World water shortage

WORLD water supplies will not be enough for our descendants to enjoy the sort of diet the West eats now, experts say.

The World Water Week in Stockholm will be told the growth in demand for meat and dairy products is unsustainable.

Animals need much more water than grain to produce the same amount of food, and ending malnutrition and feeding even more mouths will take still more water. Scientists say the world will have to change its consumption patterns to have any realistic hope of feeding itself.

The World Water Week conference is held annually in the Swedish capital, and is organised by the Stockholm International Water Institute, Siwi. This year’s runs from 15 to 21 August.

Siwi says: “With about 840 million people undernourished today, and another two billion or more people, by 2025, feeding the world’s growing population - and finding the water to grow the food - will be a sizeable challenge.”

The World Health Organisation calls malnutrition “the silent emergency,” and says it is a factor in at least half the 10.4 million child deaths which occur every year.