in their application. It
concentrated in production. Colombia and Mexico are is certainly evident that living standards in the region have
carrying out the management−the intangible part of the improved even more than it might have been expected
business and the most profitable. Bolivia, Colombia and twenty years ago, but it is equally apparent that they have
Peru have expanded coca cultivation. The cartels have resulted in further concentration of wealth, have raised
taken over Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico and Venezuela. These expectations which can’t be fully met, and have broadened
countries are living in a state of siege. The laboratories for the social and economic gap between classes.
processing coca are proliferating to other Latin American
countries.
SCENARIO 3 SCENARIO 2

Social political axis

Figure 4.15 Development scenrios for Latin America 2030. Source: own elaboration based on
data from the Millenium Project (2012).

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Mobile-cellular telephone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants
Number of newly registered limited liability companies per 50,000 working-age people
Individuals using the internet per 100 inhabitants
Figure 4.16 Trends in entrepreneurship and access to information and ICT worldwide.
Source: own elaboration based on data from ITU (2013).

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Thus, in many rural areas of some LAC countries, the breach is greater in basic
matters such as access to safe water or water disposal systems than in access to up-to-
date ICT. Concerning food security, both public and private sectors are embracing the
potential of ICT (World Bank, 2011; Vodafone & Accenture, 2012), concluding that a
significant increase in agricultural income can be achieved through their use. The so-called
e-agriculture is gaining relevance, taking advantage of ICT to promote new possibilities
and alternatives and improve many of the areas related to the food production chain,
covering issues as varied as financial services, transportation, commerce and marketing,
traceability and quality assurance, storage or training, as well as all activities related
to crop management, including the optimization of water management. Farmers can
benefit from initial/wider access to credit, logistic and commercial support, building
visibility, improving the quality of their products and gaining in capacity and education.
Also, farmers can obtain expert agronomic advice, key information on weather forecasts,
diseases control or best cultivation practices according to the phenological status of plants.
Concerning water security in LAC, the percentage of people with no access to safe
water has successfully decreased from 22.6% in 1980 to 5.8% in 2010. A projection
made for 2030 (Millennium Project, 2012) estimates this figure will only reach 3.9%,
since most of these people live in rural areas where water plans are difficult to implement.
An extended use of ICT could help change this trend. Modern water-meters as well as
the fostering of a participatory approach by water users connected via ICT are creating
new pathways for water security. As an example, the use of innovative crowd-sourcing
approaches via text messages and/or the installation of low-cost performance sensors
(Hope, 2012) are allowing the appliance of scale economies to hand-pump construction
and maintenance, while increasing transparency of the efficiency and effectiveness of
investments.
Technology brings new opportunities and challenges for farmers’ capacity building:
firstly, promoting online education and training for farmers; secondly, strengthening
cooperativism and finally, opening new employment niches, markets and commercialization
channels.
However, it would be over simplistic to exalt the role of technology while losing sight of
the underpinning structural changes that are needed. For example, the priority of education
is fundamental to be able to make the most of these technological opportunities. As can
be seen in Figures 4.17, 4.18 and 4.19, the trends in this respect are mixed in relation
to primary, secondary and tertiary education, which cautions against the ability to realize
the full potential of ICT if no parallel investment is made in education and training.
A further challenge for LAC countries is the need to increase investment in Research
and Development (R&D), which is on average around 0.6% of GDP while the same ratio
for OECD countries is approximately 2.3%. In order to increase and sustain growth, the
region must raise productivity levels to improve competitiveness, which in turn depends on
increased innovation and R&D.

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99

Net enrolment rate (%) 97

95

93

91

89

87

85
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Argentina Brazil Chile Mexico Peru Colombia LAC

Figure 4.17 Net enrolment rate in first-level education (%). Source: own elaboration based
on data from UNESCO Statistics.

85

80
Gross enrolment rate (%)

75

70

65

60

55

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2006 2008 2009 2010 2011

Chile Argentina Colombia Mexico Peru LAC

Figure 4.18 Net enrolment rate in second-level education (%). Source: own elaboration based
on data from UNESCO Statistics.

70

60
Net enrolment rate (%)

50

40

30

20

10

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2006 2008 2009 2010 2011

Argentina Brazil Chile Costa Rica Colombia Mexico Peru LAC

Figure 4.19 Gross enrolment rate in third-level education (%). Source: own elaboration based
on data from UNESCO Statistics.

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4.3.3 Vulnerabilit y to climate change in L AC

Another trend to consider in the future is the potential impact of climate change. Assessing
the vulnerability to climate change implies determining the magnitude of adverse effects
on the social, economic and ecological systems, its sensitivity to stress factors and its
capacity to cope or adapt to the stressor. The Fourth Climate Change Assessment Report
of the IPCC (Parry et al., 2007), defines vulnerability as ‘The degree to which a system is
susceptible to, or unable to cope with adverse effects of climate change, including climate
variability and extreme events’.
The need for improved decision making has motivated an expansion in the number of
climate-change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability (CCIAV) assessments and methods
in use over the last decades. CCIAVs are undertaken to inform decision making about the
degree of risk associated with climate change impacts, so that the most appropriate and
cost-effective policy responses can be adopted. The National Communications (NCs)
developed by the LAC parties supporting the implementation of the UNFCCC can be
classified as a mixed vulnerability and adaptive-based CCIAV. NCs follow mainly a
bottom-up approach, where vulnerability to climate is addressed largely as a problem of
climate variability within the countries. As Carter and Mäkinen (2011) argue the great
majority of assessments that follow this bottom-up approach are found in developing
countries, where vulnerability to present-day climatic variability is commonly perceived to
be more of a threat than long-term climate change. Table 4.6 summarizes the outcomes of
the vulnerability assessments of twenty NCs in LAC countries. The social, economic and
environmental risks differ greatly across countries. Nevertheless, social and environmental
vulnerability is currently perceived as high in all LAC regions.
In relation to social vulnerability in LAC, the most frequent impacts are related to the
increase of diseases, food insecurity and a growing perception that access to drinking
water might be at stake. Also, migration linked to worsening climate conditions has
been reported, although it is yet unclear whether climate is a driver of such migration
flows (see Box 4.4). An increase in the frequency of malaria and dengue fever has
also been reported. Food insecurity risks are related to the increased occurrence of the
El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon and associated with extreme events
(e.g. droughts, floods). In 2009/2010 a severe drought affected agricultural areas of
Guatemala causing the loss of 100% of the harvest. National production of maize, bean
and rice only dropped on average 1.5%; yet over 145,000 people needed emergency
food assistance. In 2007/2008, Bolivia was affected by La Niña, which caused floods,
droughts, frost and hail-storms, across the whole country. Rice crops losses reached up to
25% and prices of the main basic products rose sharply with a strong negative impact
on the price and access to food especially in urban areas. Changing climatic conditions
are also affecting water access, like, for example, the case of Chile’s glacier Echaurren
Norte, one of the most important sources of drinking water for the metropolitan area of
Santiago.

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Table 4.6 Social vulnerability assessment to climate change in Latin America. Note: Values
refer to the percentage of countries reporting vulnerability to the different impacts. Grey cells repre-
sent impacts affecting less than 50% of the countries; yellow between 50–75%; and brown cells
account for impacts affecting more than 75% of the countries.
VULNERABLE COUNTRIES (%)

MESOAMERICA

AMAZONIAN

FREQUENCY
IMPACTS

ANDEAN

AVERAGE
SOUTH
Higher risk of diseases 75 75 100 100 88

Unsafe access to drinking water 88 50 33 60 58

Damages to infrastructures (dwellings, protection areas) 50 25 67 40 46

SOCIAL

Impact on food security 75 67 40 61

Migrations 50 50 67 56

Increase in poverty 38 38

Human losses caused by natural disasters 33 33

Changes in the hydrological cycle and water quality 63 75 33 20 48

ENVIRONMENTAL

Coastal erosion and coastline retreat 25 60 100 20 49

Changes in ecosystem productivity and biodiversity loss 75 50 67 60 63

Higher risk of fires 25 25 67 63

Salinization 38 25 100 39

Increase in pests 25 33 29

Reduction in water availability 75 25 33 20 38

Reduction in crop yields 88 25 67 80 65

Damage to agricultural infrastructures 13 20 17

Soil erosion and desertification 25 20 23

Agriculture Loss of agrodiversity 25 20 23

Loss of harvests 13 20 17

Decrease in aquaculture production 38 33 40 37

ECONOMIC

Losses in livestock production 38 67 53

Lower hydropower generation 38 75 100 20 58

Damages to energy infrastructures 50 25 8

Energy Excessive reliance in fossil fuels 13 50 32

Risk to invest in biofuels 25 33 29

Increase in energy demand 25 25

Minery Reduction in water availability 25 25

Tourism Damages to tourism infrastructures 50 25 20 32

Source: own elaboration based on the (NCs) National Communication Strategies of twenty LAC
countries (UNFCC, 2013).

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Box 4.4 The nexus bet ween climate change and

migration

The climate change-migration relationship is as yet unclear. Extreme weather shocks have
been associated with migration processes at the micro-level, although no clear macro-
trend has been observed. So far no projection exists regarding expected ‘environmental
migrants’ (Wilbanks et al. 2007) and some authors argue that environmental migration
might be a ‘myth’. Global estimates of environmental migrants –25 million according to
Myers and Kent (1995) – are outdated and have been the subject of debate. In LAC no
concrete figures exist despite the high frequency of meteorological events that occurred
over the last century (see Figure 4.20). In Mesoamerica, storms and floods are the most
frequent hazards, whereas in South America, floods prevail. Nevertheless, droughts
have caused the largest impacts on the South American population.
Population affected 1900−2013(million)

100% 80
Natural hazards 1900−2013

70
80%
60

60% 50

40
40% 30

20
20%
10
Bolivia

Brazil

Chile

Honduras

Mexico

Nicaragua

Bolivia

Brazil

Chile

Honduras

Mexico

Nicaragua

Drought Flood Storm Landslides

Epidemic Volcano Earthquake Wildfire
Figure 4.20 Type of natural hazards and population affected in selected countries in Latin
America. Source: own elaboration based on data from the EM-DAT database (2013)

People often speak of the rural poor as the main victims of migration associated
with climate change. In the case of LAC the impact should be observed at a much
slower pace given its high degree or urbanization. The highest rural population in
LAC is concentrated in the less developed countries, which thus increases the social
vulnerability and the risk of migration. The most likely impacts of climate change in LAC
may include damage to coastal areas consequently impacting tourism infrastructure and
generating migration of local populations to safer areas and the reduction of glaciers,
which could affect the Pacific cities and their water reserves. The effects of climate
change on migration will be very different in countries like Bolivia or Paraguay, without
coasts, than in the Turks and Caicos, the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas, which have
a 100% of its population below the10 metres elevation mark.

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4.4 Conclusions
This chapter has identified the main socio-economic trends in LAC and Caribbean (LAC)
and their direct and indirect consequences for water and food security. In relation to water
security, the LAC population will continue to grow, despite the decrease in the fertility
rate, with changes in lifestyles and the growth of the middle class which will increase
the demand for water services and food, as well as external demand for producing
agricultural commodities for export. As was shown, LAC has experienced a modest level
of development in terms of per capita gross domestic product; centred around a fairly
intensive use of water resources due to its economic model based on primary goods,
recently triggered by the high prices in the international markets.
One of the main issues is whether this economic growth has been decoupled from
increased water use. Since the model has been based on a re-primarization of the
economy and exports, issues arise regarding the potentially large (green) virtual water of
food exports. The other issue relates to poverty and water; water and sanitation in LAC in
general has progressed well, in relation to the Millennium Development Goals, particularly
in urban areas. LAC is the second most urbanized region in the world, including sixty-
seven cities with more than 1 million inhabitants and four ‘megacities’ with more than 10
million (Mexico City, São Paulo, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro). Sometimes it is hard to
provide sufficient water services, with problems emerging from the relatively large informal
economy and informal settlements, as well as from dispersed rural areas which could be
left behind.
With regard to trade and food sovereignty, related to water security, linkages with price
volatility in the case of LAC deserve a more detailed study in order to better understand
the inter-linkages due to the economic models adopted in some of the emergent LAC
economies. In LAC, the inequitable distribution of income could make it much more difficult
to establish potential cross subsidy schemes, e.g. for the urban poor or even in rural areas.
Thus equity remains a central pivotal issue for water and food security.
Water and food security confront important challenges imposed by globalization.
Trade liberalization, increasing demand from countries such as China for primary goods,
compounded with changes in consumption patterns also prompted by urbanization, the
increase in per capita income and advertising have changed societal priorities and the
way natural resources are used. New dietary patterns based on animal and agriculturally
industrialized products require more water and raise issues of food security in terms of the
nutritional quality of the ‘modern diet’. As a result, health trends reflect the emergence of
diseases like obesity and diabetes.
The democratization and adoption of ICTs could present a window of opportunity for
water and food security, because of their cost, popularity and access are likely to increase
exponentially. Water management in rural areas could be revolutionized through new
instruments that can generate more accurate and visible data and information, essential
to pinpoint better planning and use of water (and food) resources. The use of ICT can

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also help to support environmental and biodiversity conservation and further to avoid
environmental, social and human harm for future generations.
Rural development could be supported by new technologies in the agriculture and
food value chain, access to markets and financial services. There are barriers for ICT
uptake in agriculture such as farmers' education and training (illiteracy or lack of technical
skills), the lack of awareness and understanding of ICT and also the cost of deployment
of some new technologies.
In order to guarantee water and food security faced with the potential impacts of
climate change in socio-economic terms, it is important to define long-term targets for CC
mitigation, to identify vulnerable regions and groups, prioritize research and adaptation,
and to invest in adaptation and mitigation measures. Social and environmental vulnerability
is high in all LAC regions where the most frequent impacts are related to increasing
diseases such as malaria and dengue fever, food insecurity and a growing perception
that access to drinking water may be at risk. Extreme events such as droughts and floods
are affecting agricultural areas in many countries and in some cases access to water.
Latin American trends can, however, be modified. Measures orientated towards
achieving fair income distribution, public policies orientated towards more vulnerable
groups of population, a model of growth sustained on domestic markets, formalization of
the informal economy, investment in science and technology and policies for improvement
and conservation of natural resources would be key goals to prioritize and thus allow
progress to be made on future socio-economic megatrends in order to guarantee water
and food security into the future.

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 5
GLOBALIZATION AND TRADE

Authors:
Alberto Garrido, Water Observatory – Botín Foundation, and CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
Diego Arévalo Uribe, Water Management and Footprint. CTA − Centro de Ciencia y Tecnología de Antioquia, Colombia
Insa Flachsbarth, Water Observatory – Botín Foundation, and CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
Maite M. Aldaya, Water Observatory – Botín Foundation, and Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
O. Vanessa Cordero Ahiman, CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
Bárbara Soriano, CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
PA R T 2 :
SETTING THE SCENE

Highlights

• The world’s economy and agriculture have become ever more intertwined, reinforcing
interdependencies, and multiplying network connections. The Latin America and
Caribbean (LAC) region has experienced an accelerated growth of imports, exports
and inward foreign investment.

• The expansion of the middle class in LAC and Asia and the associated changes in
eating habits are adding pressure on agricultural commodities markets, with LAC
itself becoming a leading exporter of calories and vegetal proteins required to
sustain the expanding livestock sector in the world.

• LAC is still relatively isolated from the rest of the world, in terms of personal air traffic
and major port activity, yet well connected through raw materials markets.

• Significant production increases can be obtained in many LAC regions with both
rain-fed agricultural practices and farming systems under irrigation.

• LAC’s main trading partners are now in Asia, especially China and India, but Central
America and the Caribbean still export primarily to North America.

• LAC’s increasing exports and imports may have rendered certain social advances
in terms of poverty reduction in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru. And
yet, 174 million people in LAC are considered poor, and 73 million of these are
extremely poor (FAO, 2013b). However, causality between trade and poverty
cannot be clearly established.

• International trade can make an important contribution to global decoupling

(economic growth independent of resource use and impacts) when guided by
appropriate environmental and trade policies. These have hitherto been managed
separately at country and global levels.

5.1 Introduction
By all accounts, the world has never been more globalized since World War II. Impro-
vements in transportation, logistics, telecommunications and global production systems
attest to increasing worldwide economic integration. Furthermore, world food systems
have never been as integrated and developed as they are at present (Prakash, 2011)
with production specialization, technological advances and the wide dissemination of
knowledge. However, doubts exist as to whether agriculture has the potential to feed the

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world when the population goes beyond 9 billion unless significant improvements are
made in production efficiency and food habits change. In 2012, the FAO estimated that
852 million people were undernourished, which is equivalent to 14.9% of the world’s
population (FAO, 2013b). To this end, the National Intelligence Council of the US has
identified the nexus of food, water and energy as one of its four ‘megatrends’, which are
likely to transcend all future scenarios, demonstrating that a growing global population will
place more demand on these inextricably linked resources (NIC, 2012).
Globalization is an ambiguous concept without a widely accepted scientific definition.
It involves trade relationships and the movement of capital, ideas and even people. It also
encompasses the sharing and expansion of risks (such as epidemics or terrorist attacks)
and global environmental threats. Agricultural trade has been accelerated by the rapid
decline in the costs of cross-border trade of farm produce and other products, driven also
by reduction in transportation costs, the information and communication technology (ICT)
revolution and major reductions in governmental distortions. As a result, it has altered
global agricultural production, consumption and hence trade patterns (Anderson, 2010),
not least in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region.
This chapter will review some facts and data that describe what globalization is and
what shape it may take in the future. We focus primarily on the LAC region but also provide
a global perspective and, in coordination with other chapters of this book (Chapters 4 and
7), we will focus on trade looking in more detail at agricultural commodities. We begin
by providing the context of international trade and identify the resulting major trends. In
the second section we present the most significant trade data reported at a regional level,
again, specifically concentrating on the agricultural context. The third section discusses the
main drivers behind the observed trade data and trends in the LAC. The chapter closes
with an overview of issues more closely related to social and environmental sustainability.

5.2 Global context and major trends

Recent popular press media has disseminated the trajectory of the world’s economic
centre of gravity.1 Two significant points can be identified in the last two millennia. Firstly,
the world’s economic centre of gravity in 2012 is in almost the same longitude than it was
in the year AD 1. Secondly, during almost 2000 years it moved westwards to where, in
1950, it reached the North of Iceland and since then it has moved extremely rapidly to
a position in Russia and is projected to continue to a point north of Kazakhstan in 2025.
This shift attests to the growth of East Asia and the Pacific area.
Table 5.1 shows the changing percentage of the world’s economy and population
among the world’s regions. LAC’s economic importance grew from 5.3% in 1990 to

1 Published in The Economist (The world’s shifting centre of gravity 28 June 2012, 14:34 by The Economist
online). Calculated weighting national GDP by each nation’s geographic centre of gravity; a line drawn from
the centre of the earth through the economic centre of gravity locates it on the earth’s surface. (see McKinsey
Global Institute, 2013)

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8.3% in 2011, whereas its share of the population remained stable at 8.5%. The most
significant changes are the increasing share of the world’s GDP in South and East Asia,
the population decline in North America and the slight decline of Europe and Central
Asia.
Table 5.1 Percentage of GDP and population of each region with respect to the world

1990 2000 2011

SOUTH EAST ASIA % of GDP/world’s GDP 23.2% 26.9% 30.1%
% of Pop/world’s Pop 56.0% 56.3% 55.5%
EUROPE & CENTRAL ASIA % of GDP/world’s GDP 39.0% 29.7% 31.6%
% of Pop/world’s Pop 15.9% 14.1% 12.8%
LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN % of GDP/world’s GDP 5.4% 6.6% 8.3%
% of Pop/world’s Pop 8.3% 8.5% 8.5%
NORTH AMERICA % of GDP/world’s GDP 28.8% 32.9% 23.9%
% of Pop/world’s Pop 5.2% 5.1% 5.0%
Source: World Bank (2012)

A major driving force of the world’s economy is the level and instability of commodity
markets. Figure 5.1 plots the commodities price indices, showing composite indices of
energy, food and metals and minerals, between 1960 and 2011. All three exhibit a long
and stable trend between 1978 and 2007, and a rapid escalation after this year. This
has been accompanied by increased volatility for all specific products and markets, and
the extreme financialization2 of the commodity markets around the world.
The increasing importance of trade in the world’s economy is also a major driver of
globalization. Figure 5.2 shows the percentage of trade as a share of the world’s GDP.
Since 1960, trade value has almost tripled in relative terms in the world and the expan-
sion of trade has been greater in East Asia and the Pacific than in LAC, whose relative
trade volume grew less than the world’s average.
The growth of trade goes hand in hand with the expansion of transportation. The
world’s container traffic grew between 2000 and 2010 by a factor of 2.3, and LAC’s
participation in this traffic augmented from 6.8% in 2000 to 7.4% in 2010. Despite this,
the LAC region still lags behind other regions in the world as shown in Table 5.2, which
reports the LAC’s main port’s activity relative to the fifty busiest ports in the world in 2011.

2 ‘Financialisation refers to the increasing amount of liquid funds which have become engaged in agricultural
commodity markets over the past years. Often, the role of hedge and index funds is emphasised in particular for
price formation on futures markets. Speculation is an even less clearly defined term. Major notions in the literature
are speculative bubbles, when asset prices deviate systematically from their fundamental values, speculative
hoarding, when stocks are built in the expectation of ever higher prices, and market manipulation, where price
movements on less liquid markets are deliberately triggered by some market participants. The economic concept
of speculation is yet defined differently; speculators in this meaning are market participants who are willing to
take over price risks from hedgers at a premium (and thus fulfil an economically desirable function).’ Brummer
et al. 2013, p. 3.

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Note that Colon and Balboa ports are related to the operation of the Panama Canal and
are thus not so involved in operations of loadings and shipments.
The fact that LAC is still weakly connected within world trade circuits is also shown by
the statistics of air travel and air passengers. In 2011, only São Paulo-Guarulhos Interna-
tional Airport, ranking 45th, appeared amongst the fifty busiest world airports. In 2010
no LAC airport appears in the list and in 2009 Mexico International Airport is the only
LAC present on the list, in 50th position (Airports Council International, 2012).
250

200

150
Price index

100

50

0
1961
1962
1964
1966
1968
1970
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2011
Energy Food Metals & Minerals

Figure 5.1 Commodities Price Indices (1960–2011) (Average =100). Source: World Bank
(2012)
80
70

60
Trade/GDP (%)

50
40

30
20

10

0
1961
1962
1964
1966
1968
1970
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2011

LAC World East Asia & Pacific

Figure 5.2 Trade as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) (1961–2011). Source: World
Bank (2012)
Table 5.2 LAC’s busiest ports in thousands of TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) in 2011

Activity with respect to busiest port

Busiest LACS ports Rank In world 1000 TEUs (Shanghai) In %

Colon (Panama) 37 3,370 10.6%

Balboa (Panama) 39 3,230 10.2%
Santos (Brazil) 43 2,990 9.4%

Source: Journal of Commerce: The JoC top 50 world container ports (2012)

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These data seem to suggest that LAC’s growth expansion is primarily based on commo-
dities and industrial products as opposed to the service sector, which could also account
for the fact that LAC is relatively less densely populated and the few large populous areas
are widely spread across the continent compared to Asia and Europe.
Figure 5.3 shows data for inward foreign direct investment in the region between
1970 and 2011. Foreign direct investment has seen unprecedented growth in the last
ten years,250,000
but has been very volatile.

200,000

150,000
million US$

100,000

50,000

0
1970

1973

1976

1979

1982

1985

1988

1991

1994

1997

2000

2003

2006

2009
2011
Developing economies: America Caribbean Central America South America

Figure 5.3 Inward foreign direct investment flows, annual, 1970–2011 in million US$. Source:
UNCTAD (2012)
Figure 5.4 shows that LAC has not been a principal beneficiary of official development
assistance in agriculture and infrastructure whereas since 1995 East Asia and Pacific,
South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa have received significant aid. However, the region’s
increasing political stability and economic potential have certainly given an extraordinary
push to private investment in infrastructure, making LAC the world’s primary recipient in
2002 and 2009 (Figure 5.5).
16,000

14,000

10,000
Millions US$

8,000

6,000

4,000

2,000

1995 2002 2009

East Asia & Pacific Sub-saharian Africa South Asia
Europe & Central Asia Latin America & Caribbean Middle East& North Africa

Figure 5.4 Official Development Assistance in agriculture & infrastructure by area, in 1995,
2002 and 2009. Source: OECD (2012)

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60,000

50,000

40,000
Millions US$

30,000

20,000

10,000

0
1995 2002 2009

East Asia & Pacific Sub-saharian Africa South Asia

Europe & Central Asia Latin America & Caribbean Middle East& North Africa

Figure 5.5 Private participation in infrastructure by area in 1995, 2002 and 2009. Source:
PPIAF (2013), World Bank (2012)

5.3 Trends of trade in the L AC re gion

LAC has historically established a trade model characterized by intensive goods exports,
particularly associated with the region’s natural resources (land, minerals, oil and water)
and the import of capital-intensive goods and knowledge. While it plays a modest role in
world market (10–12%) in recent years some growth has been reported although this is
largely due to the increased value of commodities (UNEP, 2010) (Table 5.3).

Table 5.3 Participation of LAC in world agricultural trade in dollar terms

1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010

Agricultural commodities 9.50% 13.58% 11.43% 13.90% 16.29% 16.51% 18.10%

Food commodities 8.40% 9.44% 7.04% 7.98% 9.22% 10.37% 11.55%

Source: WTO (2012)

LAC’s trade model has been strengthened by the trend towards an increased integration
of the countries with the rest of the world. Indeed, the international integration of the
region, especially in South America, is determined by a pattern where natural resources
are seen to account for over half of total exports. These are minerals, hydrocarbons
(notably natural gas and oil), agricultural, livestock, forestry and fishery products with little
or no processing (UNEP, 2010).
Approximately 54% of the region’s exports are raw materials. However, there are
important sub-regional differences such as Mexico which shows a pattern of exports
strongly linked to manufacturing (about 74%). Thus, excluding Mexico, of the remaining

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Latin American exports, almost 73% are commodities based on natural resources. In some
countries, exports of primary goods exceed 95% of total exports (UNEP, 2010).
A dependence on a few products is also observed. In effect, the ten principal export
products of most countries are mining and agricultural goods. At the regional level, the
main products exported are crude oil and its derivates (UNEP, 2010).
In the last twenty years (1992–2012), international trade has been conditioned by
economic opening based on minimizing the presence of the government through the
liberalization of trade forces ( Washington Consensus, Williamson, 1990). These policies
are considered key tools for development and opening national trade to international
competition and elimination of regulations associated with international trade. This has
resulted in trade agreements between the countries of the region and has allowed for
an open regional market under competitive conditions that promotes trade growth. This
situation is clearly shown in the graphs in Figure 5.6.
The composition of exports and imports amongst agricultural and mining products and
other merchandises has been quite stable between 1992 and 2011. Agricultural and
mining products represented a maximum share of exports of 38% in 1992 and a minimum
of 31% in 2001. In terms of imports, 10% were agricultural and mining products in 2011
and 5.8% in 1991 (Inter-America Development Bank, 2012).
Figure 5.7 provides the breakup of agricultural and mining goods exports in 2000,
2005 and 2011 to different world regions. In 2000, North America was the main
importer of goods from the three regions of LAC (South America, Central America and the
Caribbean). In 2011, Central American and Caribbean exports were still concentrated
on North America, but exports from South America were destined primarily to East Asia
and the Pacific, followed by the EU and LAC, with North America being the fourth largest
importing region.
China and other countries in Southeast Asia are the main importers of Latin American
commodities such as copper or soybean. The increasing demand for inputs from emerging
economies like India and China has had a noticeable impact on the region’s exports.
Consumption in Asia, and particularly in China, explains the continued commercial
importance of extracting natural resources. In 2007 goods imported from Latin America
and the Caribbean were mainly soybean (grain and oil), followed by copper ore (gross
and concentrate), copper alloys, fish meal, leather and paper pulp (UNEP, 2010). South
American major exports were to East Asia and the Pacific in 2011, whereas Caribbean
and Central American major trading partners were in North America. Internal regional
trade in LAC’s reduced in percentage terms from 2000 to 2011.
The agro-industry has also witnessed strong growth in the region due to increased
global demand and international prices for both agro-foods and raw materials to produce
biofuels. Agricultural production is being reshaped by an expansion of oilseeds, especially
soybean, while there is stagnation in some grains and a reduction in other more traditional
products such as coffee and cocoa. There is also an increase in sales of meat, i.e. beef,
pork, and poultry, that creates additional demand for grain for animal feed (UNEP, 2010).

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EXPORTS FROM LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

450,000
400,000
350,000
Millions US$

300,000
250,000
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2008
2007

2010
2009

2011
CAN Caribbean Central America
MERCOSUR Rest South America Total South America

IMPORTS FROM LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

200,000
180,000
160,000
140,000
Millions US$

120,000
100,000
80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000
0
1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011
Figure 5.6 Value of CANimports and exports of agricultural
Caribbean Central Americaand mining
Mexico commodities of LAC
between 1992 and 2011 MERCOSUR
expressed Rest South America
in nominal Total South
US dollars. America
Source: Inter-America Develop-
ment Bank (2012) Note: CAN (Andean Community of Nations): Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador
and Peru. Caribbean: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Dominican Repu-
blic, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago. Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras,
Nicaragua, Panama, El Salvador. MERCOSUR (Southern Common Market): Argentina, Brazil,
Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela. Rest of South America: Chile, Guyana, Suriname.Total South
American (CAN, MERCOSUR, Rest South America): Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile,
Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela.

At least ten countries – Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala,

Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay and Peru – produce biofuels, and four countries export
biofuels produced from their own crops with Brazil being the largest exporter. There
are smaller sales from Bolivia and Guatemala and, recently, from Argentina. However,
programmes are underway in almost all countries and so the list of producers is constantly
increasing (ibid.).

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EXPORTS LAC IN 2000

Other Regions

Southern Asia

Rest Europe & Central America Asia

North America

Middle East & Northen Africa

Latin America & Caribbean

European Union

Eastern Asia & Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

EXPORTS LAC IN 2005

Other Regions

Southern Asia

Rest Europe & Central America Asia

North America

Middle East & Northen Africa

Latin America & Caribbean

European Union

Easterm Asia & Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

EXPORTS LAC IN 2011

Other Regions

Southern Asia

Rest Europe & Central America Asia

North America

Middle East & Northen Africa

Latin America & Caribbean

European Union

Easterm Asia & Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

South America Central America Caribbean

Figure 5.7 Breakup of exports from Latin America and the Caribbean to different world
regions in 2000, 2005 and 2011 (%). Source: Inter-America Development Bank (2012)

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5.4 Main drivers of L AC’s incre asing globalization

and trade
5. 4.1 Abundant water and land resources
LAC has the greatest agricultural land and water availability per capita in the world.
With 15% of the world’s land, it receives 29% of precipitation and has 33% of available
renewable resources (Mejía, 2010). In 2007, LAC had about 10.8% of the world’s
cultivated land, but its growth has lagged behind other regions and the world in general
since 1961. Annual growth of LAC’s cultivated land between 1961 and 1997 was
1.62% against 4.49% globally, and between 1997 and 2007 annual growth was
0.71% in LAC and 3.04% in the world (Deininger, 2011). This suggests that the expansion
of the agricultural frontier has grown at a slower pace in LAC than in other continents.
As Chapter 3 explains, the proportion of primary sector activity devoted to agricultural
production in LAC remains below the global average despite the net positive deforestation
trend.
However, agricultural export growth in LAC has been the result of the expansion of
land rather than yields (Deininger, 2011), since most exports come from areas in which
yields are at their maximum with little or no yield gaps (Deininger, 2011; Foley et al.,
2011). Chapter 10 shows that there are countries in LAC where yield gaps are still
significant, and output from cultivated land can still be improved.

5. 4.2 Conse quences of liberalization and dismantling of

tarif fs, other trade barriers and the role of Fre e Trade
Agre ements
LAC exports represent 6% of world trade (18% of agricultural products), but are affected
by 30% of measures of border protection (Giordano, 2012). However, tariffs have been
reduced in the region, and freights costs have become more relevant. Tariffs range from
7% in Nicaragua and almost 0% in the Caribbean states, whereas freight costs range
from 18% in Ecuador to 7% in Antigua and Barbuda, and between 10% and 15% in most
South American countries. Upon the collapse of the third WTO Ministerial Conference of
Seattle in 1999 and the standstill of the Doha Round, most LAC countries have adopted
free trade agreements (bilateral/plurilateral) in order to pursue export growth and
diversification (Dingemans and Ross, 2012).
According to the Information System on Foreign Trade of the Organization of American
States (OAS, 2012), there are 111 trade agreements active that involve one or more of
the eleven countries with the largest trade volume and population in the region3 (sixty-three
Free-Trade Agreements (FTA) and forty-eight Preferential Trade Agreements (PTA)) with 241
worldwide trade partners (countries).

3 Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela.

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FTAs are presented as a key policy and economic tool to achieve economic growth
and integration. However, the long-term results of these agreements are not wholly positive.
Indeed, according to an analysis of the intensive and extensive economics margins,4 the
FTAs have focused on the formalization of existing trade links within natural existing markets,
without seeing any real incentive in order to achieve the diversification of production,
markets and trade for the region. This situation is clearly shown in Figures 5.8 to 5.10.
For instance, Figure 5.10 shows that the large majority of exports have been in the form of
increased exports to an already existing market (Intensive Trade Margin). As Dingemans
and Ross (2012) conclude, FTAs have not accomplished significant diversification in
LAC’s exports, despite the significant growth exports shown in Figure 5.8.
30

25

20
Number of agreement

15

10

0
Argentina

Bolivia

Brasil

Chile

Colombia

Ecuador

Mexico

Paraguay

Perú

Uruguay

Freetrade agreement (FTA) Preferential trade agreement (PTA) Total trade agreement (PTA) Venezuela

Figure 5.8 Trade agreements in the LA region. Source: Dingemans and Ross (2012)
60

50
Number of trade partners

40

30

20

10

0
Argentina

Bolivia

Brasil

Chile

Colombia

Ecuador

Mexico

Paraguay

Perú

Uruguay

Venezuela

Freetrade agreement Preferential trade agreement Total trade Partners

(FTA) (By Countries) (PTA) (By Countries) (By Countries)
Figure 5.9 Trade partners in the LA region. Source: Dingemans and Ross (2012)

4 Intensive margin is the increase of trade with the same products and with the same partners, and extensive
margin is the increase of trade of new products with new partners (Brenton et al., 2009).

