How to Stop the Water Wars

I believe the next wars will not be over oil, but about something even more precious: water.  As the number of people on the planet swells to 9.6 billion in 2050, just 37 years away, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization predicts that food production will need to increase 70% to meet the nutritional demands of that many people. Since crops are responsible for 92 percent of human water usage, this rise in food needs will mean severe pressure on water supplies.

In addition, cultures across Asia, Africa and South America are increasing   their meat intake, and livestock are an extra drain on water in several ways: their manure pollutes it and meat production is a water suck.  For example, it takes 2,500 gallons of water to get one pound of beef , although the cattle industry insists it is only 440 gallons and one of my heroes, David Pimentel  from Cornell University calculates it is over 12,000 gallons of water.  No matter whom you believe, it is still a lot more than the 60 gallons needed for a pound of potatoes.    

With the Midwest’s Oglalla Aquifer depleting faster than it can replenish, and the Yemen’s capital city Sana’a expected to run out of water in 5 years, what is the best way to ensure that the world’s human population has enough to drink?

Stabilize the world’s population.

Today, we add 220,000 people to the planet every day, an enormous number that every 12 years there are 1 billion more people on earth.  The human population is at 7.2 billion now, which means it has more than doubled in my lifetime, a huge increase.  It will be over 10 billion within another 50 years.

At some point, the world’s population will stabilize – the question is how?  Will it stop growing because of thirst, famine or a nuclear war over resources, or will it stop growing because humans decide that we must have fewer babies, smaller families?

Forcing people to have fewer children does not work – there is always a terrible backlash, as there was in India   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14117505  in the 70s and China thereafter .  The fastest, most efficient, humane way to lower fertility rates is to educate girls and empower women.  Females who have a sense of autonomy and purpose are more likely to want fewer children, and to use birth control.   Another important factor is encouraging cultures to see the value of smaller families.  Most societies encourage  families  to have at least 2-3 children, which is still too high to stabilize population growth.  In some countries parents still want 7 children.   In fact, in a lot of African countries the barrier to small families is not price or access to birth control, but peoples’ beliefs that big families are best.

If we truly want everyone to have quality of life and enough clean water to grow food, bathe and drink,  I believe the population must go down to 2 billion people.  That was the number of people on the planet just 83 years ago.

I see no other way to really solve our water crisis.  Do you?

For more information on Alexandra’s views on human overpopulation, watch her short talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNxctzyNxC0