Scientists warn over Asian water supplies

Scientists say Asia must urgently reform its water management to avert devastating food shortages as populations increase.

Water experts said demand for food on the continent would double by 2050 and force countries to import more than a quarter of their grain unless they started supplying water to farms more efficiently.

“If we don’t manage to do that there will be increases in malnutrition, increases in poverty, increases in social unrest,” said Colin Chartres, director general of the International Water Management Institute, which has published a report on water management with the United Nations.