7. Conclusion: mastering management and knowledge skills

The future of water will be based on three fundamental pillars:

• exploiting the potential of green water and optimizing virtual water flows to ensure food security;

• the development of alternative resources, in particular desalination, which represents a major technological and financial challenge;

• improving irrigation performance, where producing more with less water is an obligation, and modernizing water management, which implies a massive cognitive evolution.

These boundary conditions call for a high level of emancipation on the part of society as a whole, if efficiency objectives are to be met: it is essential that all those involved understand the challenges of water and master the technical means to meet them, and that public opinion...