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120

100

80
Percentage

60

40

20

0
Argentina

Bolivia

Brasil

Chile

Colombia

Ecuador

Mexico

Paraguay

Perú

Uruguay

Venezuela
Intensive trade margins (%) Intensive trade margins lb (%)
Extensive trade margins Ia (%) Extensive trade margins II (%)

Figure 5.10 Changes in extensive and intensive trade margins in the LA region. Source:
Dingemans and Ross (2012). Note: Intensive trade margin: expansion of export of a product to
an existing market; Intensive Trade Margin Ib, increase of exports to a new market; Intensive Trade
Margin Ia, export of a new product to an existing market; Extensive Trade Margin II, increased
export of a new product to a new market.

5. 4.3 Incre asing competitiveness

For many products, LAC exports have been fostered by increasing competitiveness
against many other trading partners. In terms of commodity prices and competitiveness,
for instance, soybean in Brazil is more efficient than in the US. Annual yield growth in
LAC has surpassed others: 2.9% in 1987–2007 and 3.6% 1997–2007, versus 2.1%
and 2.2% relative to the world (Bruinsma, 2009). Chapter 10 provides a more detailed
overview of trends of agricultural yields for the main products and most of LAC’s countries.

5. 4. 4 Me at demand in emerging countries

More affluent populations have tended to diversify diets towards animal food items which
require several multiples of water per calorie of dietary energy. The consumption of calories
has also increased significantly in the last four decades in many developing countries. For
example, meat demand (including demand for beef, meat, eggs and dairy products) or
calorie consumption has grown in the Chinese diet from less than 100kcal/capita/day
to more than 600kcal/capita/day between 1961 and early 2003. All of this increase
in calorie consumption requires large amounts of grain and fodder (as extensive pastures
are relevant for changes in land use) to feed livestock. In addition to calories, meeting
growing meat demand requires supplementary production of protein crops for feed. The

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SETTING THE SCENE

main growth of protein crop production has been obtained from soybean cultivation, and
a significant part of it from soybean produced in Argentina and Brazil.
China alone may account for 43% of additional meat demand worldwide in 2020
compared to 1997, placing higher demand on world water resources and upward
pressure on commodity prices in the longer term. But meat demand has also grown in
the EU and many other countries. The population of EU27 grew by 20% between 1961
and 2007, whereas consumption of animal protein increased by 80% (Westhoek et al.,
2011). It is worth noting that these are the main trading partners of LAC and hence any
proposed change in trade patterns should bear this in mind.
Since 2000 there has been a massive change in the composition of the middle
class in many world regions. There are various sources to define middle class. With the
International Futures model middle-class membership is defined as per capita household
expenditures of US$10–50 per day at PPP (power purchasing parity). Goldman Sachs
used a comparable GDP per capita of US$6,000–30,000 per year, which yields a
similar estimate of 1.2 billion middle-class people in the world in 2010 (NIC, 2012).
While in this year, the US, EU and Japan made up 70% of the world’s middle class, in
2030 this percentage will shrink to 30%. Except for India, which will make up 25% of
the middle class in 2030, in the other growing regions, increased meat consumption
is associated with increased affluence. LAC is one of the world’s main producers of
vegetable protein required to feed the animals, particularly in Argentina and Brazil.

5. 4.5 Biof uel use in the EU and US

The expansion of biofuel production and consumption in the EU and US has resulted in
significant and sustained pressure on agricultural markets worldwide. World biofuel produc-
tion increased by a factor of five between 2001 and 2011, reaching 100hm3 /year.
About one-third of corn production in the US is used to produce bioethanol. The literature
disagrees on the impact of biofuels during the surge of prices between 2007 and 2008. In
quantifying the impact of biofuel production on price variability, Mueller et al. (2012) quote
sources varying between 3% and 30% (Von Braun, 2008), reaching up to 70% (Mitchell,
2008, who included the indirect consequences on stocks, large use shifts, and speculative
activity).
Other evaluations found impacts of 60–70% price increase in corn and 40% in soybeans
(Headey and Fan, 2008). About 2% of the world production of grains is used for ethanol
production, representing about 14 million hectares in the US, EU, Brazil and China. Rose-
grant et al., (2008) found that biofuels were responsible of 30% of the food price increases.
Perhaps the most significant effect of the use of biofuels comes from the impact of prices
rather than needs of agricultural land, which is expected to grow from 30 to 60 million
hectares (Ajanovic, 2011). Pressures to keep on producing more biofuels will grow in the
future, to such an extent that oil prices will also grow, in turn further pushing up commodity
prices.
However, this prognosis may change if the shale gas expansion in the US were to
generate an excess capacity of up to 8 billion barrels, making the OPEC (Organization of

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the Petroleum Exporting Countries) lose control of oil prices (NIC, 2012). With a breakeven
price as low as US$44–68 per barrel, world energy markets may see profound transforma-
tions in the upcoming decades, including a reduction of first-generation biofuels.

5.5 Issues of concern

In view of the previously presented data and facts, we have identified five issues of
concern for LAC, concerning; (1) implications of trade on water use and access; (2) unre-
gulated access to agricultural land from foreign countries (land-grab); (3) the role of trade
on the world’s food system); (4) the potential impact of trade on the poor in LAC; and (5)
whether trade may hamper the equitable access to land and water resources.

5.5.1 Implications of trade on water use and access

World trade patterns are extremely dynamic and unstable. Specialization, technology
adoption and market prices volatility and growth have given rise to fundamental changes
in agricultural production and trade worldwide and in LAC. Building on the pioneering
analyses of virtual water trade (VWT) (Hoekstra and Chapagain, 2008), a recent litera-
ture strand has been analysing trend connections, with a view to observe patterns and
draw relevant conclusions for the world’s food system today and in the coming decades.
Trade connections have been evaluated in physical units (tonnes, monetary units and
virtual water), but recently the focus has been placed on the analysis of the networks’
formation, stability and configuration. The role of LAC in the world’s trade has been
presented in Part 3, but Chapter 7 reviews the most recent literature, which offers conflic-
ting views of the role of virtual water trade.

5.5.2 Is land-grab a source of concern for L AC?

Based on the assessment of Rulli et al. (2013), land grabbing is a global phenomenon,
which involves at least sixty-two grabbed countries and forty-one grabbers. Africa and
Asia account for 47% and 33% of the global grabbed area, respectively. About 90% of
the grabbed area is located in twenty-four countries, which includes Argentina, Australia,
Brazil and Uruguay, among non-African and non-Asian countries. The grabbed area is
often a non-negligible fraction of the country area (up to 19.6% in Uruguay, 17.2% in the
Philippines, or 6.9% in Sierra Leone). The countries that are most active in land grabbing
are located in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Europe, and North America.
A key feature of the Latin American case is its intra-regional land grabbing driven by
(trans) Latina companies (TLCs). These are companies that involve mainly national capital,
as in the case of many Chilean companies, or alliance with companies from different
countries in the region, or, finally, alliances of Latino firms with capital from outside the
region (Borras et al., 2011). Another particular feature of Latin America is that land
grabbing occurs in settings marked by more or less liberal-democratic political conditions,
such as those of Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina; not necessarily in fragile states marked
by weak governance as is generally believed (ibid.).

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However, land-grabbing is a concept that requires finer analyses and conceptualiza-

tion. The cases of grabbed Latin American countries seem to be closer to foreign direct
investments than to actually grabbed land (see Zetland and Möller-Gulland, 2013, for
a systematic analysis of land taken as grab or as foreign direct investment). Argentina,
Brazil, and other countries are passing legislation in place to control foreign investments
to control land grab. Much of the ongoing problem is also related with the land tenure.

5.5.3 Does incre ase d world fo od demand pose risks for

sustainable land and water use in Latin America?
In comparison with other regions, LAC is the region with the greatest land and water
resources per capita. As mentioned earlier, the increase of agricultural production has
been primarily in terms of land expansion, and less in terms of increased yields. The
region’s low penetration of irrigation and relatively low utilization rates of fertilizers suggest
that agricultural sustainable intensification must be developed in the region, before it
can close the gap with North America, Western Europe and South and Southeast Asia
(Mueller et al., 2012).
Foley et al. (2011) claim that there are significant opportunities to increase yields
across many parts of Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe, where nutrient and water
limitations seem to be strongest. Better deployment of existing crop varieties with improved
management should be able to close many yield gaps, while continued improvements in
crop genetics will probably increase potential yields into the future. Pfister et al. (2011)
show that in LAC the ratio of water and land stress (Relevant for Environmental Deficiency)
are clearly less than 1 (being land stress greater than water) in most production regions,
except in Chile, Mexico, Peru and northeast Brazil. And yet, the main exporter areas
in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico have yields close to their potential ceiling. This
means that agricultural expansion will have to occur in Central America and the Andean
region, where intensification still has a lot of potential.
Most serious concerns about continuing agricultural expansion in LAC are related to
the reduction of regional and global ecosystem services, chief among these are CO2
emissions, regulation of the water cycle and biodiversity losses. This is elaborated to a
much greater extent in Chapter 3.

5.5. 4 Do trade and globalization benefit the poor in L AC?

Trade-poverty linkages are complex and diverse, but according to economic theory and
empirical findings, they can be divided into a few important pathways: (a) trade-induced
growth; (b) effects of trade on prices, income and consumption patterns; (c) effects of
trade on wages and employment.
Trade generally stimulates growth since more open markets lead to access to new
technologies and appropriate intermediate and capital goods, which in turn cause
increases in production, scale economies and competitiveness. The economy specializes
in industries in which it has comparative advantages, meaning that resources are allocated

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most efficiently (Edwards, 1993; Duncan and Quang, 2002). This is especially important
in the agricultural sector, as in LAC a large portion of the poor live in rural areas. If more
open agricultural trade generates growth in this sector, it is likely that the rural poor
will benefit (Bakhshoodeh and Zibaei, 2007; Cain et al.,2010; Cervantes-Godoy and
Dewbre, 2010). Some empirical studies underpin the trade-growth nexus in LAC; for
example, Castilho et al., (2012) studied the impact of globalization on household income
inequality and poverty using detailed microdata across Brazilian states from 1987 to
2005. Results suggest that trade liberalization contributes to growth in poverty and
inequality in urban areas and may be linked to reductions in inequality (possibly poverty) in
rural areas. Edwards (1998) analyses comparative data for ninety-three countries, among
them ten LAC, and finds that trade openness favours growth and that capital accumulation
plays an important role in reducing poverty. Dollar (2005), however, counters that those
countries being increasingly integrated into world markets are those where poverty has
increased most since the 1980s.
We investigated this relationship in five LAC countries between the mid 1990s of the
past century and 2010. Figure 5.11 shows that there is a correlation between the degree
of trade openness and GDP growth in the agricultural sector. However, results seem to be
very side-specific, depending on each country’s development level and on whether it has
a net importing or exporting position in agriculture. It seems that in Mexico the correlation
between economic growth and trade openness is weak, while Chile even shows a
negative correlation. Mexico is a large net importer with comparative advantages in other
sectors due to its scarce natural resource endowments. Therefore, open trade in agriculture
might not enforce growth in this sector. Chile’s is rather shifting away from agriculture,
because it is already a developed country in comparison with the other four. Especially in
Peru, agricultural trade openness seems to favour GDP growth in agriculture.
Secondly, trade affects agricultural prices and relative prices in an economy, and in
turn the real income of poor households, since agriculture represents their main livelihood
source and their main consumption expenditure. To what degree price changes transmit
to poor household’s income depends on market access and their ability to benefit from the
trade environment. Hassine et al. (2010) and Taylor et al. (2010) find that lower tariffs
reduce nominal incomes for nearly all rural household groups in El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras and Nicaragua, but they also lower consumption costs substantially leading to
a positive net effect on rural households’ welfare. Field and Field (2010) and Finot et al.
(2011) came to the conclusion that tariff reductions in Chile and Peru between 1994 and
2006 increased total household incomes.
We investigate the relationship between trade openness and income of the 10%
poorest population group in five LAC countries. Figure 5.12 shows that the direct effect
of liberalizing agricultural markets on the development of the income of the poor is rather
small, with the strongest correlation within a 95% confidence interval in Chile and Peru.
Both countries have been increasingly exporting high value products and importing lower
value staple food. The results show that the poor have probably benefited from these
market-driven changes in the sector of agriculture.

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SETTING THE SCENE

Argentina Brazil
80,000
110,000
60,000 100,000

40,000 90,000

20,000 80,000
70,000
0
0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2

Mexico Peru
60,000
18,000
Agricultural GDP in million US$

55,000 16,000

14,000
50,000
12,000

45,000 10,000
0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

Chile
13,000
12,000
11,000
10,000
9,000
8,000
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 95% CI Fitted values GDP

Trade openness indicator lagged 2 years

Figure 5.11 Trade and agricultural growth nexus in five LAC countries (1995–2010). Source:
own elaboration, data from WBDI (2012) and FAO (2013a)

Thirdly, the impact of trade on wages and employment is grounded in the Heckscher-
Ohlin model. With labour as an input factor, developing countries will specialize in the
production of labour-intensive products which boosts demand for labour and in turn leads
to higher wages in these sectors and thus poverty reduction. One of the reasons why
agricultural trade liberalization is so important for poverty alleviation is that low-skilled
workers in rural areas will benefit through production responses. For example Bussolo et
al. (2011) found that the losses and gains in agricultural wages exhibit strong regional
patterns: real wages of unskilled farmers rose in Latin America, the Middle East, and East
Asia and Pacific, while declining in other developing regions.
Due to missing data, a direct analysis between agricultural trade and wages would
not deliver reliable results. Thus we directly view a possible connection between agri-
cultural trade liberalization and poverty rates in five LAC countries (Peru, Mexico, Chile,
Argentina and Brazil). Figure 5.13 shows a clear trend between more liberalized trade
and declining poverty rates.

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Argentina Brazil

4.5 3.4
3.3
4
3.0
3.5

3 2.8
Income of the poorest decile in deflated local currency units

1.5
0
-0.4 -0.2 0.0 0.2 -0.8 -0.7 -0.6 -0.5

Mexico Peru
6.0 4.2
4.0
5.5 3.8

3.6
5.0
3.4
4.5 3.2
-0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0.0 -0.1 -0.9 -0.8 -0.7 -0.6 -0.5

Chile
10.2

10.0

9.8

9.6

-1 -0.5 0 0.5 95% CI Fitted values GDP

Trade openness indicator lagged 1 year

Figure 5.12 Trade and income of the poorest decile in five LAC countries (1996–2010).
Source: own elaboration, data from WBDI (2012) and SEDLAC (2012)
4.5
Chile
% of people below poverty line (in logarithm)

Peru
4.0 Peru Peru
Peru Peru
Peru Mexico
Peru Peru
Peru Mexico Argentina
Argentina
Brazil
Brazil
Brazil Brazil
Brazil Peru Mexico
Brazil
Brazil Mexico
Peru Mexico
Peru Peru Mexico
3.5 Mexico Argentina
Mexico
Brazil Mexico Mexico
Mexico
Mexico
Brazil Mexico
Argentina
Mexico Argentina
Brazil
Chile Argentina
ArgentinaChileChile
ArgentinaChile Argentina
Chile
3.0
Argentina
Chile
Argentina
Argentina
Chile
Argentina
Chile
2.5 Chile Chile

- 1.0 - 0.5 0.0 0.5

Trade openness lagged 2 periods (in logarithm)
95% CI Fitted values Poverty rate
Figure 5.13 Trade and poverty rates in five LAC countries (1996–2010). Source: own elabo-
ration, data from WBDI (2012) and SEDLAC (2012).
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SETTING THE SCENE

5.5.5 Do incre asing trade and globalization impair or

hamper the e quitable access to resources (land and
water)?
There are conflicting views about the role of trade regulations over water use. Gawel and
Bernsen (2011) advise not to look at water footprint differences to support international
trade regulations. The need for water governance at the global scale results from growing
concerns over, firstly, water security in many parts of the world, and secondly, whether the
existing commodity market system can deliver security as well as the necessary stewardship
of water resources (Allan, 2011; Sojamo et al., 2012). Even if international trade
presently involves products for which a significant part of the production is water-intensive,
and virtual water flows are mainly subordinated to world trade rules, the policy linkages
between international trade and impacts on freshwater have rarely been analysed. Chico
et al. (2014) discuss options to improve global water governance through trade.
It is well known that water is seldom the dominant factor determining trade in water-
intensive commodities. Many factors influence virtual water trade, such as direct or indirect
subsidies, availability of land, labour, technology, level of socio-economic development,
national food policies and international trade agreements (Aldaya et al., 2010; Rogers
and Ramirez-Vallejo, 2011). Currently, virtual water flows are mainly subordinated to world
trade rules (Hoekstra et al., 2011). The European Single Market and WTO frameworks
are potentially suited to address the link between international trade and sustainable
water use. Hoekstra et al. (2011) identifies several mechanisms to better ensure that
trade and sustainable water use go hand in hand, such as product transparency or an
international water pricing protocol. Trade will never contribute to optimal production
and trade outcomes, from a water perspective, as long as water remains so underpriced
(ibid.). There is a need to arrive at a global agreement on water pricing structures that
cover the full cost of water use, including investment costs, operational and maintenance
costs, a water scarcity rent and the cost of negative externalities of water use. Without an
international treaty on proper water pricing it is unlikely that a globally efficient pattern of
water use will ever be achieved. However, finding a harmonized water pricing mechanism
may be so elusive that second-best solutions may be more feasible.
More recently, the WTO has started looking at the trade interventions that can
influence water-related policies on either the production side (irrigation subsidies) or the
consumption side (water footprint labelling) (Jackson et al., 2014). More work is needed to
clarify key concepts and to enhance transparency in order to have a more comprehensive
understanding of the ways in which these rules alter water resource outcomes.
Even if it is not yet widely recognized, the private sector has also a vital role to play
in ensuring food-water security. Food supply chains operate beneath a complex pact
between the state and the market. The agents in these food supply chains – mainly
farmers – determine whether food-water is managed sustainably and securely (Allan,
2011; Sojamo et al., 2012).

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Water and food security is today much more related to economic capacity and trade,
than to physical water scarcity. Knowledge about the virtual water flows entering and
leaving a country can cast a completely new light on the actual water scarcity of a
country. This shift in perception forces a reconsideration of what are the main problems of
food security, away from pure physical scarcity and technological fixes. The main issues
that have to be addressed globally in relation to food security are: the hidden monopolies
that currently exist in the WTO, the potential threat of political embargoes and the need
for domestic social changes to be fulfilled.

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 6
TRACKING PROGRESS AND LINKS
BETWEEN WATER AND FOOD SECURITY
IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

Authors:
Bárbara Willaarts, Water Observatory – Botín Foundation, and CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
Alberto Garrido, Water Observatory – Botín Foundation, and CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
Bárbara Soriano, CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
Marcela Molano, CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
Olga Fedorova, CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
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Highlights

• The concepts of water security (WS) and Food Nutritional Security (FNS) have evolved
from narrow and well-defined goals of guaranteeing citizens’ access to sufficient water
and food resources into much broader concepts, embracing health, sustainability,
efficiency and social equity aspects. Such wide visions go beyond the physical
availability or productive value of water and food, and testify to its importance as key
elements to human well-being.

• During the last decade, significant progress has been achieved across many Latin
American and Caribbean (LAC) countries on essential WS fronts, such as improving
access to drinking water and sanitation, reducing social vulnerability to water hazards
and water use efficiency. These achievements have contributed to improving health,
physical protection and material needs, but important challenges remain. Water
pollution is now one of the most important water security threats to LAC and requires
greater attention at all levels.

• Efforts to improve basic WS goals are still needed in most countries, particularly
in the low income countries of the Caribbean, Mesoamerica and Andean regions.
Wealthier countries such as Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Brazil or Uruguay have higher
WS standards, although physical water scarcity is becoming a growing problem,
particularly in som of these countries.

• As with WS, most countries in LAC have improved basic food security indicators,
predominantly in terms of food availability and access. However, the food crisis of
2007–2009 slowed down progress or even worsened some indicators for a few
countries like Haiti, Paraguay and Guyana. Others like Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru,
Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador have made significant progress,
but still have a considerable gap to bridge.

• The most important challenge in LAC regarding food and nutritional security (FNS) is to
overcome malnutrition rather than a physical lack of food. Currently, there are still 49
million people undernourished (8% of LAC population), but obesity now affects 20% of
the LAC population (> 110 million people) and overweight up to 35% (> 200 million
people).

• Between 2000 and 2010 WS and FNS indicators have progressed more rapidly
and consistently in the wealthiest half of LAC countries. Progress among the poorest
countries has been more erratic, inconsistent and inadequate. Per capita income is
a good predictor of the levels of WS and FNS standards but there is considerable
variation of performance amongst countries with similar incomes. This suggests that
setting the right priorities and implementing the right policies can make a difference.

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6.1 Introduction
The concept of security has long been understood as a country’s safety faced with external
aggression (e.g. wars or conflicts) and the defence of national interests in foreign policies
(UNDP, 1994). Yet, human security has a much wider interpretation as it is focused
on improving human well-being within countries, beyond defending strategic interests
between nations. As the 1994 Human Development Report states ‘Human security is
concerned with how people live in societies, how freely they exercise their many choices,
what access do they have to material well-being, and whether they live in a climate of
political stability and peace’ (ibid.). Because of the many dimensions included in the notion
of human well-being, different security branches have emerged since the early 1990s,
including food and nutritional security (FNS), water security (WS) and/or environmental
security (ES).
WS and FNS are particularly concerned with those issues surrounding water and
food, e.g. access, availability, quality and stability, which are critical to human well-
being. Both securities imply that people have sufficient and stable access to food, enjoy
a healthy diet, have access to drinking water and improved sanitation facilities and are
physically protected from water hazards, among many other aspects. Not being deprived
of these conditions is also a necessary condition for living a dignified life and being
morally resilient. The future prospects of a foetus, a new-born or a child are to a great
extent conditioned on the mother’s and the household’s material well-being. A child with
adequate access to drinking water, sanitation and food security will have a better chance
of surviving and progressing to a mature age. Further, being physically protected against
natural disasters and diseases are fundamental conditions for human security and societal
resilience.
The extent to which a country is water and food secure depends on the physical
environment but predominantly it is the level of poverty and the constrained socio-
economic context that really dictates their degree (Grey and Sadoff, 2007). As Allan
(2013) states ‘(...) poverty determines water poverty: water poverty does not determine
poverty’ (p. 2) When both these circumstances are aligned, harsh natural conditions and
widespread poverty, options to improve water and food gaps are rather complex. In
Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), water and land resources are for the most part
abundant, and what lies behind existing water and food insecurities is the prevailing
poverty (OECD, 2013a). While LAC is on good track to meet many of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) ahead of 2015, poverty and inequality are still widespread
in the region, and basic indicators of human material well-being remain below minimum
standards. Currently, LAC still has 49 million undernourished people, 33 million lacking
access to an improved clean water source and 20 million still practice open defecation
(FAO, 2012a; WHO-UNICEF, 2013). In addition to this, the region also faces serious
nutritional problems, with 20% of the population being obese (equivalent to over 110
million people) and 13.5% of pre-school children with stunted growth (FAO, 2012b;
Finucane et al., 2011; Onis et al., 2011).

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Improving WS and FNS within countries requires a wide range of different policies, as
well as a clear definition of priorities based on their socio-political and economic statuses.
However, in spite of these differences, there are also numerous interrelated aspects of
water and food within countries that call for a joint analysis, since both securities are
inextricably linked. Currently, 95% of the water consumed in LAC is used for producing
food (Mekonnen and Hoekstra, 2011); therefore improving FNS inevitably requires having
secure access to sufficient and stable water resources. Also, other important components
of FNS in LAC like food safety, acceptable cooking conditions and personal hygiene
require a minimum set of water quality standards to be in place. The importance of water
for food production is what led Allan (2013) to distinguish between ‘food-water’, i.e.
90% to 95% of total water consumption which is invested in agricultural production, and
‘non-food water’, i.e. the remaining 5% to 10% of water resources needed to sustain all
the other economic activities beyond agriculture.
The aim of this chapter is to explore the progress achieved in WS and FNS in
LAC countries during the last decade, outline the main challenges ahead and assess
the relevance of the food-water security link in this region. Accordingly, this chapter is
organized as follows: Section 6.2 provides a conceptual discussion of the concepts of
WS and FNS, reviewing how these two concepts have been defined and refined over
time by different authors and institutions; Section 6.3 quantitatively synthesizes the trends
and progress of both securities over the last decade; Section 6.4 assesses the links
between both securities outlining the different synergies found in the LAC context; and
lastly, Section 6.5 includes some final remarks.

6.2 Evolving conce pts of water and food securit y

6.2 .1 Water securit y: conce pt and metrics
The concept of WS was introduced in the early 1990s and it has evolved significantly
ever since (Cook and Bakker, 2012; López-Gunn et al., 2012). Originally WS was
approached from a physical perspective, linked to the idea of national security, and the
threat that physical water scarcity and conflicts-over-water could represent for neighbouring
countries (Starr, 1992). Under this framework, WS was closely linked to the goal of
ensuring sufficient water resources and guaranteeing access in order to maintain political
stability within and outside national borders.
Over time, the concept has further evolved to include other economic, social and
environmental aspects of water important to human well-being beyond its physical
availability. These include protection against water hazards, safeguarding human health,
maintenance of healthy aquatic ecosystems as well as cultural and spiritual values linked
to water (see Table 6.1). One of the most recent definitions proposed by UN-Water
(2013) defines WS as ‘the capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to
adequate quantities of acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-

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being, and socio-economic development, for ensuring protection against water-borne

pollution and water-related disasters, and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace
and political stability’ (p.2).
The increasing use of this concept raises fundamental questions for water policy,
including whether or not it overlaps or aligns with IWRM (see Chapter 15). As Cook
and Bakker (2012) argue, both approaches are complementary since water security is
focused on the end goal (being water secure) whereas IWRM is process-orientated (the
path and steps required to become water secure).

Table 6.1 Human well-being dimensions considered under different approaches to water security

Grey and Sadoff

GLOBAL WATER

UNESCO IHE
PARTNERSHIP

UN WATER
(1992)

(2000)

(2007)

(2010)

(2013)
Starr
DIMENSIONS

Access to drinking water and sanitation

Protection from water hazards
Ecosystem protection (water quality and quantity)
Adequate livelihoods (e.g. health, material goods, education)
Preserve non-material aspects of water (e.g. cultural and
ethical values)
Maintain peace and political stability (e.g. transboundary
water cooperation, public participation, etc.)

Source: own elaboration

Improving WS of LAC citizens will require a pool of measures, including hard-path

solutions, i.e. technological responses based on infrastructure development, as well as
soft-path solutions, i.e. an institutional response including legal framework development
and enforcement, greater transparency or economic instruments to improve water
management. The type of measures as well as the implementation sequence will largely
depend on the socio-economic context and the degree of development within countries,
above any favourable hydrological condition. Foremost because improving WS and
reducing people’s vulnerability to water risks largely relies on the capacity of nations to
make investments and develop infrastructures and policy tools (Grey and Sadoff, 2007;
Allan, 2013).
Nevertheless, having a favourable hydrological situation is an advantageous factor to
become more water secure. As described in Chapter 2, LAC is extremely well endowed in
terms of water resources; however, it also has a high hydro-climatic variability (e.g. floods
and droughts linked to the El Niño and La Niña phenomena). Such inherent variability
often affects the most vulnerable and poorest, but also LAC’s richest countries, such as
Chile or Mexico. In fact, droughts in Chile represent a major water risk since they are

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highly frequent in the centre-north part of the country, where the majority of the population
lives and most agriculture takes place (UNESCO, 2010).
An inherent characteristic of countries’ WS is that it is a scale-dependent goal (Cook
and Bakker, 2012). In fact, national WS assessments can mask significant variations
compared to those performed at the more regional or local scale (Vörösmarty et al., 2010).
Moreover, WS goals are likely to change over time, depending on the priorities countries
have at a given time or stage of development. For instance, in Europe conventional
approaches to water management have for a long time prioritized the need for building
infrastructures and attending to the increasing demands of competing users. However,
the goal of the current European water policy i.e. the Water Framework Directive (WFD
2000/60/EC) represents a radical shift with respect to this previous approach since it
considers environmental sustainability of aquatic ecosystems as a priority to ensure WS
in Europe.
The benefits gained by LAC countries when improving their WS and reducing their
water risk to tolerable levels entail inevitable trade-offs, e.g. guaranteeing water access to
big urban areas requires the constructions of dams, and even large inter-transfer schemes,
which often have large social and environmental implications. However, some of these
trade-offs are avoidable, such as reducing water pollution, and these will depend to a
larger extent on the priorities defined by governments. The path followed by developed
regions such as Europe to achieve WS has brought about serious environmental
degradation, and yet there is no full understanding of the costs and the actions needed
to reverse this problem despite ongoing efforts. Hence, developing countries striving for
WS would need to make large investments in water management and infrastructure at all
levels, but they can benefit from the experience gained in regions like Europe of the need
to pay greater attention to institutional development, environment sustainability and social
inclusion to avoid unintended and avoidable costs.
In order to keep track of regional progress in WS, a number of operational frameworks
have been developed over the last few years (see Figure 6.1). The overall purpose of
these frameworks is to determine whether countries or regions are on the right path to
increase resilience to water risks and what are the main challenges. As Figure 6.1 shows,
the majority of existing operational frameworks propose a different set of indicators
to measure the hydrological status within countries (resource physical availability and
environmental status), as well as the use and access of water from a socio-economic
perspective (access, sanitation and economic water efficiency). The existence of water
institutions to ensure WS stability is barely considered under these frameworks, partly
because of the lack of robust metrics to measure institutional progress, and also because
of the difficulty of quantifying what is good governance. Neither the risks related to water
hazards, nor those associated with natural disasters, are explicitly considered in most of
the cases despite the importance they have in regions like LAC.

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- Total actual renewable

water resources - Domenstic consumption
- Irrigated agriculture
AVAILABILITY
- Relative water stress
- Social resources water stress - Industrial water use
- Agricultural water stress

USE
- Human water stress
- Consumptive water losses
- Water storage per capita
- Economic water
- Water quality productivity

- People reporting erosion

ENVIRONMENT
- Non-native fishes
ACCESS

- Access to sanitation - Access to pipped water - Freshwater species - Fishing pressure

- Access to irrigation - Flow disrruptions
- Access to improved drinking coverage - River fragmentation
water - Wetland disconectivity

- Flood mortality risk - IWRM plans - Transboundary

VARIABILITY & RISK

- International conventions agreements

GOVERNANCE
- Water storage capacity

UN (2013) Mason and Calow (2012)

Vorosomarty et al. (2010) Sullivan et al. (2003)

Figure 6.1 Indicators and operational frameworks for measuring water security. Source:
Own elaboration based on UN (2013), Mason and Calow (2012), Sullivan et al. (2003) and
Vörösmarty et al. (2010)

6.2 .2 Fo od and nutritional securit y: concepts and dimensions

Similarly to the WS concept, the notions of FNS have evolved significantly in the last sixty
years. Table 6.2 synthesizes the major milestones of the concept since the 1940s.
The notion of food security has generated tremendous attention in the last years, and
it is now a well-established concept. According to FAO (1998) food security (FS) exists
when (a) all people at (b) all times have (c) both physical and (d) economic access to
sufficient food to (e) meet their dietary needs for (f) a productive and healthy life. Often,
FS is framed in four dimensions: availability, access, stability and utilization.
According to FAO (1998):

Food insecurity exists when people are undernourished due to the physical
unavailability of food, their lack of social or economic access, and/or inadequate food
utilization. Food insecure people are those individuals whose food intake falls below
their minimum calorie (energy) requirements, as well as those who exhibit physical
symptoms caused by energy and nutrient deficiencies resulting from an inadequate or
unbalanced diet, or from the inability of the body to use food effectively because of
infection or disease. An alternative view would define the concept of food insecurity
as referring only to the consequence of inadequate consumption of nutritional food,
considering the physiological utilization of food by the body as being within the
domain of nutrition and health. Vulnerability refers to the full range of factors that place

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Table 6.2 Evolving definition and scope of the food security concept
FOOD AND NUTRITIONAL SECURITY

1940–1980 Food security and nutrition security (WW II), 43 countries met in Hot Springs, Virginia, 1943
‘Freedom from want’ meaning a secure, adequate and suitable supply of food for ever y man,
woman and child, where ‘secure’ referred to the accessibility, ‘adequate’ referred to the
quantitative sufficiently of the food supply and ‘suitable’ referred to nutrient content.

1980–1990 ‘Concept of entitlement’ Sen (1982). Food problems associated to agricultural production and
food supply, but also with the governing economies and societies.

1940–1980 1996 World Food Summit ‘All people at all times have physical and economic access to
sufficient, safe and nutritional food to meet …’
‘A person is considered nutritionally secure when he/she has a nutritional diet and the food
consumed is biologically utilized… resisting or recovering from disease, pregnancy, lactation
and physical work’ Frankenberger et al. (1997)
Joint use of FS and NS concepts IFPRI, UNICEF and FAO (mid-1990s)

2000–PRESENT Road Map for Scaling-Up Nutrition ‘NS is achieved when secure access to an appropriately
nutritious diet is coupled with a sanitary environment, adequate health services and care, to
ensure a healthy and active life for all household members’ 2010

Weingärter (2010), Food and Nutritional Security is a condition under which adequate food
(quantity, quality, safety, socio-cultural acceptability) is available and accessible for and
satisfactorily utilized by all individuals at all times to live a healthy and happy life.

FAOs ‘FNS is a condition when all people at all times consume food of sufficient quantity and
quality in terms of variety, diversity, nutrient content and safety to meet their dietary needs and
food preferences for an active and healthy life, coupled with a sanitary environment adequate
health and care’ (CFS, 2009)

Source and quotes from: Pangaribowo et al. (2013)

people at risk of becoming food insecure. The degree of vulnerability for an individual,
household or group of persons is determined by their exposure to the risk factors and
their ability to cope with or withstand stressful situations.

