Study 3: Ecodestruction and the Right to Food: The Cases of Water ...

Starving the Future Study 3
Human pressure on water supplies are not the same everywhere. Some regions are more particularly
affected and threatened by scarcity than others, unfortunately those regions are often the ones
experiencing fast population growth or are already dry areas. Projections estimate that water scarcity
will concern half of the population in the world by 2025. River basins such as the ones of the Volta, Nile
and Narmada rivers will be among the most affected by water stress. 11
Population growth is not the only threat to water quantity. Modern schemes of agricultural production
imply a huge use of water especially for irrigation purposes. Industry is also a great consumer of
freshwater. Freshwater systems and water cycles are affected by human activities such as canalization
and dams. River flows are slowed down through fragmentation (by dams and other facilities) and
overextraction of water to such an extent that several big world rivers do not reach the sea any longer
during the dry season. Dams and their reservoirs have a further negative impact on freshwater systems
since they strongly affect soil fertility by preventing sediments to be carried and disseminated
downstream. Today, free-flowing rivers have become rare and the world major rivers are canalized,
diverted from their original wetlands or floodplains, fragmented in reservoirs. All this has a very negative
impact on the balance and cycles of freshwater systems as well as on other ecosystems and entire
landscapes.
As far as groundwater is concerned, excessive pumping from the aquifers leads to loss of storage
capacity, of renewal and filtration capacities. The damage on aquifers can even have consequences on
the soil layer above them by creating serious terrain alterations.
iii. Threats to water quality
In industrialized countries, surface water quality has improved during the last decades thanks to
recycling and pollution control facilities. Nonetheless, water contamination due to nitrate and pesticide
persists. Chemical contamination and water quality degradation are a common feature to all regions in
the world. Inorganic and organic compounds, (sometimes pathogens) attack water quality, menacing
human and wildlife health. Groundwater contamination is due to the human use of contaminants such
as oil, road salts and chemicals. These contaminants get into the groundwater, which becomes unsafe
for human consumption. Diseases due to poor water quality spread.
iv. Threats to food production
As we have seen, inland fisheries are essential to a great part of the world population to feed
themselves. Following demographic growth, food needs increase and overcatching becomes acute
danger. Harvests have increased significantly in recent decades and are estimated to continue
developing. According to FAO data in 1997, more than 7.7 million tonnes of fish were caught in lakes,
rivers, swamps, marshes, water reservoirs and ponds, which represents some 6% of the total world fish
production. Catches are especially high in China, where the production amounts to some 1.8 million
tonnes. 12 Freshwater ecosystems already face such severe attacks that their ability to support wild fish
stocks is strongly reduced. In order to cope with the problem of a growing demand and a limited and
more and more threatened supply, aquaculture is booming.
v. Habitat degradation: Threats on freshwater biodiversity
Damage suffered by freshwater systems are threats for species living in and depending on these
systems. In addition to the general alteration and overuse of water supplies, overharvesting and the
introduction of nonnative species belong to the great menace. The following figures illustrate this
dramatic erosion of biodiversity that is already taking place. More than 20% of the world’s 10.000
freshwater fish species have become extinct, or threatened. In the USA, 37% of freshwater fish species,
67% of mussels, 51% of crayfish and 40% of amphibians are affected. 13
vi. Conversion of wetlands
Conversion particularly affects wetlands which have been drained and converted to farmland, filled for
human settlements and economic activities. Wetlands also experience heavy pollution and overuse of
FIAN International 106
June 2002