 Large
quantities of water will be needed to irrigate land and grow crops
By BBC News
Online's Anne Lavery
Over three billion people could face chronic or severe water shortage
by the year 2025, reveals a new report.
This is a
four-fold increase over the 505 million people affected today
says the US non-profit group behind the report, Population Action
International (PAI).
But despite
the rise, PAI says this is good news. "While cause for concern,
these figures are an improvement over what we thought would happen
a decade ago," said Amy Coen, PAI president.
"This
is due to the ever-greater proportion of couples planning their
families and the resulting slowing of population growth around
the world," she added.
However Robert
Engelman, lead author of the report, told BBC News Online that
for hundreds of millions of people, most of them in developing
countries, family planning remained non-existent.
"Developed
countries need to address this issue because the picture for the
world's environment improves as global population decreases. It's
for the good of all humanity," he said.
Flood of reports
This latest
news comes on the back of a spate of reports this year warning
of an imminent global water crisis. These include concerns over
water pollution and global warming.
Although the
world has abundant supplies of water only 2.5% is fresh water,
the majority of which is tied up in the polar ice caps.
PAI looked
at population growth trends and compared them with the amount
of available water. The amount of fresh water is finite say PAI,
but the number of people keeps increasing.
The worst
hit areas will be Africa and parts of Asia, leaving people not
only thirsty but hungry and in poverty.
"It's
clear that a country like Kenya has more arable land than it can
cultivate," said Sally Ethelston of PAI, " because there's
not enough fresh water to irrigate it."
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