Hoddinott (1999) claims that there are 200 definitions and 450 indicators of food
security. As we will review in section 6.3.2 below, dozens of indicators are identified as
having a direct and indirect influence on food security assessments. Less straightforward
and evident are the drivers of food insecurity. Consider one of the factors that have been
mentioned as having a crucial impact on the number of people suffering from hunger or
being vulnerable to food insecurity: agricultural prices levels and volatility. Swinnen and
Squicciarini (2012) found contradictory statements from two leading institutions, FAO and
OXFAM, in relation to the role of agricultural prices in explaining rural poverty and food
insecurity. The difficulty of ascertaining the impact of food prices on food security is due
to the fact that people in poor rural areas are often producers and consumers, a factor
whose complexity escalates as some households could be net buyers under some price
situations and net sellers under others.
Recently, the notion of FS has also been expanded to include nutritional security,
the two now being commonly addressed as ‘Food and Nutritional Security’ (FNS). The
G8 supported the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, which included the
endorsement of the ‘Scaling Up Nutrition movement’ and ‘welcome the commitment

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of African partners to improve the nutritional well-being of their populations, especially

during the critical 1,000 days window from pregnancy to a child’s second birthday’.
This attests to the fact that, while calorie intake may be sufficient to cover body-energy
demands, many other dietary elements are also required, especially for pregnant women
and children, to ensure a healthy life and growth.
And yet, well-known experts still puzzle at the low adoption rates of a number of
crucial habits for health improvement and income generation among the world’s poorest,
e.g. application of fertilizers, use of anti-malaria nets, application of chlorine to drinking
water, vaccinations and routine medical checks to name but a few (Banerjee and Duflo,
2011). Another unresolved query is the increasing prevalence of obesity among the
poorest households in some developed and developing countries alike. Ultimately, having
a healthy diet requires not only sufficient access to food under all FNS dimensions, but also
the willingness to adhere to it and minimum knowledge of its components and sources.
What the above comments may suggest is the following. First, whilst an increase in
agricultural production is fundamental in order to increase FNS, it may not guarantee
it. This is one of the blurring elements of the linkages between water and food security,
in the sense that more water (or land) available for agriculture does not necessarily
improve FNS indices, although increasing agricultural production among the poorest rural
households improves their nutritional outlook. Second, the new approach of FNS places
more emphasis on nutritional aspects than FS, but in order to monitor them there is a need
for data which is much harder to obtain and of which we do not have historical records.
Furthermore, the consequences of reduced FNS could have delayed effects which may
only become evident as children become adolescents and young adults. Third, as this
book shows, virtually all the variables directly related to FNS in the LAC region have been
changing rapidly in the last decade, in the course of which commodities prices have
become very volatile and followed an upward trend (see Chapters 4 and 5). Thus, FNS
performance indicators co-vary with other major drivers; with which it has only an indirect
relationship, meaning causality is almost impossible to establish (see Table 6.5).
As Barrett (2010) mentions, the FNS concept is elusive because a single indicator
cannot summarize its complexity. It is thus necessary to analyse a set of indicators in
order to capture all its relevant dimensions. Some of the existing composite food security
indicators that focus on macro levels are: the FAO Indicator of Undernourishment (FAOIU);
the Global Hunger Index (GHI); the Global Food Security Index (GFSI); the Poverty and
Hunger Index (PHI); the Hunger Reduction Commitment Index (HRCI)). Some indicators that
focus on micro level are the anthropometric indicators (measure nutritional outcomes) and
the medical and biomarkers indicators (measure micronutrient deficiencies) (Pangaribowo
et al., 2013). Many of the different FNS frameworks or compound indicators developed
complement each other because they refer to different critical dimensions of food security
(see Figure 6.2). Dimensions such as access, use and utilization are well represented by
most composite indicators, only stability is clearly under-represented. Pangaribowo et
al. (2013) recommend including two outcome indicators to capture the short-term FNS
stability: per capita food supply variability and food price variability.

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- Inequalitiy in access to AVAILABILITY ACCESS

calories, mean
minimum amount of
calores required
- Level of constitutional - protection
of the right to food or food safety
- Calories available for - Governance net programs
human consumption Expenditure - GDP per capita
and average food - Storage facilities - Acces to financing for farmers
supply (kcal/cap/day) - Infrastructures - Agricultural import tariffs
- Dependency on food - % of population
aid living on <1
$/day - Food consumption as a % of
total household expenditure
- Net share of energy - Volatility of agricultural
supply derived from food production - Poverty Gap
cereals, roots and tubers - Political stability risk - % of population
- Average supply of protein - Undernourished - Prevalence rate of
derived from animal undernourished people
sources - Depth of food deficit
- Prevalence rate of
stunting for children under - Dietary availability of - Child
- Per capita food supply
5 years vitamin A underweight
- Domestic food price volatility
- Prevalence of - Animal and vegetal iron
underweight among - Protein quality - Child mortality
children under 5 years - National dietary
- Diet diversity score guidelines
- Prevalence of overweight - National nutrition plan
and obesity adults - Nutrition monitoring and
- Prevalence rate of surveillance
anaemia among women - Agency to ensure the
on reproductive age and safety and health of food
children under 5 years - Access to drinking water
- Presence of formal
grocery

UTILIZATION STABILITY
FAOIU GHI GFSI PHI FNSI

Figure 6.2 Existing food and nutrition indicators. Source: own elaboration based on Panga-
ribowo et al. (2013). Note: the FAO Indicator of Undernourishment (FAOIU); the Global Hunger
Index (GHI); the Global Food Security Index (GFSI); the Poverty and Hunger Index (PHI); Food and
Nutrition Security Indicators proposed by EU project ‘Food Secure’ (FNSI).1

6.3 Water and food securit y status and trends in LAC

6.3.1 Water securit y per formance
Table 6.3 summarizes the WS status of LAC countries in 2010 and the progress achieved
since 2000. The framework used in this assessment to measure WS is a mixture of the
ones presented in Figure 6.1. An imposed pre-requisite was to choose only those indica-
tors for which it was possible to track changes over time, as well as selecting a pool of
indicators capable of reflecting the different dimensions involving WS.
In terms of blue water availability (runoff), LAC countries have a privileged status, only
the Caribbean islands of Dominican Republic and Haiti show a total actual renewable
water resources (TARWR) below 3000 m3/cap/yr (Table 6.1). Despite this overall water

1 www.foodsecure.eu/

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richness, physical blue water scarcity exists due to the spatial mismatch between where
water is naturally available and where it is demanded. For instance, more than 75% of
Mexicans live in basins where water consumption is at least twice the volume of water
renewed naturally every year (blue water scarcity index ≥ 2) (see Figure 6.3 and Table
6.3). The northern part of Chile also faces serious blue water stress, with current demand
being three times more than the natural available flow. In the northern part of Argentina
and northeast Brazil, blue water scarcity problems are currently affecting 14% and 13%
of their national populations respectively, and this trend has grown since the year 2000.
Along the Peruvian coast, blue water scarcity is approaching a critical threshold, which
poses an important risk for Peru’s development since the majority of the population and
agricultural activity is concentrated along the coastal basin.
Green water (soil moisture) plays a fundamental role in LAC’s agriculture (see Chapter
7) and it is a key asset for achieving regional and global food-water security. Green water
availability (measured in terms of arable land per capita) in LAC is high (0.26 ha per
capita per year in 2010), and only the Caribbean islands, Costa Rica and Colombia
have lower ratios. These punctual green water shortages are mostly compensated through
regional agricultural trade and do not represent a major water risk for the above mentioned
countries. The most important risk from a food-water security perspective in LAC is related

Popullation (million)
< 25
25−50
50−75
75−106
Blue scarcity index
0.0−0.5
0.6−1.0
1.1−2.0
2.1−3.0
3.1−4.5
No data
N

0 1,000 3,000 km

Figure 6.3 Blue water scarcity and population distribution estimates for 2010 in Latin
America. Source: own elaboration with data from Hoekstra and Mekonnen (2011) and CIESIN-
FAO-CIAT (2005). Note: The blue water scarcity index as defined by Hoekstra and Mekonnen
(2011) is the ratio between the annual blue water consumption and the naturally available runoff
minus the environmental flow requirements.

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to the intra- and inter-annual variability of green water, i.e. the high frequency of droughts
and floods linked to El Niño and La Niña, and the impacts these phenomenon have on
rain-fed agriculture and food security. Alongside this, the high reliance on green water
for food production has associated large environmental trade-offs, since the expansion of
arable land calls for the extension of the agricultural frontier over natural ecosystems (see
Chapter 3).
With regard to access to water, significant improvements have been achieved across
most LAC countries. Approximately 90% of the households in LAC have access to an
improved water source and 76% to sanitation facilities (see Table 6.3). Only Bolivia and
Haiti remain below these rates, particularly regarding sanitation facilities. This positive
trend nevertheless masks an important gap between urban and rural access, particularly
in the Andean region, Brazil and some Mesoamerican countries such as Nicaragua
(see Figure 6.4). According to the latest figures of the Joint Monitoring Program on water
(WHO-UNICEF, 2013) in 2011, 32.7 million people in LAC still have no access to an
improved drinking water source and 21 million still practice open defecation, the majority
of these in rural areas.
Assessing the productive use of water determines nations’ dependency on water
resources for its economic development. Table 6.3 summarizes the trends in green water
productivity. Overall, the majority of countries show a positive increase in the efficiency
of green water use (measured in terms of improvements in rain-fed agricultural yields),
particularly the most important agricultural producers like Chile, Argentina, Brazil and
Paraguay. In Mesoamerica, green water productivity has increased, but to a lesser extent.
Only the countries Dominican Republic and Cuba, together with Belize, have experienced
a reduction in their agricultural yields. These results evidence a progressive decoupling of
agricultural growth from agricultural area expansion, which is a positive sign to increase
food-water security. Regarding blue water efficiency use in agriculture, no data exists to
track progress over time, which prevents a detailed analysis. However, as discussed in
Chapter 10 and detailed in Figure 6.5, irrigation efficiency in LAC remains low compared
to the global average (39% of LAC average compared to a global efficiency of 56%).
Mesoamerican countries and the Caribbean islands show the lowest rates of irrigation
efficiency.
Concerning the environmental status of aquatic ecosystems, the indicator on freshwater
diversity status shows a clear trend of environmental degradation across the entire region
(see Table 6.3). Countries whose rivers are most degraded include Brazil, Colombia, Peru
and Mexico. Overall, and despite the lack of robustness of this indicator, it seems clear that
averting environmental degradation and reduced water quality is probably the next most
important challenge LAC needs to face in order to avoid unintended environmental but
also social and economic side effects. Figure 6.6 shows the trends in public investments in
LAC countries on water resources management. Since 2000 a large fraction of the public
investments in LAC (either as Official Development Aid (ODA) or as Other Official Flows
(OOF)) have been directed to mixed projects of water supply and sanitation. Wastewater
treatment investments still represent less than 1% of total public investments.

154
Table 6.3 Water security progress between 2000 and 2010 in LAC
AVAILABILITY ACCESS UTILIZATION STATUS RISK GOVERNANCE

Freshwater Flood risk Index (% State

Total Actual Green water % Pop with (Green water)
% Pop. living in % Pop with biodiversity population recognition on Water Laws
Renewable water availability access to an Arable productivity
water scarce access to (1) (number of threaten affected by water the human right (national
resources (TARWR, (ha of arable land improved water (ton/ha/yr) (4)
(1) basin (1) sanitation (2) floods, storms and to water and laws)
m³/cap./yr) /cap/yr) source species) (3)
landslides) sanitation

COUNTRY 2000 2010 2000 2010 2000 2010 2000 2011 2000 2011 2000 2010 2000 2008 2000 2010 2000 2010 2000 2010

Brazil 45,920 41.886 12 12 0.33 0.31 93 98 75 79 2.6 3.6 70 737 <1 <1 no yes 1 3
Guyana 326,558 318.783 <1 <1 0.61 0.56 89 94 79 84 2.6 2.8 3 23 2 14 yes yes no data no data
Suriname 254,167 230.624 <1 <1 0.12 0.11 89 92 81 83 2.5 2.8 2 16 <1 3 no data no data no data no data

AMAZONIAN
Bolivia 71,990 61.707 <1 <1 0.36 0.38 79 88 37 27 1.5 2.0 23 57 <1 <1 no yes 1 1
Ecuador 33,242 28.938 <1 <1 0.11 0.11 84 94 81 92 1.6 2.4 no data no data <1 <1 yes yes 1 2
Peru 71,974 65.068 <1 <1 0.14 0.13 80 85 63 71 2.6 3.1 45 118 <1 <1 yes yes 1 1

ANDEAN
Colombia 51,901 45.432 <1 <1 0.07 0.04 91 92 73 78 2.7 3.3 148 229 <1 <1 no yes 1 2
Venezuela 48,787 41.886 <1 <1 0.11 0.10 92 no data 89 no data 3.0 3.1 43 101 <1 <1 no yes 0 2
Belize 70,532 58.333 <1 <1 0.26 0.20 85 98 83 90 2.6 2.5 9 25 14 6 no data no data no data no data
Costa Rica 27,529 45.432 <1 <1 0.05 0.04 95 97 91 95 2.5 2.6 31 69 3 <1 no yes no data no data
El Salvador 4,213 4.052 <1 <1 0.11 0.11 83 88 61 87 2.1 2.7 4 19 <1 <1 yes yes 1 1
Guatemala 9,432 7.542 <1 <1 0.12 0.10 87 92 71 78 1.8 2.1 34 73 <1 <1 no yes 0 1
Honduras 14,809 12.370 <1 <1 0.17 0.13 81 87 65 77 1.3 1.5 27 56 4 <1 no yes 0 2

MESOAMERICA
Mexico 4,455 3.983 77 78 0.25 0.22 89 96 75 85 2.8 3.5 205 335 <1 <1 yes yes 1 2
Nicaragua 37,663 33.492 <1 <1 0,38 0.33 80 85 48 52 1.5 1.7 6 26 3 <1 yes yes 2 3
Panama 48,224 41.445 <1 <1 0.19 0.16 90 94 65 69 1.5 1.7 no data no data <1 <1 yes yes 1 2
Argentina 21,616 19.968 13 14 0.76 0.77 96 99 92 90 3.3 4.2 40 86 <1 <1 yes yes 1 1
Chile 58,414 84.483 62 63 0.11 0.07 95 96 92 96 4.4 6.0 7 57 <1 <1 yes yes 6 6
Paraguay 60,337 51.157 <1 <1 0.57 0.59 74 86 58 71 2.0 2.8 9 27 1 <1 no yes 1 2

SOUTH CONE
Uruguay 41,805 41.124 <1 <1 0.42 0.56 98 100 97 100 2.9 3.6 10 27 <1 <1 yes yes no data no data
Cuba 3,411 3.387 no data no data 0.32 0.32 91 94 87 91 2.1 1.8 16 35 <1 4 no no no data no data
Dom. Republic 2,370 2.088 no data no data 0.07 0.09 86 82 78 83 2.8 2.3 no data no data 2 <1 no no 1 1

CARIBBEAN
Haiti 1,580 1.386 no data no data 0.10 0.11 62 69 23 17 0.8 0.9 no data no data 2 <1 no yes 1 1

LAC weighted average 34,917 32.465 22 23 0.28 0.26 90 90 75 76 2.6 3.3 34 65 3 3 no yes 1 2

Improvement above the regional average growth Improvement below the regional average growth Deterioration or no improvement No risky change

Source: own elaboration using data from EM-DAT (2013), FAO (2013b; 2013c; 2013d), Hoekstra and Mekonnen (2011), IUCN
(2013), World Bank (2013) and WHO-UNICEF (2013)
1 Data for 2000 represent an average for the values of 1999-2001, whereas data for 2010 represent also an average for values of 2008–2010.
2 The inventory of freshwater threatened species was for the first time conducted in 2004 and updated in 2008.
3 State recognition of the human right to water and sanitation acknowledged in national constitutions, laws or policies.
4 Includes national or regional water legislation, laws on natural resources with a specific section on water, domestic supply legislation and specific
groundwater law in selected LAC countries.
PA R T 2 :
SETTING THE SCENE

URBAN RURAL

Drinking Water Coverage 2011 (%)

Less than 75
75−85
86−95
96−100
Unsufficient data
No data

Sanitation Coverage 2011 (%)

Less than 60
60−75
75−90
90−100
Unsufficient data
No data

Figure 6.4. Percentage of population with access to drinking water and sanita-
tion coverage in urnban (left) and rural (right) areas in LAC. Source: own elaboration
based on data from WHO-UNICEF (2013).
60
50
Irrigation efficiency (%)

40
30

20
10
0
Chile
Brazil
Mexico
Argentina

Guyana

Suriname
Bolivia
Ecuador

Colombia
Venezuela

Peru
Nicaragua

Uruguay
Dominicanan Rep.
Cuba
Belize

El Salvador
Guatemala

Honduras
Panama
Haiti

Paraguay

Costa Rica

Figure 6.5 Irrigation efficiency (measured in terms of water requirement ratios) for Latin
American countries, average for the period 1990–2012. Source: FAO (2013a)

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The high hydro-climatic variability across many LAC countries represents an important
water risk. Floods and droughts have large impacts on WS and FNS as they have large
social and economic implications. As Table 6.3 shows, the social impacts of floods
(measured in terms of the percentage of the population affected) are relatively low (<3%)
for the entire LAC, but in countries like Belize, Guyana or Cuba they have larger impacts.
Figure 6.7 summarizes the economic impacts attributed to natural hazards in LAC since
1980. Even though variability is a constant over time, economic impacts related to water
hazards are still high, for instance in 2010 they peaked to almost 2 % of LAC’s GDP.
These trends shows that the region’s vulnerability to water hazards is still high, and may
not subside, in relative terms, as more growth is seen in terms of infrastructures, the
economy, population density and the concentration of said population, thus increasing
exposure to these risks (Berz, 1999; Mills, 2009).
5,000

4,000
Current US$ (millions)

3,000

2,000

1,000

0
2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Wastewater Treatment Supply and sanitation Policy support Educational Protection

Figure 6.6 Allocation of public investments in water supply and sanitation in LAC, 2000–
2010. Source: based on data from OECD (2013b).

6
2.5
Economic losses (%annual GDP)

5
2.0
GDP (billion US$)

4
1.5
3
1.0
2

0.5 1

0 0
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2012

Figure 6.7 Economic losses (expressed in % of annual GDP, bars) attributed to water-related
hazards (storms, floods and droughts) and GDP evolution (in USD, line) in Latin America and
the Caribbean, 1980–2012. Source: EM-DAT (2013) and World Bank (2013)

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Good governance and the development of a basic legal framework is a pre-requisite

for ensuring countries’ WS in the long run (Cook and Bakker, 2012). Several countries
such as Costa Rica have made significant progress towards WS despite lacking a national
water act. Nevertheless, the existence of a basic legal framework should facilitate the
road to improve WS within countries. The recognition of water as a human right, either
in their constitutions or under different legislations, and the number of existing water laws
(national or regional water acts, groundwater, urban water supply) were used here as
a proxy-indicator to ascertain the extent to which legal baseline conditions are in place
in LAC countries to reach WS goals and minimize water risks (see Chapter 11). As
Table 6.3 shows, water governance overall seems to have progressed substantially more
than some WS goals. There is a close correlation between progress achieved in water
access and sanitation and the development of legal frameworks. However, these legal
frameworks have not been effective at reducing other important water risks associated
with increased water pollution and vulnerability to hydro-meteorological events, probably
because policy goals were mostly oriented towards securing access to citizens.
The above results can be summarized into two major trends. First, government priorities
to improve WS (mostly those concerned with securing access and sanitation) have been
effective and remarkable progress has been accomplished. Still, greater efforts are
required among the low- and middle-income countries of Mesoamerica and Andean
region (see Figure 6.8). The second trend is that upcoming water challenges will most
likely require addressing the growing water pollution problem, particularly in megacities,
because of the high threat such a trend could represent for LAC’s development.

Availability Access Use

Status Risk Governance

Water Security Status

Above LAC average
In line with LAC average
Below LAC average
No data
N

0 1,850 7,400 km

Figure 6.8 Water security performance in LAC countries. Source: own elaboration based on
the data from Table 6.3.

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6.3.2 Food securit y indicators in L AC

In this section we review a selection of food and nutritional indicators across LAC countries
in order to track progress in FNS during the period 2000–2010. As with WS indicators,
only those available for the majority of LAC countries and for which it was possible to track
temporal changes were considered in this analysis. The selected indicators are shown in
Table 6.4.
Table 6.4 Food and nutritional security indicators selected to assess Food and Nutritional
Security (FNS) performance in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)

DIMENSION INDICATOR UNITS

AVAILABILITY Per capita total amount of net calories available in a given country kcal/person/day
Average supply of protein derived from animal resources g/cap/day

ACCESSIBILITY Prevalence rate of undernourished people % of population

Depth of food deficit (how many calories would be needed to lift kcal/person/day
the undernourished from their status)

UTILIZATION Prevalence rate of stunting for children under five years old (height-for-age %
< two standard deviations of the WHO Child Growth Standards Median)
Body Mass Index [BMI < 18.5 Low BMI (chronic energy deficiency)/ BMI kg/m²
> 25 Overweight]

STABILITY Per capita food supply variability (Variability of the net food production %
value between 2004 and 2006 in constant $ divided by the population
from UN 2010 estimates.)
Cereal import dependency (Cereal imports/(cereal production+cereal %
import-cereal export)

Source: FAO (2012c)

Table 6.5 reports the progress of the indicators between 2000 and 2010. The
indicators that show the best performance in LAC are those related to availability and
access. ‘Energy supply’ improved in most countries and in those where it worsened,
only slight reductions were experienced. Among these, Paraguay has the lowest levels
and worsened over the specified time period. Ecuador, Guatemala and Haiti stood at
fewer than 2,500 kcal/cap in 2010. Also, availability of ‘energy from animal protein’
improved in most countries. It ranges from 63 grams of protein per capita per day
in Argentina to 9 in Haiti. It is below 30 in Belize, Bolivia, Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti,
Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, El Salvador and Suriname. In addition to Haiti’s
low score, the availability of animal protein is also particularly low in Nicaragua and
Guatemala (19), although 35% higher than in 2000. It decreased in Paraguay (reaching
29), Uruguay and Argentina, but in these last two it is still above the regional average.
Overall it is interesting to note that food availability has improved the most among
the Andean and Mesoamerican countries and the Caribbean. All Andean countries
have improved their availability and access indicators (cells in green). Some countries
have recorded increases higher than the average regional growth in these indicators.
Some examples of this remarkable positive performance are: Peru and Venezuela in the
Andean Region, Dominican Republic in the Caribbean and Nicaragua, Panama and

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Honduras in the Mesoamerican region. Although this last region has exhibited significant
growth, the case of Guatemala ought to be highlighted. In this country the prevalence
of undernourishment ratio is still above 20%. Nicaragua has reduced this indicator from
37.5% to 22.7%, but still this percentage is notably high. Paraguay has seen all of its
availability and access indicators go down between 2000 and 2010.
Food access indicators such as ‘prevalence rate of undernourished people’ and
‘depth of food deficit’ behaved well in the region. However, a few countries (Argentina,
Costa Rica, Guatemala, Paraguay, El Salvador, and Uruguay) worsened in one or the
other. Guatemala and Paraguay experienced significant worsening indicators. But Peru,
Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and Venezuela improved significantly. The depth of food
deficit was still above 150 kcal in Guatemala, Haiti and Nicaragua in 2010.
Trends for food utilization vary across the LAC region. The prevalence of stunting for
children under five has improved in most of the cases, except in Guyana, Dominican
Republic and Haiti. Although the largest improvements were concentrated among Andean
countries, these countries still have a high percentage of children likely to have stunted
growth (more than 20% of children under five years old). For the year 2010, Bolivia,
Ecuador and Peru also displayed this ratio above 20%. Considering the relative number
of stunted children under five, in 2010 the prevalence rate was 8.2% in Argentina, 7.1%
in Brazil, 12.7% in Colombia, 15.5% in Mexico, and 28.2% in Peru, to mention only the
most populous countries.
Regarding food, stability indicators vary across the region. In terms of stability, the
indicator ‘variability of food supply’ exhibits a mixed performance in the region. Some
countries reduced it significantly, mainly in the Mesoamerican region (Belize, Costa
Rica, Nicaragua and Panama) and in the Andes (Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru). Others
saw it worsened, including Chile, Paraguay, and Brazil. Most of the countries show a
greater cereal imports dependency ratio in 2010 than in 2000, predominantly among
Mesoamerican and Caribbean countries where it ranges from 12% in Paraguay to more
than 100% in Haiti.
The role of international trade as a means of achieving improved food security has
been at the centre of numerous discussions, both in the academic world and at the top
international political arena because of the 2007–2009 food price crises. The G202
wrote:

(1). Under the Food Security pillar of the Seoul Multi-year Action Plan on
Development, the G20 request that FAO, IFAD, IMF, OECD, UNCTAD, WFP, the
World Bank and the WTO work with key stakeholders to develop options for G20
consideration on how to better mitigate and manage the risks associated with the
price volatility of food and other agriculture commodities, without distorting market
behaviour, ultimately to protect the most vulnerable. … [This report] has been prepared

2 G20 Agricultural Ministers agreed in June 2011 on an ‘Action Plan on food price volatility and agriculture’,
www.g20-g8.com/g8-g20/g20/english/news/news/declaration-of-the-ministers-of-agriculture.1401.html.

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Table 6.5 Food security progress between 2000 and 2010 in LAC countries
AVAILABILITY ACCESS UTILIZATION STABILITY

CHILDREN UNDER

VARIABILITY FOOD
ANIMAL PROTEIN

DEPTH OF FOOD

CEREAL IMPORTS
PREV. STUNTING
ENERGY SUPPLY

ENERGY FROM
(kcal/cap/day)

(kcal/cap/day)

(kcal/cap/day)
NOURISMENT

DEPENDENCY
INDEX (kg/m²)
FIVE YEARS (%)
PREV. UNDER-
(gr/cap/day)

BODY MASS
(%population)

RATIO (%)
DEFICIT

SUPPLY
COUNTRY 2000 2009
(1) (1)
2000 2009 2000 2010 2000 2010 2000 2010 2000 2008 2000 2010 2000 2010
Brazil
ANDEAN AMAZONIAN

2,882 3,173 40 45 13 8 83 60 14 7 25 26 18 18 19 14
Guyana 2,814 2,718 38 31 8 6 52 37 14 18 24 26 46 29 36 34
Suriname 2,457 2,548 24 23 18 13 121 89 15 11 25 27 30 28 34 30
Bolivia 2,121 2,172 23 26 30 26 200 175 33 27 24 27 64 13 29 24
Colombia 2,662 2,717 29 34 13 12 86 82 18 13 24 26 24 21 54 59
Ecuador 2,221 2,267 26 32 20 19 126 124 33 29 25 27 46 19 37 37
Peru 2,379 2,563 21 25 23 14 151 92 31 28 25 26 36 14 46 49
Venezuela 2,484 3,014 34 44 15 5 102 20 17 16 27 27 47 41 54 48
Belize 2,560 2,680 26 26 9 7 52 45 22 26 30 36 30 30 30
Costa Rica 2,825 2,886 36 39 5 5 27 35 9 6 26 26 60 33 87 95
MESOAMERICA

Guatemala 2,096 2,244 14 19 27 30 167 192 50 48 24 27 48 16 45 49

Honduras 2,435 2,694 22 27 17 11 100 60 43 30 25 26 8 16 46 52
Mexico 3,158 3,146 37 42 <5 <5 21 6 22 16 27 29 23 16 35 34
Nicaragua 2,148 2,517 14 19 38 23 265 151 31 23 25 27 43 16 31 39
Panama 2,195 2,606 36 40 25 12 175 79 22 26 27 86 41 64 70
El Salvador 2,561 2,574 18 25 11 12 64 74 29 21 25 28 30 20 47 54
SOUTH CONE

Argentina 3,268 2,918 67 63 <5 <5 7 25 17 8 27 28 54 35 1 0

Chile 2,808 2,908 38 47 <5 <5 31 26 3 2 26 28 20 39 45 52
Paraguay 2,596 2,518 42 29 13 19 85 132 18 18 25 25 12 25 15 12
Uruguay 2,844 2,808 56 39 <5 <5 27 33 14 25 27 43 35 27 16
Antigua & Barbuda 2,155 2,373 49 60 39 21 293 156 48 60 99 99
Bahamas 2,785 2,750 56 57 6 7 42 50 26 29 41 64 99 99
Barbados 2,832 3,021 48 54 <5 <5 32 24 26 28 68 16 109 112
Cuba 3,046 3,258 23 26 <5 <5 21 6 7 25 26 88 111 72 76
Dominica 3,081 3,147 50 54 <5 <5 24 18 35 36 97 98
CARIBBEAN

Dom. Republic 2,322 2,491 23 29 23 16 156 107 8 10 25 26 37 31 76 75

Grenada 2,220 2,456 37 48 31 21 228 156 25 27 45 26 178 129
Haiti 1,931 1,979 8 9 52 45 429 375 28 30 23 23 55 35 58 59
Jamaica 2,729 2,807 36 40 7 9 49 58 7 6 23 27 14 7 101 102
Saint Kitts&Nevis 2,513 2,546 43 43 20 17 143 121 34 54 101 100
Saint Lucia 2,720 2,710 55 54 11 14 74 97 24 27 30 39 100 101
S.Vincent 2,528 2,914 35 48 14 6 99 39 25 27 32 14 178 188
Trinidad & Tobago 2,696 2,751 25 31 13 10 94 73 5 25 29 16 26 111 116

Improvement above the regional average growth Improvement below the regional average growth Deterioration

Source: FAO (2012c)

by the listed organisations, with the addition of IFPRI and the UN HLTF, in response
to the G20 request. (2). The approach taken in this report reflects the view of the
collaborating international organisations that price volatility and its effects on food
security is a complex issue with many dimensions, agricultural and non-agricultural,
short and long-term, with highly differentiated impacts on consumers and producers in
developed and developing countries.

Timmer (2013) indicated that:

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Macro food security refers to a society-wide sense that food is reliably available in
urban markets and that adequate purchasing power is a sufficient condition for accessing
this food. ‘Micro’ food security requires that all households (urban and rural) have access
to sufficient food, but that is only possible when poverty has been eliminated. ‘Macro’
food security is often confused (especially politically) with food self-sufficiency, but
imported food often plays a key role in providing macro food security. (p.12)

Openness and increasing reliance on trade to import food staples is both a necessity
and source of serious concern. Primarily, while 16% of the world’s population today
relies on food imports, Fader et al. (2013) conclude that 50% of the population will
be dependent on imports in 2050 because of land and water constraints, even if food
productivity in these countries reached its maximum potential. The OECD (2013b) reports
that the net agricultural trade of all the developing countries, excluding Brazil, worsened
significantly after the food crisis of 2007–2009.
It has been concluded by numerous authors that the food crisis in 2007–2009
worsened food security indicators in many countries (de Schutter, 2012; and OECD,
2013b). In Table 6.6 it is clear that the rate of improvement of food security indicators
was much slower between 2007–2009 and 2010–2011 than it had been between
1990–1992 and 2007–2009. In some countries, including Colombia, Costa Rica, El
Salvador, Guatemala, and Paraguay the proportion of people that suffered from hunger
increased during the last comparison periods.
Table 6.6 Percentage of people suffering from hunger
CHANGE
BETWEEN 1990−92 BETWEEN 2007−09
1991−92 2007−09 2010−12 AND 2007−09 AND 2010−12
LAC 14.6 8.7 8.3 -5.9 -0.4
Caribbean 28.5 18.6 17.8 -9.9 -0.8
Cuba 11.5 <5 <5
Dominican Rep. 30.4 15.9 15.4 -14.5 -0.5
Haiti 63.5 46.8 44.5 -16.7 -2.3
Latin America 13.6 8.1 7.7 -5.5 -0.4
Argentina <5 <5 <5
Bolivia 34.6 27.5 24.1 -7.1 -3.4
Brasil 14.6 7.8 6.9 -6.8 -0.9
Chile 8.1 <5 <5
Colombia 19.1 12.5 12.6 -6.6 0.1
Costa Rica <5 5.0 6.5 1.5
Ecuador 24.5 19.6 18.3 -4.9 -1.3
El Salvador 15.6 11.3 12.3 -4.3 1.0
Guatemala 16.2 30.2 30.4 14.0 0.2
Honduras 21.4 11.6 9.6 -9.8 -2.0
Mexico <5 <5 <5
Nicaragua 55.1 23.9 20.1 -31.2 -3.8
Panama 22.8 13.1 10.2 -9.7 -2.9
Paraguay 19.7 16.8 25.5 -2.9 8.7
Peru 32.6 15.9 11.2 -16.7 -4.7
Uruguay 7.3 <5 <5
Venezuela 13.5 <5 <5
Improvement above the regional average growth Deterioration
Source: FAO (2012b)

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The case of Paraguay has special relevance for our study. In 2011, it exported 48%
of the soybean production (FAO, 2012b), reaching US$2.23 billion in exports revenues,
44% more than in the period 2009–2010. And yet, food security indicators worsened
significantly in the period of measurement.
In Table 6.7 we report the ratio of imports over national utilization of wheat and maize
in several LAC countries. Note that among the worst performing countries in terms of food
security indicators, all except Paraguay had dependency rates of 99% or 100%.
De Schutter (2012) highlights some of the improvements being achieved in LAC on
implementing the right to food, including: (1) the increased recognition of the right to
food in the constitutions of many countries – rich and poor alike – with the development
of an expansive legal framework on FNS (e.g. Ley Sistema de Seguridad Alimentaria
y Nutricional in Guatemala (2005), Ley de Soberanía y Seguridad Alimentaria in
Ecuador (2006), Ley Orgánica de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional in Brazil (2006),
Ley Orgánica de Seguridad y Soberanía Agroalimentaria in Venezuela (2008), Ley
de Soberanía y Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional in Nicaragua (2009), or Ley de
Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional in Honduras (2011)); and (2) the development of
FNS strategies and plans of action (e.g. the Plan Nacional de Seguridad Alimentaria
2009–2015 of Paraguay, the Política Nacional de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional
of Nicaragua, the Política de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional 2006–2015 of
Table 6.7 External dependencies of wheat and maize in LAC, (average 2007–2008 and
2011/2012)

WHEAT MAIZE

Ratio Imports/ Consumption Ratio Imp/ Consumption

Utilization (kg/cap/yr) Utilization (kg/cap/yr)
Mesoamerica &
Caribbean
Costa Rica 100 50 - -
Dominican Rep 99 29 - -
El Salvador 100 31 38 116
Guatemala 99 34 28 85
Haiti 100 25 - -
Honduras 98 32 40 79
Mexico 54 50 28 144
Nicaragua 100 21 19 57
Panama 100 43 83 24

South America
Bolivia 70 55 - -
Brazil 61 52 - -
Chile 35 114 52 17
Colombia 100 27 38 41
Ecuador 99 35 37 17
Peru 91 57 54 19
Venezuela 96 56 39 49
Uruguay - - 26 32

Source: FAO (2012b)

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Honduras, the Política Nacional de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional 2008 in

Colombia, the Estrategia Nacional de Reduccion de la Desnutrición Crónica 2006–
2016 of Guatemala, the Política Nacional de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional (2003
and 2011) of El Salvador or the Plan Nacional de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional
2009–2015 of Panama). Furthermore, a series of national social programmes also aim
explicitly at combating hunger and food and nutrition insecurity, such as the ‘Fome Zero’ in
Brazil, the ‘Vivir mejor’ in Mexico, ‘Bogotá sin Hambre’ in Colombia, ‘Desnutrición Cero’
in Bolivia, or ‘Hambre más urgente’ in Argentina.
Underlying the general improvement of the LAC region in most FNS indicators, the
other side of the coin of food insecurity and probably the greatest challenge this region
needs to face in relation to malnutrition is obesity. As shown in Table 6.5, most countries’
body mass index indicates worrying levels of overweight (i.e. are above 25 kg/m2).
LAC is the second region in the world, after the US, with the highest percentage of its
population obese or overweight (Finucane et al., 2011). Obesity today affects 20% of
the Latin American population (> 110 million people) and overweight up to 35% ( > 200
million people) (FAO, 2012b). In countries such as Belize, Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina
and Chile obesity affects almost 30% of the countries’ population, whereas in Brazil and
most Andean countries it affects closer to 20% of the population (ibid.). Yet, the highest
rates of overweight and obesity are found in those countries which are at a stage of
nutritional post-transition (FAO, 2010, see also Box 6.1). The underlying reasons behind
this type of food insecurity are diverse and include economic, as well as cultural factors.
As claimed by Cuevas et al. (2009), ‘the increase of overweight and obesity [has] been

Chile
Trinidad & Tobago
Brazil
Argentina
Dominica
Uruguay
Mexico
Venezuela
Colombia
Guyana
Nicaragua
Belize
El Salvador
Bolivia
Ecuador
Haiti
Peru
Honduras
Guatemala

0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Overweight Undernourished

Figure 6.9 Percentage of undernourished and overweight children under five years old
(2000–2009). Source: FAO (2010) using data from Global Health Observatory-WHO 2010

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attributed to lifestyle changes occurring in recent decades related to rapid socioeconomic

development, including a more Westernized diet, physical inactivity, urbanization, rural-
urban migration and some maternal-fetal factors’ (see Box 6.1). Obesity is a serious sign
of malnourishment, stands in contrast to the hunger pandemic and has consequences
for future generations. Countries that have eradicated hunger are those in a stage
of nutritional post-transition and have the highest rates of child obesity. Among them,
Argentina, Uruguay and Chile show obesity rates above 9 % (see Figure 6.9).

