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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Fiona Harvey Environment editor

Global water crisis leaves half of world food production at risk in next 25 years

A child drinks from a dirty plastic container.
A child drinks from a plastic container in Gaza. More than 2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water. Photograph: Abed Zagout/Anadolu via Getty Images

More than half the world’s food production will be at risk of failure within the next 25 years as a rapidly accelerating water crisis grips the planet, unless urgent action is taken to conserve water resources and end the destruction of the ecosystems on which our fresh water depends, experts have warned in a landmark review.

Half the world’s population already faces water scarcity, and that number is set to rise as the climate crisis worsens, according to a report from the Global Commission on the Economics of Water published on Thursday.

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