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At the Stockholm International Water Conference last week, which was attended by over 2,400 water experts and government officials, a vice president of the International Finance Corporation, affiliated with the World Bank, warned that "'we are at a tipping point' . . . because the scarcity of water poses a threat to the food supply just when the agricultural sector is stepping up production in response to riots over food prices, growing hunger, and rising malnutrition," IPS reported Friday.[1] -- But while the World Bank is promoting privatization and public-private partnerships as an approach the problem, Patti Lynn, campaigns director of Corporate Accountability International, argues that "the World Bank needs to stop making water privatization a condition for their loans." -- "Keeping water under local, public and democratic control is the most just way to insure the greatest degree of water access for the greatest number of people, Lynn added," according to reporter Thalif Deen. -- AFP reported that Jan Lundqvist, who heads the scientific program at the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), said at the conference that "there is a dire need to shift the world's focus away from irrigation systems, which are putting so much pressure on rivers, lakes, and groundwater. 'We are at the end of the road when it comes to irrigation, because all the water available in rivers and so on has already been now more or less used up.'"[2] -- The Environmental News Service focused instead on a SIWI brief on the prodigious amounts of water that wasted food represents: "Tossing food away is like leaving the tap running, the authors say. . . . 'As much as half of the water used to grow food globally may be lost or wasted,' says Dr. Charlotte de Fraiture, a researcher at IWMI. . . . In the United States, for instance, as much as 30 percent of food, worth some US$48.3 billion, is thrown away. "That's like leaving the tap running and pouring 40 trillion liters of water into the garbage can — enough water to meet the household needs of 500 million people,' says the report."[3] -- As far as we are able to ascertain, the U.S. press gave this international assembly of water experts short shrift. -- The New York Times printed no article on the conference, though it did did post an article on its Dot Earth blog. -- The Washington Post took no notice of the conference. -- The Los Angeles Times said not a word. -- The Boston Globe published no article last week, though back in March it took notice the winner of SIWI's annual prize and reported that Prof. John Anthony Allan of King's College at the University of London would receive the $150,000 cash award for creating the concept of "virtual water," which measures the amount of water that is embedded in the production of food and industrial products. -- Nothing appeared in the Chicago Tribune. -- The Christian Science Monitor published a gardening piece on how to "save water with succulents," but published nothing about the Stockholm Water Conference. -- It is likely that this dearth of news about the global water crisis can be attributed to the corporate ownership of the U.S. press and the financial interest of its owners in plans for water privatization, in which they are heavily invested. -- As Maud Barlow and Tony Clarke remarked in a recent book, "As for other commodities, the ground is now being laid for a commodity futures market involving speculation in water prices. . . . [C]apital is being pooled to finance massive pipeline schemes for the delivery of water and energy around the world" (Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water [New York: The New Press, 2005], pp. 93-94). -- For organizations working on these issues, see here....

STOCKHOLM -- A specter is haunting the cities and villages of most developing nations, warns a senior official of a World Bank-affiliated organization.

"It's the specter of a food, fuel, and water crisis," says Lars Thunell, executive vice president of the Washington-based International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank group.

"I believe we are at a tipping point," he said, because the scarcity of water poses a threat to the food supply just when the agricultural sector is stepping up production in response to riots over food prices, growing hunger, and rising malnutrition.

Speaking at the conclusion of the weeklong Stockholm International Water Conference Friday, Thunell said the growing demand for water is outpacing supply.

The world's current population of over 6.0 billion is expected to rise to about 9.0 billion by 2050, with more than 60 percent living in mega cities.

"Since water consumption goes up where there is development and improved lifestyles, we can expect even greater demands on fresh water," Thunell said.

The most water-intensive sector, agriculture, is expanding and industrialization and energy production are further driving demand, he added.

The conference, which was attended by over 2,400 water experts and government officials, ended with an ominous warning: that water and sanitation are not far behind the food, energy, and climate crises.

Summing up the weeklong proceedings, the Stockholm International Water Institute said that slow progress on sanitation will cause the world to badly fail the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). At the same time, weak policy, poor management, increasing waste, and exploding water demands will push the planet towards the tipping point of a global water crisis.

According to U.N. estimates a little less than one billion people worldwide still don't have access to clean drinking water while over 2.6 billion people lack adequate sanitation.