Box 6.1 The nutritional transition of emerging

economies: the case of Brazil

Population growth, economic globalization, improving living standards and urbanization

are causing important changes in the global food system in addition to modifying the
dietary habits in many parts of the world (CAWMA, 2007; Godfray et al., 2010). As
countries develop and populations become wealthier, the nutritional transition occurs.
This transition implies a shift away from traditional staple foods such as roots and tuber
vegetables and a rise in the consumption of meat and milk products, refined and
processed foods as well as sugars, oils and fats (Ambler-Edwards et al., 2009).
In Brazil important changes have occurred to the food consumption patterns since
1987 (see Figure 6.10). In absolute terms, food consumption per capita has decreased
over time from 360kg per capita in 1987 to 315kg per capita in 2009. However,
most importantly the composition of the diet has experienced significant changes. In
1987 Brazilians had a balanced diet with an intake of predominantly vegetables, fruits,
cereals and legumes (around 90 per capita per year of each). Rice, native tubers such
as cará, potatoes, beans and tropical fruits like bananas and citruses were fundamental
components of the diet prior to 1990. Animal protein consumption in the late 1980s
was relatively high (> 50kg per person per year), equivalent to the average intake of
richer regions like Europe (≈ 60kg per person per year in 1990) (Westhoek et al.,
2011). However, since 1987 noteworthy changes have taken place in the composition
of the food pyramid. Overall, the intake of vegetables, fruits and dairy products has
decreased significantly (between 36 and 38%), whereas the consumption of processed
food, stimulants and sugary products has experienced a dramatic increase (80%).
Brazilians eat twice as much sugar as they did in 1987, 30% more processed food
and almost 50% more non-alcoholic drinks and mineral water. The largest reduction in
fruit and vegetable consumption is due to the lower intake of citruses and local tubers.
Among the dairy products, the largest reduction is due to the lower intake of milk (from
68 litres per capita in 1987 to 40 litres in 2009). Overall, a nutritional transition in Brazil
occurred in the late 1990s and early 2000s, overlapping with the economic takeoff
of the country. Nevertheless, and compared to the prevailing trend in other developed
regions, diet changes in Brazil have not translated into a greater consumption of animal
protein, simply of food items linked to urban lifestyles.

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Processed food, alcohol, stimulant drinks 39 46 71 74

and sugary products

Meat, fish and eggs 51 53 47 47

82 68 60 53
Dairy products and fats
88 79 91 79
Cereals, legumes and tubers
93 74 55 57
Vegetables and fruits
1987 1995 2003 2009

Figure 6.10 Food consumption pyramids (in consumed kg per capita per year) for Brazilians
during the last two decades. Source: own elaboration based on household survey – Pesquisa
de Ornamentos Familiares: POF – for the years 1987/1988, 1995/1996, 2002/2003 and
2008/2009 (IBGE, 2013).

6.4 Linking water and food securit y in Latin America

The purpose of this final section is to assess whether improvements and progress in water
and food security indicators correlate across countries and to what extent they are inter-
related. As shown in previous sections, economic development to a large extent explains
part of the trends and current status. Therefore, in order to carry out the joint analysis of
water and food security indicators we grouped the countries according to per capita
income (as measured in 2010). The four figures (6.11 to 6.14) all have three panels,
each with the set of countries belonging to the corresponding quartile of per capita
income. Lastly, for each country and panel we present two points, corresponding to the
pairs of selected WS and FS indicators measured in 2000 and 2010. Note that the scale
differs across the three panels of each graph. This way data in this section shows five
dimensions: time, country, per capita income, one WS indicator and one FS indicator.
The following pairs of indicators are plotted in Figures 6.11, 6.12, 6.13 and 6.14:
prevalence of undernourishment (%) against access to improved sanitation (%); prevalence
of stunting in children under five (%) against access to improved sanitation in rural areas
(%); and finally prevalence of stunting in children under five (%) against access to drinking
water (%).

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25 25
2000
20
Undernourished (%)
20 2000 2000
2000
2000 15
15 2000 2010 2010
2000 2000
10
10 2010 2010
2000
2010 5 2000
2010 2010
2010
0 0
60 70 80 90 100 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Improved sanitation all (%) Improved sanitation Rural (%)

15
2000
Stunting children <5y (%)

20 2000 Countries in 1st quartile of GDP per capita

2000
10 2000
2010
201
15 2000
000
0 Argentina
2000 Brazil
10 2010 Chile
2010 Mexico
5 2000
2010
Uruguay
0 Venezuela
60 70 80 90 100
Improved drinking all (%)

Figure 6.11 Three pairs of water and food security indicators measured in 2000 and 2010
(countries of the first quartile of per capita income in 2010). Source: FAO (2010) using data
from Global Health Observatory.

2000
25 25
2000
Stunting children <5y (%)

20
Undernourished (%)

20 2000

2000 15
15 2010
2000
2010 2010 2010
5 2010 2000 2000
2000 2000
2010 2010
0 0
60 70 80 90 100 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Improved sanitation all (%) Improved sanitation Rural (%)

25
Stunting children <5y (%)

2000
20 Countries in 2nd quartile of GDP per capita
2000
2000 Colombia
15
2010 Costa Rica
Cuba
10 2010 2000 Panama
2000 2010 Suriname
0
60 70 80 90 100
Improved drinking all (%)

Figure 6.12 Three pairs of water and food security indicators measured in 2000 and 2010
(countries of the second quartile of per capita income in 2010). Source: FAO (2010) using data
from Global Health Observatory.

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35 35 2000
2000
30 30 2010

Stunting children <5y (%)

2010
Undernourished (%)

25 2000 2000 25
2000 2010
20 2010 20 2010 2010
2010 2010
15 15 2000
0
2000 2000
2010 2000
10 2000 5 002010
2000
20
200
00 0010
2010
0 0
60 70 80 90 100 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Improved sanitation all (%) Improved sanitation Rural (%)

35 2000
2000
30 0 2010
Stunting children <5< (%)

2000 2010
Countries in 3rd quartile of GDP per capita
25
2010 2010
20 Belize
2010
2000
2000
Dominican R.
15
Ecuador
10 2010 Guyana
Peru
0 Venezuela
60 70 80 90 100
Improved drinking all (%)

Figure 6.13 Three pairs of water and food security indicators measured in 2000 and 2010
(countries of the third quartile of per capita income in 2010). Source: FAO (2010) using data
from Global Health Observatory.

50 2000
50 2010
20
2000 2010 2000
40
Stunting children <5y (%)

40 2000
2000
Undernourished (%)

2000
2000
30 30 2010
2000 2010 2010
2000 2010 2010
20 2010 2000
2010 20
2000 2010
2000 2010
10 10

0 0
60 70 80 90 100 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Improved sanitation all (%) Improved sanitation Rural (%)

50 2000
2010
2000
Stunting children <5< (%)

40
2000 Countries in 4th quartile of GDP per capita
2010
30 2010
2000 Bolivia
2000 2010
2000
2010 Guatemala
20
2010 Haiti
Honduras
10 Nicaragua
0 Paraguay
60 70 80 90 100
Improved drinking all (%)

Figure 6.14 Three pairs of water and food security indicators measured in 2000 and 2010
(countries of the fourth quartile of per capita income in 2010). Source: FAO (2010) using data
from Global Health Observatory.

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By examining the Figures 6.11 to 6.14, we can draw the following conclusions.
First, per capita income largely explains the pattern of improvements of the five indicators
represented in these figures. From countries with the highest (Figure 6.11) to the lowest per
capita income (Figure 6.14), the direction and slope of the segments overall become less
homogeneous and more chaotic. In the groups of countries of the two lowest quartiles,
some segments are upwardly sloped, and some hardly show any improvement between
2000 and 2010. Therefore, income growth and per capita income is fundamental for
improving both WS and FS indicators.
Second, the reduction of the prevalence of stunting in children under five is closely
correlated to the improvement of access to sanitation in rural areas. Except for Guyana,
the remaining twenty-two countries exhibit downward sloping segments whose slopes
tend to be similar within groups of countries. This would indicate that improved sanitation
and the reduction of stunting in children evolve in parallel, although causation cannot be
established.
Third, based on the different improvements and base levels of the percentage of
undernourished people and stunted children across groups of countries, it seems clear
that the reduction of undernourishment precedes the reduction of stunting in children. This
would suggest that countries find it easier to reduce undernourishment rates than reducing
the proportion of stunted children. We would thus conclude that ensuring nutritional
security is more complex than simply reducing undernourishment, such as these concepts
are defined by FAO. NS requires more specific programmes, population targets and a
strong focus on pregnant women and children, especially amongst the most vulnerable.
Fourth, improving sanitation is for the most part preceded by improvements in access
to drinking water, especially in rural areas. The consequences of not improving sanitation
infrastructure and delaying its deployment to further stages of economic development
are found in impaired water quality and ecosystems, reduced biodiversity and a greater
prevalence of water-borne diseases.
Last, there is still a huge gap in terms of improving sanitation in the region, especially
in rural areas. The investments required to bridge this gap are reviewed in Chapter 13,
and the institutional challenge is the focus of Chapter 1.

6.5 Final remarks

The overview of a wide range of variables for most LAC countries within a span of a
decade tells three overall stories. First, that the consequences in coping with the problems
of insufficient sanitation have eventually materialized in increasing costs to reverse its
impacts and in moving towards more sustainable economic development. It is true that
the investment needs are, for some countries, overwhelming. For others with growing
economies and rapid poverty alleviation, ensuring proper sanitation in rural areas and
water treatment in both large cities and rural areas should be an affordable priority.

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Second, it seems that common patterns of nutritional transition in the prosperous LAC
countries show growing rates of overweight and obesity. This has worrying negative
effects, in both impaired human health and pathologies, but also in the larger footprints
of the diets that are behind this emerging pandemic. In the case of LAC, the 49 million
people suffering from undernourishment coexist with 110 million obese people, and with
200 million overweight. Only by educating people at the basic level can this trend be
curbed and a worse disaster averted. It is important that the nutritional transition does not
follow this path, but solutions are far from clear.
Last, while the performance in LAC countries of most WS and FNS indicators can
be explained by the relative level of per capita income, there are significant differences
amongst countries even within the same income quartile. National policies are thus crucial
to rapidly improve the situation and reach the poorest and more vulnerable members of
society.

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agenda: a un-water analytical brief. [Online] Available from: www.unwater.org/downloads/
watersecurity_analyticalbrief.pdf [Accessed July, 2013].
Vörösmarty, C.J., McIntyre, P.B., Gessner, M.O., Dudgeon, D., Prusevich, A., Green, P. & Davies,
P.M. (2010). Global threats to human water security and river biodiversity. Nature,467 (7315):
555–561.
Westhoek, H., Rood, T., Van den Berg, M., Janse, J., Nijdam, D., Reudink, M. & Stehfest, E.
(2011). The protein puzzle. The Hague, PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency.
WHO-UNICEF (2013). Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for water supply and sanitation data.
[Online] Available from: www.wssinfo.org/data-estimates/table/ [Accessed July, 2013].
World Bank (2013). World Bank Development Indicators Database. [Online] Available from: data.
worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators [Accessed July, 2013].

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Part 3

Water for food and non-food

 7
WATER AND AGRICULTURE

Coordinator:
Maite M. Aldaya, Water Observatory – Botín Foundation, and Complutense University of Madrid, Spain

Authors:
Erika Zarate, Good Stuff International, Switzerland
Maite M. Aldaya, Water Observatory – Botín Foundation, and Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
Daniel Chico, Water Observatory – Botín Foundation, and CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
Markus Pahlow, Department of Water Engineering & Management, University of Twente, The Netherlands
Insa Flachsbarth, Water Observatory – Botín Foundation, and CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
Gabriela Franco, Departamento de Economía Agraria Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile,Santiago, Chile
Guoping Zhang, Water Footprint Network, The Netherlands
Alberto Garrido, Water Observatory – Botín Foundation, and CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
Julio M. Kuroiwa, Laboratorio Nacional de Hidráulica – Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, Lima, Peru
Julio Cesar Pascale Palhares, Embrapa Cattle Southeast, São Carlos, Brazil
Diego Arévalo Uribe, Water Management and Footprint. Centro de Ciencia y Tecnología de Antioquia, Colombia

Contributors:
Mesfin Mekonnen, University of Twente, The Netherlands
Barbara Soriano, CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
Laurens Thuy, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Luis F. Castro, School of Civil Engineering,Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria, Lima, Peru
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Highlights

• This chapter shows the strong links between water, agriculture and the economy
in Latin America and Caribbean (LAC). Both green and blue water are vital for
LAC’s economies and for its food security. Awareness of LAC’s virtual water trade
volumes and water footprints alone will not solve the local or global water problems.
However, the awareness gained increases the likelihood that optimized water
allocation decisions, which consider the hydrological and economical aspects of
water resources, are made.

• Agriculture is a significant economic sector for many LAC countries with some being
major world players in the agricultural commodities world markets, such is the case
for Brazil and Argentina who contribute to 13% of the global green water export.
At the micro level, agriculture still plays a significant role for the food security of the
population.

• The consumptive water use of agricultural production was on average 1,057Gm3/

yr for the period 1996–2005; of which, 95% corresponds to the green water
footprint, whereas 5% refers to the blue component. This indicates that LAC relies
heavily on green water for agricultural production, i.e. rain-fed agriculture.

• Maize is a fundamental crop in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru, representing
15% of the total agricultural blue and green water footprint (773,408hm3/yr) and
contributing to 35% of the agricultural nitrogen pollution, estimated as grey water
footprint, in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. Only in Mexico,
maize contributes 60% of the agricultural grey water footprint.

• Grazing represents 24% of the total green water footprint of agriculture in these
countries. The blue water consumption by the animal water supply is very significant in
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru, which amounts to 13% (38,825hm3/yr)
of the total consumption.

• Concerning agricultural products, the LAC region was a net exporter of green virtual
water (14Gm3/yr) and a net importer of blue virtual water (16Gm3/yr) during the
period 1996–2005.

• Export-oriented industrial agriculture has become the main driver of South American
deforestation.

• Sustainable water management should not be seen as a barrier for the development
of the region, but rather as the way to develop and grow as a region.

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• Understanding the magnitude of overlap and interactions between poverty,

conservation and macro-economic processes is crucial in order to identify possible
win–win solutions for the LAC region. Access to agricultural water has secondary
effects on poverty through output, employment and prices.

7.1 Introduction
The Latin American and Caribbean region (LAC) as a whole is increasingly becoming
a major source of agricultural commodities for the world market and thus influencing
food security. As such, improving resource management in the region promises to have
important benefits for both the inhabitants of LAC and the world.
Agriculture is essential to food security. However, food production requires substantial
amounts of water, both stored in the soil as soil moisture from rain (green water) and as
water for irrigation (blue water). FAO (2012b) estimated an annual blue water use in LAC
of 262,800hm3/yr. Globally, agriculture is the sector with the largest water withdrawal
by far, with about 70%. This percentage compares to 73%, (192,700hm3/yr) in LAC,
whereas 19% and 9% correspond to the domestic and industrial sectors respectively (ibid.).
The Guyana sub-region (Guyana and Suriname) and Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile,
Paraguay and Uruguay) have the highest level of agricultural water use, with values of
96% and 91% respectively (ibid.). Agriculture is also central to economic growth in LAC.
For the period 2000–2007, it contributed an average of 9.6% to its GDP and exports
of agricultural commodities accounted for 44% of total export value in 2007 (Bovarnick
et al., 2010). Notably the agricultural sector provides employment for about 9% of LAC’s
population (UNEP, 2013).
Globally, a substantial part of the most fertile land is already being used for agriculture.
According to FAO (2012a), much of the remaining arable land is located in LAC and
sub-Saharan Africa, however, it is in remote locations, far from population centres
and agricultural infrastructure, and cannot be converted into productive land without
investments in infrastructure development. In LAC, agricultural production increased by
more than 50 % from 2000 to 2012, with Brazil expanding production by more than
70 %. Most food is produced by rain-fed agriculture in LAC, with 87% of the cropland
being rain-fed (Rockström et al., 2007). The irrigation potential for the region is estimated
at 77.8 million hectares (FAO, 2013), whereas in 2009 the LAC region had 13.5
million hectares of irrigated agriculture. The gap between the irrigation potential and
actually irrigated agriculture is due to increasing costs of construction, limited government
support for large-scale irrigation investments and concerns about the negative social and
environmental impacts of irrigation (UNCTAD, 2011). Most of the regional irrigation
potential (66%) is located in four countries: Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Peru (ibid.).
Figures on irrigation potential usually only take into account climatic conditions and land

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irrigation sustainability, while studies including surface- and groundwater availability are
considered scarce (FAO, 2013).
Water quality deserves as much attention as water quantity. Local and regional
physical water scarcity problems are exacerbated by severe water quality problems in
LAC; leading to the frequent usage of wastewater for irrigation. Many countries in LAC
have been facing increasing challenges in water quality management. The world’s major
water quality issues as identified by United Nations (UN, 2003) are organic pollution,
pathogens, salinity, nitrate, heavy metals, acidification, eutrophication and sediment load
either in surface water bodies or in groundwater.
LAC is relatively well endowed with water resources. However, the spatial and temporal
variability of water, coupled with rapid urbanization and inadequate water governance
is putting considerable pressure on the available water resources (see Chapter 2 and 6
for an analysis of water scarcity in LAC). Ironically, in the water abundant LAC, almost
20% of its nearly 600 million inhabitants do not have access to drinking water, 20% do
not have any kind of access to a sewage system, and less than 30% of the wastewater
receives treatment (Proceso Regional de las Américas, 2012). In addition almost 18
million of children under five suffer from chronic malnutrition (FAO, 2012b). This elevated
distributive inequity is a notable element in the reality of LAC.
This chapter analyses the challenges and opportunities of water management in the
region from the perspective of the agricultural sector. First, water is accounted in terms of
quantity and quality. Virtual water trade in the LAC region is also analysed and, finally, a
productivity analysis is presented taking into account social and economic aspects.

7.2 Methodology and data

In this chapter we use the water footprint (WF) (Hoekstra et al., 2011) to calculate water
consumption. The ‘water footprint’ is a measure of humans’ appropriation of freshwater
resources. Freshwater appropriation is measured in terms of water volume consumed
(evaporated or incorporated into a product) or polluted per unit of time. A water footprint
has three components: green, blue and grey. The blue water footprint refers to consump-
tion of blue water resources (surface and ground water). The green water footprint is the
volume of green water (rainwater stored in the soil as soil moisture) consumed, which is
particularly relevant in crop production. The grey water footprint is an indicator of the
degree of freshwater pollution and is defined as the volume of freshwater that is required
to assimilate the load of pollutants based on existing ambient water quality standards.
In the context of the countries considered, the water footprint accounting is applied
from two perspectives: the water footprint of agricultural production and the water foot-
print of agricultural consumption. The water footprint of agricultural production for a given
country refers to the blue, green and grey water footprints of all the agricultural processes,
that is, crop and livestock production, taking place within the political borders of the
country. The water footprint of agricultural production is equivalent to the agricultural
‘water footprint within the area of the nation’ (Hoekstra et al., 2011), and is defined as

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the total freshwater volume consumed or polluted within the territory of the nation as a
result of activities within the different sectors of the economy, in this case agriculture.
The water footprint of agricultural consumption refers to the quantification of the water
consumed and polluted to produce the agricultural products consumed by the population
of a country. It consists of two components: the internal and external water footprint of
national consumption. The internal water footprint is defined as the use of domestic water
resources to produce goods and services consumed by the population of the country. It is
the sum of the water footprint within the nation minus the volume of virtual-water exported
to other nations through the export of products produced with domestic water resources.
The external water footprint is defined as the volume of water resources used in other
nations to produce goods and services consumed by the population in the nation under
consideration. It is equal to the virtual water import into the nation minus the volume of
virtual water export to other nations as a result of re-export of imported products. The
virtual water export from a nation consists of exported water of domestic origin and
re-exported water of foreign origin. The virtual-water import into a nation will partly be
consumed, thus constituting the external water footprint of national consumption, and may
in part be re-exported (Mekonnen and Hoekstra, 2011).
The grey water footprint data used refer to the nitrogen pollution alone and are based
on Mekonnen and Hoekstra (2011), who estimated the grey water footprint based on
nitrogen leaching-runoff from fertilizer use. The fraction of nitrogen that leaches or runs
off multiplied by the nitrogen application rate represents the load of nitrogen reaching
the surface and subsurface water bodies. Some 10% of the applied nitrogen fertilizer is
assumed to be lost through leaching-runoff. In order to estimate the grey water footprint,
an ambient water quality standard of 10mg/l measured as Nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) was
used, following the guidelines of the US Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA).
The countries analysed in this chapter as LAC correspond to the thirty-three countries
of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) plus Puerto
Rico. Data from other non-sovereign Caribbean islands are included in tables whenever
available.

7.3 Water accounting

7.3.1 Water quantit y
7.3.1.1 Water withdra wal in agriculture
In the majority of the countries of the region, irrigation is seen as an important means to
increase productivity, and enable and intensify crop diversification, an objective of most
agricultural policies of governments in the region (FAO, 2013). Irrigated areas increased
steadily during the 20th century and particularly from the 1950s onwards (ibid.). These
increases are, however, modest in comparison to Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Mexico
has by far the largest irrigated area with over 6.5 million hectares; and Brazil is next with
3.2 million hectares, followed by Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia (UNCTAD, 2011). About

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0.5 million hectares in Brazil are located in the semi-arid northeast region – an area with
the lowest social and economic indicators (Oliviera et al., 2009).
Figures on irrigation water use (non-consumptive) are expressed in cubic metres per
hectare per year, and show certain homogeneity for the whole of South America and the
Greater Antilles, varying between 9,000m3/ha/yr and 12,000m3/ha/yr. Figures for
Mexico are slightly higher, 13,500m3/ha/yr, and for Central America even higher. In
the case of Mexico, the higher value is probably due to its climatic characteristics (higher
potential evapotranspiration), while Central America is dominated by its permanent crops
(banana, sugar cane, etc.) and its high cultivation intensity in temporary crops such as
rice (FAO, 2013).
Concerning the irrigation techniques, surface irrigation is by far the most widespread
irrigation technique in LAC. Table 7.1 presents information on irrigation techniques by
sub-region for the countries in which information was available. It is worth noting the
importance of localized irrigation in the Lesser Antilles (32.1%), where water scarcity and
farm characteristics have induced an extensive utilization of localized irrigation, and in
Brazil (6.1%). Sprinkler irrigation covers significant areas in Cuba (51%), Brazil (35%),
Panama (24%), Jamaica (17%) and Venezuela (16%).
According to FAO (2013), the major source of irrigation water in the region is surface
water, with the exception of Nicaragua and Cuba where groundwater is the source for
respectively 77% and 50% of the area under irrigation.
Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela and Peru have the highest irrigation water
withdrawal (FAO, 2013) and account for 81% of the total irrigation water withdrawal in
the region. It is worth noting that from these six countries, Mexico, Chile and Peru have
the highest levels of water scarcity in the region.

7.3.1.2 Blue and green water consumption of agricultural production

Quantifying actual crop water consumption is crucial to understanding real water needs
for agriculture. The consumptive water use of agricultural production (crops and livestock)
for the LAC region, i.e. the green and blue water footprints of agricultural production,
was on average 1,057Gm3/yr for the period 1996–2005, corresponding to 13.9%
of the global water footprint of agricultural production (Mekonnen and Hoekstra, 2011).
Of these 1,057Gm3, 95% corresponds to the green component of the water footprint,
whereas only 5% corresponds to the blue component. Brazil alone accounts for 42.4%
of the total (green and blue) water footprint in the region, followed by Argentina (17.1%),
Mexico (11.7%), Colombia (4.9%) and Paraguay (3.1%) (Figure 7.1). These five countries
account for 79.2% of the total water footprint of the region. This data points towards two
fundamental issues: (i) LAC relies heavily on green water (95%) for agricultural production,
i.e. rain-fed agriculture; (ii) Brazil and Argentina alone account for 60% of agricultural
water consumption in LAC. This provides an indication of the global significance of these
two countries in terms of agricultural water consumption and virtual water trade.
The total blue water footprint of agricultural production in the region was 50.9Gm3/
yr. In this case, the country with the biggest contribution is Mexico (29.2%), followed by

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Table 7.1 Irrigation techniques in the LAC region

IRRIGATION TECHNIQUES
SUB-REGION SURFACE SPRINKLER LOCALIZED TOTAL
ha % ha % ha % ha
MEXICO 5,802,182 92.7 310,800 5.0 143,050 2.3 6,256,032

CENTRAL AMERICA 418,638 93.0 17,171 3.8 14,272 3.2 450,081

GREATER ANTILLES 746,894 63.6 407,075 34.6 21,256 1.8 1,175,225

LESSER ANTILLES 2,890 53.8 761 14.2 1,725 32.1 5,376

GUYANA SUB-REGION 201,314 100 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 201,314

ANDEAN SUB-REGION 3,379,637 95.6 122,364 3.5 34,536 1.0 3,536,537

BRAZIL 1,688,485 58.8 1,005,606 35.0 176,113 6.1 2,870,204

SOUTH SUB-REGION 3,445,068 95.6 95,730 2.7 62,153 1.7 3,602,951

LAC REGION 15,672,050 86.7 1,960,365 10.8 453,105 2.5 18,097,720(1)

Source: FAO (2013).

1 This is an approximate figure of land under irrigation, which represents the physical area with
irrigation infrastructure. It is not the area that is actually irrigated in a given year. As a global figure
provided by FAO, 80% of the area under irrigation is actually irrigated. Given the problems in
operation, maintenance and rehabilitation of the irrigation districts, it is estimated that the real figure
must be lower (see section 7.1 for estimated numbers of area under irrigation in LAC).

450

400

350

300

250
Gm³/yr

200

150

100

50

0
Brazil

Argentina

Mexico

Colombia

Paraguay

Bolivia

Ecuador

Venezuela

Cuba

Peru

Guatemala

Uruguay

Chile

Dominican Rep.

Honduras

Haiti

Nicaragua

Rest of LAC

Blue WF Green WF

Figure 7.1 Green and blue water footprint (in cubic Gigametres per year) of agricultural
production for the LAC region (average 1996–2005). Source: own elaboration based on data
from Mekonnen and Hoekstra (2011).

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Brazil (23.7%), Argentina (10.0%), Peru (8.4%) and Chile (4.9%). These five countries are
responsible for 76.2% of the total blue water footprint in the LAC region and for 75% of
the total (green and blue) water footprint of the region.
Not surprisingly, countries with fewer available water resources in the areas of
important economic activity, like Mexico, Peru and Chile, rely more on blue water
resources compared to the other countries. Brazil and Argentina occupy together 55% of
the LAC area and therefore contribute with a significant blue water footprint. These five
countries with the greatest blue water footprint of agricultural production, namely Mexico,
Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Chile, together cover 75% of the LAC area.
Figure 7.2 shows the distribution of agricultural green and blue water footprints for
Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Chile, according to their main agricultural uses.

POTATOES Chile
AVOCADOS
98(1%) 92(1%)
SUGAR BEET OTHERS
110(1%) 862(10%)
PEACHES GRAZING
120(1%) 2633(30%) MAIZE
MAIZE 470(19%)
140(2%)
OATS
190(2%) OTHERS
APPLES 598(24%)
230(3%)
GREEN CORN
69(3%)
GRAPES
380(4%)
AVOCADOS
91(4%)
APPLES WHEAT
100(4%) 350(14%)
POTATOES
WHEAT 110(4%) SUGAR
1500(17%) ANIMAL WATER SUPPLY BEET
123(5%) 210(8%)
FODDER CROPS
2400(28%) RICE
180(7%)
OATS
190(8%)

Peru

GRAZING RICE
6640(38%) 750(17%)
OTHERS
2535(14%)
POTATOES OTHERS
290(2%) 849(20%)
SUGAR CANE
350(2%) ASPARAGUS POTATOES
82(2%) 480(11%)
CASSAVA
510(3%) LEMONS/LIMES
WHEAT 100(2%)
560(3%) OTHER TROPICAL
110(3%)
BARLEY ORANGES
610(4%) 110(3%)
FODDER CROPS ANIMAL WATER SUPPLY
760(4%) 188(4%)
PLANTAINS BARLEY
890(5%) 200(5%)
RICE MAIZE
930(5%) 230(5%) SUGAR
MAIZE CANE
COTTON 460(11%)
1400(8%) COFFEE 290(7%)
2100(12%) PLANTAINS
430(10%)

(Figure 7.2 continues in the next page)

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Mexico
COCOA MAIZE
820(1%) 35000(32%)
WHEAT OTHERS WHEAT
1000(1%) 10909(10%) 1700(11%)
MANGOES
1400(1%) OTHERS
COCONUTS 3727(25%)
1800(2%) SUGAR
ORANGES CANE
2000(2%) 1600(11%)
FODDER CROPS
4400(4%)
BEANS, DRY
4900(4%) BANANAS
360(2%)
SUGAR CANE BARLEY
6200(6%) 600(4%) FODDER
SORGHUM MANGOES CROPS
6500(6%) 640(4%) 1300(9%)
COTTON
830(6%)
COFFEE MAIZE
7400(7%) ORANGES
840(6%) 1200(8%)
ANIMAL WATER SUPPLY
995(7%)

SORGHUM
1100(7%)

WHEAT Brazil
6800(2%)
ORANGES
7500(2%) OTHERS
CASSAVA GRAZING 1210(10%)
9400(2%) 132223(31%)
BANANAS RICE
COFFEE 230(2%) 3800(31%)
20000(5%) COFFEE
340(3%)
RICE
20000(5%) CASHEW NUTS
720(6%)
SUGAR CANE
43000(10%) FODDER
CROPS
740(6%)

SUGAR CANE
MAIZE 1900(16%)
58000(14%)

SOYBEANS ANIMAL SUPPLY

82000(19%) 3158(26%)

Argentina
SOYBEANS
51000(29%) ANIMALWATER SUPPLY
733(15%)
OTHERS OTHERS
18342(11%) 1023(20%)
SUNFLOWER SEED OTHERS VEGETABLES
13000(7%) 110(2%) GRAPES
590(12%)
MAIZE OLIVES
16000 (9%) 110(2%)

POTATOES
120(2%)

SOYBEANS
GRAZING 130(3%)
18589(11%)
WHEAT
160(3%)
APPLES SUGAR
200(4%) CANE
WHEAT 540(11%)
25000(14%) OATS
200(4%)
FODDER CROPS
33000(19%) MAIZE
220(4%)
RICE
440(9%)
FODDER CROPS
450(9%)

Figure 7.2 Distribution of the agricultural green and blue water footprint (in cubic hectometres
per year) of Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Chile (average for the years 1996–2005).
Source: own elaboration based on Mekonnen and Hoekstra (2011) and the Water Footprint
Assessment Tool (WFN, 2013b).

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Maize is a fundamental crop in all five countries as shown in Figure 7.2. It represents
15% of the total agricultural (blue and green) water footprint (WF) of these five countries
equivalent to 773,408hm3/yr. Soybean is especially important in Brazil and Argentina,
and accounts for 17% of the total agricultural blue and green WF of these five countries.
Grazing contributes significantly with 24% of the total green WF of agriculture in these
countries. The blue water consumption for the animal water supply in the five countries,
which amounts to 13%, or 8,825hm3/yr, is also noteworthy. In the context of water policy,
being aware of water allocation for livestock is essential when considering food security
for LAC (Box 7.1). Sugar cane is also an important crop for all the above-mentioned
countries except Chile (for climatic reasons), which shows a stronger production of cash
crops such as grapes, apples and avocados. Rice makes up a significant part of the blue
WF for all the countries except Mexico (14% of the total blue WF of the five countries).
Potatoes constitute a very important crop in Peru (Box 7.2).

