ROME—The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of AQUASTAT, the leading source of global water and agriculture data, during a high-level hybrid event at FAO headquarters in Rome.
The celebration also featured a joint FAO–UN-Water briefing on the UN System-wide Strategy for Water and Sanitation, recently endorsed in 2024 by the UN Chief Executives Board for Coordination.
In his opening remarks, FAO Director-General QU Dongyu underscored the critical link between water and agrifood systems. “There can be no food security without water security,” he said.
“FAO’s Strategic Framework 2022-31 focuses on making agrifood systems more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable, and water is elementary to this transformation,” he said.
He emphasized that “the right solutions require a package of actions based on robust, reliable, continuous and consistent data and information.”
The event included a high-level segment featuring statements from Alvaro Lario, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and chair of UN-Water, as well as Ambassadors and Permanent Representatives from South Africa, Morocco and Peru to the Rome-based UN agencies, who shared national perspectives on the value of water data.
In his speech, Lario underscored that while agriculture remains the largest user of freshwater globally, it is increasingly vulnerable to water scarcity—making accurate and accessible data systems like AQUASTAT vital for informed decision-making and sustainable resource management.
A short cultural interlude featured a live harp performance of an original composition written specifically for this year’s World Water Day and performed publicly for the first time during the event. This was followed by a series of keynote presentations from FAO and partner organizations, highlighting the technical evolution of AQUASTAT, its role in tracking Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.4 indicators, and its contribution to major global reporting frameworks. FAO News