Vegetarianism Necessary?

[Guest guest]

Hungry world 'must eat less meat'

By Alex Kirby

BBC News Online environment correspondent

 

World water supplies will not be enough for our descendants to enjoy the

sort of diet the West eats now, experts say.

 

The World Water Week in Stockholm will be told the growth in demand for

meat and dairy products is unsustainable.

 

Animals need much more water than grain to produce the same amount of food,

and ending malnutrition and feeding even more mouths will take still more

water.

 

Scientists say the world will have to change its consumption patterns to

have any realistic hope of feeding itself.

 

Losing the race

 

The World Water Week conference is held annually in the Swedish capital,

and is organised by the Stockholm International Water Institute, Siwi.

This year's runs from 15 to 21 August.

 

It's going to be almost impossible to feed future generations the kind

of diet we have now in western Europe and North America

Anders Berntell, Stockholm International Water Institute

Siwi says: " With about 840 million people undernourished or lacking a

secure food supply today, and another two billion or more people... by

2025, feeding the world's growing population - and finding the water to

grow the food - continues to be a basic and sizeable challenge. "

 

A paper to be delivered during the conference, entitled Water: More

Nutrition Per Drop, says: " For several decades, the increase in food

production has outpaced population growth. Now much of the world is simply

running out of water for more production... "

 

The World Health Organisation calls malnutrition " the silent emergency " ,

and says it is a factor in at least half the 10.4 million child deaths

which occur every year.

 

Anders Berntell, Siwi's executive director, told BBC News Online: " The

basic problem is that food is the main global consumer of water, with

irrigation taking 70% or more of all the water we use, apart from huge

volumes of rainwater.

 

" The bottom line is that we've got to do something to reduce the amount of

water we devote to growing food today.

 

Upturn in demand

 

" Animals fed on grain, and also those which rely on grazing, need far more

water than grain crops.

 

 

WATER AND FOOD

A kilogram of grain-fed beef needs at least 15 cubic metres of water

A kilo of lamb from a sheep fed on grass needs 10 cubic metres

A kilo of cereals needs from 0.4 to 3 cubic metres

" But in the developed world, and in parts of some developing countries,

consumers are demanding more meat.

 

" Of course people should have healthier diets and a higher intake of

nutrients: we don't want to stop that.

 

Slow to dawn

 

" But it's going to be almost impossible to feed future generations the

kind of diet we have now in western Europe and North America.

 

" Most of us don't appreciate, either politically or personally, the

challenge of finding enough water to grow enough food, though in some

countries it's a problem of everyday living.

 

" I think the world's future water supply is a problem that's an entire

order of magnitude greater than we've begun to realise. "

 

Mr Berntell said the rich would be able to buy their way out of trouble by

importing " virtual water " - the water needed to grow the food they bought

from abroad.

 

He said: " The transport of virtual water is huge. Australians were

astonished to find that although their country is short of water, they're

net exporters of water in the form of meat. "

 

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/3559542.stm

 

Published: 2004/08/16 16:45:26 GMT

 

© BBC MMIV

 

 

 

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

a time to rend, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time to war, and a time to peace.

-- Ecclesiastes