annually from the consequences of disasters and water-related diseases
Various estimates indicate that, based on business as usual, to sustain a global population achieving the current lifestyle of the average European or North American.
projections of over the next , combined with changing diets, result in a predicted increase in .
With expected increases in population, by 2030, is predicted to increase by 50% (70% by 2050) (Bruinsma, 2009), while from hydropower and other renewable energy resources will rise by 60% (WWAP, 2009). These issues are interconnected – increasing agricultural output, for example, will substantially , leading to increased competition for water between water-using sectors.
in many regions. Yet future global agricultural water consumption alone is estimated to increase by , and will be even greater in the absence of any technological progress or policy intervention.
Water for irrigation and food production constitutes one of the on freshwater resources. of global freshwater withdrawals (up to 90% in some fast-growing economies).
About or semi-arid and more than people in sub-Saharan Africa live in a water-scarce environment – meaning that they (NEPAD, 2006)
