Water for Earth: Understanding our identity through water
Future Food Institute strongly believes in the importance of preserving water as a way of preserving life, biodiversity, landscape, and all the different dimensions touched by this precious resource. For this reason, among the Initiatives that FF is committed to for 2021, one specifically relates to Water Safety and Security.
“Culture should be regarded as the permanently evolving set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual, and emotional features of society or a social group. It encompasses — in addition to art and literature — lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions, and beliefs.” UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, Paris 2002
Individual and collective identity cannot be separated from the specific cultures that characterize different Nations and Peoples. This phenomenon is a cumulation of history, habits, skills, ceremonies, religion, spirituality, and myths. It is also shaped by the peculiarity of the geographical contexts, landscape needs, agro-biodiversity, and traditions.
The result, which composes the beautiful mosaic of cultural biodiversity, is what makes our planet an ecosystem so rich in life and variety, from the natural, social, and cultural perspectives. Aspects that deserve attention and protection from homogenization. “Nobody would like to be turned into a monoculture,” to cite the wisdom of Claudia Laricchia, Head of Institutional Relations and Global Strategic Partnerships at the Future Food Institute.
How does water affect our identity and cultural heritage?
The spiritual value of water
For millennia, water has been at the center of spiritual symbolism and religious rituals in human communities. Regularly, water is used to communicate the sacred value of life, the spiritual dimension of purification, and protection, representing a sort of fil rouge, or common thread, among different religions. From the Bible to the Torah, from Hinduism to Islamism, water has always acquired a profound meaning for mankind and a deep connection with the universe and divinity itself, as actualized in Holy books, rituals, and ceremonies. In juxtaposition, water scarcity or water imbalances have also been associated with spiritual crises requiring punishment before redemption.
Even though the epoch in which we live seems to have lost the ancient meaning at the root of spirituality, with humanity now searching instead for instant gratification and levity, this does not mean the ancient wisdom has not influenced our current cultural identity.
Still, some communities, often part of indigenous tribes and groups, continue to live in a close relationship with water, in all its forms, both spiritually and physically. For example, the Māori population of New Zealand ground their cultural values on a deep respect for nature, considered as their first ancestor, and reciprocity, balancing and restoring what is taken, with what is given. Still today, the Māori consider their personal health closely linked to the health of their water bodies, to the point of granting the Whanganui River a legal personality, entitled to the same rights as human beings.
“Ko au te awa, ko te awa ko au.” (I am the river, the river is me.)
Soil fertility as the basis of agri-food diversity
Since the beginning of civilization, since the Egyptians and Sumerians, human settlements have developed and flourished along watercourses. As fertility depends on water, it is clear to understand its centrality for nourishment and food production.
Each food has a specific water cost that can be measured with the Water Footprint. The Water Footprint calculates the total volume of water resources used to produce food by taking into account the whole food production chain, from the production phase to the end-user. The global average water footprint of beef (15,400 liters/kg) is considerably different from that of tomatoes (214 liters/kg); dairy products (3,178 liters/kg) have different water costs compared to oranges (560 liters/kg). It is apparent how much water, on which the health of soils depends, is embedded in agri-food diversity, which often reflects peculiar identity traits, even within the same nation. Italy, for example, is a country where biodiversity, and agro-biodiversity, represent a fundamental national aspect. Yet, our territory is composed of myriad agricultural productions that differ according to the various geographical areas. It is from the small Italian municipalities, those whose population does not exceed 5,000 inhabitants, where 92% of the national protected origin products originate, according to the 2018 Coldiretti Report.
The importance of food culture
In addition to agri-food diversity, food itself plays a central role in shaping the identity and culture of a given community. Food culture is not only limited to specific practices of food production and consumption, it also includes beliefs, values, ethnicity, lifestyles, relationship with the territory, and the way of experiencing food, both individually and socially.
The Mediterranean Diet represents a great example in this direction. Officially recognized as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010, “the Mediterranean diet emphasizes values of hospitality, neighborliness, intercultural dialogue and creativity, and a way of life guided by respect for diversity,” as reported by UNESCO. Despite their differences, this diet connects seven communities across the Mediterranean Basin (Cyprus, Croatia, Spain, Greece, Italy, Morocco, and Portugal). Widely recognized as a sustainable way of living, it is the perfect example of how it is possible to weave together and perfectly balance the different aspects of life. From territory to community, as conviviality is fundamental to the Mediterranean culture, from environmental care to human health, and from historical and philosophical traditions to its rich agri-food diversity. The Mediterranean diet is a living embodiment of the nexus of people and the planet.
Whether directly or indirectly, in the past or today water plays a crucial role in building and sustaining identity. Water carries different values that can unite, despite differences.
“Water has a memory and carries within it our thoughts and prayers. As you yourself are water, no matter where you are, your prayers will be carried to the rest of the world.” — Masaru Emoto
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The Future Food Institute is an international social enterprise and the cornerstone of the Future Food Ecosystem, a collection of research labs, partnerships, initiatives, platforms, networks, entrepreneurial projects and academic programs, that aims to build a more equitable world through enlightening a world-class breed of innovators, boosting entrepreneurial potential, and improving agri-food expertise and tradition.
Future food advocates for positive change through initiatives in Waste & Circular Systems, Water Safety & Security, Climate, Earth Regeneration, Mediterranean Foodscape, Nutrition for All, Humana Communitas, and Cities of the Future as we catalyze progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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