Amplifying Every Drop the Focus of World Water Week

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, August 17, 2004 (ENS) – It is still possible to fix the world's water and food imbalances, but people must find ways to produce more food using less water, say water experts gathered here for World Water Week. At least 50 international organizations and 1,200 water experts from more than 100 countries are here to seek solutions that will take the world in the direction of food and urban water security. The world must eat less meat if water is to be sufficient, one speaker said. "Unlike the Green Revolution of the 1960s, it is consumers – not producers – who are driving global food production," said Professor Jan Lundqvist of the Stockholm International Water Institute, host of the World Water Week events. "Food preferences are changing, with significant increases in the demand for meat and dairy products," Lundqvist said. But producing one pound of meat takes at least five times the amount of water required to grow an equivalent amount of grain. Even producing enough grains for everyone on Earth means using each drop of water more wisely, many speakers said. "By 2020 world cereal demand will increase by 40 percent, but the world has a finite […]

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