WATER

Approximately ten years ago, the World Bank VP Ismail Serageldin said "If the wars of this century were fought over oil, the wars of the next century will be fought over water."

About a quarter of the world's population lives in areas of "physical water shortage", where natural forces, over-use and poor agricultural practices have led to falling groundwater levels and rivers drying up. According to the UN World Water Development Report, 70% of all water use is for agricultural irrigation. Expected population growth in the next thirty years will require global agriculture to double its production. The inefficiency in irrigation today is huge. Lack of infrastructure in developing countries, water rights laws that discourage change in the developed world, all enforce todays situation. Changing water rights laws, sharing in transboundary water areas (currently, 45% of the world's population live in internationally shared river basins), adapting drip, greywater, or surface irrigation, adapting a watering schedule according to plant type, mulching, growing more grains and sustaining less cattle will all be necessary changes in the not-so-far-future. However, these solutions are never that simple. Changing diets and the implications for water, land, and farmers livelihoods are all important considerations.