last updated 12th January 06
By 4ecotips.com

24 Nile Rivers necessary to meet future water demand

According to the Worldwatch Institute the dramatic rise of China and India presents one of the gravest threats and yet greatest opportunities facing the world today. In its State of the World 2006 report Worldwatch says the choices these countries make in the next few years will lead the world either towards a future beset by growing ecological and political instability or down a development path based on efficient technologies and better stewardship of resources.

It's a staggering fact too, that 106 of the world's primary watersheds have been converted to agricultural or urban-industrial uses. And by 2030 when the planet's population has increased by a further 1.7bn people today's average dietary water consumption would require 2,040 cubic kilometers of water per year - that's the annual flow of 24 Nile Rivers.

The rise of China and India is the wakeup call that should prompt people in the US and around the world to take seriously the need for strong commitments to build sustainable economies.

Worldwatch president Christopher Flavin points out: "Rising demand for energy, food and raw materials by 2.5bn Chinese and Indians is already having ripple effects worldwide. Meanwhile record-shattering pollution levels in the US and Europe leave little room for this projected Asian growth"

The resulting global resource squeeze is already evident in riots over rising oil prices in Indonesia, growing pressure on Brazil's forests and fisheries and the loss of manufacturing jobs in Central America.

In 2005 China alone used 26% of the world's steel, 32% of the rice and 47% of the cement. Though their per-capita resource consumption is still low , with their huge populations China and India are joining the United States and Europe as ecological superpowers whose demands on the worlds ecosystems will vastly outstrip those of other countries, says the report.

Other significant facts the Worldwatch report highlights are that China has only 8% of the world's fresh water to meet the needs of 22% of the world's people. In India, urban water demand is expected to double and industrial demand to triple by 2025.

India's use of oil has double since 1992 while China went from a near self-sufficiency in the mid-1990s to the world's second largest importer in 2004. Chinese and Indian oil companies are now seeking oil in countries such as Sudan and Venezuela. Both have just started to build what are stated to be the largest automobile industries in the world.

China and India have the only large coal-dominated energy systems in the world today. Coal provides more than two-thirds of China's energy and half of India's. Both countries are therefore central to future efforts to slow global climate change. China is ranked the world's second largest emitter of CO2, India is fourth.

Other notable statistics thrown up by the Worldwatch Institute report are that the average Chinese person has an ecological footprint of 1.6 global hectares. In India its 0.8 global hectares. By contrast in the US it's 9.7 hectares where it grew by 21% during the decade ending in 2002.

The value of commercial products incorporating nanotechnology is expected to reach $2.6trillion (15% of global manufacturing output) by 2014. More than 720 products containing unregulated and unlabeled nanoscale particles are commercially available. Thousands more are on the pipeline yet the effects of nanoscale particles on human health and the environment remain unknown and unpredictable.

More information about the Worldwatch Institute's State of the World Report 2006 is available on www.worldwatch.org.