7.3.1.3 Water fo otprint agricultural products’ consumption:

externalization of the water footprint
The average global water consumption of agricultural products was 1,156m3/capita/
yr (88% green, 12% blue) for the period 1996–2005 (Mekonnen and Hoekstra, 2011).
The equivalent value for the LAC region was 1,473m3/capita/yr (94% green, 6% blue).
Figure 7.3 shows that water footprints range between 3,420m3/capita/yr (98% green,
2% blue) for Bolivia and 833m3/capita/yr (95% green, 5% blue) for Nicaragua. Chile,
Peru, Mexico and Dominican Republic have the highest percentage of blue water in
their water footprints of consumption, with values of 16, 15, 10 and 10% respectively.
Countries with the lowest blue water proportion are Bolivia (2%), and Brazil, Uruguay,
Paraguay and Dominica (3%).
The virtual water import dependency of a nation is defined as the ratio of the external
to the total water footprint of national consumption, whereas the national water self-
sufficiency is defined as the ratio of the internal to the total water footprint of national
consumption. The Lesser Antilles and Mexico have the highest virtual water dependency
in the LAC region. Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago and Bahamas show virtual water
dependencies above 90%, whereas Mexico’s corresponding value is approximately
45%. This means that these countries import most of the virtual water required to cover
the agricultural needs of its population, meaning they have a notable dependency on
external water resources. Chile and Peru, both countries characterized by significant
levels of water scarcity (see Chapter 2), show virtual water import dependencies of 37
and 34% respectively. Conversely, Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil have very low
virtual water import dependency values (2, 3, 9 and 9 % respectively) indicating high
self-sufficiency. This means that these countries use their own available resources to supply
most of the agricultural products consumed by their inhabitants.

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Water footprint of consumption (m³/cap/yr) 3500

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0
Bolivia
Dominica
Uruguay
Grenada
Paraguay
Brazil
Ecuador
Bahamas
Mexico
Barbados
Saint Vicent
Jamaica
Venezuela
Cuba
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Argentina
Trinidad and Tobago
Guyana
Belize
Saint Lucia
Antigua and Barbuds
Dominican Rep.
Colombia
Costa Rica
Panama
Honduras
Haiti
Peru
Chile
Guatemala
El Salvador
Nicaragua
Green WF
Blue WF
Average LAC water consumption of agricultural products (period 1996–2005)
Average global water consumption of agricultural products (period 1996–2005)

Figure 7.3 Water footprint (in cubic metres per inhabitant per year) of the consumption of
agricultural products (green and blue) in the LAC region (average 1996–2005). Source: own
elaboration based on data from Mekonnen and Hoekstra (2011).

Box 7.1 Water footprint of poultr y and swine

production per Brazilian state

Brazil is one of the major producers of animal products in the world and also a large
exporter. The country is rich in water sources, which are mostly located in the Amazon
Basin. Swine and poultry production are concentrated in different regions, mainly in
the south, one of the most urbanized and industrialized parts of the country. Therefore,
studies that aim to calculate the water footprint are extremely important to the society to
inform upon water security, elaborate discussions on the topic and ensure the future of
the production.
We calculated the water footprint of pigs slaughtered in 2008 in south-central
states of Brazil. Calculations considered indirect water consumed in grain production
(corn and soybean), and direct water, drinking and washing water consumed on the
farm. Rio Grande do Sul was the state with the largest water footprint (2,702,000hm3,
99.9% green and 0.09% blue), followed by Santa Catarina (2,401,000hm3, 99.88%
green and 0.12% blue), and Parana (1,089,000hm3, 99.85% green and 0.15%
blue). These are the states where slaughter is practised most. Although, Rio Grande do
Sul is the second in terms of animals slaughtered, its water footprint was the largest due
to dry climatic conditions, which require more water to produce the same amount of
corn and soybean. States with high corn and soybean productivity had a lower ratio of

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water volume consumed per kg of meat, namely Distrito Federal (2.49m3/kg), Parana
(2.53m3/kg), and Goias (2.77m3/kg).
The water footprint of broiler chicken slaughtered in the decade 2000–2010
in each of Brazil’s south-central states was also calculated. Similarly the calculation
considered indirect water, consumed in grain production, and direct water, consumed
on the farm. South states had the largest water footprints and the largest number of
animals slaughtered during the period. The average footprint for Parana in the decade
in question (2000–2010) was 4,334hm3 (99.7% green and 0.3% blue) and Rio
Grande do Sul 4,216hm3 (99.8% green and 0.2% blue). Slaughters increased and/
or remained constant in all states. Annual variation was determined by productivity of
corn and soybeans.
Results show that water management in animal production should not only address
the farm; but also include related agricultural supply chains, where most of the water
consumed is green. Blue and grey water footprints, most notable in the direct water use
of the farm, are also important as they are consumed in watersheds with an increased
potential for water use conflicts (Palhares, 2012).

Box 7.2 Importance of potatoes in the Peruvian diet

Potato (Solanum Toberusum) is a South American tuber that grows in a wide variety of
environments, ranging from cold to temperate climates, and in altitudes ranging from
sea level to 4,700m. It is the fourth most important crop in the world behind rice, wheat
and maize and the third most important in human consumption, feeding more than one
billion people worldwide (CIP, 2010).
FAO (2008) indicates that potatoes are very productive from the nutritional
viewpoint. For each m3 of water applied to potato crops, 5,600 calories are produced.
By comparison, 1m3 of water applied to corn produces 3,800 calories and only 2,000
calories if it is applied to rice. In addition, 1m3 of water applied to potatoes produces
150g of proteins and 540mg of calcium. Therefore, potatoes’ protein content per
cubic metre is more than double that of maize and wheat and offers twice the calcium
provided by wheat and four times that of rice.
The average European consumption is 87.8kg potatoes/year/person. By
comparison, per capita consumption of potatoes per year is 60kg in North America,
13.9kg in Africa, 23.9kg in Oceania and 20.7kg in Latin America, although its
consumption is steadily growing in the latter region (FAO, 2008).
In Latin America, the highest yields are obtained in Argentina (28.7t/ha) and the
lowest yields are obtained in Bolivia (5.6t/ha). In the Andean countries potato cultivation
is mostly in hands of small farmers. Higher yields are related to improved technology,
sufficient water supply and better management.
The Andean population uses productive domesticated species to overcome the
limitations of poor productivity of wild plants, although these do not grow at altitudes

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greater than 4,500m. Solanum jozepozukii and Solanum curtilobum are frost-resistant
potatoes that grow at high elevations where agriculture is practised (Moran, 1982).
An ongoing study (LA-Peru, 2012) indicates that, on average, production of 1kg of
potatoes requires only 469 litres of water. Mekonnen and Hoekstra (2011) provide a
lower global average WF figure of 290litre/kg: 66% related to green, 11% to blue
and 22 % to grey WF. Potato cultivation is concentrated in the mountainous area of
the Andean region and the Pacific Basin. Crops are rain-fed during the wet season
(January–March) and during the rest of the year in which precipitation is negligible,
flood or furrow irrigation is used. In some cases, water is not applied in the last months
of the vegetative period, and the yield is very low (Egúsquiza, 2000). Initial watering
appears to be sufficient to achieve an acceptable growth and even with a low yield
potatoes help to cover part of the basic nutritional needs of poor communities in the
Andean Highlands.
Further population growth and shortage of water resources in some areas in the near
future may force a substantial change in crop cultivation patterns. For instance, rice is
grown in a number of valleys where water is scarce. It might be more advantageous
from the water conservational, nutritional and even economic point of view to grow
potatoes instead. In addition, potato productivity ought to be increased, particularly in
the Andean countries.

7.3.2 Water qualit y

The most well-known effects of agriculture on water quality are due to chemical contamination
by fertilizers and pesticides that accumulate in water sources. Additionally the reuse of
sewage effluent for irrigation, known to transmit a number of pathogens even after secondary
water treatments, can seriously affect the quality of the water used in agriculture. Significant
water pollution due to irrigation has been reported in Barbados, Mexico, Nicaragua,
Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic and Venezuela (Biswas et al., 2006). In addition, the
problem of salinity caused by irrigation is a serious constraint in Argentina, Cuba, Mexico,
and Peru and, to a lesser extent, in the arid regions of northeastern Brazil, north and central
Chile and some small areas of Central America (ibid.).
This section focuses mainly on the agricultural grey water footprint caused by nitrogen
pollution in LAC due to the use of fertilizers. The total of which amounted to 44,412hm3/
yr for the period 1996 to 2005. This value corresponds to 46% of the total grey water
footprint in the region; 96,649hm3/yr including the industrial and domestic sectors (17%
and 37%, respectively). The countries contributing the most to the total agricultural grey
WF of the region are Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru. The total
agricultural grey WF of these six countries was 39,017hm3/yr, corresponding to 88% of
the agricultural grey WF in the LAC region. Brazil and Mexico alone already constitute
61% of the agricultural grey water footprint in the region (and 51% of the LAC area).

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7.3.2 .1 M ost impor tant corps contributing to the grey water

f o otprint in the L AC re gion
Figure 7.4 shows the crops contributing the most to the grey WF for Brazil, Mexico,
Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru.
Argentina Mexico
SORGHUM OTHERS
110(2%) 703(15%) MAIZE
SUNFLOWER SEED WHEAT 6700(60%)
120(3%) 1500(31%)
SUGAR CANE OTHERS
140(3%) 1768(16%)
SOYBEANS COFFEE
280(6%) 210(2%)
ORANGES
300(3%)
FODDER CROPS
390(3%)

BEANS, DRY
FODDER 520(5%)
CROPS
710(15%) WHEAT
580(5%)
MAIZE SUGAR CANE
1200(25%) 660(6%)

Colombia Chile
SUGAR CANE OTHERS FODDER
27(2%) 130(7%) CROPS
COCOA OTHERS 690(25%)
34(2%) 520(19%)
OIL PALM FRUIT
94(5%)
LUPINS
POTATOES 100(4%)
140(7%)
OATS
100(4%)

GRAPES
MAIZE 160(6%)
230(12%)
BEANS, DRY
180(7%)
RICE
330(17%) MAIZE
250(9%)
COFFEE POTATOES
910(48%) 330(12%)
WHEAT
380(14%)

Peru Brazil
RICE MAIZE
230(14%) 4400(30%)
OTHERS
350(21%)
WHEAT
220(13%) OTHERS
2779(19%)
COFFEE
480(3%)
CASSAVA
30(2%) SOYBEANS
570(4%)

BARLEY BEANS, DRY

76(5%) 860(6%)
FODDER CROPS
78(5%) COTTON
COTTON 1100(7%)
83(5%) MAIZE RICE
SUGAR CANE 220(13%) 1100(7%)
83(5%)
PLANTAINS POTATOES
84(5%) 97(6%) SUGAR CANE
3500(24%)
COFFEE
93(6%)

Figure 7.4 Composition of the agricultural grey water footprint (in cubic hectometres per
year) by crops in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru. Source: own elabora-
tion based on Mekonnen and Hoekstra (2011) and the Water Footprint Assessment Tool (WFN,
2013b).

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These figures show that maize is a heavily fertilized crop and contributes significantly
to the grey WF in all six countries: 35% of the agricultural grey WF of these six countries
corresponds to this crop. In Mexico alone it contributes to 60% of the agricultural grey
WF. Sugar cane contributes 12% of the total agricultural grey water footprint of these
six countries, whereas coffee, rice and fodder crops contribute 5%. Notably coffee
contributes 48% of the agricultural grey WF of Colombia.
These above-mentioned grey water footprint results are only with respect to nitrogen,
for which the grey water footprint for all the countries and products is publicly available
(Mekonnen and Hoekstra, 2011). This allows for straightforward comparisons, however,
a large number of agrochemicals are used in the LAC region. For example, Costa Rica
tops the list of Latin American countries using multiple agrochemicals, which counter-
balances many of their environmental policies seeking to improve environmental quality in
the country (LA-Costa Rica, 2012). Costa Rica annually imports about 13,000t of some
300 active ingredients, many of which are restricted and/or prohibited in other countries
and are even included in international disposal agreements (ibid.). A portion of the active
ingredients is repackaged and re-exported. Although there are no precise data on the
exported quantities, it is estimated that around 20–25% of total imports are re-exported
(Ramirez et al., 2009). The import data therefore does not accurately reflect the quantities
used in the fields, but they serve to check usage trends (LA-Costa Rica, 2012).
7.3.2 .2 Grey water fo otprint of consumption of agricultural
products in L AC
The average world WF of consumption of agricultural products was 1,268m3/capita/
yr during the period 1996–2005, with 1,156m3/capita/yr corresponding to the blue
and green WF and 112m3/capita/yr to the grey WF, equivalent to 91 and 9% of the
total respectively (Mekonnen and Hoekstra, 2011). For the LAC region, the average was
1,560m3/capita/yr, with 1,473m3/capita/yr corresponding to the blue and green WF
and 87m3/capita/yr to the grey WF, equivalent to 94 and 6 % respectively. Grey WF
values range from 272.4m3/capita/yr for Belize and 19.5m3/capita/yr for Bolivia.
The externalization of the grey WF is equivalent to the externalization of pollution due
to importing of agricultural products. Argentina has the lowest external grey water footprint
as a proportion of their total grey WF (6%), together with Paraguay and Belize (9%). On
the other hand, countries like Bahamas, Saint Lucia, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago,
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda and Dominican Republic have a
100% external grey water footprint. This indicates that while for Argentina, Paraguay and
Belize the pollution caused by consumption of agricultural products (in this case due to
nitrogen) is mostly internal, i.e. caused within the borders of the countries, pollution caused
due to consumption of agricultural products in the Antilles is borne by other countries.
7.3.3 Virtual water flows related to trade of agricultural products
The net virtual water import of a country or region during a given period of time is defined
as the gross import of virtual water minus the gross export. A positive net import of virtual
water implies net inflow of virtual water to the country or region. A negative net import
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of virtual water implies net outflow of virtual water, which means that the country is a net
exporter of virtual water (Hoekstra et al., 2011). LAC was a net exporter of virtual water
in terms of agricultural products during the period 1996–2005 (Mekonnen and Hoekstra,
2011). The net virtual water import for LAC was 125.4Gm3/yr. This means that for
agricultural products, LAC was a net exporter of green virtual water (141.5Gm3/yr) and
a net importer of blue virtual water (16.1Gm3/yr).
Figure 7.5 shows the countries with the largest virtual water flows of agricultural
products in the region. Mexico is the largest virtual water importer, followed by Trinidad
and Tobago, Venezuela, Peru and Chile. The countries with the largest virtual water
exports related to agricultural products are Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and
Honduras.
Argentina and Brazil primarily produce for world markets under rain-fed conditions,
which indicates an increased use of green water instead of blue water. This is reflected
in the scale differences used for blue and green virtual water exports in Figure 7.6.
According to Mekonnen and Hoekstra (2011), these two countries contribute with 13%
of the total green water exported in the world (whereas LAC contributes with 19%), which
constitutes an indication of the global importance of green water provided to the world
food market by Argentina and Brazil, notably as green water is generally associated with
lower opportunity costs than blue water (Albersen et al., 2003). Following the notion
of opportunity costs, it has been argued that the use of green water in crop production

5 largest virtual water 5 largest virtual water 5 largest blue virtual 5 largest blue virtual
importers in the exporters in the water importers in the water exporters in the
LAC region LAC region LAC region LAC region
80 14

60 12
Net blue virtual water import (Gm³/yr)
Net virtual water import (green+blue) (Gm³/yr)

40 10
Honduras

Argentina
Paraguay

20 8
Uruguay

Brazil

0 6
Mexico
Trinidad And Tobago
Venezuela
Peru
Chile

Dominican republic

-20 4
Argentina
Uruguay

-40 2
Cuba
Chile

-60 0
Trinidad and
tobago
Mexico
Colombia
Venezuela

Brazil

-80 -2

-100 -4

Figure 7.5 Largest total (green and blue) net virtual water importers and blue net virtual
water importers (in cubic Gigametres per year) of agricultural products in the LAC region
(average 1996–2005). Source: own elaboration based on data from Mekonnen and Hoekstra
(2011).

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is considered more sustainable than blue water use, except when replacing high-value
ecosystems (Yang et al., 2006; Aldaya et al., 2010; Niemeyer and Garrido, 2011).
On the other hand, expanding rain-fed agriculture is often associated with massive land
use changes. Especially in Brazil where increasing virtual water exports contained in
soybeans has led to a threefold land footprint increase.
Green virtual water exports
Argentina Brazil
60,000 90,000
Million m³

Million m³
40,000 60,000

20,000 30,000

0 0
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Maize Soybeans Wheat Chicken Maize Coffee Soybeans

Chile Colombia
600
15,000
Million m³

Million m³

400
10,000

200 5,000

0 0
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

Avocados Chicken Grapes Bananas Cattle Coffee

Pork Wheat Palm oil Plantains

Mexico Peru

6,000 3,000

4,000 2,000
Million m³

Million m³

2,000 1,000

0 0
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

Coffee Maize Coffee Plantains

(Figure 7.6 continues in the next page)

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Blue virtual water exports

Argentina Brazil
400 150

300
100
Million m³

Million m³
200
50
100

0 0
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Chicken Soybeans Maize Wheat Chicken Soybeans Pork

Chile Colombia
400 50

40
300
Million m³

Million m³

30
200
20
100
10

0 0
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Apples Avocados Chicken Kiwi Bananas Plantains Cattle
Maize Peaches Wheat

Mexico Peru
1,200 300

500 200
Million m³

Million m³

400 100

0 0
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

Avocados Coffee Lemons Watermelons Asparagus Chillies Coffee

Mangoes Onions Tomatoes Wheat Mangoes Onions Plantains

Figure 7.6 Green (above) and blue (below) virtual water exports (in million cubic metres)
per country and main products (1996–2009). Source: own elaboration based on data from
Mekonnen and Hoekstra (2011) and FAO (2012d).

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Green virtual water imports

Mexico Peru
5,000
18,000
15,000 4,000
Million m³

Million m³
12,000 3,000
9,000
2,000
6,000
1,000
3,000
0 0
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Cattle Chicken Maize Maize Wheat
Pork Soybeans Wheat

Argentina Brazil
1,000
20,000
800
Million m³

Million m³

600

400 10,000

200

0 0
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Bananas Coffee Cattle Pork Cattle Dairy Maize
Soybeans Wheat

Chile

1,500
Million m³

1,000

500

0
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

Bananas Maize Chicken Soybeans

(Figure 7.7 continues in the next page)

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Blue virtual water imports

Peru Brazil
150 150

100 100
Million m³

Million m³
50 50

0 0
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Maize Wheat Chicken Maize Dairy Wheat
Chile Mexico
40
1,000
30
Million m³

Million m³

20
500
10

0 0
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Bananas Chicken Maize Cattle Chicken Maize
Pork Wheat Soybeans Wheat

Argentina
60

40
Million m³

20

0
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

Bananas Cattle Coffee Soybeans

Figure 7.7 Green (above) and blue (below) virtual water imports (in million cubic metres)
per country and main products (1996–2009). Source: own elaboration based on data from
Mekonnen and Hoekstra (2011) and FAO (2012d).

Mexico is a large agricultural net importer. This country must cope with green water
constraints and thus highly depends on irrigated agriculture. The substitution of domestic
staple food production by imports has led to a shift in agricultural production towards
higher value fruits and vegetables as well as livestock production (Figure 7.7). Fruits and
vegetables are mostly produced under irrigated conditions leading to higher blue water

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use. Furthermore, agricultural production has increased substantially due to global market
forces. This has resulted in accelerating blue water depletion rates. For example, the Rio
Grande river basin has already reached or surpassed sustainable extraction rates during
some months of the year (Chapter 6). A similar trend can be observed in Chile and Peru.
In Argentina and Brazil blue water exports play a rather minor role.
Trade patterns are extremely dynamic and unstable. Specialization, technology
adoption and market prices volatility and economic growth have given rise to fundamental
changes in agricultural production and trade worldwide and in LAC (Figure 7.8). From
Figure 7.8, one can see that the Caribbean economies are increasingly dependent on
virtual water imports while the South Cone and Amazonian region are increasing their
virtual water exports the majority of which are green virtual water exports.
Deforestation continues to be the dominant land-use trend in LAC, and subsistence
agriculture, an important part of many local economies, is one of the major contributors
(Grau and Aide, 2008). But, socio-economic changes related to globalization are
promoting a rapid change towards agricultural systems oriented to local, regional,
and global markets. The Amazon basin is the region that has lost the largest area to
deforestation, with the greatest impacts on biodiversity and biomass loss, but other biomes
have also been and continue to be severely affected by conversion to agriculture and
pastures (see Chapter 3). Export-oriented industrial agriculture has become the main driver
of South American deforestation. In Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina, extensive
areas of seasonally dry forest with flat terrain and enough rainfall for rain-fed agriculture
are now being deforested for soybean production, which is mainly exported to China
and the European Union.
Andean region
Annual blue VW exports, hm³ Annual green VW exports, hm³
350 12,000
300 10,000
250 8,000
200
6,000
150
4,000
100
50 2,000
0 0
1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

Annual blue VW imports, hm³ Annual green VW imports, hm³

1,400 9,000
1,200 8,000
7,000
1,000
6,000
800 5,000
600 4,000
3,000
400
2,000
200 1,000
0 0
1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

Bolivia Colombia Ecuador Peru Venezuela

(Figure 7.8 continues in the next page)

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Amazonian region

Annual blue VW exports, hm³ Annual green VW exports, hm³

600 50 120,000 450

500 40 100,000 350

400 80,000
30 250
300 60,000
20 150
200 40,000
100 10 20,000 50

0 0
1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010
Brazil Guyana Suriname Brazil Guyana Suriname
(left axis) (right axis) (right axis) (left axis) (right axis) (right axis)
Annual blue VW imports, hm³ Annual green VW imports, hm³
160 450 0.18
140 400 0.16
120 350 0.14
100 300 0.12
250 0.10
80
200 0.08
60 150 0.06
40 100 0.04
20 50 0.02
0 0
1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010
Brazil Guyana Brazil (left axis) Guyana (right axis)
Mesoamerica
Annual blue VW exports, hm³ Annual green VW exports, hm³
1,600 8,000
1,400 7,000
2000 6,000
2000 5,000
2000 4,000
2000 3,000
2000 2,000
2000 1,000
0 0
1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

Annual blue VW imports, hm³ Annual green VW imports, hm³

1,600 8,000
1,400 7,000
1,200 6,000
1,000 5,000
800 4,000
600 3,000
400 2,000
200 1,000
0 0
1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras

Mexico Nicaragua Panama Belize

(Figure 7.8 continues in the next page)

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South Cone
Annual blue VW exports, hm³ Annual green VW exports, hm³
1,200 70,000
1,000 60,000
800 50,000
40,000
600
30,000
400 20,000
200 10,000
0 0
1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010
Annual blue VW imports, hm³ Annual green VW imports, hm³
120 500
450
100 400
80 350
300
60 250
200
40 150
20 100
50
0 0
1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010
Argentina Chile Paraguay Uruguay

Caribbean
Annual blue VW exports, hm³ Annual green VW exports, hm³
1,800 14,000
1,600 12,000
1,400
1,200 10,000
1,000 8,000
800 6,000
600
4,000
400
200 2,000
0 0
1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

Annual blue VW imports, hm³ Annual green VW imports, hm³

800 4,500
700 4,000
600 3,500
3,000
500
2,500
400
2,000
300 1,500
200 1,000
100 500
0 0
1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

Bahamas Cuba Dominican R. Haiti Grenada Jamaica

Saint Lucia Trinidad and Tobago Barbados Dominica Saint Vicent and the Grenadines

Figure 7.8 Blue and green virtual water exports and imports (in million cubic metres) between
1996 and 2010 in LAC. Note the difference in scales for the vertical axes in the plots. Source:
own elaboration based on data from the Water Footprint Network WaterStat Database (WFN,
2013a).
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7.4 Trends in agriculture: physical, economic and

social aspects
7. 4.1 Land accounting
The evolution of arable lands in LAC since 1995 (Table 7.2) shows that arable land use
has particularly increased for the countries in the Amazonian region, in the South Cone
and in Mesoamerica. It has remained constant in the Andean region, and decreased
in the Caribbean region. In 2011, average arable land values ranged between 3.2%
for the Andean region and 14.9% for the Caribbean. However, the arable land per
capita shows a decrease for all the LAC regions between 1995 and 2011, except for
the South Cone region, which increased from 0.47ha/person in 1995 to 0.53ha/
person in 2011. The lowest regional average of arable land per capita is registered for
the Caribbean region (0.08ha/person), and the highest for the South Cone (0.49ha/
person).

7. 4.2 Productivit y analysis

7. 4.2 .1 Yield
According to the CAWMA (2007), part of the increase in food production can be
achieved by improving crop yields and increasing crop water productivity through
appropriate investments in both irrigated and rain-fed agriculture. There is good scope
for improved productivity in LAC rain-fed areas but less so in irrigated areas. Rain-fed
agriculture holds great under-exploited potential for increasing water productivity through
better water management practices – gaining more yield and greater value from water. This
is an effective means of intensifying agricultural production and reducing environmental
degradation (ibid.).
LAC is globally important in a number of crops and often achieves yields significantly
above the developing world average (Hall, 2001). As shown in Table 7.3, the major
cereal yields (e.g. maize, wheat, rice) have increased in line with their production, during
the period 1995–2005. The average regional yield per unit of land for wheat in LAC is
similar to the average yield output of 2.5–2.7t/ha in North America, while wheat yield
in Western Europe is approximately twice as large (5t/ha) and in sub-Saharan Africa it
remains below 2t/ha. Yield increases have also happened in tuberous crops (principally
potato).
However, yield gaps are still significant in the region, though not so pronounced for
the main exporters, such as Argentina or Brazil. Closing the yield gap on a large scale
requires investments in rural infrastructure and institutions as well as technology transfer. In
LAC, public sector agencies together with the private sector have made some headway
in closing the yield gap.

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Table 7.2 Evolution of the arable land (in % of countries’ land area) in Latin American and
Caribbean countries, for the years 1995, 2002 and 2011

1995 2002 2011

AMAZONIAN REGION
BRAZIL 6.86 7.27 8.50
GUYANA 2.44 2.29 2.13
SURINAME 0.37 0.29 0.38
ANDEAN REGION
BOLIVIA 2.31 2.86 3.54
COLOMBIA 2.16 1.99 1.89
ECUADOR 5.69 5.48 4.65
PERU 2.81 2.85 2.85
VENEZUELA, RB 2.93 2.83 2.95
CARIBBEAN
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 9.09 9.09 9.09
BAHAMAS, THE 0.60 0.70 0.90
BARBADOS 37.21 32.56 27.91
CUBA 34.30 35.70 33.35
DOMINICA 4.00 6.67 8.00
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 18.63 17.96 16.56
GRENADA 5.88 5.88 8.82
HAITI 29.03 32.66 36.28
JAMAICA 14.59 12.47 11.08
PUERTO RICO 3.72 7.67 6.76
ST KITTS AND NEVIS 26.92 26.92 19.23
ST LUCIA 8.20 3.28 4.92
ST VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES 12.82 12.82 12.82
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 7.80 5.85 4.87

MESOAMERICA
BELIZE 2.72 3.07 3.29
COSTA RICA 4.31 3.92 4.90
EL SALVADOR 28.09 33.30 32.09
GUATEMALA 12.64 13.30 14.00
HONDURAS 14.30 9.55 9.12
MEXICO 12.91 12.91 13.11
NICARAGUA 13.71 16.62 15.79
PANAMA 6.73 7.37 7.26

SOUTH CONE
ARGENTINA 9.90 10.18 13.90
CHILE 2.85 2.22 1.77
PARAGUAY 6.54 8.08 9.82
URUGUAY 7.37 7.43 10.32

Source: World Bank (2013).

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Table 7.3 Yield compound annual growth rate by crop and country, period 1995–2001(1)

SUGAR CANE
DRY BEANS

SOYBEANS
ORANGES

POTATOES
CASSAVA

COFFEE

WHEAT
MAIZE

RICE
MESOAMERICA
BELIZE
COSTA RICA
EL SALVADOR
GUATEMALA
HONDURAS
MEXICO
NICARAGUA
PANAMA
AMAZONIAN
BRAZIL
GUYANA
SURINAME
ANDEAN
BOLIVIA
COLOMBIA
ECUADOR
PERU
VENEZUELA
SOUTH CONE
ARGENTINA
CHILE
PARAGUAY
URUGUAY
CARIBBEAN
ANTIGUA & BARBUDA
BAHAMAS
BARBADOS (2)
CUBA
DOMINICA
DOMINICAN R.
GRENADA
HAITI
JAMAICA
MONTSERRAT
PUERTO RICO
S.KITTS AND NEVIS (3)
S. VICENT G.
SAINT LUCIA
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO (4)

(1) It refers to the compound growth rate of selected crops’ yield. For Compound Annual Growth Rate<0%
comparison reasons, data from the global FAOSTAT database were 0=<Compound Annual Growth Rate<=1%
used. Newest individual country information may differ.
(2) Period 1995–2005 1%<Compound Annual Growth Rate<=2%
(3) Dry Beans: Period 1998–2010 Compound Annual Growth Rate>2%
(4) Sugar: Period 1995–2007 No data

Source: FAO(2012d)

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7. 4.2 .2 Economic
Agricultural economic productivity (US$/ha)
Agriculture is a significant economic sector for many of the LAC countries. It is so at the
macro level, with some of the countries being major world players in the agricultural
commodities markets, or at the micro level, with agriculture playing a significant role in
terms of food security.
In the last decade, the largest producers in the Southern hemisphere have responded
to demand by increasing their cultivated areas, especially that of cereals, oil crops and
sugarcane, and most significantly the share of those products that are irrigated. However,
the countries production differs greatly. Some countries have highly specialized production
(Argentina, Brazil), while others rely on a wider array of products (Mexico, Colombia,
Peru, Chile). Consequently the economic effects of world markets on each country’s
agricultural sector will differ substantially.
On average, yields in the region have improved in the period 2000–2010 by 9%
whereas economic productivity of land grew a 19% (constant US$/ha, own calculations
based on FAO, 2012d). As reported by FAO (2012a), the increase in production,
productivity and income vary between the countries. Figure 7.9 shows the compound
growth rate in agricultural land productivity in physical productivity, that is, yield (t/ha),
and in economic productivity (US$/ha) between the average of the years 1991–1993
and 2008–2010 for the countries in Central and South America, for some specific
products. Economic productivity growth rates are consistently higher than physical
productivity growth rates. Particularly potatoes, coffee, wheat and maize have shown in
average higher growth rates. Nevertheless, the behaviour of each product shows great
variations among countries, as in the case of sugarcane or cassava.

Economic blue water productivity: surface and groundwater

For selected countries Figure 7.10 shows the area harvested and the economic water
productivity per crop alongside the share of blue WF related to the total (green and blue)
WF. These data are averages for the period 1996–2005. The cultivated surface data
was obtained from FAO (2012d). Economic water productivity was calculated using the
average producer’s price per crop (US$, constant prices) from FAO (2012d) divided by
the green and blue water footprint. Data on green and blue water footprints was obtained
from the respective countries report or, in the absence of a specific national figure, from
Mekonnen and Hoekstra (2011).
Some countries show low economic water productivity, such as Argentina, Brazil,
Nicaragua, Bolivia, Uruguay and Mexico. In very general terms, these countries dedicate
significant areas for the cultivation of cereals, coffee, cocoa and sugarcane, which have
lower economic productivity. Peru, Ecuador and Chile, and to a lesser extent Colombia
and Costa Rica, do have a notable amount of area dedicated to crops with medium-
high economic productivity, like grapes, onions, pineapples and potatoes. On average,
Chile, Venezuela and Costa Rica show higher average productivities (0.57, 0.54 and
1.21US$/m3 respectively), whereas Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil show lower ones
(0.13, 0.12 and 0.11US$/ m3).
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Soybeans Maize
10% 10% Venezuela
8% Venezuela Colombia
Brazil 8%
Bolivia Brazil
6% Nicaragua
Honduras Peru Uruguay
Colombia 6% El Salvador
4% Peru Argentina
Uruguay Chile
Argentina Nicaragua 4% Panama Bolivia
2% Dominican R

0% 2%
Mexico Mexico
-2% 0%
-2% -1% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6%
Sugar Cane Wheat
10% 10%
Uruguay
8% 8% Brazil
Panama
6% Brazil
6% Chile
Argentina
Honduras Bolivia
4% 4% Peru
Dominican R Colombia
2% Bolivia 2% Mexico
Mexico Colombia
0% 0%
-1% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% -1% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5%
Compound growth rate in Economic Productivity (%)

Oranges Rice
20% 10%
Honduras
Venezuela Colombia
15% 8% Mexico Brazil
Venezuela El Salvador
Honduras 6%
10% Costa Rica Panama
Nicaragua
Panama Uruguay 4% Peru
5% El Salvador Bolivia
Chile
Costa Rica Peru 2%
Chile
0% Colombia
Dominican R
0%
Bolivia
Argentina
Mexico Dominican R
-5% -2%
-4% -2% 0% 2% 4% 6% -2% 0% 2% 4% 6% 8%
Potatoes Beans
14% 12%
12% Venezuela 10%
Venezuela

10% Colombia
El Salvador Brazil 8%
8% Bolivia Brazil
Chile Panama Uruguay Chile
Colombia Argentina 6% Nicaragua
6% Nicaragua Mexico Honduras
Dominican R El Salvador Peru
4% Bolivia 4% Costa Rica
Costa Rica Peru
Honduras Mexico
2% 2% Panama
0% 0%
-1% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% -1% 0% 1% 2% 3%
Coffee Cassava
16% 8%
Brazil Brazil
13% 6%
10% Peru Bolivia El Salvador Dominican R
Venezuela 4%
7% Bolivia Mexico
Colombia Honduras 2% Costa Rica
4% El Salvador Nicaragua
Peru
Dominican R
1% 0%
Mexico
-2% Panama -2% Colombia
Costa Rica
-5% -4%
-3% -2% -1% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% -2% -1% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4%

Compound growth rate in Land Productvity (%)

Figure 7.9 Compound growth rate (%) of yield (t/ha) and economic productivity (US$/ha)
between av. 1991–1993 and av. 2008–2010 for selected countries and crops. Source: own
elaboration based on FAO (2012d).

