Addressing water-related health
risks in agroecosystems
Eline Boelee - Water Health, the Netherlands &
Delia Grace - International Livestock Research
Institute (ILRI), Kenya
WORLD WATER WEEK
Health and Food Security ILRI
29 August 2012, Stockholm INTERNATIONAL LIVESTOCK RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Water management in
agroecosystems
• Agroecosystems – more ecosystem services
than production of food, feed, fibre
• Crops, livestock, fish, trees
• Water management for
o Increased production & productivity
o Risk reduction, incl. climate change adaptation
o Multiple uses, functions & services
Stockholm, 29Aug2012
ILRI
INTERNATIONAL LIVESTOCK RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Health risks associated with
agricultual water management
• Insect-transmitted diseases, e.g. malaria,
Japanese encephalitis, West Nile fever
• Water-based diseases, e.g. schistosomiasis
• Water quality issues, e.g.
o Fecal contamination: bacteria, (rota)virus,
parasites
o Chemical contamination: pesticides, fertilizer,
antibiotics
o Harmful algal blooms
Stockholm, 29Aug2012
ILRI
INTERNATIONAL LIVESTOCK RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Example 1 - malaria
• Water storage for livestock and irrigation
increased malaria transmission in Ethiopia
ILRI
INTERNATIONAL LIVESTOCK RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Example 2 - cyanobacteria
• Small reservoirs in West Africa for livestock
and irrigation, but also fish & bricks
• Agricultural intensification with high use of
pesticides and urban waste as fertilizer
• Harmful algal blooms of toxic cyanobacteria
restrict water use for dairy & domestic uses
Stockholm, 29Aug2012
ILRI
INTERNATIONAL LIVESTOCK RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Example 3 - avian flu
• Agriculture in wetlands in SE Asia:
rice & ducks
• Water bodies attract migratory
birds with low-pathogenic strains of
influenza
• Poultry keeping near wild bird resting sites
increases risk of virus entry
• Spill-over to backyard flocks
• Virus enters high density, industrial poultry farms
which favours increase in pathogenicity
• Ducks act as reservoir hosts maintaining infection
ILRI
INTERNATIONAL LIVESTOCK RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Higher risks with mixed systems
• Animals and people and water
• Half of world’s food production from mixed
crop-livestock farmers
• Ever increasing demand for food
o Especially animal products
• Most recent pandemics and emerging
diseases are zoonotic: resulting from close
human - animal interaction
Stockholm, 29Aug2012
ILRI
INTERNATIONAL LIVESTOCK RESEARCH INSTITUTE

The Livestock Revolution:
strongly increased demand for meat and milk
as income grows
5
4
consumption of meat
China
Log per capita
Trend
3
2
1
India
04 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Log per capita GNP
ILRI
Livestock to 2020: The Next Food Revolution, a joint IFPRI, FAO, ILRI study. N A T I O N A L
INTER LIVESTOCK RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Zoonotic food-borne Low income 2.4 million
disease
High income 1 million
Zoonoses
Diseases recently emerged
from animals
Zoonoses & recently
emerged from animals
Infectious and respiratory
causes
Non infectious/resp
0 100,000,000 200,000,000 300,000,000 400,000,000 500,000,000
9
ILRI
Life years lost from sickness and death (DALYS)
INTERNATIONAL LIVESTOCK RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Better opportunities with
integrated systems
• Higher productivity / drop, surface, animal…
• Attention to regulating and supporting
ecosystem services
o Water flow regulation
o Water purification
o Nutrient cycling
o Biodiversity
o Disease control
o Comprehensive land and water management
at landscape level
Stockholm, 29Aug2012
ILRI
INTERNATIONAL LIVESTOCK RESEARCH INSTITUTE

How: integrative approaches
EcoHealth
One Health
Incentives
Values
Animal health Preferences
Human Human
Culture
VPH Health
health Ignorance
One Medicine
Governance
Rule-breaking
Agroecosystem health
Societies, cultures
Economies, institutions
ILRI
Policies INTERNATIONAL LIVESTOCK RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Agroecosystem as entry point
• Interventions at farm level
o Adapted water management practices
o Livestock management
o Closed cycles in aquaculture
o Integration of systems
• Followed up along value chain / risk pathways
o Field-to-fork
o Boat-to throat
o Landscape approach
• Support at policy level
o Intersectoral collaboration: agriculture (water, Stockholm, 29Aug2012
crops,
ILRI
fish, animals/veterinary, trees), health, environment
INTERNATIONAL LIVESTOCK RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Addressing water-related health risks in
agroecosystems
THANK YOU
Eline Boelee – e.boelee@waterhealth.nl
Delia Grace – d.grace@cgiar.org
ILRI
ILRI
I N T E R N AT I O N A L L I V E S T O C K R E S E A R C H I N S T I T U T E
INTERNATIONAL LIVESTOCK RESEARCH INSTITUTE