For the third consecutive year, the Munich Security Conference (MSC) is collaborating with the German Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity (BMLEH) to host a High-Level Panel Discussion at the 18th Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA).
The co-hosted High-Level Panel Discussion included a brief introductory and scene-setting remarks by Michael Werz, Senior Advisor at the Munich Security Conference, followed by an interactive discussion and a moderated Q&A session with the audience.
Building on last year’s co-hosted panel at GFFA, this session aims to foster collaboration between the agricultural and stability and security sectors. Water infrastructure has increasingly gained geopolitical significance. Recent debates surrounding large-scale dam projects and the management of cross-border river systems have underscored this. They have shown that water infrastructure can significantly affect downstream regions, altering water availability, ecosystem dynamics and regional stability. Geopolitical competition over water resources is likely to intensify in the future, as the climate crisis is disrupting the water cycle. Global freshwater demand is projected to exceed supply by 40 percent by 2030. The lack of resilience of water systems worldwide poses a major risk to food security by limiting production and quality. Agriculture accounts for 72 percent of global water use and is therefore severely threatened by the global water crisis. As food production becomes increasingly fragile, the shortage of food can trigger cascading effects across regions, exacerbating hunger and forced displacement. In an increasingly turbulent geopolitical landscape, where water and food can be used to apply pressure, it is paramount to understand how vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure systems can lead to the destabilization of societies that depend on them.
Together, the BMLEH and the MSC aim to shed light on the geopolitical dimension of water security in the lead-up to the 2026 UN Water Conference with this High-Level Panel at the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture 2026.