The MDGs aim at a 50 percent reduction both in the number of people without drinking water and without basic sanitation. The deadline has been set at 2015. But most of the world's poorer nations are likely to miss the deadline.

Colin Chartres, director general of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) said the causes of water scarcity are essentially identical to those of the food crisis.

"There are serious and extremely worrying factors that indicate that water supplies are close to exhaustion in some countries," he said.

He pointed out that current estimates indicate the world will not have enough water to feed itself in 40 years time, "by when the current food crisis may turn into a perpetual crisis."

Chartres said he and his water science colleagues have raised a warning flag that significant investments in both research and development and water infrastructure development are needed, "if dire consequences are to be avoided."

IFC's Thunell said providing clean water and sanitation services are not only business opportunities but also opportunities to improve lives. He said investors see an opportunity in the 450-billion-dollar global water sector, where stocks are performing strongly worldwide.

Private firms also regard water supply as a business risk and are tackling it as an integral part of their risk-management strategy.

"I believe the moment is right," Thunell said. "We can avert a crisis -- as partners, working together."

He said IFC will do its part by investing in companies that pursue opportunities in water conservation and quality, and by fostering public-private partnerships in the water sector.

But Patti Lynn, campaigns director of Corporate Accountability International, has a different take on the role of the private sector.

"The crisis stems from a confluence of problems, but perhaps no contributing factor is more insidious and correctable than the privatisation of the resource," she told IPS. "When people's access to clean drinking water is reliant on the profit interests of a handful of transnationals, all of us pay a premium and because of this many of the world's poor go thirsty."

Asked if the international community will meet the MDGs relating to water and sanitation by 2015, she said: "Not if we don't change immediate course."

For one, she said, the World Bank needs to stop making water privatization a condition for their loans.

"If the Bank is truly interested in alleviating poverty, its conditions should take a longer view," she said.

Keeping water under local, public and democratic control is the most just way to insure the greatest degree of water access for the greatest number of people, Lynn added.

STOCKHOLM -- Burgeoning demand for food to feed the world's swelling population, coupled with increased use of biomass as fuel is putting a serious strain on global water reserves, experts said.

"If we look at how much more water we will need for food and how much more for biomass for energy going forward . . . it is quite worrying," said Jan Lundqvist, who heads the scientific program at the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI).

Global food needs are expected to roughly double by 2050, at the same time as climate change and dwindling oil reserves are pressuring countries to set aside ever more land for producing biomass to replace greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels.

These parallel global trends risk colliding with "the water-constrained biophysical reality of the planet," according to SIWI, which hosted the the World Water Week in the Swedish capital last week.

"Almost every increase in water used in agriculture will affect water availability for other uses, including that needed to keep ecosystems healthy and resilient in the face of change and perturbation," the institute said in a recent study.

According to Lundqvist, the global population today uses around 4,500 cubic kilometers of water each year to cover all water needs, including for agricultural irrigation, urban use, and for energy production.

While that is below the level of what is considered environmentally irresponsible, he stressed that future needs could rapidly push water use to dangerous levels.

"It might be environmentally reasonable to withdraw maybe 6,000 (cubic kilometers), but if we withdraw more water it would be at a very high environmental cost, because we need water to flush the system and for different ecosystem services," he said.

According to SIWI project director Jakob Granit, recent studies indicate that "by 2030, the same amount of energy that we produce today with fossil fuels will have to come from biomass."

At the same time, scientists predict we will only be able to "meet food demands by 2050 if we have a much more efficient use of water . . . That does not include the water we need for all that biomass," he told AFP.

In addition to questioning whether it is realistic to expect biomass to cover a large share of our energy needs in the future, the best way to address the problem of shrinking water reserves is to better manage water and land use, experts say.

According to Lundqvist, there is a dire need to shift the world's focus away from irrigation systems, which are putting so much pressure on rivers, lakes, and groundwater.

"We are at the end of the road when it comes to irrigation, because all the water available in rivers and so on has already been now more or less used up," he said, insisting that much more attention must be paid to the potential of rainfall.

"In a large part of Africa, if you look at the total rainfall throughout the year the amount is usually enough . . . to grow many crops," he said.

