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• Enough food could be produced on currently
cultivated land for the projected global population
of 9 billion, provided that adequate investment was
made in sustainable management (including intensification
of agriculture and innovation) and further land
conversion (i.e. forestry loss) could be avoided.
significant local risks are generated by loss of agricultural
production or productivity. This can happen where
over-abstraction reduces groundwater aquifer levels to
a point where they either pass a critical threshold and
salt water intrusion occurs or where levels are too low
for access to agriculture, compromising yields, activities
and livelihoods. The result may be social tension and
even conflict (see Box 1.3).
frEshWATEr sysTEMs
THE GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY CRISIS AND RELATED POLICY CHALLENGE
freshwater systems are aquatic systems which contain
water of almost no salt content and include lakes and
ponds, rivers and streams, reservoirs, wetlands (see
below and groundwater. At global level:
• they provide most global drinking water resources,
water resources for agriculture, industry and sanitation,
and food such as fish and shellfish;
• they also provide recreational opportunities and a
means of transportation;
Figure 1.2: Areas of rapid land cover change
• they cover 0.8% of the Earth's surface and contain
0.009% of its total water (Daley et al 1997);
• they house 40% of all known fish species on Earth
(Master et al. 1998).
Box 1.3: In India, the spectre of
‘water wars’ arrives
The subcontinent is extracting water from its
groundwater at a rate that will compromise the
sustainability of the resource.
Key extracts translated: India is caught in a trap between
consumption that does not stop rising, and
groundwater stocks that are falling by 4 cm/year.
There is an increasing risk of salination in certain regions,
and access to water for some of the farming
community is being compromised - the viability of
farming in some areas and the viability of ecosystems
are under increasing risk. While some farmers can
dig deeper wells and afford more powerful pumps to
access the resource, others cannot afford to.
furthermore, city dwellers extract water that should
‘belong’ to locals. Tensions over water scarcity are
rising. Groundwater is free and 19 million wells were
dug in the absence of laws and control.
Source: Le Monde Friday 14th August 2009
Source: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005b): 3
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