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Connecting Population Growth, Water, and Food Security Print E-mail

Image Sabrina Wise -  a published author at age 15 and currently a junior at San Domenico Upper School in Marin, California. 

"Why are you passionate about water management?"
I am passionate about social justice-- about finding long-term solutions to local and global human issues. Responsible use and conservation of water are social justice on the most basic level, because they enable people to survive and live sustainably, and help keep the Earth alive. Without water, other forms of social justice cannot really progress. 

Sabrina is active in her pursuit of learning about the world so she can achieve her desired impact. She submitted her first article to The Marin Independent Journal (Marin County's major daily newspaper) on December 16, 2008 called The High Cost of Being Poor.

Below is a school research project where she provides additional background for those who share her passion for social justice.

Denied Survival: Connecting Population Growth, Water, and Food Security

Between 1997 and 2000, in the Bolivian capital of Cochabamba, 20,000 families were denied access to clean water and thousands of individuals perished from hunger (Schultz ). How did this situation arise? What global trends in population growth, water scarcity, and food security does Bolivia’s crisis highlight and exemplify? Vandana Shiva, one of India’s leading water rights activists, reminds her fellow citizens, “water is the matrix of culture, the basis of life” (qtd. by Michael Christian, President, American Hydroponics). During the past 50 years, dynamics of population growth have created a global water deficiency, threatening the “basis of life” for 40 percent of the world’s population (“Global Water Shortage” ). In recent years, infrastructural problems and changing ways of life have spurred a water shortage with global ramifications on food security, creating a wave of activism and democratic reform meant to address the crisis.

By failing to respond to the structural changes that population growth demands, many governments have contributed to water inaccessibility. For example, in many countries, the existing infrastructure for transport of water to homes and businesses becomes too small to service the growing population. However, governments such as that of Brazil cannot necessarily afford to expand or rebuild this infrastructure (Chartres ). As a result, only a small portion of the population has ready access to clean water. In addition, governments often support industrialization to provide jobs for the growing populace. This economic change promotes rapid urbanization, and requires more water to be pumped to factories and businesses. The water sent to cities is often borrowed from the rural supply, which means that farmers lose a great deal of their water (“Global Water Shortage”). Facing the need for better infrastructure and water management, governments with internal corruption or instability often turn water distribution over to private companies (Schultz). In Bolivia, as the population increased by 2.2 percent and masses of Bolivians migrated to the city of Cochabamba for work, the World Bank recognized that Bolivia’s weak government could not manage water for the large urban population, and so it forced water privatization by a corporation called Bechtel (Schultz; and “Bolivia Overview ”). In effect, water prices skyrocketed. As the examples of Bolivia and other countries demonstrate, industrialization and lack of effective infrastructure can result in uneven water distribution.

Population growth also leads to lifestyle changes that contribute to water shortage. Industrialization raises the standard of living to one that requires a great deal of water for food preparation and sanitation (Chartres). With industrialization and a rising standard of living comes increased use of oil-powered technology. Such technology releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, as does the breath of the ever-increasing population. Consequently, global warming threatens the Earth and its inhabitants, resulting in higher temperatures and lower water availability for farmers during the growing season (“Global Water Shortage”). As populations expand worldwide, changes in lifestyle and the limitations of infrastructure contribute to the water crisis.
 
The current water shortage directly threatens food security. As researcher and founder of the International Water Management Institute Colin Chartres claims, “…the causes of water scarcity are essentially identical to those of the food crisis” (Chartres). Statistics and research gathered in the past decade reveal that as water becomes scarcer, so too does food. Because one liter of water helps grow one calorie of food, it takes 1,000 - 2,000 liters of water per day to sufficiently feed one person (Chartres). So, as water availability decreases— global use tripled in the past 50 years but the amount available decreased—it becomes impossible to fulfill individuals’ food necessity (Brown 3, Brown, Lester. Outgrowing the Earth: The Food Security Challenge in an Age of Falling Water Tables and Rising Temperatures. New York: WW Norton and Co., 2005.). For example, in 2003 the world population experienced a shortfall of 100 million tons of grain, leaving thousands unfed (Brown 5). This year, prices for many staple foods increased by 100 percent (Chartres). Bolivia’s situation exemplifies the dangerous link between water and food security: water privatization by Bechtel raised the cost of a water filter to half of an average Bolivian’s annual income, causing thousands to die of hunger as well as dehydration (Schultz).
 
