U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been making the rounds recently and speaking of the importance of tackling both food and water security, two resource issues that are inextricably linked. Three days ago, Secretary Clinton met with the President of Malawi, where she discussed both the U.S. “Feed the Future” program, and other food security goals. She also announced an extraordinary commitment to eradicating hunger by U.S.-based NGOs:

InterAction, an alliance of 198 U.S.-based organizations, is pledging more than one billion dollars of private, non-government funds over the next three years to improve food security and improve nutrition worldwide. Of this one billion dollars, five U.S.-based organizations together have pledged to invest more than 900 billion dollars in this effort. They are: World Vision, Heifer International, Catholic Relief Services, Save the Children and ChildFund International.”

Just two days prior, at the United Nations, Secretary Clinton cited the recent Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) on water security in her call for global cooperation on shared water. From the State Department website:

Citing the findings in a recently released United States Intelligence Community Assessment on Global Water Security, Secretary Clinton noted that water is becoming an increasing source of tension between countries and a potential factor in state failure. She encouraged countries to increase the priority given to water challenges and to work together to strengthen institutions that support cooperation.