Sunday Times 2
Food shortages could turn the world vegetarian by 2050
View(s):The world may have to become almost entirely vegetarian, leading scientists have warned. They claim that spiralling populations mean there will simply not be enough meat for people within decades.They believe animal based food will have drop to just 5 per centof our total calories.
Researchers say vegetarian lifestyles will be needed to cope with soaring populations.
‘There will not be enough water available on current croplands to produce food for the expected 9 billion population in 2050 if we follow current trends and changes towards diets common in western nations,’ the report by Malik Falkenmark and colleagues at the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) said.
It is believed that if current population growth continues, there could be an additional 2 billion people alive by 2050. The report, called Feeding a thirsty world: Challenges and opportunities for a water and food secure world, is being released at the start of the annual world water conference in Stockholm.
There, 2,500 politicians, UN bodies, non-governmental groups and researchers from 120 countries are meeting to address global water supply problems.
The report says dramatic cuts in our meat consumption are the only answer.’There will be just enough water if the proportion of animal-based foods is limited to 5% of total calories and considerable regional water deficits can be met by a reliable system of food trade,’ it states.Humans currently get about 20 per cent of their protein from animal-based products.
‘We will need a new recipe to feed the world in the future,’ said the report’s editor, Anders Jägerskog. A UN report released in June likewise emphasized that meat production consumes the lions-share of the world’s fresh water supply, 38 per cent of the world’s habitable land and contributes to 19 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. The United Nations found vegan and vegetarian diets to be the least taxing on the world’s shrinking resources.
© Daily Mail, London
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