The Water Information Program

Soaring food prices are causing more misery round the world than the credit crunch. But what is the cause? Biofuels are part of it, clearly. A quarter of US corn is now put into tanks rather than stomachs. And oil price rises are feeding in, via the cost of fertiliser and transport. But here is something nobody has yet mentioned. Water. The great slow-burning, under-reported resource crisis of the 21st century is water. Climate change, over-consumption and the criminally inefficient use of this most basic raw material are all to blame. We are using them to death. And with two-thirds of the water abstracted from nature round the world going to irrigate crops, water shortages equal food shortages. Consider. The two underlying causes of the world food crisis are falling supplies and rising demand on the international market. Add in speculation, panic and hoarding and you have a perfect food storm.

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