On September 2, 2013 in Stockholm, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), (collectively, the “Founding Partners”) launched Securing Water For Food: A Grand Challenge for Development (GCD). This is the third GCD that Sida is supporting in partnership with USAID. It is a demonstration of our continued commitment to stimulate science, technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship. The online application platform will open on November 27.
Approximately 2.8 billion people – 40% of the world’s population – live in river basins impacted by water scarcity. Of those impacted, 1.2 billion people live in areas of physical water scarcity, where demand is greater than the available supply. Another 1.6 billion people face economic water scarcity, where institutional, financial and human factors limit access to water despite an available natural supply.
Both physical (quantity and quality) and economic water scarcity can lead to negative outcomes related to health, poverty, agricultural productivity, environmental degradation, and growth of the commercial and industrial sectors. Between 2000 and 2050, water demand is projected to increase by 55% globally, meaning that the number of people impacted by water scarcity will continue to rise. Furthermore, 70% of all global water use occurs in the food value chain…
I finally understand why some people deserve degrees in grant writing. If you are an organization working in this sector, you need to hire someone to read, interpret, translate, and apply for this. Is there a correlation between complex problems and complicated grant applications?