The population, water, and food crisis proves a global one, threatening survival in over 80 countries (“Global Water Shortage”). In many of those countries, such as Ethiopia, women trek six hours a day to collect water— usually unsanitary— that keeps their children alive. Other countries like Congo, Sudan, and Kuwait depend upon water that flows from a neighboring enemy country (“Global Water Shortage”). In war, these neighbors could cut off the water supply of their enemies, wielding control over the survival of civilians and soldiers. Severe water shortage is not confined to Africa and the Middle East, however. In the 1990s, the city of San Diego, California, bought water from farmers in order to service the growing urban population. Farmers prospered from the sale, but without water farms lost productivity, threatening local food security and making the city dependent on imports (Brown 32). Also in North America, researchers have measured that the desert area expanded in the past ten years, mostly due to over-pumping of underground aquifers (Brown 67). Water scarcity, and, in effect, food shortage, extend from Ethiopia to Kuwait and from Bolivia to California.
 
Unless governments, individuals, and organizations take action, the world’s population growth, water shortage, and food security challenge will continue to escalate. Michael Christian, director of American Hydroponics, acknowledges, “Living in places like California, we’re cut off… it’s hard for someone to know what dire circumstances are facing the planet until they start traveling” (Christian). His statement articulates that what now could seem a remote challenge ultimately threatens the globe, not just isolated countries. If the world population increases by 2.5 billion in the next 40 years, as predicted, the International Water Management Institute warns that, “We will not have enough water to feed ourselves” (Chartres). Uncontrolled population growth could mean that the majority of the population, rather than the 40 percent of today, would suffer from little or no access to one of the most critical resources.
 
After privatization by a corporation that raised water costs 300 percent, after 20,000 water-deprived families faced death from dehydration and starvation, after Bechtel denied citizens their right to survival, Bolivia’s population turned to activism, education, and democracy to address its water and food crisis. In 2000, a massive, relentless protest in Cochabamba pressured the Bolivian government to expel Bechtel from the country (Schultz). Empowered by this victory, a group called the Coalition in Defense of Water and Life, known in Cochabamba as the Coordinadora, held workshops to educate people about Bolivia’s water shortage and its causes, and to brainstorm potential solutions. With popular support and a grant from the Inter-American Development Bank, the Coordinadora established a successful, publicly owned water utility overseen by elected citizens (“People’s Control ”).

As Bolivia worked to alleviate its water distribution problems, Uruguay also put forth the philosophy that water belongs to the common people and thus should be controlled by the common people. In 2004, Uruguay added a ban on water privatization to its constitution, demonstrating the power of democracy and the will of the people in managing water responsibly (“Global Water Shortage”). Although Uruguay and Bolivia found ways to ensure equal water distribution, many countries simply have no water to distribute. The world faces a fundamental lack of water. Some countries, such as Thailand and Iran, have chosen to address the root of the problem— population growth— and advocate for widespread programs that teach about birth control and make it accessible to the public (Brown 28). Such programs have proven successful: in Iran, for example, average family size decreased from seven to three within ten years of the program’s institution (Brown 33). The initiatives of Bolivia, Uruguay, Thailand, and other countries educate and activate citizens to address the problems of population growth and water scarcity.

As countries address these issues at a local level, international organizations also work to address the water and food challenge. Headed by Michael Christian and based in Northern California, American Hydroponics researches, develops, and manufactures food-growing technology that can require as little as one fifth the amount of water and much less space than regular farming practices require. The organization works in countries that face severe water shortages, as well as urban areas, striving to make the technology accessible to as many people as possible and advocating for widespread education about water conservation (“We, As Humanitarians” ). American Hydroponics endeavors to ensure food security by making it possible to grow food locally, regardless of water shortages or imperfect temperatures. Christian explains the organization’s goal, stating, “the heart of the community has always been food production…[American Hydroponics] provides a powerful resource for people in the world by working in individual communities” (Michael Christian). Another organization, UN Water, represents the water and food needs of waterless countries to the United Nations, and helps implement programs that conserve rainwater, aquifers, and other water sources. UN Water, which formed in 2002 to help fulfill the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, is currently focusing its efforts on the Middle East and Africa (“Coping with Water Scarcity” ). Organizations such as American Hydroponics and UN Water work globally to alleviate the water and food crises.
 
In the past hundred years, lifestyle changes and inadequate infrastructure have contributed to a water and food problem that threatens an ever-growing portion of the world population. If water is indeed the “basis of life,” vital to food security, citizens, governments, and organizations need to take immediate action to conserve and equally distribute the vital resource, or must provide a more permanent solution by addressing the root of the problem— population growth. In his book about the world water shortage, former Illinois Senator Paul Simon explains the necessity of activism on the part of individuals and governments.  “Within a few years,” he cautions, “a water crisis of catastrophic proportions will explode upon us, unless aroused citizens demand of their leadership actions reflecting vision, understanding, and courage” (qtd. in “Global Water Shortages”).

 

 
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