Posted on 08/24/2004 6:53:31 PM PDT by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
Governments may have to persuade people to eat less meat because of increasing demands on water supplies, according to agricultural scientists investigating how the world can best feed itself.
They say countries with little water may choose not to grow crops but trade in "virtual water", importing food from countries which have large amounts of water to save their supplies for domestic or high-value uses.
With about 840 million people in the world undernourished, and a further 2 billion expected to be born within 20 years, finding water to grow food will be one of the greatest challenges facing governments.
Currently up to 90% of all managed water is used to grow food.
"There will be enough food for everyone on average in 20 years' time, but unless we change the way that we grow it, there will be a lot more malnourished people," said Dr David Molden, principal scientist with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), which is part-funded by the British government and is investigating global options for feeding growing populations.
"The bottom line is that groundwater levels are plummeting and our rivers are already overstressed, yet there is a lot of complacency about the future," the IWMI report says.
"Western diets, which depend largely on meat, are already putting great pressures on the environment. Meat-eaters consume the equivalent of about 5,000 litres [1,100 gallons] of water a day compared to the 1,000-2,000 litres used by people on vegetarian diets in developing countries. All that water has to come from somewhere."
The consensus emerging among scientists is that it will be almost impossible to feed future generations the typical diet eaten in western Europe and North America without destroying the environment.
A meat and vegetable diet, which most people move to when economically possible, requires more water than crops such as wheat and maize. On average, it takes 1,790 litres of water to grow 1kg of wheat compared with 9,680 litres of water for 1kg of beef.
In its report, the IWMI says it it unlikely people will change their eating habits because of concerns about water supplies. "And in many sub-Saharan countries, where the pressure on water will increase most rapidly in the next 20 years, people actually need to be eating more, not less," the report says.
Anders Berntell, the director of the International Water Institute, based in Stockholm, said: "The world's future water supply is a problem that's ... greater than we've begun to realise.
"We've got to reduce the amount of water we devote to growing food. The world is simply running out of water."
Research suggests that up to 24% more water will be needed to grow the world's food in 20 years, but many of the fastest-growing countries are unable to devote more water to agriculture without sacrificing ecosystems which may be important for providing water or fish.
The option of increased world trade in virtual water seems logical, the scientists say, but they recognise that it depends on countries having the money to import their food. "The question remains whether the countries that will be hardest hit by water scarcity will be able to afford virtual water," the report says.
The best options for feeding the world, it says, are a combination of hi-tech and traditional water conservation methods. Improved crop varieties, better tillage methods and more precise irrigation could reduce water consumption and improve yields.
Drought-resistant seeds, water harvesting schemes and small-plot technologies such as treadle pumps [simple foot pumps] all have the potential to boost yields by 100%, the report says.
The scientists did not examine the use of GM foods which have been hailed by some companies as the way to avoid big food shortages.
"Even without GM foods, in many parts of the world there is the potential to increase water productivity. Even without them there is hope," one of the report's authors said.
Another option considered is that of farmers using more urban waste water for irrigation. It is estimated that up to 10% of the world's population now eat food produced using waste water from towns and cities.
Cities are predicted to use 150% more water within 20 years, which will be both a problem and an opportunity.
"This means more waste water but also less fresh water available for agriculture. In the future, using waste water may not be a choice but a necessity", the report says.
The authors say western governments need to change their policies: "Agricultural subsidies keep world commodity prices low in poor countries and discourage farmers from investing [in water-saving technologies] because they will not get a return on their investments.
"Land and water rights are also needed so people will invest in long-term improvements."
We should quit eating fish because they use up the water too......
Unless meat-eaters are somehow exporting water to other planets, we should be okay.
Think I'll cook me a steak.
Rare.
Just sort singed on the top and the bottom.
Anyone that has been near a cow when it "recycles" it's water,Knows that when it rains.......It pours....Stand Back!!!
Exactly. Water that goes into cows eventually finds its way back to the Earth one way or another. Water that goes into tofu, same place.
When we get serious about conserving water the problem is easily solved. Get rid of the grass lawns and the US will return half the water we use back to the sea.
Encourage every rural landowner to put in ponds and the groundwater will come up dramatically.
I refuse to give up ham!
Recipe for the day "Blackened Ham". You might want to try this tonight.
1. Buy an eight sided Farmer John canned ham (octaham).
2. Place skillet on high heat until it is glowing red or until smoke alarms go off.
3. Remove ham from can keeping gelatin intact.
4. Place ham in skillet on one of the eight sides and fry until side is black and gelatin has vaporized.
5. Rotate ham 22.5 degrees. Repeat until all facets are blackened and all gelatin is in the ionosphere. Caution: overcooking can harm the ozone.
6.Enjoy!!
This is just an evil plot by the anti-atkins crowd.
hahahahaha........the world is running out of honest upright leaders who don't starve their own people for the benefit of marxist u.n. type despots, that's all the world is running out of. What a bunch of collectivist maroons...what a bunch of marxist ignoranimases!
FMCDH(BITS)
We've been recycling Malthus's scary predictions for years, and years, and years.....
Especially if it's standing over a flat rock!
FMCDH(BITS)
VEGETABLES ARE WHAT FOOD EATS.
Does this mean we should drink more beer?
GREAT! I knew that that stagnant pool along the freeway would be good for something someday. It'll water the third world AND when it's gone the mosquitos won't be able to breed a block from my house!
They need something to replace Kyoto and hedge against global warming not turning out to be the fact that the punish America crowd claims.
Those who presume to be intellectualy superior to us know what is best. Some treaty will be formulated at some "world conference" that would in essence transfer wealth, in this case water credits or animal protein production taxes from the evil meat eating capitalist countries to the pure and noble plant eating collectivist countries.
There have been famines in the recent past. We have sent aid only to watch corrupt regimes not distribute the food to their people.
Famine is a tool used by despotic regimes to control populations. As long as this is so there will be famines with food rotting on the docks or in the wharehouses of the effected country.
When private enterprise, ownership and initiative were applied to a famine situation that the pilgrims were experiencing in early (1600's) america; the famine was quickly turned into plenty.
Lack of water in the desert is nature's way of saying don't live there.
Your water are belong to us?
What business is it of the constantly copulating and populating third-worlders how much water we use? It's ours.
PS: Cattle on open range use virtually no water. Get used to it.
Actually we lose more than 100,000 gallons of water a day into space.
Distribution problem is right. Here in New Orleans we have about 260,000,000,000 cubic feet per day of fresh water passing through on the Mississippi into the gulf (about 3 million cfs).
THERE IS NO FOOD SHORTAGE!!!!!
More than enough food is grown around the world to ensure that there is NO hunger anywhere. The problem is POLITICAL!!!!
Wherever you see massive starvation and hunger, there is usually a war going on (and muslims are usually involved in it), where starvation is being used as a weapon. The communists used it in the USSR, as do the muslims.
Mark
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