No Water Means No Food

Announcements by the United Nations World Food Program and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change made this week linked climate change and drought to shortages in food, and warned that lack of fresh water could lead to a global food crisis.

In a report presented in Budapest on Thursday, scientists from the IPCC reported that the decline in the quantity and quality of water would affect health and agriculture in arid areas around the world.

The Western United States, Mediterranean Sea basin, and parts of Southern Africa and northeastern Brazil were singled out as places where drought could lead to less water for farming, and hence food shortages.

The UN World Food Program also reported yesterday that drought in Australia has slowed down the nation’s grain harvest, which has raised wheat prices and has diminished the amount of this food source for the WFP. The WFP has traditionally used Australian wheat to feed 80 million of the world’s hungry.

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According to the WFP, the shortage in food caused by draught has also led to a rise in social unrest in Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Another study by the World Bank released Thursday alerted countries in the Middle East and North Africa of actions to take to avert water and food crises.

Repairing water networks and building new infrastructure, such as desalination plants, and using more efficient irrigation systems, as well as educating people to limit water waste were several actions that were suggested.

The World Bank reported that most of North Africa currently depends on grain imports because of the decline in farm yields in the region due to drought and population growth.

Photo: Freephotosbank.com

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