World
Three Billion People Live in Farming Areas With Water Shortages
- Of the total, 1.2 billion face ‘severely’ constrained supplies
- Scarce water poses increasing risk to food security, FAO says
Photographer: Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images
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Roughly 40% of the world’s people live in farming areas facing large water shortages, and scarce supplies pose an increasing risk to food security as populations swell and the climate changes, the United Nations said.
About 3.2 billion people live in agricultural areas with “high to very high” water shortages and competition over resources is rising, the UN’s Food & Agriculture Organization said in a report. Many farms that depend on rain are at risk as severe droughts become more common, and bigger global incomes are spurring demand for water-intensive foods like meat and dairy.