Recent events have highlighted the destructive power of water following the tsunami that devastated Northeastern Japan. While this crisis of too much water has captivated the world's attention, presently in many regions of the world, a crisis of too little water is emerging as one of the greatest geopolitical challenges facing the world today. In fact, water scarcity is one of the biggest limiting factors in the world's ability to feed a growing population and reach food security.
The links between water, food security and malnutrition are well documented. Not only do 70 percent of all freshwater withdrawals go to agriculture, water borne illnesses and subsequent diarrhea are both the cause and effect of malnutrition, together contributing to the majority of all deaths in children under the age of five. Whether it is utilizing water to grow food, or accessing clean water to promote optimal health, water stands at the nexus of all efforts to fight poverty. Nutrition and ultimately health and livelihoods are compromised when people are exposed to unsafe and insufficient water supplies.
In a landmark publication, Water for Food, Water for Life: A Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management and Agriculture, more than 700 leading experts conclude that water-based ecosystems are now the world's most degraded natural resource, impacting more than 40 percent of the world's population who are now living in areas of high water stress. If current trends continue, the livelihoods of more than a third of the world's population will be affected by water scarcity by 2025. A figure to put in parallel with the fact that it is estimated that over the next 20 years, we will need to increase food production by 70-100 percent.
As our planet adds two billion people over the next 30 years and the effects of climate change become more pronounced, we need to be strategic about how we allocate scarce resources and scale up innovative solutions to address water and food security. Our ability to meet the water challenges facing humankind over the next decades hinges on improving water use in agriculture.
Some areas of the world have understood the urgency of water scarcity and have taken remarkable steps to make themselves more efficient. In places like Singapore - which has no naturally occurring fresh water - nearly 60 percent of the city-state's freshwater is derived from rainwater catchment systems, recycling, and other innovative technologies. To solve these complicated water and food security issues, we must invest in modern agricultural technologies that make sense for local farmers and producers. Such technologies include the introduction of crops that are drought-tolerant, implementation of tools to address flooding and adoption of more efficient irrigation techniques.
Through better water and land management we can help to boost production levels of low-yield farming regions around the world and begin to bridge the gap of the additional food we will need in the coming decades. With policies and institutions focused on boosting agriculture production levels, the resulting increased productivity and reduced poverty can help ensure the current food price trends and social unrest doesn't threaten the stability of governments and regions.
What are notable are the opportunities for government, nonprofits, corporations and social entrepreneurs to make enormous impact because the need is so dire for breakthroughs that work for the poor. To solve the dual-burden of water and food shortages, it is necessary for our leaders to properly recognize and incentivize the development of solutions to the coming water security crisis today. These solutions will not only help solve the world's two most challenging issues, but will also contribute to the elimination of malnutrition which affects more than one billion people globally.