This session aims to investigate aspects of water and food security by applying analytical tools ranging from crop water use efficiency (WUE) to water footprint assessment (WFA) and to virtual water (VW) trade and balance. We present contributions from environmental, agricultural, hydrological and socio-economic sciences, because global water and food security (i) begin from the agricultural challenges for producing more food with less water, (ii) carry on along an optimized and water-efficient supply chain, and finally (iii) reach consumers and economical and policy domains of trade and national strategies.

The session includes contributions that:
- Quantify and map green, blue, and grey water footprints; assess the implications of water footprint concepts for water scarcity, sustainability, and water pollution, and analyze uncertainty and variability in estimation of water footprints;
- Develop water footprint scenarios and analyze applications of WFA in strategies of water governance and corporate water stewardship;
- Investigate structural dynamics and controls of virtual water trade network and discuss political economy implications of virtual water trade and its relation with policy at local, regional, national, international, and global scales;
- Assess the impact of agricultural production on local and global water resources and the impact of water management practices at multiple scales;
- Focus on the role of irrigated agriculture in increasing crop WUE and productivity as well as optimizing cropping systems, for improving food security, particularly in developing countries;
- Propose analyses and models to support water and food polices, institutions, development and management.

This session is jointly developed with the framework of the Panta Rhei Research Initiative of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) under the research theme of Water Footprint Assessment.