204
 Area har vested (1,000 ha/yr) Area har vested (1,000 ha/yr) Area har vested (1,000 ha/yr) Area har vested (1,000 ha/yr)

0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500

Cocoa beans Oats Coffee Cabbages

Maize Sunflower seed Sugar cane Coffee
Coffee Sorghum Chillies Cocoa beans
Sugar Cane Barley Maize Plantains
Soybean Oranges Sugar cane
Rice
Maize Rice
Cassava Barley
Wheat Oilpalm fruit
Shorgum

Mexico
Beans
Rice Beans
Ecuador

Uruguay

Colombia
Bananas Mangoes
Orange Maize
Plantains Beans
Tangerines Soybean
Oil palm fruit Sweet potatoes Wheat Bananas
Potatoes Potatoes Bananas Potatoes
Tomatoes Tomatoes Pineapples

0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.5
0.0
1.0
3.0
0.5
1.5
2.5
3.5
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7

0
20
40
60
80
2.0 100
120
0
100
200
300
400
2.0 500
600
700
800
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400

Oranges Coffee Barley Beans

Cocoa beans
Coffee Wheat
Sunflower seed
Maize Maize
Beans Sorghum
Sesame seed Plantains
Cabbages Rice Sesame seed
Plantains Coffee

(Figure 7.10 continues in the next page)

Plantains
Maize Oranges Sorghum
Peru

Rice Beans
Venezuela

Costa Rica
Cassava
Nicaragua

Cassava Bananas Cassava

Oranges Corn
Bananas Cassava Rice Rice
Potatoes Sugarcane
Fodder
Pineapples
Groundnuts
Pineapples Potatoes Potatoes
0

0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8

1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
7.0
8.0
9.0

0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5

Economic water productivity (US$/m³) Economic water productivity (US$/m³) Economic water productivity (US$/m³) Economic water productivity (US$/m³)
share of Blue WF in total av. WF share of Blue WF in total av. WF share of Blue WF in total av. WF share of Blue WF in total av. WF

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Argentina Bolivia
20,000

Economic water productivity (US$/m³)

1.6 1,000 1.8

share of Blue WF in total avWF

18,000 1.4 900 1.6
Area har vested (1,000 ha/yr)

16,000 800 1.4

1.2
14,000 700 1.2
12,000 1.0 600
1.0
10,000 0.8 500
0.8
8,000 400
0.6
6,000 300 0.6
0.4 0.4
4,000 200
2,000 0.2 100 0.2
0 0.0 0 0.0
Wheat

Sunflower seed

Sorghum

Maize

Sugar Cane

Soybean

Potato

Apples

Barley
Sorghum
Wheat
Sunflower seed
Plantains
Rice
Maize
Cassava
Sugar Cane
Soybean
Potatoes
Beans
Quinoa
Brazil Chile
25,000 2.5 300 5.0

Economic water productivity (US$/m³)

4.5

share of Blue WF in total avWF

250
Area har vested (1,000 ha/yr)

20,000 2.0 4.0

3.5
200
15,000 1.5 3.0
150 2.5
10,000 1.0 2.0
100 1.5
5,000 0.5
100 1.0
0.5
0 0.0 0 0.0
Cashew
Sugar Cane
Maize
Shorgum
Oranges
Bananas
Wheat
Rice
Soybean
Coffee
Cassava
Beans
Potatoes
Tomatoes

Cocoa beans
Wheat
Sugar beet
Oats
Maize
Kiwi
Plums
Fodder (alfalfa)
Berries
Apple
Peaches
Potatoes
Grapes
Citrics
Avocados
Beans
Area harvested (Av.Ha/yr 1995–2006) Tomatoes
Economic Water prodcutivity (US$/m3) Share of Blue WF in total WF

Figure 7.10 Average cultivated area (1,000ha/yr), economic water productivity (US$/m3)
and share of blue WF in crop WF for selected countries and crops. The data shown corresponds
to an average of the years 2007-2010. Note the difference in scale for each country. Source:
Own elaboration based on FAO (2012d) and Mekonnen and Hoekstra (2011).

7. 4.2 .3 Social
Insecure access to reliable, safe, and affordable water keeps hundreds of millions of
people from escaping poverty. Most of them rely directly on agriculture for their food and
income. According to the CAWMA (2007), poverty could be reduced by improving
access to agricultural water and its use. Livelihood gains of smallholder farmer could be
obtained by securing water access (through water rights and investments in water storage
and delivery infrastructure), improving value obtained by water use through pro-poor
technologies, and investing in roads and markets.
Increased productivity by improving irrigation has a multiplier effect on the economy
(Table 7.4). Improved agricultural water management boosts total farm output. Increased
output may arise from improved yields, reduced crop loss, improved cropping intensity, and
increased cultivated area. Reliable access to water enhances the use of complementary
inputs such as high-yielding varieties and agrochemicals, which also increases output
levels (Hasnip et al., 2001; Bhattarai and Narayanamoorthy, 2003; Hussain and Hanjra,

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2003; Smith, 2004; Huang et al., 2006). FAO (2003) data show that the major sources
of growth in crop production for all developing countries during 1961–1999 were yield
increase (71%), area expansion (23%), and cropping intensity (6%). Empirical evidence
for a sample of forty countries shows that for a 1% improvement in crop productivity
poverty – in terms of those living on less than US$1 a day – fell by about 1% and the
human development index rose by 0.1% (Irzet al., 2001). There seems to be a solid link
between yield growth, poverty reduction, and human development. Access to agricultural
water has secondary effects on poverty through output, employment and prices. Two
factors contribute to output fluctuations: rainfall variability and the relative prices of outputs.
Food grain output is sensitive to variations in rainfall (Lipton et al., 2003; Smith, 2004)
and as such reliable access to agricultural water not only raises crop output levels, but also
usually reduces variance in output across seasons and years.
Finally, stabilization of farm output cannot be achieved merely through a reliable system
of agricultural water management. Reducing risk and uncertainty for farmers requires the
general improvement of the farming environment (Smith, 2004).

Table 7.4 Impact of irrigation by type of system

IMPACT LARGE-SCALE LARGE-SCALE SMALL- OR PRIVATE, SMALLHOLDER,

PUBLIC, PUBLIC, MEDIUM- SIZE COMMERCIAL INDIVIDUAL
DRY ZONE PADDY-BASED COMMUNITY-
MANAGED
ECONOMIC

Production Low positive Low positive Low positive High positive High positive
Food security High positive High positive High positive Low positive High positive
Rural employment High positive High positive High positive Low positive High positive

Settlement strategies Mixed Mixed High positive None None

SOCIAL

Social capital None Low positive High positive None None

Health Mixed Mixed Mixed Low negative Mixed

ENVIRONMENTAL

Biological diversity Mixed Mixed Mixed Mixed None

Social and water Mixed Mixed Mixed Mixed None

conservation
Water quality High negative Mixed Mixed High negative Low negative

Religious ceremonies Low negative None Low positive None None

CULTURAL

Landscape, aesthetics Mixed High positive High positive Low negative None
Cultural heritage Mixed Mixed High positive None None

Source: CAWMA (2007)

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7.5 Conclusions and recommendations

The LAC region’s economy is on average growing rapidly. With its green water and land
availability, LAC could potentially represent a good opportunity to produce and supply
more food for itself and for other parts of the world. This option also denotes the chance
to boost economies in some of these emerging countries. This is the general case for
the whole continent; however, particular areas, such as the Antilles, show severe water
scarcity levels at the country level, with high levels of dependency on external water
resources for food supply.
In spite of the positive agricultural development perspectives and the satisfactory water
availability in most areas of the LAC region, if not carefully planned, using local water
resources to satisfy this food demand may exert more pressure on water and land resources
and increase the already severe water quality problem in the region. The combination of
rapid urbanization over the past fifty years and more importantly weak governance are
crucial factors affecting water scarcity in a water-rich region.
As economies emerge and there is more investment for natural resources exploitation
and use, competition among sectors increases, such as in the case of biofuels and mining
versus agriculture for food in the LAC region. The domestic, industrial and hydropower
sectors also compete with agriculture. The complex trade-offs across sectors and across
water users can best be managed through integrated water management at the river basin
level, developed in agreement with the national policies and planning – but establishing
appropriate institutions for inter- and intra-sectorial water allocation remains an important
challenge under the fragmented management structure in most of LAC. Appropriate water
accounting systems, including the green, blue and grey water footprint and the related
socio-economic and environmental impacts can inform decision-makers, planners and
developers at different levels (river basin, departmental, national) on the sustainability of
different water management options. These water accounting systems can also inform
about crop water consumption and its economical and social benefits to optimize the
allocation of water resources when planning irrigation development (Box 7.3). Sustainable
water management should not be seen as a barrier for the development of the region, but
rather as the way to develop and grow as a region.
Overall, this chapter shows the strong links between water, agriculture and economy
in LAC. Both green and blue water are a vital fuel for LAC’s economies and for its food
security. Awareness of LAC’s virtual water trade volumes and water footprints will not alone
solve the local or global water problems. However, the awareness gained increases the
odds that optimized water allocation decisions, which consider the hydrological and
economical aspects of water resources, are made (Allan, 2011).

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Box 7.3 Water footprint assessment of Porce River

Basin, Colombia

The Water Footprint Assessment (WFA) of Porce River Basin (2012) included the five
main productive sectors in the basin (crop and livestock, industry, domestic, hydropower
and mining) and the four phases of the WFA were analysed.
The total WF of crop production was 250hm3/yr, (93% green – 5% blue – 2%
grey). Coffee is the crop that contributes the most to the WF (green and blue, 31%),
followed by sugar cane with 19%, potatoes 15% and plantain 8%. In terms of the grey
WF, coffee is the crop with the highest impact in the watershed followed by potatoes
(based on nitrogen). The water footprint of livestock is 700hm3/yr, (66% green – 32%
blue – 2% grey). Cattle contribute with more than 80% to the total WF of livestock,
followed by horses, poultry and pigs respectively. Cattle equally occupy the first place
(76% blue and 65% grey), followed by poultry (11% blue and 21% grey), pigs (10%
blue and 9% grey) and horses (3% blue and 5% grey).

Table 7.5 The green, blue and grey water footprint in the Porce River Basin

SECTOR GREEN WF BLUE WF GREY WF CRITICAL POLLUTANT

m³/yr m³/yr m³/yr

CROP PRODUCTION 231.0 13.5 4.8 N

LIVESTOCK 463.0 12.4 215.8 N

HOUSEHOLD - 27.8 11,788.2 BOD

INDUSTRIAL - 8.0 4,078.5 BOD

HYDROPOWER - 24.4 - -
MINING - 3.7 3,059.1 TSS

Source: CTA (2013)

The environmental, economic and social components of the WF sustainability
assessment were included. The biggest environmental problem identified is the lack
of pollution assimilation capacity, especially in the upper basin (city of Medellin). This
region presents critical pollution indexes, according to the maximum allowed concen-
tration criteria used. For the economic analysis, apparent water productivities were
analysed for each of the productive sectors. For the social analysis indicators on public
health, coverage in water supply and sanitation were taken into account.
The complex WF sustainability assessment (environmental, economic and social)
identifies the basin’s hotspots, enabling the formulation of responses in terms of public
policy and public–private partnerships.

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Hall, M. (ed.) (2001). Food and Agriculture Organization. Farming Systems and Poverty. Improving
farmers’ livelihoods in a changing world. FAO-World Bank.
Hasnip, N., Mandal, S., Morrison, J., Pradhan, P. & Smith, L.E.D. (2001). Contribution of Irrigation
to Sustaining Rural Livelihoods. Wallingford, UK, HR Wallingford.
Hoekstra, A.Y., Chapagain, A.K., Aldaya, M.M. & Mekonnen, M.M. (2011). The Water Footprint
Assessment Manual: Setting the global standard. London, Earthscan.
Huang, Q., Rozelle, S., Lohmar, B., Huang, J. & Wang, J. (2006). Irrigation, agricultural
performance and poverty reduction in China. Food Policy, 31 (1): 30–52.
Hussain, I. & Hanjra, M.A. (2003). Does irrigation water matter for rural poverty alleviation?
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Irzet, X., Lin, L., Thirtle, C. & Wiggins, S. (2001). Agricultural productivity growth and poverty
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WATER SECURITY
AND CITIES

Authors:
Enrique Cabrera, ITA, Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Spain
Emilio Custodio, Dept. Geo-Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona, Spain

Contributors:
Ramón Aguirre, Sistema de Aguas de la Ciudad de México, México
Emilia Bocanegra, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Argentina
Gerson Cardoso da Silva Jr, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Manuel Cermerón, Aqualogy, Spain
Javier Dávara, Aqualogy-SEDAPAL, Peru
Maria Josefa Fioriti, Subsecretaría de Recursos Hídricos, Argentina
Ricardo Hirata, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Joaquim Martí, Aguas Andinas, Chile
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Highlights

• Latin America has achieved good progress in urban water supply and sanitation,
although gaps have to be bridged and efficiency has to be improved, especially in
what refers to sanitation.

• Urban water supply quality presents deficiencies in some urban areas, some due to
poor natural water quality and to inadequate functioning of supply networks.

• A lot could be socially gained by investments in better functioning of urban water

supply and sanitation networks.

• Water users have to cover the full cost of urban water supply and sanitation, including
maintenance and renovation of infrastructure, most probably the main bottleneck in
the way to achive sustainable urban water systems.

• The most deprived population has the right to receive drinking water and sanitation
at affordable price for them, but the additional cost has to be covered by the other
users and the society in general, without compromising the needed investments.

• The dilemma between public and private water services is not the key issue.

8.1 Introduction
A large and growing fraction of humanity currently lives in urban areas, many of which are,
so-called, megacities. Table 8.1 shows some of the most relevant cities in Latin America
(LA). In this chapter we consider only continental Latin American countries, Mexico being
the most northerly country down to Argentina and Chile in the south. The focus is on water
security for large urban areas, with particular emphasis on water services. Various case
studies are provided by local experts with short comments on water issues in specific LA
large cities. These represent some of the best managed cities in the area, so to some extent
the sample is biased. However, what is presented helps to understand the current situation
even though they do not necessarily correspond to the general picture of the continent as
a whole.
The urban water cycle is a relatively new concept (Cabrera and Custodio, 2013).
Even if all early civilizations had large waterworks in order to secure good access to water
for their citizens, the generalized establishment of urban supply did not start worldwide
until the middle of the 19th century. Thus, available data and studies are based on recent
history. In particular, the introduction of water chlorination by English physician John Snow
to control water-borne diseases was a real turning point. Although it was not until the early

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Table 8.1 Data on some of the largest cities in LA

PER CAPITA DAILY SUPPLY

PER CAPITA DAILY SUPPLY

SUPLIED SURFACE AREA

% POPULATION OF LA
WORLD RANKING IN
URBAN POPULATION
POPULATION 2011

(L/day/cap)

(hm3/cap)
(mllions)

(km²)
TOWNS

SÃO PAULO 20.6 9 3173 3.43 180 3,702,240

MEXICO D.F. 20.0 10 2046 3.34 360 7,211,520

BUENOS AIRES 13.8 21 2642 2.30 370 5,097,120

RIO DE JANEIRO 12.6 26 4026 1.94 190 2,207,040

LIMA 9.4 30 648 1.57 254 2,387,600
BOGOTÁ 9.0 36 414 1.50 136 1,225,224

SANTIAGO DE CHILE 6.2 53 984 1.03 196 1,209,516

MONTERREY 4.2 88 894 0.70 300 1,266,000

CARACAS 3.3 124 272 0.55 400 1,311,600

Source: own elaboration.

20th century that this technique was widely applied (McGuire, 2013), it is still credited
for being the primary cause of last century’s increase in life expectancy. In terms of public
health, it could be considered the greatest advancement of the millennium.
By the early 20th century most of the world’s developed cities had introduced urban
water supply networks. However, a few decades later these networks were stressed due to
the much higher demand produced by rapid urban growth.
Apart from some pioneering examples of sewage water treatment (the first plant was
established in 1890 in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA), they were not at all common in
the USA until the end of the Second World War; when in 1948, under the Federal Water
Control Act,1 funds were made available for the construction of treatment plans to ensure
water quality. In developed countries, almost 100% of urban and industrial wastewater is
currently treated, albeit large improvements can still be made. In Europe the main impetus
came from new regulations relating to water quality and pollutants; chief amongst these is
the Water Framework Directive (OJEU, 2000). There are still some challenges given that
tertiary wastewater treatment to eliminate organic load is still not sufficient to eradicate
some worrisome contaminants, which appear in relatively low concentrations.
Latin America has partly followed the path of developed countries, albeit delayed in
time and with a long way to go. This is reflected in the America’s Water Agenda (Regional
Process of the Americas, 2012), a report backed by the Inter-American Development
Bank and produced by relevant institutions of the Americas involved in water affairs.

1 www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/FWATRPO.HTML (accessed in June, 2013)

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The challenges for America are grouped into fourteen points, of which the first four refer
specifically to water supply and sanitation:
• Implementation of the human rights; access to water and sanitation, in response to the
July 2010 United Nations resolution A/RES/64/292
• Water, sanitation and service quality deficiencies
• Universal coverage for current urban and marginal areas
• Water and sanitation in rural areas.
A large number of the remaining points also refer to urban water, albeit not so directly,
like the 5th point (climatic change), 6th point (governance), 7th point (need for integrated
water resources management), 10th point (increasing water contamination, largely due to
urban and industrial pollution), and 14th point (creation of a political environment willing to
make the necessary investments into urban water planning and infrastructure).
All of these aspects are relevant and important since humans need water to live and
yet the way to provide this water is becoming progressively more complex. Towns and
the associated water systems expand, while their supporting infrastructures are neither
upgraded nor modernized at the same pace, and thus they age and their service quality
decreases. This is an issue that must be specifically addressed as often citizens believe that,
water being a universal right, the government ought to provide it at no cost to them. This
explains their reluctance to pay the true cost of a service that is becoming increasingly costly
and complex. As a consequence, politicians responsible for urban water management,
who depend largely on citizens votes in many countries, and LA is not an exception, are
unlikely to charge the full water service cost. The consequence is that water services often
become economically collapsed. The antidote is full, transparent information.
Available documents show that top-down points of view alongside socio-economic and
political analysis tend to be prioritized whilst technical aspects are largely disregarded,
when they could in fact be the key to better understanding of the problems. To some extent,
what follows is an attempt to better understand this discrepancy.
8.2 Water sources for urban supply
Most large cities in LA depend on surface water from river basins (Santiago, Chile, Box
8.1). However groundwater is also important for many of them, occasionally the only
source, as is the case of Mar del Plata, Argentina (Box 8.2), or sometimes groundwater
is a key complement that cannot easily nor quickly be substituted (São Paulo, Brazil, Box
8.3). At times it is used as a necessary backup as in Lima, Peru, or simply for the supply
of fast expanding and poor peri-urban areas (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Box 8.4; Lima, Peru,
Box 8.5, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, Box 8.6). Mexico City, in terms of urban water
management, is one of the most complex ones in the world. It is served by a mixture of
imported, local and further afield groundwater resources (Box 8.7 and SACM, 2012).
Even though many of the large cities on the continent are near or next to the sea, seawater
desalination is seldom employed as an urban water source in LA, with a few exceptions
in medium-size towns (e.g. Antofagasta and Iquique, Chile).

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Box 8.1 Water supply to Santiago, Chile

[By Joaquim Martí, Aguas Andinas, Santiago, Chile, and Manuel Cermerón, Aqualogy,
Barcelona]
Santiago, the capital city of Chile, is located in the Intermediate Chilean Depression,
the depression between the Andes and the Chilean coastal range. It receives an annual
average precipitation of 320mm mainly concentrated in the May–August period; the
summers are long and dry. The population is about 6.5 million inhabitants, of which
95% have their water supply and sanitation needs provided by the Aguas Andinas
group, the remaining 5% are served by a municipal company.
Most of the supplied water (86%) is surface water from the Maipo and Mapocho
rivers, complemented by some 14% groundwater. To guarantee a continuous drinking
water supply, large reservoirs exist, such as El Yeso (220hm3), Laguna Negra (600hm3)
and Laguna Lo Escañado (50hm3). Two main plants, Las Vizcachas (15.8m3/s) and La
Florida (4.0m3/s), produce drinking water alongside twelve smaller plants. The water is
then distributed via a 12,094km piping network. Unaccounted water amounts to 29%
and includes technical, commercial and measurement components.
The sanitation network covers 100% of the area with 10,501km of sewers. Sewage
water is treated in thirteen plants, the two main ones being, La Farfana (8.8m3/s) and
Mapocho–Trabal (6.6m3/s). All treated waste waters are disposed of downstream from
Santiago, in the Mapocho River.
Drinking water price is 0.595US$/m3, plus 0.465US$/m3 for sewage service and
0.307US$/m3 for wastewater treatment. However, low-income citizens may ask for
half the price to be covered. All the revenue generated is used to cover the operation,
maintenance, replacement and any future works needed to improve the service and
ensure water supply security.

Box 8.2 Water securit y in the supply of Mar del

Plata, Argentina

[By Dr Emilia Bocanegra, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Mar del Plata,
Argentina]
The coastal town of Mar del Plata, Argentina, is approximately 450km south of Buenos
Aires. It spans an area of 80km2 and has 620,000 residents, a figure which is doubled
during the summer period. The local economy depends on tourism, harbour activities
(mostly fisheries), textiles and leather, and fruit trees and orchard agriculture. All water
resources are supplied by groundwater coming predominantly from rural areas in the
north and northeast of the city but also abstracted inside the urban and peri-urban
area. Approximately 129hm3/yr of good quality groundwater is abstracted from
274 wells. Intensive groundwater abstraction in the urban area has induced seawater
intrusion into the aquifer, forcing forty wells to be abandoned. Other wells have also
been taken out of service due to high level of nitrates. The limit of 45mg/L of nitrate

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concentration is exceeded in 117 wells. Water is periodically chlorinated and meets

drinking water standards in 96.6% of cases. Some 93% of the population is connected
to the distribution network. The network loses 40% and suffers 0.38breaks/km each
year. Most residences have tanks to store water since in summer months water pressure
may be insufficient to reach some neighbourhoods.
Regarding the sanitation network 92% of population is connected to it, and it suffers
0.17breaks/km each year. Four main servers feed a final pre-treatment plant where
solids are separated, dried and aerobically stabilized to produce a soil conditioner that
is principally used for ornamental plant cultivation. The effluent is disposed of in the sea.
Drinking water is served at a cost of 0.17US$/m3, plus 0.12US$/m3 for sanitation.
The joint average yearly charge for connection is 98US$/yr. Commercial and industrial
establishments are often metered amounting to approximately 20% of the water provided.
The domestic charge is calculated according to the surface area of the dwelling and the
area of the city where it is located.
Urban water use rate is high (296L/day/cap). Despite public campaigns to reduce
water use, results have not been very effective. In order to encourage water savings
there is a surcharge for indoor pools.
The contribution from customers is sufficient for the efficient maintenance and operation
of the water and sanitation services. Network expansion and major infrastructure
projects are financed by subsidies received from the government. Expansion is planned
in the future including the incorporation of a further seventy-four wells into the network
in order to supply the western main and the construction of a submarine outfall in order
to improve local coastal seawater quality. The municipal company Obras Sanitarias de
Mar del Plata (OSMP, Mar del Plata Waterworks) is responsible for supplying water
and sanitation services and regulates the different uses under the Water Code of the
Province of Buenos Aires thus helping water governance. Currently there is no known
conflict between OSMP and rural and industrial users.

Box 8.3 Water security in the metropolitan area of

São Paulo, Brazil: the key role of groundwater

[By Ricardo Hirata, CEPAS-Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil]

The megacity of São Paulo, including the surrounding thirty-five municipalities, reunites
20.6 million inhabitants. They are located in the Alto Tietê Watershed (ATW), which has
a surface area of 5,720km2. The public water supply system is operated by SABESP, a
state-owned company that provides 2,144hm3/yr (68m3/s) of water coming from eight
surface water sources, half of them imported from another water basin. More than 95%
of the total population is provided for in this way. Additionally, a total of 347hm3/yr
(11m3/s) of water comes from approximately 9,000 privately owned tube-wells. Even
though this supply is only 17% of total demand, if it fails due to water contamination or
excess of abstraction, it will seriously compromise water security in the ATW. SABESP

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currently has no more water resources available to substitute for this groundwater use.
Water transfers from further water basins, although planned, will not be available in
the near future. Average groundwater abstraction in the area is about 32% of total
recharge (400mm/yr), including rainfall infiltration (45%). Losses from the supply and
sewage network are 55%. However, abstraction is irregularly distributed in the area
and concentrates especially in the central area of Penha-Pinheiros sub-basin where
abstraction exceeds 80% of the recharge.
Water supply security in the ATW is also a concern with regard to well conditions
as 60–70% of them lack operation permits and, as a consequence, there is no control
on them. Well drilling and construction does not follow acceptable standards, so the
wells and the aquifer itself are under risk of contamination. More than 50% of declared
contamination cases in São Paulo State are located in the ATW. This is the result of
intense industrialization and unplanned, dense and rapid urban expansion.

Box 8.4 Water securit y in the metropolitan area of

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: groundwater, the
unknown resource

[By Gerson Cardoso da Silva Jr, IGEO, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil]
The Metropolitan Area of Rio de Janeiro (MARJ), Brazil, with a land area of 5,292km2 plus
400km2 of the Guanabara Bay, comprises seventeen municipalities with approximately
12.6 million inhabitants. The significant demographic and economic growth in recent
decades is the cause of a notable increase in the consumption of water resources. The
Hydrographical Region of Guanabara Bay (HRGB) includes the MARJ and other territories,
but predominantly, river headwaters. About 50m3/s are transferred from the Paraíba do
Sul River to the Guandu Water Plant, the main source of water for public supply. The price
for the final user is approximately 0.65US$/m3 which includes sewage treatment. This
is complemented by water from other minor sources, groundwater being approximately
2% of the total. In general, high-quality water is supplied by the water plants. The gross
revenue accounts for financial costs and investments, as well as for operational and
maintenance costs. Water losses due to leaks in pipelines and ‘social losses’ (e.g. unpaid
water for shantytowns) represent 30% of the total distributed water.
In many situations a significant use of groundwater resources as a supplementary
source of water in the region is made, even though the aquifer characteristics are poorly
known. Most wells lack any kind of register or permit. The Rio de Janeiro State has
implemented in recent years a programme for well legalization, raising the number of
permitted wells from a few hundred to thousands in the last five years alone, although
official federal statistics point to approximately 0.5 million shallow wells in the area, which
are mainly used by low-income populations as a complementary source and sometimes
as the sole water source. Aquifer overexploitation is not reported. Groundwater quality is
sometimes poor due to pollution or salinity.

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About 44% of sewage water (13.2m3/s) is treated, and most of the remaining
discharge flows to the sea through a pipeline or to the Guanabara Bay. In general the
situation is improving.

Box 8.5 Urban water in Metropolitan Lima, Peru

[By Javier Dávara, Aqualogy-CEDAPAL, Lima, Peru, and Manuel Cermerón, Aqualogy,
Barcelona]
The metropolitan area of Lima, which comprises Lima (Peru’s capital) and Callao (main
Peru’s harbour) has approximately 9.4 million inhabitants. It is in an arid zone which
depends fully on river water from the high Andes Range. Urban water supply is tapped
from two of the three local rivers and the local aquifer. In this arid area aquifer recharge
is through river and urban water infiltration.
The state-owned Servicio de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado de Lima (SEDAPAL,
Lima’s Drinking Water and Sanitation Service) fully supplies forty-three out of the forty-
eight city districts and partially two others, with 83% of surface water and 17% of
groundwater, which is treated in three plants. Some 89% of the inhabitants are supplied
through 13,700km of pipes, and 85% of sewage water is collected through 12,000km
of sewers, 20.6% of which is treated in seventeen plants.
Water prices are 0.67US$/m3 plus 0.29US$/m3 for sanitation. There is fixed base
rate plus a charge proportional to the volume of the water supplied, with different rates
for domestic, commercial, industrial and state demands.

Box 8.6 Urban water in the cit y of Buenos Aires,

Argentina

[By María Josefa Fioriti, Under-Secretariat of Water Resources, Buenos Aires, Argentina]
The water supply and sanitation of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, the capital
of Argentina, and its seventeen neighbouring administrative areas (‘partidos’) is the
responsibility of AySA (Agua y Saneamientos Argentinos S.A.). The very flat area covers
over 18,11km2, it has 10.2 million inhabitants, of which 90.6% receive drinking water
and have sanitation. 4.53hm3/day of surface water from the Rio de la Plata and
0.25hm3/day of groundwater from 238 wells is supplied, about 600m3/day/cap. The
water supply network exceeds 18,000km. Supplied water quality complies with the fifty-
eight values of the Regulatory Framework, which is based on the Argentinean Food Code
and Word Heath Organization recommendations.
Some 62.6% of population is served by the 10,600km sewage water network and
five treatment plants, discharging to an outfall that takes and diffuses the 2.25hm3/day of
effluents to a point near the end of the estuary of La Plata River, 2.5km offshore.

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Water is charged to domestic, commercial and industrial establishments, and

non-occupied land according to the metered volume for those who have a water meter
and according to building or house characteristics for the other ones. Social tariffs are
applied to low-income citizens and also they participate in local water management
affairs as regulated by national authorities.
The Director Plan Framework for water aims to have 100% coverage by 2018. This
will require a new drinking water treatment plant, modernization of the existing networks,
five new sewage water treatment plants and the enlargement of four of the existing ones.
Quality of service, the protection of human rights and the delivery of concession
conditions to the water company depends on the Water and Sanitation Regulatory Entity
(ERAS). Water planning for water service and sanitation works depends on the Planning
Agency (APla).

Box 8.7 Urban water in Mexico Cit y

[By Ramón Aguirre Díaz, Director General of Waters Systems, Mexico City, Mexico].
The metropolitan area of Mexico City exceeds 20 million inhabitants and is located in
the Valley of Mexico, a closed basin 2,240m above sea level. Current water outflows
from the area are artificial. Water availability is 160m3/yr/cap, while for the whole
country is 4,090m3/yr/cap. The main water source is the aquifer, which has been over-
drafted by a factor of two for more than a decade. This is a non-sustainable situation.
Some studies indicate that the aquifer could be completely exhausted in two or three
decades. Complementary water supply from the Cutzamala water surface dams is not
enough in the event of a serious drought. About 10% of the population receives water
once or twice per week, another 15% will suffer from low water pressure during five
to six hours per day and 5% does not receive good quality drinking water. Current
average urban water use is 530L/day/dwelling, which is a very high figure under
current circumstances. This is the result of water prices being well below the real cost of
water and the almost non-existent water meters in the dwellings.
To deal with this huge and concerning problem and to take care of the future
generation, an Integrated Water Resources Management Program (PGIRH) has been
prepared and launched, for the coming twenty years. Among the many actions, 225
new wells, the protection of 111 springs, the substitution of 5,700km of pipes to
reduce leakages, 1,326km of new pipes, seventy-four improved or new drinking water
treatment plants and the use of reclaimed treated sewage water for non-drinking uses are
included. Aquifer recharge with reclaimed sewage water treated up to drinking water
quality is foreseen to increase storage and to control subsidence problems, especially
where thick clay layers exist. The programme aims at raising water prices to cover real
cost and to install in-house water metering to reduce water use, but considering social
tariffs for the more deprived. Although the programme is very ambitious and involves
very high investment of 13 billion US$ investment in twenty years, it is feasible and it is
what the City of Mexico requires to achieve a sustainable, quality water service.

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Water quantity is not generally a limitation in LA (see per capita consumption in

Table 8.1). However, per capita consumption is often high, particularly in Argentina and
Mexico. The limitations come mainly from the needed infrastructure associated to water
storage and transport. Sometimes water transportation may involve important energy
consumption when natural barriers have to overcome, as in Peru for the transport of water
resources from the water-rich and relatively low-lying upper Amazonas basin to supply the
arid western coastal area, where most of the large urban areas are located. Mexico City
and other urban areas at high altitude require costly water pumping from low-lying areas.
Furthermore conflicts with local residents arise as they compete for the resources or do
not accept wastewaters for agriculture in exchange of handling over the water resources
they already have. Here groundwater plays an important role but it is also a source of
conflicts with other users. Deeper wells are drilled in order to tap up-to-now little exploited
aquifers and offered as a new water resource when it is in fact part of the same system
and their exploitation will only worsen current problems of over-draft and also serious land
subsidence in some areas.
The water quality of urban supply sources is often an important issue, and will be more
in the future. Buenos Aires (Argentina) takes a large part of its water from the urban and
industrially polluted Rio de la Plata, which can suffer large quality fluctuations. The urban
areas in Colombia and Venezuela cannot use the numerous local rivers, lakes and aqui-
fers due to intense pollution from important urban, industrial and mining areas upstream.
Groundwater is commonly of enough good quality, but there are important exceptions.
In coastal urban areas seawater intrusion has forced the closure of part of the supply
wells (Mar del Plata, Argentina; Recife, Brazil). High natural groundwater salinity due to
aridity is found in northern Chile and Peru, and in parts of northeastern Brazil. An excess
of nitrates is also a common groundwater quality problem, mostly caused by the activity
of the urban area itself, for example when collective sanitation is insufficient (Conurbano
Bonaerense, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Lima, Peru) and in some cases of agricultural
origin, although this does not occur as intensely as it does in North America and Europe.
This last aspect is important around urban areas in Mesoamerica (Costa Rica, Nicaragua,
and Guatemala). Unwanted and noxious solutes, such as relatively high concentrations of
fluoride and arsenic, can be found in groundwater. Although this problem rarely affects
people in large cities connected to public water supply, it is a serious issue in many rural
areas of Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Peru and Mexico. Some large towns do often have
to blend the different water sources in order to dilute waters that do not meet the stan-
dards or take out of service some others – an often-used situation when sanitary authorities
intervene or use them only as backup in emergencies. Blended water may not always
be available to all citizens. Treatment for natural poor water quality is not common in LA,
where looking for new water sources is preferred, even if this is more expensive.

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8.3 Current situation of urban water ser vices

The initial euphoria at establishing water services throughout the 20th century, their
advantages being so obvious, made sure that the funds needed to initiate the projects
were provided. However, this euphoria has not been maintained, and in fact many water
services are currently in dire need of modernization. This and the great population growth,
especially in urban areas, are responsible for the existing problems, which are especially
pronounced in LA. The most important of them are presented below.

8.3.1 Insuf ficient water ser vice cover

Reducing the percentage of people lacking water services is one of the main Millennium
Development Goals, which also include halving by 2015 the number of people lacking
drinking water. The World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in
2002 added sanitation to these goals (GTAS, 2003). These goals have been globally
accomplished and exceeded for water supply, but not for sanitation that is likely to fall
85% short of the objective (Regional Process of the Americas, 2012). Prospects are good
for LA (ONU, 2011; UNICEF/OMS, 2012), although in rural areas the situation is not
as positive since 20% of these populations do not have adequate water supply and 50%
of them lack appropriate sanitation (Pearce-Oroz, 2011) (see Chapter 6 for a detailed
presentation of these indicators).

