ABSTRACT
Demographic changes across the world and other global forces such as climate change, water insecurity, energy demands and changing patterns of consumption pose significant challenges for decision-makers world-wide. Making the world food secure in the 21st century will be fundamental to ensuring global economic prosperity and peace. Managing ecosystems, and especially water ecosystems, will be among the most important challenges of those installing the green economy of the sixth cycle. Empirical research in the Middle East and in London has hinted that investors are largely ignorant of the role of water resource management in their business plans for sub-Saharan agricultural projects. On the other hand, there is a great awareness of social, land rights and some non-water environmental risks associated with their investments. The catchy media articles on ‘land grabs’ have almost exclusively focused on big investment schemes. The effectiveness of water management will determine the success or failure of the green economy.
