Though water is the source of human life and civilization, Lester Brown says sometimes humans forget how important it is.
Brown, the founder and the president of the Earth Policy Institute, gave a lecture at the FedEx Global Education Center Tuesday. He reminded attendees that food comes from irrigation water and as it runs out, humans will face a huge challenge.
The growing population has led to a greater demand for grain, which pressed the demand for water. At the same time, the problem of over-pumping and decline of peak water has threatened the sustainability of water resources.
“Peak water in the sub-Arab region like Syria, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia has dropped, and to save underground water by 2016, Saudi Arabia will no longer produce grain,” he said.
Food prices have been rising since 2007 due to the decline in water supply, Brown said.
“In this country we are not very sensitive to the price increase of grain through consumption,” he said.
“When the cost of grain doubles, it is such a small cost in a loaf of bread, it is probably just 10 cents of the consumer dollar in the large portion of cost in making it into flour, packaging, distribution and so on,” he said. “But if you go to New Delhi, and you go to the market and buy wheat, bring it home and grind it into flour, when the price of wheat doubles, the price of your food doubles. There is no insulation here.”
The developing world is bearing the cost of this problem, he said.
“For example, in Nigeria, 24 percent of the families can no longer afford to eat every day,” Brown said.
