Population Growth and Climate Change will Add to the World Water Crisis

Water shortages will be one of the world's most pressing problems in the next decade, and this will be compounded by a growing global population and climate change.

Without some means of equitable water distribution, water may even be the cause of the next world war. Rivers lakes and aquifers are cross border issues. Already the allocation of water resources is causing disputes between Israel and Palestine, India and Pakistan, as well as the US and Mexico. Many believe that the crisis in Darfur was at least in part due to issues surrounding access to water.

Population growth will place additional demands on dwindling water supplies. The world's population is expected to grow to almost 9 billion by 2050. In addition to the population explosion, growing wealth and urbanization is fueling demand for water. The United Nations climate panel says between 90 and 220 million people in Africa will face water shortages by 2020 due to climate change. This will have a direct impact on farms, which exacerbate the problem by further depleting groundwater.

According to Britain's chief scientist John Beddington, "The availability of fresh water...[is] the first problem that has got to be addressed. Agriculture is intimately linked with that, but I would say water is probably going to be more concerning over the next 10 years."

"Population growth, an increase in wealth, urbanization, and ... climate change, all of those are going to present really big problems to humanity," Beddington told the Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Energy Summit.

Climate change will add additional burdens to the worsening water crisis. Climate change is forecast to disrupt rainfall patterns, leading to more severe droughts and floods, posing problems for the supply of fresh water.

"Water security fears, rising demand for food and a drive to curb greenhouse gas emissions all posed commercial opportunities," Beddington said.

To help combat growing water problems, countries need to focus on water efficiency. Countries can also reduce the burden of climate change by focusing on low-carbon technologies, including energy efficiency, renewable energy and carbon capture.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Green Science

Green science is very important to anyone who seeks to employ sustainable business practices. Although rarely explicitly communicated in an effective marketing message, scientific evidence must implicitly support Green marketing claims. By definition scientific investigation means that conclusions will always be subject to review. Therefore it is incumbent upon sustainable businesses owners to continually reevaluate their Green promises.

Atmospheric sciences, environmental chemistry, ecology, and geosciences have all contributed to the large and growing body of evidence. Taken as a whole the results confirm climate change, reductions in biodiversity, diminished water quality, soil contamination, resource depletion, and air pollution.

Those who try to dismiss the plethora of data ignore the facts. There are those who have funded environmental research as a stall tactic. Others argue that such things as climate change are part of a normal process citing the fact that we have experienced periods of global warming (and cooling) in the past. However it is a fact that our climate is warming faster as a consequence of human habitation. This should be obvious to even the most cynical scientist, taken as a whole the weight of the evidence is irrefutable. There is no simple panacea, but there is scientific consensus: Threats to our environment are real.

Marketing messages that pander to doubters may lose the attention of their core audience. There is adequate exposure to scientific evidence to discard the views of the politically motivated or intellectually questionable luddites who feel climate change is some kind of hoax. Effective Green marketing is often best when it implicitly incorporates sustainable attributes. Knowledge does not infer wisdom, but it is an important step on the road to intelligent stewardship. Scientific observation is an invaluable tool, what we do with it, is up to us.