Conserve water or die: Freshwater scarcity will hit food production sooner than you think
World water cycle has been disrupted for first time in human history and freshwater scarcity will hit food security real soon, warns a major report. Photograph:( Others )
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Stark warning on global freshwater scarcity: Freshwater demand will soon exceed supply by 40 per cent, hitting food production and economic growth hard across the world, a new report is warning.
Stark warning on global freshwater scarcity: Freshwater demand will soon exceed supply by 40 per cent, hitting food production and economic growth hard across the world, a new report is warning.
Every day, more than 1,000 children under five are dying from unsafe water and poor sanitation. Women and girls are spending 200 million hours collecting water. Food production across half the world could fail in the next 25 years due to this water crisis.
These are among some of the stark findings of a major report on the global water availability situation, which noted that the hydrological cycle of the world has been disrupted for the first time in human history.
By 2030, demand for freshwater will outstrip supply by 40 per cent, said The Global Commission on the Economics of Water in the report released on Thursday (Oct 17).
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"Decades of collective mismanagement and undervaluation of water around the world have damaged our freshwater and land ecosystems and allowed for the continuing contamination of water resources...Food systems are running out of fresh water, and cities are sinking as the aquifers underneath them run dry," said the report.
Besides food security, the water crisis will hit economic growth and climate stability, said the report, urging collective action to restore the world's water cycle.
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Freshwater systems have been severely damaged due to poor management, it said adding that water contamination is widespread across the world.
As aquifers deplete and food systems lack fresh water, global agriculture is being strained. Subsidised offered by governments to agriculture worth billions of dollars is exacerbating this problem.
The degradation of freshwater ecosystems will worsen climate change, leading to more frequent droughts, floods, heatwaves and wildfires, warned the report.
What could make the situation worse is the fact that more than half of the world's food production and some three billion people are in areas projected to see declining water resources.
“We have to think radically about how we are going to preserve the sources of fresh water, how we are going to use it far more efficiently, and how we are going to be able to have access to fresh water available to every community, including the vulnerable," said Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who also co-chairs the commission.
(With inputs from agencies)
