BBC Says World Must Eat Less Meat
Hungry world 'must eat less meat'
By Alex Kirby,
BBC News Online environment correspondent
Livestock needs a lot of water. 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
organized by the Stockholm International Water Institute, Siwi. This year's
(2004) conference runs from 15th to 21st of 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 Organization 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.
Grain goes far to feed the world, 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."
Meat is a treat for the rich. "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 realize."
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."