8.3.2 Lack of urban and industrial wastewater tre atment

This seems to be the main mid-term problem to be addressed by developing countries and
by LA in particular. By prioritizing the Millennium Development Goals to increase water
supply and sanitation networks, wastewater treatment has been put to one side. The
Americas’ Water Agenda report (Regional Process of the Americas, 2012) highlights the
effect of increasing water contamination but does not deal with the causes; the problem
is simply considered a service deficiency. The IV World Water Forum of Mexico (CNA/
WWC, 2006) provided the impressive figure that more than 86% of wastewater is
disposed of into the environment without any treatment, and irrigating with untreated
wastewater is a common practice, highly risky for citizens’ health.
Good wastewater treatment before disposal is a key component of sustainable
water management, even if it requires costly investments, expensive maintenance and
modernization of the existing network. After a global analysis avoiding contaminated
water in the urban environment, treatment is much cheaper than importing water resources
from elsewhere. However, in the real world short-term goals overcome the mid- and long-
term points of view. This problem will never be solved if water prices do not allow a
reasonable cost recovery since Governments do not have enough economic resources to
subsidize water treatment, especially for a population that is polluting more and more and
increasingly using more household polluting chemicals.

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8.3.3 Economic unsustainabilit y

Economic sustainability is a necessary although not sufficient condition to solve the above
mentioned problems. Efficient management needs not only technological capacity to identify
the best cost-benefit actions, but also economic resources to carry them out. Without them
the system advances towards economic collapse, as too often happens in LA urban water
services.
In practice, the efficient and accurate administration of economic resources is difficult, as
dealt with extensively in the OECD (2012) report, although this will be not addressed here. Up
to seven key coordination gaps are identified for better water governability: administration,
information, policy, capacity, financing, objectives and accounting. Economic resources are
needed and they should be wisely managed.
Water service economic unsustainability refers not only to the lack of funds needed
to improve the facilities and systems of the fast growing cities – they may come from
international organizations in the case of poor countries – but also to the more complex
problem of obtaining the funds needed for the correct functioning of the existing, expensive
infrastructures. These funds ought to be secured from the water services users themselves.
This opens two permanently debated points: 1) tariffs that allow for cost recovery, which
is a complex matter in countries with deep social inequalities, and 2) corruption, which
is especially concerning in LA. In poorly consolidated democracies corruption is a rather
frequent temptation in front of the increasing economic resources being used and attracted,
as shown in an OECD website2 on this topic.
8.3. 4 Ageing of existing water infrastructures
The ageing of water infrastructures is a very serious problem that passes almost unnoticed
due to the more conspicuous problems commented above. This problem even affects the
USA, the richest of all the American countries, as underlined by the EPA (Environmental
Protection Agency). In 2007 the EPA estimated that 334,800 million US$ has to be
invested during twenty years in order to modernize drinking water supplies (EPA, 2009).
In other recent studies it is estimated that about 1,600,000km of drinking water pipes
have to be modernized in the USA, which means about 3000 billion US$ over the
coming twenty-five years (AWWA, 2012). Figure 8.1 depicts the magnitude of this great
problem by showing the evolution of the median age of the infrastructures and the median
age of the population in the USA.
In LA this problem is even more serious. This is a direct consequence of the economic
unsustainability mentioned previously, worsened by the fact that most new investments are
for new infrastructures to progressively extend water services and approach the MDGs,
while existing infrastructures are poorly maintained. Some of them are many decades old.
All of them have an expiry date. Maintenance, rehabilitation or replacement failures will
have serious consequences in the long term. In some way they are the main cause of the
deficient quality of supplied services (Regional Process of the Americas, 2012).

2 www.oecd.org/corruption/latinamerica

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100

80
Average age (years)

60

40

20

0
1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020 2040
drinking water infrastructure US population

Figure 8.1 Median age of population and of water pipes in the USA. Source: Buchberger
(2011)

8.3.5 Poor qualit y of water ser vices

This is the natural consequence of economic unsustainability, caused by poor maintenance
and the lack of infrastructures renewal. The Regional Process of the Americas (2012) report
explicitly highlights the most relevant deficiencies to be insufficient water disinfection,
poor surveillance of water abstractions, discontinuous service, insufficient pressure, high
leakage percentage and the low wastewater treatment degree. These are big challenges.
The problems identified by the Regional Process of the Americas (2012) report can be
grouped into water quality (treatment and monitoring) and distribution (pressure, leakage,
continuity of service). Something similar has been identified by Aqua Rating, a project
sponsored by the IDB with the help of the IWA (International Water Association). The
project aims at developing a system to qualify water and sanitation suppliers (Krause et
al., 2012). For water service quality the project considers drinking water quality, water
distribution for use and consumption, wastewater collection, and care of the users (this last
point being more commercial than structural).

8.4 The enormous cost of poor water ser vice qualit y

In any country urban water services should and can be economically, environmentally and
socially sustainable. In spite of the big financial resources required, scale economies in
cities allow to provide these water services at a reasonable cost, which is more difficult
in rural areas (Pearce-Oroz, 2011). This is not discussed here. Sustainability demands
governance and long-term vision, which is the bottleneck of implementing these systems.
The other aspects are easier to solve. The fact that providing a low-quality service is more
costly to citizens than attaining the adequate standards needs to be clearly shown and
argued. This can be easily understood from a social point of view by showing the savings
that would be obtained if the individual no longer had to support the failings of the poor-
quality service. However, the supplier will always look to their own short-term economy if
not pushed to do otherwise by well-informed and organized citizens.

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Each of the six deficiencies described below is accompanied by the associated costs,
which are seldom considered and often transferred as a burden for future generations.
However when all these costs are included, good management of the water service is
much cheaper. The problem comes down to the need to involve society much more in the
water services through appropriate institutions.
8. 4.1 Insuf ficient disinf ection and drinkabilit y
According to the World Health Organization (OMS, 2002), inadequate water
and sanitation are the main causes of illness, such as malaria, cholera, dysentery,
schistosomiasis, infectious hepatitis and diarrhoea, which are related to 3,400 million
deaths in the world and LA is not an exception. Inadequate water and sanitation are also
a main cause of poverty and of the growing gap between the rich and the poor. Figure
8.2 shows the close link between child mortality and access to improved water and
sanitation (Robinson et al., 2006).
120 100

% population with access to drinking water & sanitation

90
100
80
Children mortality per 1,000 born

70
80
60
60 50

40
40
30

20 20

10

0 0
Canada
Ee.Uu
Cuba
Guadalipe
Costa Rica
Chile
Uruguay
Guyana fr.
Saint Lucía
Venezuela
Bahamas
Jamaica
Panama
Suriname
Colombia
Mexico
Belize
Nicaragua
Paraguay
Brazil
Honduras
Peru
Dominicanan Rep.
Guatemala
Ecuador
Guyana
Bolivia
Haiti

Children mortality rate (<5 years)

Population with access to improved drinking water
Population with access to improved sanitation

Figure 8.2 Access to water and sanitation (%) and child mortality (deaths per 1,000 born) in
different American Countries. Source: Robinson et al. (2006)

8. 4.2 Lack of qualit y control

There is a long path through pipes from the drinking water plant to the citizen’s tap. The
pipes may be sometimes over one hundred years old. Even if at the inflow point to the
system water quality is guaranteed, along the distribution path it deteriorates, especially
when the residence time in the distribution network can be up to several days. A control of
water at the outflow of the drinking water plant is needed but is not sufficient as the water
quality will deteriorate, the older the network is.
Much attention has been paid to this aspect in the last two decades in developed
countries. One example is the EPANET programme for analysis of water networks, spon-

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sored by the US Environmental Protection Agency (Rossman, 2000). It is a free access

programme aimed at facilitating the study of water quality evolution through pipes.
Urban water quality is of great concern in all developed countries (Kastl et al., 2003;
MHLS, 2010) due to trihalomethane generation, which is a carcinogenic compound
resulting from the progressive interaction of organic matter in water – mostly that from
surface resources – and chlorine (Aieta and Berg, 1986). This is the reason why in some
countries, like The Netherlands and many areas in Germany, the use of chlorine as a disin-
fectant has been abandoned and substituted by other disinfection processes, which do
not impair the taste, but they are often more expensive. As a result, these countries have
drastically reduced the consumption of bottled water (den Blanken, 2009).
8. 4.3 High percentage of losses
Unreliable or inadequate pipes for the soils in which they are laid, careless assembly, lack
of maintenance and scarce – sometimes, inexistent – network rehabilitation or replacement
are the main factors that cause the water distribution system deterioration. Water supply
reliability depends on pipe proofing, which decreases progressively over time.
Network water losses in LA are often very high. According to ADERASA (Association
of Regulating Entities for Drinking Water and Sanitation of the Americas) the average
value is 42% (Figure 8.3), and this value is possibly quite conservative as it refers to a set
of the best managed towns in the area (ADERASA, 2012). According to the Cooperativa
Andina de Fomento (Andean Cooperative for Enterprenery, CAF, 2011) losses are 40%,
which is also quite optimistic as it is estimated from data contributed by the own water
distribution utilities. In a later publication (CAF, 2012) the fraction of unaccounted water
(real leakage, measurement errors and thefts) had risen to 50%. Consequently, it seems
that in LA about half of outflow water from drinking water plants does not get to the
users, which is economically, environmentally and socially unsustainable, even if the water
resource is not entirely lost for later use.
The consequences of high network losses are well known. The most relevant are:
• Existing infrastructures (pumps, drinking water plants, reservoirs, networks) become
insufficient to secure the water supply and they have to be enlarged. This means
doubling current capacity in LA.
• High probability of pathogenic intrusion into the water network. If water pressure drops
below atmospheric pressure in a network – something that happens often when water
service is not continuous – leaked water may get back into the system (Kirmenyer and
Mantel, 2001). This poses a more serious problem than quality deterioration during
distribution.
• Water supply may be intermittent in dry periods, when less water is available. This
has a series of other drawbacks that will be commented upon below. Should the
water losses be small, there is no need to interrupt water supply. There are other more
reasonable methods to save water without recourse to temporal interruption of the
supply (Cabrera, 2007).
• Water users’ poor trust in the water utility, thus reducing willingness to pay.

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70

61.93
61.23
58.97
55.34
53.91
60

51.83
49.62
49.33
47.79
43.99
50

43.25
% with respect to dispatched volume

42.27
41.94
40.87
40.57
40.50
40.00
40.00
38.99
38.77
37.20
34.58
40

34.09
32.87
30.31
26.30
26.17
30

23.53
20

10

No data
0
INTERAGUA
Barranquilla
SEDALORETO S.A.
Cucuta
Eps grau s.A.
Ibague
Aya
Ose
Cali
Bogotá
ESSPA
IDAAN
Cartagena
Medellín
SEDALIB S.A.
Aysa
Salta
Mar de plata
Conhydra
EPSEL S.A.
Cartago
SEDAPAL S.A.
Pareira
COPASA
EPMAPS Q
SEDAPAR S.A.
Acuavalle
Córdoba
CAGEDE
San Prado Sula
Mendoza
Empocaldas
COMPESA
Ag. de Santa Fe
SANETINS
Min=Water
Figure 8.3 23.53 network Average=
losses in42.36 Max= urban
representative 61.93 areas Standard devi= 8.45
in LA. Source: ADERASA
(2012)

8. 4. 4 Low water supply pressure and domestic storage tanks

Leakages aside, a network becomes insufficient if it cannot supply the demanded flow
at water demand peaks at the established pressure – at least approximately 20m of
water head (two atmospheres) – when water demand peaks. Problems appear when
the network does not improve its capability at the same rate as population growth. Often
pipe diameters are those required by the city before a significant increase of connected
people. In order to solve supply problems the manager of an insufficient network forces
or recommends the construction of domestic water storage tanks and butts, to decouple
water demand from users from actual supplied water. They store water when demand is
low (e.g., from 0:00 to 6:00 am) and release it in peak hours. The method has clear
disadvantages:
• Water quality can be significantly affected due to storage time, mostly because storage
time is unknown, but also to the high possibility of a pathogenic intrusion as pressure –
the guarantee against intrusion – is lost. Besides, tanks and cisterns are barely protected
and cleaned; this contributes to a worsened water quality guarantee, as shown in the
experimental studies carried out in Tiquipaya, Bolivia (Schafer and Mihelcic, 2012).
• Energy is wasted since water is depressurized to later be pressurized again for the
users.
• From a more technical point of view, water demand timing is quite distorted and the
system loses a great deal of its characteristics, thus making it more difficult to conduct
mathematical simulation and leakage surveys.

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Temporal water service interruption shows that the network is clearly inadequate
to supply a growing population. Looking globally at the problem, this implies a very
important economic loss (Cabrera et al., 2013): the money the system manager saves by
not investing is much less that the set of expenses transferred to all connected customers.

8. 4.5 Intermit tent ser vice

Often inefficiency – high leakage – and insufficiency – lack of pressure – go together
and then the water supply manager has no other recourse than intermittent service by
interrupting water supply periodically. This is frequent in LA, where it has been observed
in almost 30% of the systems (CAF, 2012). The most serious drawbacks of water quality
loss and the causes of the system becoming no more secure are well documented (Yepes
et al., 2001; Totsuka et al., 2004). One of the most serious problems is faster network
deterioration as a result of alternatively pressurizing and depressurizing the network,
which leads to increasingly more frequent and lasting breakdowns and water losing
points. According to Charalambous (2011), the number of pipe breaks each year triples
with respect to a continuous water supply.

8. 4.6 Lack of wastewater tre atment

In LA most urban and industrial water discharges lack treatment, and this has important
consequences due to the serious sanitary, environmental and the not always fully
recognized economic consequences. If the town pollutes the near-by waters, it has to look
for more distant water supply sources and consequently more expensive ones. Looking for
water sources further afield is not a new phenomenon: in 1890 in order to supply Paris,
it was proposed that water be taken from Lake Leman, 450km away (Barraqué, 2004).
What at that time was a fashion, declined by end of the 19th century and beginning of
the 20th century after the discoveries of Pasteur and Koch that lead to disinfection thus
allowing the use of local water. However, in some of America’s large cities, importing
water seems a real necessity, as is the case of Mexico City (Perlo and González, 2009),
and probably of Lima.

8. 4.7 Conclusion on po or water qualit y supply

From any point of view, making use of economies of scale is the most logical and feasible
solution to provide a good quality urban water service to the citizen at the lower possible
cost when all involved costs (e.g. the bottled water to substitute for tap water, see Box
8.8) and a mid- and long-term economic balance are considered (Cabrera et al., 2013).
However, this needs a good administrative structure and political support, in addition to a
large capacity for leadership amongst decision makers. Currently, most or all urban water
cycles in LA are unsustainable.

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Box 8.8 Bot tle d water and sof t drinks for domestic
consumption
In many LA countries the production of bottled water and soft drinks is not only quite
developed but has a special economic and social relevance, with the trade mostly in the
hands of a few large firms. Mexico is a leading country. One of the main drivers seems
to be the once unreliability and poor quality of in-house water supply, without guarantee
of being pathogen free, or too saline, or containing an excess of toxic natural solutes
for sustained consumption, such as fluorine or arsenic. This is the case in many rural and
small urban areas of Mexico, Argentina and Paraguay, most of them using groundwater
without adequate hydrogeological studies. Large efforts are devoted to better unders-
tand the origin of these natural pollutants and on practical means to reduce economi-
cally their content. Interruptions in domestic supply in the past, as explained in the main
text, can be considered the main cause of the widespread use of small domestic storage
tanks on the roofs of the houses, as can be seen in many of the low-rise residential areas
of several towns in LA. Some water-related diseases are not uncommon, often with mild
results to locals, not always to travellers; there is a real risk of epidemic spreading.
Another important driver of bottled water and beverages consumption is the increasing
living standards. Drinking bottled products is often considered a sign of affluence, which
becomes a social issue and a display of personal status. This is widely propagated by
effective advertising by large companies and good distribution logistics. Even though
this represents a large part of income to individuals and to society, it is difficult to be
reversed.
Production of bottled water and drinks uses about two to three times the water in the
final product and about 25% of its volume as fuel consumption. These amounts include
the water used to produce the bottles and the fuel to distribute them which has to be
added as well as that needed to produce the additives. Furthermore used plastic bottles
is becoming a serious environmental problem.
Bottled water price in the market ranges from 500 to 5,000 times higher than the
average tap water price. It is one of the main hidden personal, social and environmental
costs of a deficient water supply.

8.5 Causes of the current water ser vices situation

After describing the main problems of urban water services and the associated serious conse-
quences, the present situation is taken into account in order to define measures aimed at impro-
ving it. This is a complex task. Economic and social–political causes have been described in
detail by some organizations (CAF, 2011; Regional Process of the Americas, 2012; OECD,
2012) as well as by some authors that have a great wealth of knowledge about LA (Jouravlev,
2004; Hantke-Domes and Jouravlev, 2011), and will not be repeated here. As an overview,
key phrases from three of these works that explain current situation are given opposite.
In the report ‘Water Governability in Latin America and the Caribbean: A multilevel point
of view’, the OECD (2012) concludes that [translation from Spanish]:

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Key challenges are institutional and territorial fragmentation and badly managed multi-
level governance, as well as limited capacity at the local level, unclear allocation of roles
and responsibilities and questionable resource allocation. Insufficient means for measu-
ring performance have also contributed to weak accountability and transparency. These
obstacles are often rooted in misaligned objectives and poor management of interactions
between stakeholders. (p.15)
The report on Americas’ Water Agenda (Regional Process of the Americas, 2012) provides
a similar diagnosis:
It is important to emphasize that in contrast to the institutional strength and stability in
Canada and the USA, the social perception studies on the role of public institutions in
Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) demonstrate low credibility. Different factors not
always attributable to the institutions have had an influence on this: the magnitude of the
challenges faced, institutional weakness, the scarcity of economic resources, preconceived
judgments and ideological notions with respect to the role of the State, the regulation and
participation of the private sector, the weakness of civil society organizations, the percep-
tion of seizure of the institutions by interested sectors and the problems associated with
globalization.(p.6)
Some years before, the same problems were pointed out in Jouravlev (2004) on the status
of drinking water and sanitation services on the 21st century [translation from Spanish]:
Despite the differences to be expected in a region that is home to many different
countries, reforms have many common features, such as; institutional separation between
the roles of sectorial policymaking, economic regulation and the management of the
systems; the deepening and consolidation of decentralization in the provision of services;
the general interest in promoting private participation, the development of new regulatory
frameworks, and the demand, born out of the 1980s crisis, that services should aim to
be self-financed, and when in place, subsidy plans should be set up to help low-income
groups.
These coinciding diagnoses can be summarized as weak governance and a lack of
leadership. In short a public urban water service for a big city is a project common to all its
inhabitants and can only be carried out successfully with sound governance and leadership.
Given that water and the nature of human beings are the same regardless of country bounda-
ries, the differences between national water policies depend on the strength of their governing
institutions and political structures as well as on other cultural and economic factors. From a
strictly technical point of view the problem is not unduly difficult in the big cities, however, the
story is different in rural areas where a priori scale savings are not possible to make water
supply economically feasible.
In order to easily overcome these handicaps, some existing problems have to be solved,
the difficulty of which will vary according to the country, although some already have plans
in place. Even when plans exist, it helps in taking into account these handicaps, which are
reviewed over.

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8.5.1 Lack of prof essional capacit y of political decision

makers
Decision makers, besides applying common sense and being honest, must give priority
to sound solutions for citizens and especially for future generations. They ought not to be
guided by short-term goals and self-interest, but will require training and good foundations
on which to build. With this in mind they will boldly identify decisions for the future, aban-
doning the short-term visions that have become commonplace, and will strive for mid- and
long-term solutions.
8.5.2 Lack of training for managers and engine ers
In the urban water cycle three different decision levels exist: political, managerial
and mechanical. These last two refer respectively to those controlling finances and
human resources and those carrying out technical decisions. However, current training
opportunities for staff are not sufficient to deal with the complexity of urban water supply.
Since economic resources are often lacking, these managers and engineers with little
training have to identify optimal cost-benefit solutions. This is highlighted in the OECD
(2012) report, in which it is said that in two-thirds of the LAC countries studied, the
capacity gap is a big handicap to the effective implementation of water policies.

8.5.3 Lack of environmental knowle dge amongst citizens

State financing of large water infrastructures and the principle that water is a public
good have fostered the belief amongst citizens that they have a universal right to good-
quality tap water at little or no expense. Water as such has only an environmental and
opportunity cost, but the infrastructures needed to carry the water to the citizen has high
economic costs which must be paid by water users. Without this, recurrences continue
to happen: a progressive deterioration of the infrastructure that benefits nobody. Another
aspect to be considered is that the tariffs ought to be progressive to help the economically
weakest gain access to water they need with any loss in water quality.
The lack of public knowledge about real water costs makes the need to increase
water tariffs a poorly understood issue. This is regrettably part of a political debate when
it should be a ‘state’ affair given that the survival of the city is at stake. The average citizen
is intelligent and, if given the right information, is likely to be able to see the difference
between opportunistic and self-interest policies, and those which are honestly beneficial to
the population. This is of crucial importance in order to separate water from the political
arena as much as possible.

8.5. 4 Allocating responsibilit y

Fragmented institutions, with diverse points of view of the same issue, make for difficult
decision making. This problem is highlighted in all reports where water problems are
analysed in any detail. As water is such a key issue, all politicians try to include it in their
agendas, or avoid it as much as possible in the case of serious conflict. Drinking water’s
increasing complexity has favoured an increase in the number of government departments

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involved in managing the issue: water, environment, health, industry, mining, etc. This
makes for cumbersome and bureaucratic governance. More nimble and operative
structures are needed in order to solve the plethora of water problems.
Involving users in water affairs may be an interesting approach. An approach is that
adopted in Buenos Aires, where AySA has had considerable success doing specific work
with lower-income sectors, through the methods of ‘participatory models of governance’
(MPG) and the ‘Water+Work Plan’ (Plan agua más trabajo), and to a lesser extent to
‘Sanitation+Work Plan’, which is reflected by joint action with neighbourhood communities,
municipalities, government agencies, and social organizations. The company performs
most of the financing of projects and provides technical supervision and neighbours help
with labour, receive technical training, participate in workshops on proper use, and
receive a discount on their bills (Lopardo and Lentini, 2010).
8.5.5 Lack of water ser vice standards
In order to have a good-quality water service, objectives are needed and have to be
made explicit. Management indicators (Alegre et al., 2006) allow them to be set with
relative accuracy. For example, when defining the minimum water pressure that has to be
guaranteed at demand peak, one must take into account the acceptable percentage of
losses. This is needed to evaluate the present situation and set future targets. Independently
of objectives set by financing organizations (Krause et al., 2012), which are establishing
water service quality evaluation systems, the corresponding country authority (or regulator
if it exists) should be the one to set the detailed objectives.

8.5.6 Uncle ar pay rules when the ser vice is externalize d

The public–private urban water management debate is intrinsic to the service and
continues to cause debates. In 1875, the city of Birmingham (UK) bought the service from
the private enterprises that had started them, arguing that ‘the quantity and quality of water
to be supplied to the public are matters of greater importance than making profits and
should be controlled and managed by representatives of the people and not by private
speculators’ (Thackray, 1990). Shortly afterwards the story was repeated. In 1898 the
city of Amsterdam bought the private company because of problems with financing the
necessary extensions to the network arguing that the private company was more interested
in making profits than in supply’ (Swemmer, 1990). After more than a full century the
debate continues, with those who defend public involvement bringing forward similar
arguments.
Circumstances in LA have made the above commented issue a conflictive one (Castro,
2007; Ducci, 2007; ISF, 2008). At the same time that public management is preferred,
there is also a need to attract and obtain private investment. This explains why prestigious
institutions revisited the problem and proposed guidelines for developing reasonable
agreements (Solanes and Jouravlev, 2007; OECD, 2009). This will not be elaborated
upon further here, but will undoubtedly continue to be debated in all countries for many
years to come (Jones et al., 2004; Boland, 2007).

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8.5.7 Political prices and criteria

The lack of clear criteria used to establish the final price to be paid by citizens for the
water service is probably the largest Achilles’ heel of the urban water cycle. Since not all
costs are recovered, a large part of the infrastructure has to be financed with public funds
of diverse origins or with subsidies. Since this means large money sums passing through a
few hands it is not rare that corruption occurs (Solanes and Jouravlev, 2005). Thus, clear
criteria for self-financing are needed, in such a way that the sustainability of these water
services is guaranteed by honouring the cost recovery principle as promoted by the Water
Framework Directive in the European Union (OJEU, 2000), and also with an equitable
tariff system to protect the weakest, without compromising efficiency. This equity is crucial
given the large inequalities in LA.

8.5.8 Poor transparenc y in urban water management

Since water is a public good that is essential for life, it has to be flawlessly managed.
There is an ethical obligation for transparent management, and this is even more serious
for water supply. Countries have to establish the means needed to accomplish this goal.
It would be recommendable that all money coming from urban water should be invested
in water, and not be used for other needs, as often happens due to biased political inter-
ference. An efficient regulation service is one of the best ways in which to accomplish
this goal, much as efficiency is a key strategy in order to reach a more sustainable future
(BNA, 2012)

8.6 Conclusions
Providing a quality drinking water service, adequate sanitation and correct treatment of
wastewater is a very complex problem, especially in LA where the population, especially
in urban areas, has expanded rapidly. It is even more difficult considering that the
current situation is far from desirable. The root of the problem is neither economic (scale
economies allow for the provision of good quality and sustainable water services at
a reasonable cost) nor technical (current engineering can deal with the most complex
problems). The handicaps to be overcome are a severe lack of governance and of
institutional leadership which are currently unable to deal with the rapid evolution. Since
the path to be followed is well known, it is hoped that improvement of the current situation
and avoidance of the serious consequences of not doing anything could be seen in the
near future. LA citizens deserve the best quality service at the lowest possible cost though
the differing characteristics of each country must be taken into account before any plan
is implemented.

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Acknowle dgements
Special thanks to Andrés Benton for his help obtaining information on Mexico City.
Complementary data are found in other chapters of this book and in the supporting
reports contributed by the different country teams.

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WATER, ENERGY, BIOENERGY,
INDUSTRY AND MINING

Authors:
Emilio Custodio, Dept. Geo-Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona, Spain
Alberto Garrido, Water Observatory – Botín Foundation, and CEIGRAM, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
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Highlights

• Hydropower is the main energy source in the Latin American (LA) region as a whole
(52%), although not in all countries and its relative weight has decreased. It still
has growth potential, but new projects will face growing physical, economic and
social barriers, including environmental restrictions, the rights of native and local
inhabitants, and biodiversity conservation. In some locations hydropower may
reduce water availability and security for other uses.

• Fuel energy production may compete for a large part of available water resources
in some of the highly populated and semi-arid and arid areas, even when they
use closed-cycle water cooling or are placed at coastal areas. Nuclear energy
and other forms of energy production are less developed and their effect on water
resources is local. Some interesting geothermal energy production exists.

• Mining and related industrial sectors stand amongst the fastest-growing industries
in the region. They may be water resource intensive and consequently affect water
availability and security when located close to urban areas or in arid areas. So their
water needs and consumption, together with their wastewater and mining residues,
are becoming stressful factors and a significant source of pressures in numerous
basins in the region. In some cases non-renewable groundwater reserves are
consumed. In some areas artisanal and small mining activities cause some serious
pollution problems to downstream water resources, as is the case of gold mining.

• Industry, energy production and mining together consume 8 to 15% of water

resources in the seven considered LA countries.1 Water consumption relative to
available water resources is respectively 4 to 9% for industry, 2 to 5% for energy
production (hydroelectric energy water consumption not included) and up to 6% for
mining. Water economic productivity in Chile may range from 3 to 10US$/m3.

• Crops grown for biofuels are increasingly becoming major export products, with a
large production in Brazil, and Argentine being now the second largest exporter.
Many countries in LA are promoting the cultivation of crops for biodiesel and
bio-alcohol. Water resources and land used for these crops compete with land for
food production. Especially concerning are projects in dry areas where intensive
irrigation is needed.

1 This chapter focuses mainly on Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru.

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9.1 Introduction
This chapter focuses on two topics that are usually considered separately. First, the amount
of water required by energy-producing plants. Second, two economic sectors – mining
and industry – are also water-demanding and are experiencing tremendous growth in the
Latin American (LA) region. A detailed treatment of both would request at least a chapter
for each of these topics, but being the focus of the volume water and food security, a
review of data and their analysis from this narrower perspective has been chosen.
For the most part this chapter refers to continental LA, and specifically to the seven
Ibero-American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and
Peru) that have provided data from their country reports.2 However, the discussion goes
beyond political boundaries in order to consider different geographical and climatic areas.
Except for the large islands of Cuba, Hispaniola (the Dominican Republic and Haiti) and
Puerto Rico, the Caribbean area consists of small islands with specific characteristics that
introduce quite different circumstances for water resource security, which in some cases
involve seawater desalination as an important complementary source. For this reason,
they will not be included in what follows. Unless otherwise indicated, in this chapter only
mobile water resources (blue water) are considered. Water use refers to water supplied
to the activity and water consumption is the part of water used that is not available
afterwards due to evaporation, impaired quality or disposal into the sea or a water body
that has no further possible use downstream.
Water is needed for many human activities beyond drinking purposes, urban services
and the production of food and fibres. It is also used for industrial processes – including
food processing and fuel production – and for mining. Additionally, water resources are
used for energy production and consumed whilst energy is also needed to make water
available for use and for the treatment and safe disposal into the environment thereafter.
There is competition for using and securing water resources between all these demands.
The important related topic of water security in urban areas is considered in Chapter 8.
Except for agriculture, bio-fuel production – a particular form of water intensive agriculture
– and hydroelectricity – which uses large water flows but consumes a small part – the
other activities often demand a moderate fraction of LA countries’ water resources.
Although water consumption for energy, industry and mining may only be a small
percentage of the countries consumption, it could be locally significant, especially in
small basins and in the arid and hyper-arid areas of LA. This consumption may also be
economically and socially important, and therefore water quantity and quality should be
guaranteed. Industrial and mining activities may generate wastewater and by-products that
could have a large negative impact on water resources quality and on the environment.
Circumstances are quite different from one country to another and even inside a given
country, as shown along this book, so generalizations may be meaningless. Thus, country

2 These country reports include data and analyses carried out by the project partners. A summary of the consor-
tium and specific represence is include in the volume´s foreword and introductory section.

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comments give only a coarse and blurred picture – sometimes too biased – that has to be
afterwards considered in more detail taking into account actual territorial circumstances
and local situations.
Data and analysis provided here serve to give a general overview of the situation in
the first decade of the 21st century. Most LA countries are under fast development and, in
spite of fluctuations and some political instability in some of them, conditions have and will
continue to improve. The associated industrial and mining development – partly fostered
by current high prices for minerals in many of the LA countries – contributes to increased
water resources use and consumption and energy demand but also to a more efficient use
in economic terms. Estimates of future evolution trends can be found in WEC (2010) and
Jiménez-Cisneros and Galizia-Tundisi (2012).
This chapter does not try to present a detailed bibliographical review of energy –
including bio-energy, industry, mining activities and water use but instead to contribute
to an evaluation of how the associated water needs may affect water and food security
in LA. This is done by examining existing data in the reports of the partner countries
amongst other sources of information and personal experience. Partners’ reports are cited
as LA-country (2012) except when specific data are attributed to particular authors (see
footnote 2). A general overview is first presented, followed by specific comments on water
use and consumption in energy production, industry and mining, which leads to some
considerations on water security from the point of view of the activity undertaken and
subsequently of general human water needs.

9.2 General over view

Table 9.1 shows some basic data on water use for energy, industry and mining. Hydroelec-
tricity has a large water use (demand) but only a small fraction is consumed. While tradi-
tional mining may demand rather large water quantities that are disposed of, modern
mining is predominantly a water consumer since internal recycling is important. However,
the fraction of water that is disposed of may be unusable and, what is more, may impair
water quality downstream, which is equivalent to additional water consumption.
The economic productivity of water is an important driver for water rights acquisition
in areas where the resource is scarce, but there are other factors to be considered such
as legal restrictions, existing rights – local customs and rights may already be in place
amongst natives – and social pressure.
The average economic productivity of water use has been estimated for Chile (Table
9.2) and is markedly higher in industry and the mining sector, e.g. for copper production
the value may exceed 50US$/m3. This in turn explains the pressure they impose in order
to get water resources when they are scarce, as is the case in the northern part of the
country. This may also account for the fact that the companies involved have a greater
capacity to purchase water rights in order to secure their supply (see Chapter 13). The
very low productivity of water for energy production derives from the fact that in Chile a
large fraction of energy production is hydroelectric power that uses large water flows but
only consumes a small fraction. If actual water consumption is considered, which is highly

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variable from one plant to another, the economic productivity of water becomes much
higher. Besides, many hydroelectric plants use water resources in remote areas, where no
other significant productive uses exist except forestry, fishing and landscaping. Associated
externalities are a cost that is often not accounted for. Jiménez-Cisneros and Galizia-Tundisi
(2012) gives an average water use productivity in Mexico of 78US$/m3, varying from
1.3US$/m3 in agricultural states to 100US$/m3 in the Federal District, where urban and
industrial uses dominate.
Table 9.1 General data for the first decade of the 21st century (values rounded up)

SURFACE POPULATION USABLE WATER WATER USED WATER CONSUMED % OF WATER

AREA CONSUMED FOR
1000km²

MIillion

km³/yr

mm/yr

% GW

km³/yr

mm/yr

km³/yr

mm/yr

m³/cap./year

ENERGY (3)

INDUSTRY

MINIG

TOTAL
MEXICO 1,973 117 550 279 29 ––– ––– 80 40 683 5 4 0.07 9
COSTA RICA 51 4.7 110 2,157 30 25 490 0.5 10 106 ––– ––– –––
COLOMBIA 1,142 46 2,640 2,312 20 1,200 1,051 11 10 239 2 5 ––– 7
BRAZIL 8,515 197 10,110 1,188 19 ––– ––– 58 7 294 ––– ––– –––
PERU 1,285 29 2,046 (1) 1,592 13 32 25 20 16 690 2 4 2 8
(2)
CHILE 756 17 1,060 1,402 14 140 185 15 20 882 9 6 15
(2)
ARGENTINA 2,780 40 1,750 629 14 650 233 190 68 4,750 6 6

1 1.8% of this amount in the Pacific area, where most human and industrial activities are done
2 Included in industry
3 Consumption by evaporation in surface reservoirs for hydroelectricity in generally not considered
Source: own elaboration based on LA–Argentina (2012), LA–Brazil (2012), LA–Chile (2012),
LA–Colombia (2012), LA–Costa Rica (2012), LA–Mexico (2012), LA–Peru (2012).

Table 9.2 Economic productivity of used water in Chile

AGRICULTURE HUMAN
USE AND FORESTRY (1) SUPPLY INDUSTRY MINING ENERGY

US$/m³ 0.3 2.4 7.4 4.5 0.02

1 Soil (green) water not included

Source: LA–Chile (2012).

9.3 Energy and water

9.3.1 Energy for water
Energy is needed to abstract, pump, transport and treat surface and groundwater. The
specific energy consumption (kWh/m3) may become significant due to:
• pronounced altitude differences, such as sloping land in urban areas, physical barriers
to be overcome in mountainous areas, or when groundwater levels are deep in highly
transmissive and intensively exploited aquifer systems, especially under arid conditions
• long distance transportation to supply large urban and industrial areas from remote
sites

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• high salinity or presence of unwanted components, such as nitrates, fluoride or

arsenic; energy-consuming treatments such as membrane processes are used to reduce
their concentration
• sewage water treatment before discharge, to a degree that depends on the assimilation
capacity of the surroundings and the environmental requirements; energy consumption
increases with treatment intensity, and especially when the water is to be reused via
water reclamation
• improved irrigation methods that need pressurized water.
In order to produce the energy needed, water resources are also used and consumed.
In order to have a complete picture, the energy consumed during the construction of
the water works and that for their maintenance and repair should also be included and
distributed along the life time of the works. This includes energy to produce the cement and
iron consumed and for excavation, drilling and earth movement. Generally this energy is
a small fraction of that spent on the cumulative water production over time, but not always,
and should appear in the energy footprint, albeit seldom known or considered.

9.3.2 Water to produce energy

Large water flows are needed to produce any source of energy except for wind and sea
energy and direct conversion of solar radiation. Results from a wide-ranging survey are
shown in Table 9.3. Some comments on the common energy sources follow.
Table 9.3 Energy and water in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) in 2005

ENERGY SOURCE PRIMARY PRODUCTION ELECTRICITY GENERATION

(1015 J) (10³GWh)

TOTAL WORLD 460 10,100

TOTAL LAC 25.4 909
COAL AND LIGNITE 1.3 29
OIL (1) 14.6 88
NATURAL GAS 5.0 105
NUCLEAR 0.2 20
HYDROPOWER AND ––– 629
GEOTHERMAL
BIOMASS (2) 4.3 36

SOLAR AND WIND ––– 2

1 1.2 x10 J of production are from non-conventional fossil sources using 4.0km of water
15 3

2 2.7 x1015J of production is non-traditional

Source: modified from WEC (2010).

9.3.2 .1 Hydroelectricit y
Hydroelectricity is a renewable energy that still has a large potential for further develo-
pment in LA. It is often considered environmentally friendly but there are important side
effects to be evaluated. Hydro-energy plants modify the natural water regime and this has
quantity, quality, environmental and health consequences – externalities – and may imply

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a loss of other opportunities for water use, as well as human displacements and the crea-
tion of territorial barriers. On the beneficial side, dams may facilitate the interconnection
of otherwise isolated areas and evaporated water helps to stabilize the local climate.
Although hydroelectricity is often presented as an example of a non-consumptive water
use, there is an associated consumptive use of water that should be taken into account.
This refers mostly to the fraction of the used water lost to evaporation, especially when
extensive water storage areas are needed in flat areas located in warm and arid climates.
Evaporation rates up to 1m/year are common and may be exceed 2.5 m/year in some
areas. In flat areas this may be significant for downstream river basin resources. These
water losses can be added to the water consumption footprint of energy production.
Water resources consumption due to evaporation associated with hydroelectric produc-
tion range from 0.04 to 210m3/GWh, with median values ranging from 2.6 to 5.4m3/
GWh (Torcellini et al., 2003; Freedman and Wolfe, 2007; WEC, 2010), depending
mostly on the surface area exposed to evaporation, relative to the stored volume, climate,
timing of storage, and the altitude difference between the reservoir level and the turbine
discharge point. Water consumption increases from mountain environments to lowlands.
From data in Mekonnen and Hoekstra (2011) considering thirteen hydroelectric plants in
South America, covering very large to medium-size ones and from deep storage reservoirs
to shallow ones, the following water specific consumptions in m3/MWh produced can
be gathered: 22 to 36 in Argentina (flat areas), 2 to 111 (median 12) in Brazil (from flat
areas to narrow valleys), 0.1 in Chile (a narrow valley in a cold area), and 0.1 to 1.0 in
Colombia (deep valleys). Comparing with total usable water resources, evaporation from
these dams is a negligible quantity in Chile and Colombia, 0.13% in Brazil and 0.3% in
Argentina, at the country level. Larger percentages refer to the river basin where the dams
are located. Other results derived from other sources are: 0.9m3/MWh (70m3/yr/GW
installed) in Colombia (Jiménez-Cisneros and Galizia-Tundisi, 2012), which means a river
flow loss of approximately 0.5 to 1%; 14 and 24m3/MWh for the large hydroelectric
plants of Itaipú (95,000GWh, 14GW) and Tacuruí (8.4GW) in Brazil; 0.6m3/GWh
(4% of usable water and 25% of water used) in Costa Rica (LA–Costa Rica, 2012). For
reversible hydroelectric plants used for energy regulation these values can be higher.

9.3.2 .2 Thermoelectricit y
Electricity production in thermal plants may demand and consume large water flows.
Thermal efficiency depends on thermodynamics – predominantly on the maximum tempe-
rature – and may vary from approximately 0.30–0.35 for nuclear and old coal plants,
0.40–0.45 for critical state coal and oil plants and 0.45–0.50 for combined-cycle gas
turbines. The heat that is not converted into electricity is transferred to the environment by
means of water. Air cooling greatly reduces water consumption but is expensive and thus
it is mostly restricted to areas with scarce water flows, such as in some geothermal plants
and isolated coal mines.
Thermoelectric plants may use an open cooling water cycle when a large water flow is
available, generally a river, or sea water for plants on the coast, as is the case in Mexico.

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Waste heat is transferred to the water with a temperature increase of a few degrees,
which has to be compatible with ecological restrictions at the disposal site. Discharged
water slowly cools to environmental temperature by evaporation, which implies some flow
decrease and an increase in salinity. Water use may vary from 30 to 60m3/s/GWe
(We=W of electrical power), depending on the admissible temperature increase in the
outflow water, or a little less for thermally efficient nuclear plants. Flows can be halved
in sea water cooled plants when a higher temperature increase in discharged water is
allowed.
When water resources are scarce, the other commonly used cooling method is the
closed water cycle, in which heat is transferred to an external water flow closed circuit
that is cooled by water evaporation in natural or forced convection, high cooling towers.
Water consumption is the sum of evaporated water, leakages and the renewal of water
in the circuit to prevent salinity build-up via evaporation. Approximately 0.5 to 0.7L/s/
MWe are consumed, depending on plant thermal efficiency, which equates to 1.8 to
2.5m3/MWhe, and 8m3/MWhe for older plants. Some average water consumption
values are given in Table 9.4. In most cases the presence of a thermoelectric plant
may produce a significant decrease of resources in small river basins or aquifers. Water
disposed of may affect local water salinity and also carry with it corrosion products
and in-plant treatment chemicals that may be of some concern if not duly treated before
discharge. Water recycling in the cooling system is generally three to ten times the water
use for a low salinity water supply. These figures are within the same range of results from
other studies carried out in the US (Averyt et al., 2011) and Spain (Hardy et al., 2012).

Table 9.4 Average water consumption rates for thermoelectric plants with closed cooling

TYPE OF COAL OIL COMBINED NATURAL GAS NUCLEAR HYDROPOWER

PLANT CYCLE TURBINE AND MIX

m³/MWhe 1.8 (1) 1.2 1.2 0.7 2.7 (2) 1.0 (3)
1 Part of water used for handling of ashes
2 Lower operating temperatures
3 The value for hydropower is actually highly variable while the other figures have a small range

Source: modified from WEC (2010).

9.3.2 .3 Ge othermal electricit y generation

Geothermal electric energy production is significant in some countries such as Mexico,
Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala, and is currently receiving a push
in Chile, even though some former projects were not completed due to legal and envi-
ronmental restrictions. Geothermal production uses closed water cooling units that require
water. Air cooling is used when geothermal water is too saline and no other sources of
fresh water are available. Waste heat per unit of power is greater than in conventional ther-
moelectric plants due to the lower thermodynamic efficiency. Most of the water produced
is re-injected to avoid pollution problems and to recharge the geothermal aquifer. Some
production data are shown in Table 9.5.

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Table 9.5 Geothermal energy in some representative LA countries

COUNTRY MEXICO EL SALVADOR NICARAGUA COSTA RICA GUATEMALA

EXISTING POWER 850 105 70 125 24

(MWe)
% OF COUNTRY 3.2 20 17.2 10.2 3.7
ELECTRICITY
Source: own ellaboration.

Water consumption is highly variable. As a reference, in the Salton Sea geothermal fields
(3.2GWe) in the USA, water use is 2.2hm3/yr or approximately 1.2L/MWe. Studies
carried out in Australia indicate that this consumption may be about 2.5L/s/MWe (Clark
et al., 2010). Thermo-solar energy production also needs cooling water, which ranges
from 0.26 to 0.9m3/MWh.

9.3.2 . 4 Energy from biomass

Biomass is generally used for heating, including industries, especially those that produce
it, such as sugar, paper and cellulose factories, but in small quantities it is also used for
electricity production. Part of this bioenergy is derived from forest products, mostly consu-
ming soil (green) water, and vegetal wastes from agricultural production. Water is needed
for in-plant energy production, mostly to generate process heat and electricity, with little
thermodynamic efficiency compared to large thermal plants. This is due to the often low
working temperatures and the small, non-optimal units. Energy is also needed for collec-
tion, transportation and temporal storage of wastes and products. Similar processes are
applied in the less common plants used to transform forest bio-matter into gas and liquid
fuels. World biofuel (biodiesel and ethanol) production reached 100hm3 in 2010 (HLPE,
2013). This source claims that seventeen LA countries have adopted biofuel policies with
specific targets and mandates for transport fuels. Biomass transformation is reported to
produce 2% of energy in Costa Rica, 4% in Chile and is significant in Mexico.

9.3.3 Water and land ne e ds to produce biofuels

Renewable energy production is a priority for the 21st century and an important part of it
is solar energy captured through biosynthesis. This requires vegetal biomass that consumes
large quantities of water, besides land and nutrients. In humid climates crop production is
mostly rain-fed but in semi-arid and arid areas irrigation is needed, and consequently this
is a source of conflict for the often scarce available water resources.
The planned production of bio-matter to be transformed into fuel – biodiesel and
bioethanol amongst others – is currently important in some LA countries (Balat and Balat,
2009; Saulino, 2011). It has been well established in Brazil since the 1970s, and
has recently received a push in Argentina (Nass et al., 2007; CADER, 2010, 2011),
Colombia, Peru and there is some small production in Paraguay. This refers mostly to the
intensive cultivation of maize, sugar cane, other grains, sunflower, and soybeans. Besides
water for irrigation, when it is needed, and that used to produce the nutrients – often

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imported from other areas – water is also needed for the production process in a factory,
plus the energy embedded in the facilities and the machinery. The social and economic
benefits and the energy balance are not always clear, even if private gains are obtained
and there is a good prospect for exporting, mostly to the United States, Europe and Japan.
Many different interests and points of view are involved. For many there is a threat to food
security and income on a national scale and worldwide, and further the energy used in
the production is considered a waste of fossil fuel.
Bioethanol (bioalcohol) was considered as an alternative motor fuel in Brazil as early
as the 1930s. Its industrial production started in the 1970s with the programme PROAL-
COOL. Up to 10% of ethanol can be mixed with gasoline without modifying the motor or
it can be used directly or with up to 10% gasoline in modified engines. In LA it is predo-
minantly produced in Brazil, but also in Argentina since 2009 (Babcock and Carriquiry,
2012) for domestic consumption, and is starting in Peru, Colombia and Costa Rica,
mostly from sugar cane. Current production in hm3/yr for Argentina, Brazil, Colombia
and Peru are respectively 0.28, 29, 0.3 and 0.14 (USDA, 2011). The characteristic
sugar cane’s specific mass production is 75,000kg/ha/yr, and yields 6–8 m3/ha/yr of
alcohol. Approximate data for sugar cane is provided in Table 9.6.
Bio-alcohol can also be produced from corn, other grains and lignocellulose, but at a
higher cost. Some data on prices are given in Table 9.7.

Table 9.6 Sugar-cane production and crop area

COUNTRY No.mills CANE PRODUCTION SURFACE % CROP AREA BIO-ALCOHOL

(106 t/yr) (10³ ha) (hm³/yr)

(1)
BRAZIL 350 460 9,000 4 20
ARGENTINA 30 50 1.5 0.2
PERU 1 9.3 69 1.3 0.1 (2)

1 85% for internal use, of which 90% is as biofuel

2 ongoing project; 90% for export to the EU
Source: own elaboration based on technical unpublished data.

Table 9.7 Approximate costs of producing bio-alcohol and comparative cost of oil

SOURCE BIOALCOHOL OIL

SUGAR-CANE CORN BEAT WHEAT LIGNO-CELLULOSE
US$/L 25-50 60-80 60-80 70-95 80-110 80

Source: own elaboration based on technical unpublished data.

Costs and possibilities are country specific and depend on factors ranging from rainfall
and water availability to soil value and the calculation methods used. Crops need nutrients
and may produce important externalities, so the real gain and sustainability is open to
debate. Brazil claims the energetic value of the bio-alcohol they produce is approximately

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8–10 times that of the fuel used in the production. Crop yield has improved by a factor
of 1.6 and fossil fuel consumption in the production has decreased by a factor of 0.75.
Biodiesel is produced from oleaginous plants (mostly soybeans) in Argentina (Hilbert el
al. 2012), and from palm oil and castor oil in Brazil. It is added to diesel fuel at 5%–7%,
with the prospect of attaining up to 10%. Current production in hm3/yr in Argentina,
Brazil, Colombia and Peru is 2.90, 2.65, 0.54 and 0.03 respectively (USDA, 2011).
Although Brazil started production earlier (in 2005), Argentina having only started in
2009 (Hilbert et al., 2012) is currently the world’s second largest producer after the USA
and the main world exporter.
Water consumption in the factories producing biofuel varies between 4 and 6L/L
(volume of water/volume of biofuel), which could be cut down to 2.5 by improvement
in production. These data can be compared to 2.5 to 5.5L/L to produce petrol, and the
1.9L/L minimum thermodynamic requirements to produce inorganic alcohol. However,
the main water consumption is due to irrigation, which ranges from 0 in fully rain-fed areas
to 800 to 2000L/L for irrigated crops in arid areas. National water values often only
consider water resources (blue water) consumed and thus results vary greatly according
to the country or region.
A key element of biofuels production is related to the land and soil (green) water needs.
HLPE (2013) compiled the following ranges in ha/m3ge/yr (ge = gasoline equivalent): for
ethanol it is required 0.300 from sugar cane, 0.465 from corn and 0.470 for cellulosic
material; for biodiesel, 1.540 from jatropha and 0.310 from palm oil. This means that
to produce 1 hm3/yr of sugar cane approximately 300,000ha of cropland is needed.

9.4 Water for industr y

Industry covers a large and variable group of activities, many of which depend on the
specific economy of the country or region. Industrial areas are highly variable in LA, from
heavily industrialized zones, such as São Paulo (Brazil), Mexico City and Monterrey
(Mexico), where the metal sector and petrochemical industries are present, to other areas
in which industry is relatively less important and a large proportion of the factories are
for food processing. Water needs and the environmental impact are thus quite different.
Often thermo-power plants and treatment plants for minerals that are not in the mining
area, such as smelters, are considered as industrial plants.
A large proportion of industrial factories are small to medium size, in or around towns,
and thus water demand and use is generally included in urban water and the disposal
of used water goes to the municipal sewage system. Whilst large self-supplied factories
and industrial areas can be found, most of them are oil refineries, chemical plants (which
include fertilizer production and natural and artificial textiles), sugar factories (‘ingenios’)
and biofuel production plants processing rain-fed or irrigated agricultural production. In
some cases tanneries (leather factories) may be important, as is the case in some areas of

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Mexico, Peru and Argentina. Food-processing industries often use water from the supply
network while the production of bottled water and refreshments is partly supplied by the
municipal network and partly self-supplied, as commented in Box 8.8 of Chapter 8.
Even if factories generally demand a small fraction of the total resources, they may
pose important burdens on their surroundings since they are competing for the scarce
local resources. This may become locally unpopular and provoke reactions from citizens
and the mass-media. Furthermore, in the absence of strict environmental regulations or
when the enforcement of such regulations fails, whether it be due to powerful lobbying
groups or public administration weaknesses, factories are likely to pollute both surface
and groundwater.
Water use data vary from country to country and over time due to continuous
improvements in water use efficiency, to reduce production costs and due to environmental
pressure to save scarce water resources. Some industrial processes are especially water
intensive, such as the production of paper, cellulose, petrochemicals and artificial fibres.
In Chile, a 40 m3/t water demand for paper production is mentioned, where it was
formerly of 110m3/t (LA–Chile), and this value can still be greatly reduced further, as
shown by the experience in Spain. In Mexico, about 50% of water for industrial use is
for cooling and 35% for industrial processes, and an important fraction of it is wasted.
Also in Mexico, the main oil-related industry uses approximately 230hm3/yr, about half
surface water and half groundwater. The water/product ratio is 1.0 for refining, 0.6 for
basic gas and oil products and 4.7 for petrochemical products. The water needs for fuel
production and processing are shown in Table 9.8. The industrial water use in Mexico
for the principal water demanding industries is given in Table 9.9. Self-supplied industries
use 3,100hm3/yr (45% groundwater) and thermoelectric units use 4,100hm3/yr (12%
groundwater), and both of them use 9% of the country’s water resources.

Table 9.8 Water needs for fuel production, including processing

FUEL MINERAL COAL URANIUM CRUDE OIL NATURAL GAS

m³/MJ content 335 184 3,809 218

Source: WEC (2010)

Table 9.9 Industrial water use in Mexico for the main water-intensive sectors.

INDUSTRY SUGAR CHEMICALS OIL PAPER AND CELLULOSE

% of industrial water use 40 22 7 8
% of industrial water consumption 35 21 6 8

Source:Jiménez-Cisneros and Galizia-Tundisi (2012)

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River pollution due to the combined effect of wastewater from urban centres and
industry produces important problems in some areas. Worldwide known problems are
those of Lerma River and Chapala Lake (Mexico DF), Tieté River (São Paulo, Brazil), the
highly polluted Tigre, Matanza–Riachuelo and Reconquista river stream systems around
Buenos Aires (Argentina) where a special organization has been formed to try to control
it (Autoridad de Cuenca Matanza–Riachuelo, ACUMAR), and downstream Bogotá
(Colombia). Except for coastal Buenos Aires the other urban areas are continental and
their effect on water resources is therefore greater.
In Mexico, in order to treat 2,500hm3/yr of wastewater 1,650GWh/yr are used; of
this total 900hm3/yr are from factories, consuming 600GWhe/yr (Jiménez-Cisneros and
Galizia-Tundisi, 2012). Total energy consumption for the water cycle is approximately
13,500GWhe/yr, or 7.1% of Mexican energy consumption.

9.5 Water for mining

Mining is an important sector in many LA countries. It is a key source of income and
employment and is a sector which is on the rise given the increasing world demand for
some metals (see Chapter 5). LA countries are very important world producers of silver,
copper, molybdenum, zinc, aluminium, strontium, gold, iron and nickel. In Chile, copper
contributes 90% of the economic value of the country’s mining, US$ 9 billion to the
GNP and produces US$ 45 billion in exports. LA countries supply 51% of the world’s
silver, 45% of its copper and overall 25% of the world’s metal market. The production
of lithium, a series of secondary metals and coal are also important, as well as gems.
Classical mining areas are those of San Luis Potosí (Mexico), Zacatecas (Mexico), Ouro
Preto (Minas Gerais, Brazil), and several Andean areas of Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina
and Colombia. La Guajira (Colombia) is an important world coal producer. There are
large companies but also numerous small, even artisanal ones, especially for precious
metals and gems. They attract 32% of the world’s economic investments in mining. Mining
activities can be seen as both producers and consumers of water, this second aspect
being a serious problem in some areas. Most new mines exploit large and deep pits.
Some new mining activities exploit existing natural brines in ‘salares’ (salt pans) to extract
dissolved substances such as lithium and potassium, and also nitrates in some cases.
Mining by means of underground galleries or deep open pits may intersect aquifers or
induce the infiltration of river or lake water. This is avoided as much as possible, sometimes
with artificial impermeable barriers, but often water drainage cannot be controlled or is
the result of operation failures. Pumping out this water is often a costly, energy intensive
activity and water has to be disposed of. This produces desiccation problems in some
areas and inundation in others, alongside quality problems since pumped water may
be acidic or have excessive loads of some undesirable components. This water and
that produced inside the mine area, including tailings (mine dumps) drainage, has to be
disposed of. A fraction of mine water production is often used for mine operation and
dust control.

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Open pits become evaporation surfaces that may consume 1 to 2m/yr of water
depth, depending on the area. Rainfall may be scarce in many of the arid mining areas
of the Americas, often less than 100mm/yr or even as low as a few mm/yr, and thus this
may compromise during a long time and even forever the future water resources, as has
been observed in the arid and hyper-arid areas of Peru, northern Chile, western Bolivia
and northwestern Argentina.
Water is needed for the operation of the mines, mostly to supply mineral leaching
areas and mineral processing, but also for dust control. This is a moderate quantity but
may become a serious demand in arid and hyper-arid areas. Mineral concentrates are
often transported from inside the mining plants and to further away facilities in order
to process the final product or to ship it. This transportation can be done by means of
pipelines as slurries, thus using large water flows that are often not returned to the mine.
This increases mining water needs – a serious challenge in arid areas – and may be a
water quantity and quality disposal problem at the processing plant.
Numerous improvements for in-mine water use efficiency through recycling have been
introduced to reduce water use. However, mining continues to be a serious challenge in
many arid areas where it is necessary to provide enough water to the mining sector whilst
preserving human supply, protecting the local environment and avoiding the spread of air
and water-borne contamination. Long water transfers have been or are being planned to
make mining possible, although excess water disposed of by the mine may become an
added problem to the local environment. Current use of water in mining is given in Table
9.10.
Table 9.10 Current water consumption in mining (values rounded up)

COUNTRY MINING WATER CONSUMPTION

% of GNP hm³/yr % (3) Comments

CHILE 12 260 8.8 growing; mostly for copeer (1)

PERU 6 210 2 growing
(2)
MEXICO 1.6 55 0.07
ARGENTINA 3.2

1 Economic productivity of used water: 4.4US$/m3; 1950hm3/yr used; other sources show
up to 300hm3/yr
2 27hm3/yr consumed, 26hm3/yr disposed of; 74hm3/yr recycled; 2% of employment
3 Percentage of available water resources
Source: Jiménez-Cisneros and Galizia-Tundisi (2012), LA–Chile (2012); LA–Mexico (2012);
LA–Peru (2012).

The most important supply problems appear in the arid and hyper-arid western coastal
areas of South America, especially in the Tarapacá (Region I) and Antofagasta (Region
II) areas of Chile. Important water rights purchases have been made at prices between
75,000 and 225,000US$/L/s (see Chapter 13). In 2006 this prompted one of the
large companies operating in the area to invest approximately 160 million US$ to obtain
500L/s of fresh water at a coastal seawater desalination plant for leaching sulphide

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mineral concentrates. With a total investment of 870 million US$, water is pumped up to
an altitude of 3200m through a 170km pipeline.
Mining carried out by large companies is generally much less water consuming and
produces less water quality degradation per unit of production and per unit value of
production than small-scale and artisanal (informal) mining. This last point is common
practice in many areas, especially in the Andean region and to exploit secondary
mineral accumulations (‘placeres’) in alluvial deposits and other sediments, or through
small underground mining. They are widespread in the wet areas of eastern Peru and
Colombia. This mining contributes more employment per unit of production and per unit
value (but under poor working and health conditions) than large mines, but it may be highly
detrimental to the local environment and water resources. To extract gold, amalgamation
with mercury (quicksilver) and cyanide treatment is carried out, and consequently serious
mercury and cyanide pollution is produced in rivers, lakes and groundwater. These
small-scale and artisanal activities are often poorly controlled, and become important
environmental (Hajeck and Martínez Anguita, 2012) and social problems to which
governments often turn a blind eye, especially if the native population and poor people
are involved in the mining.
Although environmental restoration is possible and mining permits are currently under
consideration, the current situation shows that the impact of past activities, failings and
unaccounted situations often appear during and after mine operation. Post-mining correction
activities carry the risk of not being executed since in many cases the responsibility is
passed from the mining companies to governments as money transfers.
One of the largest water resources problem, affecting especially groundwater resources
and their relation with the water cycle, is the lack of knowledge and trained personnel,
during the mine’s operation and especially after its closure. Trained persons are scarce in
many countries and are employed preferably to support direct mining activities, which is the
priority and are much better paid posts. Thus, it is not rare that governmental organizations
in charge of environmental control and regulation are not able to keep a stable workforce
due to the higher salaries offered by mining companies. This is a common situation in LA.
Water consumption in copper mining is currently 0.3 to 1.2m3/t of treated mineral,
with an average value of 0.75m3/t. This is a clear improvement compared to 2 m3/t some
years ago; there are hopes that this will be reduced to 0.05m3/t. Current consumption
is approximately 75 to 100 L/kg of refined copper and the apparent water economic
productivity is approximately 80US$/m3.
Gold production in Colombia is 56t/yr. In the Porce River basin, in the highlands
(LA–Colombia, 2012), with 4,000 hm3/yr of water resources, gold mining uses 0.5hm3/
yr to produce 3t/yr by using 80–100t/yr of mercury, but actual water consumption is
from 0.5 to 1.5hm3/kg of gold produced when the flow needed to dilute the pollutants is
considered. Water productivity is around 460US$/m3.
Oil extraction is an important mining activity in LA, mainly in the large basins on
the eastern side of the Andes Range, from Peru to Colombia–Venezuela, including the
central Amazonia in Brazil, as well as in a series of formations in Mexico and southern

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South-America, in Argentina and Chile. Water use for abstracting the oil is generally
small and highly variable, depending on the circumstances. Oil is abstracted jointly with
large flows of often saline and highly contaminated water, which is mostly re-injected to
enhance production or is just disposed of safely. Failings or accidents may contaminate
groundwater resources and later surface water resources too, for a long time. Secondary
and tertiary oil recovery is done by water injection, generally using small flows. Also
small flows are needed for advanced gas recovery by ‘fracking’, which is currently being
considered in LA. Chemicals used are an environmental concern and a poorly understood
source of pollution. CO2 injection into deep formations to reduce its emissions into the
atmosphere is being considered in Brazil. This needs water for treatment and cooling, and
especially to produce energy for the capture process at the plant. The water resources
impact of these small amounts will likely be important in the future in water scarce areas.
As is the case of diverse regions of the world and especially in arid and semi–arid
areas, as discussed in Chapter 2, in some of the dry areas of LA groundwater reserves
in some of the large aquifers are being depleted due to intensive exploitation, at a rate
much higher than renovation (Custodio, 2010, 2011). This groundwater withdrawal due
to mining activities is happening in the hyper-arid areas of the Andean Region, comprising
coastal Peru, northern Chile, southwestern Bolivia and northwestern Argentina, where
groundwater renovation is scarce or nil. Groundwater abstraction is for the most part
to supply the mining of metal ores and also for brine extraction in salt pans (‘salares’)
used to exploit some solutes such as lithium, potassium and nitrates. The sustainability of
small springs and groundwater discharges that are important for some human settlements
and of ecological and touristic value, such as high altitude wetlands (‘bofedales’), is of
special concern. Rainfall in the intermediate depressions is a few mm/yr on average
and the scarce recharge is produced occasionally by some sporadic floods in gullies
whose headwaters are in the highlands (‘altiplano’). Even though rainfall in the altiplano is
scarce, a combination of almost bare soil of low humidity retention (mostly young acidic
ignimbrites) and rainfall retention in the seasonal snow cover favour some recharge that
manages to sustain some springs which yield water with a very long turnover time (Acosta
et al., 2013).

9.6 Discussion and conclusions on water securit y

for energy production, industr y and mining
activities and for human uses in L A
What have been presented in the preceding sections are general considerations on water
use and consumption in the different sectors of energy production, industry and mining,
with specific references to LA countries and regions, and especially to the seven countries
that have contributed reports. For many aspects data have not been found and an in depth
bibliographical search has not been performed. Thus, part of the comments and warnings
are qualitative and their relative importance remains speculative. Additionally it should be

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noted that part of the data was obtained from reports that have not been checked or are
not always well defined.
Not all of the sectors – energy production, industry and mining – are similarly present
in all LA countries. In Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Colombia and Costa Rica
hydroelectricity is an important energy source, while in Mexico coal, oil and thermoelectricity
contribute a larger fraction of the country’s needs. Only Argentina has operating nuclear
plants, although their contribution to the country’s total energy needs is small.
Hydroelectricity may consume water by evaporation in the storage reservoirs, which
is often a small fraction of river flow, but in some cases it may be large enough to
affect downstream water security by reducing flow, increasing salinity and modifying
seasonality. Specific water consumption for energy production varies over a wide range,
from less than 1m3/GWh to more than 100m3/GWh, depending on local conditions. At
the national scale this amounts to 0.1% to 4% of total water resources, although in some
cases, particularly in warm, flat areas it can be up to 25%.
In thermoelectric plants, cooling – in open and closed cycles – is generally done
with river water, but in Mexico marine water cools important power plants located in
coastal areas. Geothermal plants along the western mountainous areas of LA are in arid
regions and use closed cycle cooling fed with groundwater or air cooling. These cooling
needs water consumption may be a significant fraction of local surface and groundwater
resources, which in arid areas can compete against other water demands for a large
share. Thus, water security may become an important consideration for the plant operation,
for the downstream local population and for the environment.
The production of biofuels may introduce an important water demand where irrigation
is needed, which may in turn have a great impact on local and downstream local water
security. This would be especially true in semi-arid and arid areas and furthermore in the
areas from where the water resources are to be taken. It seems that some projects on the
Pacific side of South America may create important local water imbalances or require
expensive water conveyance systems and energy-consuming water imports from further
afield areas for the sake of income from biofuel exportation.
Water security considerations for industry are as varied as the involved activities. In
many cases they are connected to urban water supply and share their water security
circumstances, as explained in Chapter 8. This includes part of the production of bottled
water and refreshments that are common in LA, Mexico being a world leader in per capita
production and consumption. Large industrial establishments, which include thermoelectricity
production, have their own water supply. Other important water-independent industries are
those related to refineries, large chemical plants, smelters for iron, aluminium and other
metals, textiles, leather and large sugar plants, amongst others. Comments made above
for energy water security also apply here. Additionally water security for populations and
the environment has to consider the pollution generated by these plants – something which
is highly dependent on the types of activity and technology – and also on the existence
and enforcement of legislation and civil society action. Circumstances vary largely in
LA. Large industrial concentrations are found in several places in Mexico, Brazil and

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Argentina, and large sugar plants (‘ingenios’) in Colombia. The impact of water security
on the population also depends on the location of these industrial plants. Many of them
are close to the coast – large lakes do not exist – and have less downstream water security
impact, but others are far inland and are often at high altitude (São Paulo, Bogotá, Mexico
City) and thus have a higher impact on downstream water security.
Mining is an important activity and a great source of income in many LA countries
such as Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Bolivia. Some
mines are in areas with plenty of water – where the problem is how to get rid of it
– but others are in semi-arid areas with water supply problems (e.g. central Mexico,
northern Colombia, northeastern Brazil) and in arid and hyper-arid areas (northern
Chile, northwestern Argentina, eastern Bolivia, southern Peru) where water resources are
very scarce and groundwater with very slow renovation (up to several thousand years)
is used and partly mined. Water security for mining is an important concern, so in some
cases seawater desalination at the coast has been introduced. For example in northern
Chile costly desalinated seawater is pumped to the highlands where the copper mines are
located. In the case of mining, water security can be solved when mining can support the
involved cost of procuring and producing water given the current high prices of metals.
From the point of view of human water needs, mining may become an important threat
in arid and semi-arid areas, but may also generate large benefits. Mining may seriously
interfere with water security of locals by reducing river and spring flow, even exhausting
them, or in other cases damage wetlands. This is a complex situation as changes in
the groundwater resources are slow and delayed, which may pass unnoticed for years.
Detailed hydrogeological studies are therefore needed to measure this impact over time.
Thus, it is important to know the pace of recovery after a mine closes; it may be that this
rate is too slow to be significant. It is relatively common that open pit mines are not refilled
as they may be conceivably re-opened in the future or is not considered in their mining
permit; thus this can leave a large and deep lake capable of evaporating large water
flows if groundwater seepage is enough or if surface water gets in when barriers fail. This
may reduce local and downstream water resources and even exhaust springs and small
streams. There is little information on this issue, especially due to poor monitoring since
many large mining activities are relatively young and the evaluation is complex owing to
weather and climate variability.
From the water quality point of view, mining may affect the water security of inhabitants
and of the environment, both local and downstream. This is due to the disposal of water
with high salinity, acid and/or containing diverse unwanted and noxious solutes derived
from minerals – diverse heavy metals – or from concentration and processing, such as
flotation compounds, and quicksilver (mercury) and cyanide in the case of the many gold
mines in LA, especially the small and artisanal ones. This is a common situation in Colombia
– where the supply and even agricultural use of water from many rivers is jeopardized –
and the Amazonian side of Peru. The situation is less acute in the case of well-operated
modern mining, where wastewater disposal is relatively small and controlled.

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 CHAPTER 9
W A T E R , E N E R G Y, B I O E N E R G Y, I N D U S T R Y A N D M I N I N G

Industry, energy production and mining together consume 8 to 15% of water resources
in the seven considered LA countries. Water consumption is respectively 4 to 9% for
industry, 2 to 5% for energy production (hydroelectric energy consumption not included)
and up to 6% for mining. Water economic productivity for these uses may range from 3 to
10US$/m3. It is a high value when considering direct costs and benefits but if externalities
are considered the economic picture may change, depending on the social discount rate
that is applied.

Acknowle dgements
Several experts have explicitly contributed data: Bárbara Soriano (CEIGRAM/UPM,
Madrid), Maria-Josefa Fioriti (Subsecretaría de Recursos Hídricos, Buenos Aires), Jorge
Benites Agüero (Autoridad Nacional del Agua, Lima), Luis Alberto Pacheco-Gutierrez
(UNAM, Coyoacán, Mexico). Lucia de Stefano (FB/UCM) and Bárbara Willaarts (FB/
UPM, Madrid), Enrique Cabrera (UPV, Spain), and Blanca Jiménez-Cisneros (UNESCO-
PHI, Paris) have contributed useful comments.

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