"If you can capture that rainfall, and store it as soil moisture or in local dams, it would be possible to significantly increase food production in these areas," he added.

STOCKHOLM -- Tremendous quantities of food are wasted after production -- discarded in processing, transport, supermarkets, and kitchens -- and this wasted food is also wasted water, finds a policy brief released Thursday at World Water Week in Stockholm.

The brief authored by the Stockholm International Water Institute, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, and the International Water Management Institute shows that the current food crisis is less a crisis of production than a crisis of waste. Tossing food away is like leaving the tap running, the authors say.

"More than enough food is produced to feed a healthy global population. Distribution and access to food is a problem -- many are hungry, while at the same time many overeat," the brief states. But, it says, "we are providing food to take care of not only our necessary consumption but also our wasteful habits."

"As much as half of the water used to grow food globally may be lost or wasted," says Dr. Charlotte de Fraiture, a researcher at IWMI. "Curbing these losses and improving water productivity provides win-win opportunities for farmers, business, ecosystems, and the global hungry."

"An effective water-saving strategy requires that minimizing food wastage is firmly placed on the political agenda," she said.

In the United States, for instance, as much as 30 percent of food, worth some US$48.3 billion, is thrown away. "That's like leaving the tap running and pouring 40 trillion liters of water into the garbage can -- enough water to meet the household needs of 500 million people," says the report.

The policy brief, "Saving Water: From Field to Fork -- Curbing Losses and Wastage in the Food Chain," calls on governments to reduce by half, by 2025, the amount of food that is wasted after it is grown and outlines attainable steps for this be achieved.

Through international trade, for instance, savings in one country might benefit communities in other parts of the world.

"Unless we change our practices, water will be a key constraint to food production in the future," said Dr. Pasquale Steduto of FAO.

Water losses accumulate as food is wasted before and after it reaches the consumer.

In poorer countries, a majority of uneaten food is lost before it has a chance to be consumed. Depending on the crop, an estimated 15 to 35 percent of food may be lost in the field. Another 10 to15 percent is discarded during processing, transport, and storage, the brief states.

In richer countries, production is more efficient but waste is greater, the report says. "People toss the food they buy and all the resources used to grow, ship, and produce the food along with it."

As this wasted food rots in landfills it generates methane, a gas that causes climate change and is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

The report stresses that the magnitude of current food losses presents both challenges and opportunities.

"Improving water productivity and reducing the quantity of food that is wasted can enable us to provide a better diet for the poor and enough food for growing populations," says Professor Jan Lundqvist of the Stockholm International Water Institute.

"Reaching the target we propose, a 50 percent reduction of losses and wastage in the production and consumption chain is a necessary and achievable goal," said Lundqvist.

World Water Week is hosted by the Stockholm International Water Institute, a policy institute that contributes to international efforts to combat the world's escalating water crisis.

The annual event features the award of the 2008 Stockholm Water Prize, which this year was bestowed upon Professor John Anthony Allan from King's College London, who introduced the "virtual water" concept.

Virtual water is a measurement of how water is embedded in the production and trade of food and consumer products and is the concept on which the policy brief, "Saving Water: From Field to Fork -- Curbing Losses and Wastage in the Food Chain," is based.

While studying water scarcity in the Middle East, Professor Allan developed the theory of using virtual water import, via food, as an alternative water "source" to reduce pressure on the scarcely available domestic water resources there and in other water-short regions.

By explaining how and why nations such as the United States, Argentina, and Brazil export billions of liters of water each year, while others like Japan, Egypt, and Italy import billions, the virtual water concept has opened the door to more productive water use, said the Water Prize Nominating Committee.

National, regional, and global water and food security, for example, can be enhanced when water intensive commodities are traded from places where they are economically viable to produce to places where they are not.

"The improved understanding of trade and water management issues on local, regional, and global scales are of the highest relevance for the successful and sustainable use of water resources," the committee said.

The Stockholm Water Prize is a global award founded in 1990 and presented annually by the Stockholm Water Foundation to an individual, organization or institution for outstanding water-related activities. The activities can be within fields like education and awareness-raising, human and international relations, research, water management and water-related aid.

The Stockholm Water Prize Laureate receives US$150,000 and a crystal sculpture. H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden is the Patron of the Stockholm Water Prize.