The Hindu : International : Water shortages may force change in human diet

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 24, 2004

International

International

Water shortages may force change in human diet

By John Vidal— © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

LONDON, AUG. 23. International 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 per cent 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 IMWI report says.

Pressure on resources

``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 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 is unlikely people will change their eating habits because of concerns about water supplies.

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