The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Alarm bells ringing

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 14, 2007
ePaper


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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Alarm bells ringing

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: The world is running out of water and a radical plan is needed to tackle shortages that threaten the ability of humanity to feed itself, according to Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the U.N.'s Millennium Project.

Professor Sachs told an environment conference in Delhi in January that the world simply had "no more rivers to take water from." The breadbaskets of India and China are facing severe water shortages and neither Asian giant could use the same strategies for increasing food production that has fed millions in the last few decades.

"In 2050 we will have nine billion people and average income will be four times what it is today. India and China have been able to feed their populations because they use water in an unsustainable way. That is no longer possible," he said.

Since Asia's green revolution, which began in the 1960s and saw a transformation of agricultural production, the amount of land under irrigation has trebled.

However, many parts of the continent have reached the limits of their water supplies.

The Ganges (Ganga) and the Yellow River in China no longer flow, he pointed out.

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