Full Version - Water for Food Institute - University of Nebraska

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GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES ON WATER FOR FOOD 2
Keynote Address
The Water Crisis and the Future of Global Poverty
Jeff Raikes
CEO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The water crisis will play a major role in the
future of global poverty, yet little awareness of
this critical issue exists and few discussions are
taking place about securing water for food,
Jeff Raikes said. In a call to action, Raikes
advocated an integrated and interdisciplinary
approach, one that pulls on all levers to solve
the pending crisis.
Jeff Raikes
The Crisis
Already about 75 to 80 percent of human water
consumption is used to grow food, Raikes said.
The projected doubling in food demand, coupled
with climate change’s impact on geographic
availability of water, will significantly increase
the demand for water, precipitating a water crisis.
To illustrate the crisis, Raikes, who grew up on
a family farm near Ashland, Neb., remembers
his father describing the state’s wonderful
agricultural resources – the rich soils and nearly
infinite supply of water. But a photograph of
Lake McConaughy in western Nebraska that
shows a boat dock left high and dry far from
the lake due to plunging water levels tells a
different story. Similarly, a photograph of a dry
Jialing River in the shadow of Chongqing, a
Chinese city of more than 30 million people,
illustrates how urbanization stresses water
resources. Industrial water consumption is
expected to more than double by 2050. And
in a third photograph, a crowd surrounds
a large well during a 2003 drought in
Natwargadh in India’s Gujarat state. “Think
about the regional context,” Raikes said.
“In India, it may be low groundwater levels as
the largest problem. In China … it can be rivers
that don’t reach the sea.”
Raikes compared projections for 2050 to today’s
food and water needs. Agriculture currently
uses about 7 million cubic kilometers of
water annually through evapotranspiration to
produce the nearly 20 calories consumed daily.
By 2050, based on projected food demand
from population increases and dietary changes,
water requirements will reach 13 million
cubic kilometers under a business-as-usual
scenario. That figure does not include demands
from biofuels.
In addition, water is not where it is needed most,
a problem likely to worsen. Raikes said the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation is particularly
concerned about areas of water scarcity, both
physical and economic, because the places
where water is scarce are the same places where
hunger is worst.