Development for water, food, and nutrition security in a competitive environment-An Asian perspective*

The theme of the Third World Irrigation Forum "Development for water, food, and nutrition in a competitive environment" is highly relevant for Asia. Strong economic growth and an increasing population resulted in an unprecedented pressure on water resources. The first sub-theme "Enabling policy environment for water, food, and energy security" aligns well with the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) Strategy 2030 which recognizes the water-food-energy nexus as critical. Asia is a hotspot of water insecurity, and cognizant of this the ADB has developed the Asian Water Development Outlook which focuses on water security. The newest edition, currently under development, expands the outlook to include actionable indicators. Water productivity should improve significantly to meet future challenges; the ADB is a pioneer in using remote sensing-based water productivity measurements in irrigation systems for guiding and monitoring investments. Circular water use in closed systems would be an alternative as well. Operation and maintenance of irrigation and drainage systems is crucial for sustainability, the ADB uses innovative financing to address this. Feminization of agriculture occurs in many member countries and increasingly projects focus on gender and equality. Recently, the first project among irrigation projects categorized as gender equality has been developed for Tajikistan.